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Fireburst Stencil in action with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Jul 07 2020
Hey guys! It's Erica, aka The Stencil Addict, back on the blog today! Today it's all about the Fireburst Stencil.
This first card you might have seen already, but just in case you haven't, I have included step-by-step instructions here:
Step 1: Make COLOURFUL background. I used Copics, and simply swiped them back and forth on the card stock to create this vivid rainbow. The markers in the photo are the exact ones, in order.
Step 2: Spray your stencil with Pixie Spray and let it cure for a few minutes. Place over background where you want to create the pattern. Protect your project by covering the edge with Washi tape or something similar. I have used PostIt Tape here.
Step 3: Pick out your Paper Glaze choices. I used Golden Rose and Black Pansy for this one. Work fast and apply the glaze. Thin if you want just shimmer and a little texture. Add lots if you want more texture. My base layer was Black Pansy.
Step 4: For extra pizzazz, add a thin layer of another colour on top. I used Golden Rose here to add some gold shimmer.
Step 5: Stamp sentiment on it and hey, presto! Done! For this card I used one from the After The Storm stamp set and stamped it up in Black Hybrid Ink with the help of a MISTI.
On the next card I ink blended some fiery colours first, using Atelier Inks from Ink On 3 in Bee Sting Yellow, Marigold Orange and Marilyn Red, using Life Changing Blender Brushes.
Leaving the stencil in place, I also added some Black Pansy and Golden Rose Paper Glaze around the edges. The middle I left clear so I could stamp up a sentiment.
Because it's so fiery I thought the sassy 'My hobbies includes having no time for bullshit' was perfect. It's one of two in the Do Not Take Any Shit set.
The final card is done with only Paper Glaze and the stencil flipped 45 degrees.
It's so dramatic and elegant against the white background! I did make a bit of a mess at the top right corner, but never mind.
To finish off the card I heat embossed 'happy birthday' from Fancy Sentiments, in gold on vellum. This strip I wrapped around the background and then adhered it to a card base.
Well, that's it from me for today! I hope you found some inspiration here with me, and will try some of these techniques for yourself.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Fancy Kaleidoscope Stencil Cards with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Jun 30 2020
Hi everyone! It's Erica back on the PFS blog.
Today I have LOTS of cards, using the brand new Fancy Kaleidoscope stencil from Picket Fence Studios's June release, to share with you. I do love a good stencil, and it's possibly I went a tad overboard here but it just took off. I did ink blending, water colouring, ink smooshing and all sorts went on. Let's get to it, shall we?
First of I sprayed the Fancy Kaleidoscope stencil with Pixie Spray and stuck it down on a big square of water colour paper. Then I grabbed my palette with Ink On 3 re-inkers in them. There are six wells, one each for Bee Sting Yellow, Marigold Orange, Marilyn Red, My Jam Purple, Peacock Blue and Goddess Green. All of these are already mixed with Liquid Pixie Dust, this creates a shimmery water colour, which is fabulous. You can see this in action in the video I have up on my YouTube channel too.
While I was cleaning up after the colouring, I thought, why not try another few things? My first attempt was adding more colour to the stencil and dabbing water colour card stock on top. This turned out fab but there was still colour left on it so I dabbed another piece on it, and this one turned out soft and pretty too. There was STILL colour left so I kept going! I ended up with four pieces in total, as well as a smaller one. I love that from the same stencil you can get so many different looks!
Because I'm obsessed with ink blending as well, of course I had to do some of that too. Because why not, right?? I used a different Life Changing Blender Brush for each one of the Atelier Inks I used: Bee Sting Yellow, Goddess Green, Peacock Blue, Marilyn Red and Marigold Orange. It's so effortless to do ink blending with the Life Changing Blender Brushes. I LOVE them.
