Irresistible Inking Techniques - AECP Level 1

Happy Tuesday!  Today, I finished my AECP project for Irresistible Inking Techniques.  This was a really fun course, that took me back to my early card making days.  I was familiar with most of the techniques that we covered, yet find I rarely use them.  I have to admit that I really enjoyed going back to basics and re-learning these techniques.

For my card, I combined the techniques from Lesson Two - Painting with Inkpads and Lesson Four - Brayers and Inkpads.  I seriously can’t remember the last time I used a brayer!  

To start, I smooshed my Altenew Midnight Violet Ink pad on my crafting mat and spritzed it with water.  I picked up the ink with my brayer and rolled it onto a panel of white card stock.  I also applied the same ink to the edges of my panel to make it stand out and set it aside to dry. 

Next, using a smaller white panel, I added Lavender Fields ink directly from the ink pad to my card stock and again added the Midnight Violet ink to the edges of the panel then set it aside to dry.  

I then took a smaller panel of white card stock and stamped the rose bud  from the Inked Bud stamp set in Versamark ink.  I also stamped the sentiment with Versamark on a scrap of white.  I heat embossed them in gold. 

I smooshed some Lavender Fields, Midnight Violet and Bamboo ink onto my craft mat and spritzed the ink with water.  Using a wet brush, I painted my embossed image starting with the lightest color to the darkest. Once I was happy with the watercoloring, I added Midnight Violet to the edges of the two embossed panels.

To assemble my card, I wrapped Altenew Metallic Thread - Enchanted Gold - around my brayered panel several times and then adhered it to my card base.  I then attached my embossed and watercolored panel to the lavender panel and adhered it to the card.  I used foam squares to pop the sentiment up on the card front and attached a wispy bow to finish it off. 

To be honest, I had a hard time visualizing how this would come together, but I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Key Learnings:

• The type of card stock used when using a brayer factors heavily in how vibrant the color turns out, as does the amount of water added to the ink.
• The combination of bold and soft colors really does work well. 
• A little bit of ink applied directly to the edges of the card stock panels helps them stand out and can eliminate the need for a colored panel. 

Products Used;

• Recollections 110# White Card Stock
• Stampin’ Up Whisper White Card Stock
• Altenew Inked Bud Stamp Set
• Altenew Crisp Dye Ink:  Midnight Violet, Lavender Fields, Bamboo
• Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
• Brayer
• Stampin’ Up Gold Embossing Powder
• Altenew Metallic Thread:  Enchanted Gold

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Happy stamping!