Happy Friday! For this week's Design Team Tips post I'm sharing a fun but simple way to use your ink refills (besides re-inking your ink pads).
Before I get to how I created the ink sprays I thought I would share my card with you. I got notification that Gran's Garden was back in stock and I actually clapped with happiness! This set ranks up there with my all time favorite flower sets!
After stenciling the background, I die cut it using the Shape Shifters: Oval 1 die set (which is also back in stock YAY). The sentiment is from the Penned Elegance stamp set. I embossed it using black detail embossing powder so that it would stand out a bit more against the stenciled background.
Behind the focal layer, I layered a piece of heavyweight vellum over Bitty Big: Harvest Gold paper (to soften it a bit). I also added some white burlap type trim for some added texture.
To create the ink sprays, I took three empty spray bottles. A little note about these bottles. I personally like to choose ones that create a fine spray, like a mist. It's easier to control the ink that way. I linked the bottles I used at the end of this post.
I typically only mix a small amount of spray at a time. I started out with distilled water (a bit more than what is shown in the Raspberry Fizz bottle). I added about 40 drops of ink. I know, that sounds like a crazy amount right? Well, one tip that I discovered is that even though the ink in the bottle looks crazy dark it actually looks a lot lighter once sprayed. The fun part about this is that you can customize it according to your tastes!
To create the background on my card above I started by taping down my stencil. I like to use a large artist's board to secure my watercolor paper to. I purchased it at my local hardware store in a large sheet and had my hubby cut it down to a few different sizes for me.
I sprayed on the ink, starting with the lightest color first. When working with ink sprays you will notice that some ink seeps underneath the stencil. This is totally expected and in my opinion adds to the watercolor wash look of the sprays. I used a paper towel to carefully lift up some of the pools of liquid along the edges of the stencil. You can either let the ink dry and then remove the stencil or like me you can carefully lift the stencil right away because waiting patiently is for the birds! Ha! To facilitate the speedy drying process I used my heat tool after I removed the stencil.
Here are a few more backgrounds I created while I had all of my materials out. The bottom two were created by directly spraying the ink spray on the paper without stencils. I think these would be fun to stamp a background stamp on, like the Cover Up stamps or repeatedly stamping an image to create your own background. The top one I created using one of the Modern Background stencils.
Thanks so much for joining me here today!
~Laurie