With a ton of backgrounds done it was time to turn them into cards! With loads of fun, sassy and girl boss sentiments available from Picket Fence it was a breeze. The ink blended piece was quickly finished off with a sentiment from After The Storm stamped up with Black Hybrid Ink, which also has been heat embossed with some sparkles on top.
The next two are each one half of the big piece from the beginning. One I adhered to a piece of black card stock, only slightly bigger than the background piece, to frame it. Also to coordinate with the Best word die, that's also partly cut out of black card stock.
The second of the two was adhered directly to a white card base. Both cards have sentiment from BFF Girl Gang and stamped up in Black Hybrid ink.
One final card was done on a background piece done with the Atelier re-inkers as water colours. Here I used the stencil and Paper Glaze in Snowdrop White. The sentiment is from Charles The Chameleon.
Phew, well, that's it from me for today. I hope you found some inspiration here and will try some of these techniques for yourself and have some fun!
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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After The Storm Two Ways with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Jun 16 2020
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Hi guys!
It’s Erica back on the Picket Fence Blog today, with a couple of cards using the brand new After The Storm stamp set.
Both cards are coloured with Copics and stamped up with the Black Hybrid ink. Because the After The Storm stamps are brand new, I used a Mini MISTI to make sure I got good stamp outlines.
I wanted to create really dramatic and dark clouds, but not make them all grey or black. On a scrap piece of paper I scribbled all the grey copics I planned on using, then used some blues over them to see how they reacted. This scrap piece became my guide to how to colour in the clouds.
For the rainbow I used one single marker for each section. On the second card I started with a lighter Grey Copic (C5). On the first one the darkest one is C7.
On this one I used a more pastel colour scheme for the rainbow. I have also used two markers for each section to get more dimension. I added two more colours, plus a darker shade, to colour in the umbrella, as well as some browns for the bench. Once the colouring was done, this card was complete as the sentiment is already stamped up on it.
To add more drama to the first card, I cut out a mask and placed over the coloured image. Then I ink blended some Chipped Sapphire that was left on one of my Life Changing Blender Brushes to add a soft dark sky behind the clouds. The final touch for the background was splattering some Golden Rose Paper Glaze on the card for some shimmer. I mixed a tiny dollop of it with water and splattered it with a paint brush. I keep one specifically for this as it dries rather hard, and this paint brush is no good for anything else now.
The sentiment for this card is one from the After The Storm stamp set, and it says ‘Rainbows only form after a storm’. To create this effect, I masked off the ‘rainbow’ and stamped the rest of the sentiment with Black Hybrid ink. Then I masked off the ‘rainbow’ part in sections and stamped each section in a different colour. I have used Atelier Inks from Ink On 3 in Marilyn Red, Marigold Orange, Bee Sting Yellow, Goddess Green, Peacock Blue and My Jam Purple.
If you look closely, you will notice that I have used the colours in the same order as my rainbow is coloured. Nice little touch, eh?
Well, that’s it from me for today. Thank you for spending this time with me, I hope you found some inspiration here and if you want to add this gorgeous stamp set to your stash you can find it RIGHT HERE.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Coffee, Good To The Last Drop with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on May 28 2020
Hello, fellow coffee lovers!
I’m making wild assumptions here, yes, but if coffee isn’t your choice of drink, stay for the crafting!
Currently the 2020 Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop is going on (the end date is tomorrow May 29th) and I do love my coffee! Both in the cup and on paper, lol!
I started out by stamping the Love Of Coffee Stamp on Copic friendly card stock, with the help of my MISTI and the Hybrid Black Ink. Then I coloured in some of the images with the Copics in the photo above.
I also coloured in the big cup from the Coffee Understands and then fussy cut that out.
On the background image I added some Wink Of Stella to the steam to make it sparkle. It doesn’t show overly well in the photo but it does add a little pizzazz!
To finish off the card I also stamped up the sentiment ‘good to the last drop’ from the same Coffee Understands set and then cut that out with one of the Word Bubble dies.
