I’m always looking for shortcuts and quick tips to make crafting quicker and easier. Then when I feel comfortable with a new product or technique I can experiment a bit more. None of us started out being expert or even good at something, we all had to start somewhere. So for those of you intimidated by all those amazing alcohol marker coloured images, this ones for you. With four sets of Stampin’ Blends and a pretty floral image I came up with this birthday card. No real blending required.

BLENDS AND SCRIBBLES

I began by stamping the large floral image from the Fancy Phrases Stamp Set onto Whisper White Card. Although I could have chosen any of the 50 Classic Stampin’ ink colours from Stampin’ Up!, I decided to use Memento Tuxedo Black ink instead.

I stamped the whole image in the middle at the bottom of a layer of Whisper White Card. Next, after reinking the image I stamped it across the bottom left corner of a second layer of Whisper White Card. Then after reinking again, I stamped it across the bottom left corner on the front of a Whisper White Medium Envelope.

With all the stamping done I was ready to start colouring with my Stampin’ Blends.

First using light Daffodil Delight I coloured all of the two largest flowers on the three stamped images. Then with the light Flirty Flamingo Stampin’ Blends I coloured all the smaller flowers. For the leaves I used the light Just Jade Stampin’ Blends marker.

Then I changed to the dark marker in each combo. This time all I did was colour over the scribble shaded area of each part of the images. Then I went back to the lighter markers and coloured over the whole of each section of the images again.

While I liked the result the flowers still looked a little ‘flat’. So I pulled out the light Balmy Blue Stampin’ Blends marker. I coloured a small ragged ‘border’ around each of the images and the difference was amazing.

SIMPLE LAYERS

At this point I realised that I hadn’t added a sentiment so I went back to the Fancy Phrases Stamp Set. Using Just Jade ink I stamped “happy birthday” on the layer with the complete floral image. Now I was ready to start putting together my project.

Using my Paper Trimmer I cut and scored a piece of Daffodil Delight Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create a card base.

Next, to add some interest I cut a piece of Just Jade Card and using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed it to the card base against the folded edge. Then I glued the sentiment layer on top. With that done I added a few Pearl Basic Jewels around the image.

Finally I glued the second Whisper White layer on the inside of the card base and my project was complete.

These images really were easy to colour. Instead of worrying where the darker colour should go I simply used the scribbled shading provided by the stamp designer. I’ll certainly be looking for more hints like that on my other stamps.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Fancy Phrases Stamp Set in a bundle with the Fancy Tag Topper Punch (used on my project yesterday). This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included a link to the bundle in case you want to explore that option.