Welcome back to another challenge at The Spot! Last week was launch of this fun new challenge blog and we are excited to bring you another week of inspiration, this time with a great sketch. Thank you to all of those that played along, we hope to see even more of you this week.
Sketches are a great creative jumping off point. What I love about them is that they are open to interpretation and well, I like to take a little creative license when I get crafty;)
I have been trying my best lately to pull out supplies that have been neglected in my craftroom. When I saw the Sale-A-Bration Lovely Lily Pad Stamp Set and Coordinating Lily Pad Dies I just HAD to have them (confession time I have used them once). Both the stamp set and dies can be earned for FREE with a qualifying purchase until the end of March. They really are amazing and I have no idea why I haven't used them more, but this sketch gave me the perfect opportunity to showcase them!
I'll be honest, the striping in the background threw me for a moment, but then I had the idea of ink blending a background with a trio of blues. I used Pool Party, Balmy Blue and Night of Navy. Using a Sponge Brayer I coloured the whole piece of Whisper White Cardstock with Pool Party Classic ink. Next I laid down Balmy Blue Classic Ink starting at the outer ends then working in towards the middle and lastly I used Night of Navy Classic Ink on the outer edges. I will admit ink blending this way is a test in patience and practice, but the results are well worth it. TIP: Start by layering your cardstock on a scrap piece of copy paper or I like to use Grid Paper and start brayering on the scrap paper onto the cardstock moving inward on the cardstock. Then build colour in multiple layers. Stamping Sponges cut into wedges were also used to soften the lines between colours. A water brush was used to flick droplets of water on the inked background and because the ink is water based it creates such a fun, cool effect.
Another product that I haven't used a lot is the absolutely sunning Perennial Essence Designer Series Paper. Here I die cut one of the patterns with a circle from the Stitched Shapes Dies. Next I stamped the floral and lily pad image on Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper using Versamark Ink and heat embossed the images with Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. Using Petal Pink and Flirty Flamingo Classic Ink and an Aqua Painter, I watercoloured the floral image and used Pear Pizzaz and Olive for the lily pad. TIP: While your ink pad is closed, flip upside down and squeeze the middle of the case so that ink is pressed into the lid, open up the pad and use the ink in the lid and an Aqua painter to watercolour with. The sentiment is from Itty Bitty Greetings, heat embossed and then die cut with the smallest Stitched Rectangle Die. TIP: The die was a little too long for the sentiment so I shortened it by repositioning the die on the die cut, then recut it to shorten.
Now be sure to check out The Spot for some fabulous inspiration and we hope to see you join in on the challenge!
Below you will find all the items I used for today's project and remember Sale-A-Bration is going on now. Earn FREE products with qualifying purchases and as always feel free to contact me with any questions!
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