I layered the cup and the Word Bubble so that it looked like that cup was saying it.
The Coffee Word Die is cut out of white card stock three times and layered up, and then topped with a final one cut out of Honey Gold card stock.
A few black stitched diecut frames were added in a random pattern to break up the background and add some extra interest.
Well, that’s it from me for today! I hope you enjoyed this card. I will be back soon again, hopefully with the June AND May release.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Quick WaterColor Trees And Bushes Sunset Card with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on May 26 2020
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Hi guys!
It's Erica back on the PFS blog today. Sadly my May Release stamps are still on vacation ie somewhere in the postal system. So I thought, I'd stop in with a card I made with an older, but fabulous, new-to-me stamp: Watercolor Trees and Bushes.
I haven't used this one yet, and now I can't see why not??? It's so lovely, and you can do so many techniques with it too. I decided to indulge my current obsession, which is doing Copic coloured backgrounds.
With the chisel end of the Copic, I drew fat lines of all these colours and then blended them in to create a vibrant and vivid sunset. The bottom bit is done with just one green marker to give a bit of colour behind the hill that I stamped at the bottom. This panel was a bit bigger than the card I had planned on doing, so I trimmed it down to 5.5". The width was already 4.25".
With the help of my MISTI, getting a good solid imprint with the Hybrid Black ink was easy peasy! I only added the hill and one of the tree clusters from the stamp set. I didn't want to crowd the card and also to leave space to stamp one of the sentiments from the stamp set.
Because I can never leave a card simple and as it is, I mixed up some Golden Rose Paper Glaze with water and splattered this all over the panel too. It's possible I went in a bit crazy, but gold splatters is one of my favourite details to add!
When this was all dry, I adhered it to a card base and that was it! If you don't have time to wait for the splatters to dry naturally, you can speed up the drying process by using your heat tool on it. Just make sure you do it gently and don't rush it too much or your paper will warp.
Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you found some inspiration here with me.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Face The Sun In Bright Colours with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Apr 28 2020
Hi everyone!
How are we doing? Keeping safe and occupied or going stir-crazy? It’s ok to swing back and forth between the two, I know I do! These are trying times and we can only do the best we can do deal with the situation but please do be safe and stay home if you can!
Today’s card is a sort of juxtaposition of my feelings, in that it’s a flower but coloured in very non-natural colours. At least for this kind of flower. I love the Face The Sun sunflower, and yes, I’m well aware that I say I love all the flowers! LOL! I can’t help it, big flower lover over here.
I started out by stamping it on a Neenah card base, directly, with the Hybrid Black ink and of course with the Mini MISTI to get a super detailed image. This stamp has so many fine details I’d definitely recommend using a stamping platform tool of some sort to make sure you get all the little bits stamped.
Scanning my Copic Hex Chart, from Sandy Allnock, I picked out teals markers to colour the stem and foliage bits. Instead of colouring it as I normally do though, I decided to try something new. I have drawn one line with one colour, starting with the darkest, and then with the next colour I have slightly overlapped it, without making any attempts at blending them.
I wasn’t sure how this would turn out but I must admit, I love it!
Next it was time to colour the actual flower itself and the only choice was another bold colour! I went for an array of deep red, fushias and light pink. The petals I coloured in the same way as the stem and foliage and it turned out pretty cool too.
I also added lots of white highlights with a white Posca pen. I have had zero luck finding a gel pen that doesn’t dry up on me right away so I’m sticking to the Posca pens from now on.
Of course I could have stopped there but did I? No, ma’am, I did not. I decided to shade the flower in grays and a light blue to make it pop. It didn’t exactly turn out as I was hoping but I’m not hating it either.
The only thing left to do was add a sentiment.
I picked one from the Face The Sun stamp set, and it says ‘Spread seeds of happiness, joy and love’. Which I thought was quite perfect. Looking for the silver lining in every situation makes it easier to deal with it, at least I find that.
Well, with that, I’m done. I hope you found some inspiration here today.
Lots of love, germ-free virtual hugs and happy crafting from Erica
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Stencilling Madness with Erica!
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Apr 16 2020
Hi guys!
Erica back on the PF Blog today and I've got quite a few cards for you!
All the cards in this post are made with stencils one way or another, or a third. I do love them and it's so great that there are new ones in each release. For these cards I have used Flowers and Stars.
My first two cards are very simple and fun, as well as quick. I have used the Flowers stencil for these. With the help of some Life Changing Blender Brushes and Atelier inks I ink blended the inks directly onto card bases. The stencils have all had a good spray of Pixie Spray on them to keep them in place. It's such a must have for those intricate stencil. It's almost impossible to get clean, crisp lines without it.
For these two I started with a light blend of Bee Sting Yellow ink in the middle of the Flowers stencil and worked my way out towards the edges. Then to create some contrast and depth, I added some Marigold Orange on one and Marilyn Red on the other.
To finish these off I cut out the Hey You in black and white card stock. The background piece I cut out four times and layered up to raise the whole thing up.
On the next card I've used the same Flowers stencil but stead of ink blending, I've used Paper Glazes to create a rainbow.
The colours I used, from left to right, are Agapantha Purple, Peony Pink, Marigold Orange, Golden Rose, Daffodil Yellow, Leaf Green and Ocean Poppy.
Make sure you clean off your stencils and tools quickly after you have used Paper Glazes as they do dry fast. I have an old kitchen sponge and tooth brush I use to clean off mine. DO NOT use your Stamp Scrubber on Paper Glaze. I repeat: DO NOT use your Stamp Scrubber to clean off Paper Glaze! It will ruin it!
The sentiment is from Never Faked A Sarcasm and I stamped it with Black Hybrid ink on white card stock, trimmed it down and adhered it to the card right in the middle.
My next card is also very simple, although it took a lot longer to create the background for this one. It's done with Copics and it is done as a dark night sky.
The stencil used on it is called Stars and I used Black Pansy Paper Glaze with a palette knife. I thought maybe it would look too dark but it's gorgeous!
To make it look more like a galaxy, I added some details with a white Posca pen. I don't have much luck with white gel pens but the Posca pen works quite well for me. If you want splatters, the Snowdrop White Paper Glaze might work a treat, seeing as it's shimmery too.
The Love Ya word die is cut out of matte black card stock and silver mirror card stock. It's adhered to the card with foam tape cut to shape using the die to cut it.
Well, that's it from me for today but I hope you like the cards and found some inspiration here!
Thanks for stopping by, stay safe and stay home if you can! MAD props to those of you keeping our societies going, I am so proud of you and so grateful to you!
BIG (germ free) HUGS from Erica
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Release Day!! Rainbow BFF My Tribe cards with Erica!
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Apr 14 2020
Hi guys and HAPPY RELEASE DAY!!
Today is the 14th, which means a new release from Picket Fence Studios! I'm popping in with a couple of cards made with the BFF My Tribe stamp. In these uncertain and scary times where we can't be with our friends, it's a nice reminder that, whilst not physically together, we are stronger together. Even in spirit or via FaceTime.
I did two cards for this post, one with Copics and one with Zig markers. There is also a YouTube video over on my channel if you want to have a look at the rest of the release as well as the making of these cards.
With the help of my new black, shiny and pretty Mini MISTI I stamped the BFF My Tribe up with Black Hybrid ink on Neenah #110 card stock and Bristol Vellum paper. The one on Bristol I also stamped with VersaMark ink and sprinkled Clear Gloss embossing powder on, which I set with my heat tool.
However I cleaned it off with the Stamp Scrubber in between though. I don't want to contaminate my ink pad and the Stamp Scrubber gets all the ink out of the nooks and crannies. I love the fact that it only has to be wetted with water, and you don't have to use any nasty smelling chemicals with it, for it to work. Then when it's dirty, you just wash it with some soap and you are good to go!
The BFF My Tribe images themselves have been coloured in a rainbow fashion, I tried sticking to the same colours and shades in the same places, as much as possible on both cards. Not sure why I felt the need to do that, but I love how they turned out.
I do have to work on my skin tones a bit though, especially with the Copic markers, but that's ok. The colouring challenge #TheDailyMarker30Day is still going on, thank goodness, so I'll be practicing a lot.
With the colouring done on them both, I trimmed the panels down just a smidge to 5.25"x4" and then adhered these to white card bases. A fun sentiment from the I Freaking Love You set, stamped up with Black Hybrid ink later and the cards were done. I *almost* added some clear sequins but managed to rein myself in. What is the world coming to, eh?? LOL!
Well, that's it from me for today but don't forget to check out the rest of the release HERE.
Thanks for stopping by, lots of love and big hugs from Erica.
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Early Tulip Bouquet Cards Two Ways with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Mar 24 2020
Hi everyone!
It’s Erica here on the PFS blog today, with two spring-feel cards, using the lovely Early Tulip Bouquet stamp.
The first one is a simple sympathy card, with the image part coloured with water colours and lots of white space.
I stamped up the Tulips along the right hand bottom corner, using the Black Hybrid Ink. On this card I kept it horizontally. This is Ranger water colour paper and I used the smooth side. After setting the ink with a heat tool, I used some purple tape and taped the panel down. I placed the tape over the image, along the edges, to keep those parts covered.
The colours I have used are Daniel Smith water colours and I did the tulips in spring like colours. When it was dry, I stamped up the sentiment in the top left corner with Black Hybrid ink and with that the first card was done.
For the second card I used Kraft card stock and stamped up the Tulips with Inkon3 Fadeout ink. To switch things up a little, I did it vertically for this one.
I used coloured pencils to colour it in and whilst it takes a long time, it’s so worth it!
To finish off this card I stamped up the Tulips with the Fadeout Ink in the top left corner. Mainly just to fill the space a little. On top of this I heat embossed the sentiment ‘You Are Lovely’ in Metallic Rich Gold embossing powder from WOW! Embossing.
Whilst this one took a lot longer than the first one, it’s lovely to see how different the outcome is using different mediums and card stock. Even such a little thing as switching up the way you stamp the image on your card stock can make a big difference.
That’s it from me for today, thanks for stopping by and I hope you found some inspiration in this post!
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Funky Leaves Stencil cards, two ways, with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Mar 03 2020
Hi guys!
It's Erica back on the PFS Blog today. I've used the Funky Leaves Stencil, in two different ways. Ok, so the cards both started out the same way but I finished them off differently and I got very fun results.
To start with I sprayed the Funky Leaves Stencil with Pixie Spray to make sure it stays in one place so I get clean straight lines. Then, armed with a Life Changing Blender Brush and some inks (Mountain Mist from Altenew and Goddess Green from Ink On 3) I blended a panel each with each colour. Not all over, oh no, my ombré obsession is going nowhere fast.
On the Mountain Mist panel I then went back in with the Embossing Pad from WOW! Embossing and on top of that I sprinkled Aquamarine Glitter Powder. This I set with the dual heat gun on the lowest setting, from underneath the panel, to keep the glitter in place. I also trimmed this panel down a little bit.
I didn't want to cover up all that gorgeous glitter too much so what to do? I heat embossed the Happy Birthday from Fancy Sentiment on a strip of vellum, in Platinum embossing powder and then wrapped this around the panel.
This I adhered to a light grey card base and with that card no1 was done.
Card no2, done with the Goddess Green ink, I did the same Happy Birthday sentiment for. Also in Platinum, on vellum. After wrapping the sentiment strip around the background I adhered the whole thing to a card base.
To give this one a bit more interest, I added lots of Nuvo Jewel Drops in Key Lime. I used the leaf shape and added drops of different sizes to them and then set the card aside to dry.
Which one is your favourite? The one with glitter or the one with texture?
Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed these cards and will try one of these techniques yourself. Don't forget to tag @picketfencestudios in your posts when you show off your creations!
That's it from me!Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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by Erica Andersson-Burke on Feb 29 2020
Hi, hey, HELLO!
It’s Erica on the blog today with lots of Hello cards! I love the new Hello word diecut and have used it in different ways for these cards.
I’ve been totally obsessed with making striped backgrounds with coloured card stock recently. It’s so fun and I love it! So much so I’ve ended up with some 20+ backgrounds... which I keep using and then replenishing, lol!
The first two cards have striped backgrounds, and the Hello layered up. One is done with dark grey and layered up with black, the other one has a Copic coloured backing part and layered up with white card stock.
The backing part is done in an ombré look which was easy to achieve with Copics.
On this one I should perhaps have used a lighter grey card stock or maybe even white but it still pops!
The third card has vertical stripes in a more masculine colour scheme and only the word part of the Hello added to it.
For the final card I cut out the Hello out of coloured card stock and adhered them to a white card base.
I did not add anything else to this one, only the word diecuts and that was it but it’s still lovely and colourful.
That’s it from me for this leap year day! Happy February 29th!
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Fancy Flourish Ink Blending with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Feb 23 2020
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Hi guys!
Erica back on the PFS Blog with a quick card. It’s blue, it’s ink blended and it has bling on it. All my favourite elements.
As I was going to do ink blending I got a panel of Bristol Vellum card stock out. I also generously sprayed my Fancy Flourish stencil with Pixie Spray to keep it in place while doing the ink blending.
I had three shades of blue inks from Catherine Pooler picked out. Something Borrowed, Suede Shoes and Juniper Mist. With my beloved Life Changing Blender Brushes I did the ink blending in an ombré fashion with the darker colour at the top.
Thanks to the Pixie Spray the lines are super crisp and clean! This product is absolute genius and a must-have if you are into ink blending.
As the stencilling is so fabulous, I didn’t want to cover it up too much so I kept the sentiment simple. I cut out the new Hello word diecut out of black and white card stock and layered these up.
On Lawn Fawn Blue Jay card stock, I heat embossed ‘I’m obsessed with your awesomeness’ in white. The sentiment is from Favorite Notifications, which is a super fun and relevant stamp set.
This I then trimmed down to a slim strip and adhered to the card. The Hello was added above it.
The final flourish were some Iridescent Crystals from Studio Katia. For a bit of bling, you know.
This design would be so easy to do in different colours for different occasions and different people.
Ok, well, that’s it from me for today. I hope you like the card!
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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Sassy BFF Maggie Mae cards with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Jan 21 2020
Hi guys!
Welcome back to the Picket Fence Studios Blog, it’s Erica here with a couple of very CAS cards. These are not my forte at all, but I am working on it and they are coming *slightly* easier these days. I still feel like they are a bit naked and need something but basically sit on my hands to stop myself from adding more stuff to them. It’s weird but it works, lol!
On water colour paper I stamped up BFF Maggie Mae with the Hybrid Black ink and set it with my heat tool a little bit. I do this especially when I am going to use lighter water colours or Copics. For this card I have used Daniel Smith water colours.
The colouring itself of Maggie Mae is pretty easy breezy, and not to detailed. I added light colours and in the areas where I wanted more contrast and details, I have added more of the same colour or a slightly darker one. I didn’t want to go too vivid for this one.
When she was all done and dry, I used the coordinating diecut to cut her out and set her aside while I stamped up a card base. I wanted to use the sentiments from Seriously, Literally, Always because they are so sassy and funny.
Using the Hybrid Black ink again, I stamped them up directly onto the card base. I was only going to make one but while I had my Mini MISTI out and card bases ready, I decided to do one more. This is the SUPER Clean And Simple one. I am in two minds about it. It’s funny and to the point but I do think it needs a bit of colour or something more.
The BFF Maggie Mae image I glued down directly onto one of the card bases and with that the cards were done. So easy but how funny is that?
I love how it turned out with the softer colours on Maggie Mae too. Maybe I will try one with more vivid colours next time though. Just to compare. As long as it’s fun, why not, right?
Well, that’s it from me for today. Thanks for stopping by and spending this time with me, I hope this post inspired you.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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A (Colourful) City In The World with Erica
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Jan 02 2020
Hi guys!
Erica back on the Picket Fence Studios blog after some technology-mishaps/vicious vendetta issues. I swear it's not me, it's IT.
Today's card is using the A City In The World stamp and is inspired by the many cute villages around where I live. My husband and I moved to Valencia, Spain less than three months ago and I'm completely obsessed with the architecture, the gates and wrought iron that's so prominent here. I love it!
I stamped it up with Black Hybrid ink on water colour paper. The colouring is done with Atelier re-inkers from Inkon3 and although it doesn't show up that well in the photos, the houses are all shimmery. My jug of water had some gold shimmer at the bottom and I didn't think it mattered but oh boy, when it was dry, it was so noticeable! I'm chalking this one up to a happy accident as I actually love how it turned out.
While the colouring was drying, I stamped up the City image again on masking paper and fussy cut that out. This I placed over the coloured image to protect it while I ink blended the background.
I've used some yellows, orange and dark currant coloured inks to create a really dramatic sky. The ink blending itself is of course done with the Life Changing Blender Brushes.
Because I'm a weirdo, I haven't added a sentiment to this card. I have this thing where I don't like covering up my colouring... I can't explain why, I simply don't like it, so I left this as it is. Leaving it free to be a whatever card! Or maybe Happy New Home? That could be something.
That's it from me for today, thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!!
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
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I Love You The Mostest, Ink Blending
by Erica Andersson-Burke on Dec 31 2019
Hi guys!
Do you have a favourite technique that you come back to again and again, or reach for when you feel low on mojo? I absolutely LOVE ink blending myself. I have always loved the look of it but man, did I have to work hard for it before the Life Changing Blender Brushes came into my life...!
Now I get the most incredible blend and smooth results, it's almost hard to think back to a time I found it so difficult. These brushes have spoilt me!
Today I am going to blog a card I have already shown, while I was having some commitment issues with the switch over from the old blog to the new. I was locked out and couldn't get back in, no matter what I tried. But all sorted now, thankfully!
I used a new to me stencil, the 3 1/2" Blending Stencil, for this card but it's not available at the moment. There is a slightly smaller one called 2 1/2" Blending Stencil that can be used in the same way.
First of all I heat embossed 'I Love You The Mostest' in gold embossing powder, directly onto a card base. Then I placed the stencil right over it, so the sentiment was right in the middle of the circle. Using my Life Changing Blender Brushes, I blended Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet and Picked Raspberry in a gradient way.
For those of you good at CAS/Clean And Simple cards, you probably would have stopped at one circle. I on the other hand, am not so good at those kinds of cards so I kept moving the stencil and adding a pattern.
You'd think I would stop there, right? Well.... no, not me. I went ahead and added a generous splattering of gold all over it as well. Since that forced me to stop doing stuff to it while it was drying, I made myself stop there but I was thinking a few sequins or other kind of embellishments might have looked nice. I know, I am a menace... Once I'm on a roll, it's get out of the way or get glitter bombed, basically, lol!
I have had so many lovely comments on this card, and people have pointed out it's easy enough to change up the colours and sentiments to fit all sorts of occasions. Which is all very true. I'd love to see what you would come up with using this as a basic inspiration.
Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you found some inspiration here with me.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica