Let’s Make a Blackout Technique Card

By Anna Escalada York

– For teachers, April and May are PACKED!! At this time of the year, it is hard for me to find the time to make elaborate cards, but I want to still be able to sit down and make a card in one sitting. So I turn to techniques that allow me to create something that are quick and easy but also are something to be proud of. This card features one of my go-tos for a quick but pretty card: the blackout technique. 

Skill: Intermediate 
Time: less than 1 hour 

Directions: 

Step 1: 
Use a paper trimmer to cut a piece of watercolor paper to be 5.5” x 4.25” (the size of an A2-sized card). Then spray one side a floral embossing folder with Rose Gold Shimmer Craft Spray and run the watercolor panel through the die cutting machine sandwiched between the two sides of the embossing folder. You will be using the debossed (indented) side of the embossed panel. Allow to dry. 

Step 2: 
Color the flowers with Tangelo Memento Dual Marker. Color the edges of the leaves and the stems with Teal Zeal Memento Dual Marker. Then watercolor over all parts of the leaves and the stems with Teal Zeal Memento Dual Marker mixed with water. Allow the water to dry and repeat the process a few times to help add depth to the centers of the leaves. 

Step 3: 
Gently run the Rose Bud Memento ink pad across the card. Because the flowers are indented, they will mostly not be colored with the ink, but the flat parts of the card will be. I liked that some of the areas were not colored with the ink but additional passes of the ink pad can give consistent, universal coverage. 

Spray Copper Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray onto a piece of acetate and watercolor smoosh the panel to add a little more sparkle. Lightly brush more of the copper spray on the leaves and allow the whole thing to dry. 

Step 4: 
Stamp the sentiment with Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. Then die cut the sentiment with the corresponding die. Use the die cut to die cut two additional layers of scrap cardstock and glue them behind the sentiment die cut for dimension. 

Glue the sentiment onto the embossed card panel. 

Trim the edges of the embossed card panel and distress the edges with a pair of scissors. Trim a piece of black cardstock a little bit bigger than the pink embossed panel and glue the two layers together. Glue pink and orange sequins on the upper right and lower left corners of the card panel. To finish the card, glue the whole card panel onto a white A2-sized card base. 

Art Supplies 

Imagine 

Memento Dual Markers – Tangelo and Teal Zeal 
Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray – Copper and Rose Gold 
VersaFine Clair Ink – Nocturne 

Other 

Altenew – die set – Magnificent Magnolias 
Altenew – stamp set – Magnificent Magnolias 
Catherine Pooler – sequin mix – Miami 
Simon Says Stamp – embossing folder – Magnificent Mums 
Clear Embossing Powder 
Heat tool 
Glue 
Watercolor paper 
Black watercolor paper 

Watercolored Daffodils Thank You Card

By Anna Escalada York

After winter holidays, my family always needs thank you notes. I really love this wonderful daffodils stamp set and wanted to use it to make one of those cards.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 1.5 hours

Directions:

Step 1:
Stamp the main floral stamp on a piece of watercolor paper with Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink. Heat emboss with clear embossing powder. Then die cut the image with a mid-sized background panel die

Step 2:
Spray Dandelion Fireworks! Craft Spray onto acetate packaging and watercolor smoosh the two flowers.

Step 3:
Color the corona (the central part of the flower) with the Tangerine Fabrico Dual Marker.

Step 4:
Press the Emerald Green Delicata ink pad onto acetate. Then spray Pear Tart Fireworks! Craft Spray onto the same acetate. Mix the ink and spray together. Press the acetate onto the daffodil’s stem and leaf. Then paint the leaf and stem with the remaining green mix. After the image has dried, spray the mix with water to dilute the green. Paint the sides with this lighter color green watercolor. (I ended up using my finger to spread the watercolor the way I wanted, but I don’t mind getting messy!) After this layer dried, press the Emerald Green Delicata ink pad onto the edge of the die cut. Heat emboss the inked edge with more clear embossing powder.

Step 5:
Die cut light green patterned paper with the next-largest die from the background panel die cut set. Brush the Emerald Green Delicata ink around the edges of the panel to mask the pattern and make the green more intense.

Step 6:
Stamp the sentiment with Nocturne VersaFine CLair ink and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. Then trim the sentiment with a paper trimmer.

Step 7:
Trim a piece of the same light green patterned paper a little bit bigger than the sentiment strip with the paper trimmer. Press the edges into the Emerald Green Delicata ink pad and heat emboss with clear embossing powder.

Step 8:
Assemble the card. Glue the two panels together. Glue the sentiment strip onto the light green, slightly bigger strip. Then attach the sentiment strip to the card panel with foam tape. Glue green and yellow sequins around the sentiment and daffodils. To finish the card, glue the whole thing onto an A2-sized white card base.

Art Supplies

Imagine
• Delicata Ink – Emerald Green
• Fireworks! Craft Spray – Dandelion and Pear Tart
• Fabrico Dual Marker Tangerine
• VersaFine Clair ink – Nocturne

Other
• Altenew – foam tape – Instant Dimension Foam Tape
• Catherine Pooler – sequin mix – North Pole
• Simon Says Stamp – die set – Squovals
• Visible Images – stamp set – Golden Daffodils
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Glue
• Green patterned paper
• Watercolor paper
• A2-sized white card base

Stencil-Layering Thanksgiving Card Using VersaFine Clair Inks

By Jessica Lin

Skill: Beginner
Time: 30 minutes
Hi everyone! It’s Jessica here. Have you tried blending inks on kraft colored cardstock before? It’s an easy way to create a new look and I love using this trick for fall and Thanksgiving cards. I’ll be using several VersaFine Clair ink pads for today’s project. Let’s see how these color changes on kraft colored cardstock!

Directions:

Step 1:
Cut a piece of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock to 4’’ x 5 ¼’’. Then ink blend VersaFine Clair Cheerful ink onto Layer 1. The layering stencil set I’m using today is called Abundant Beauty from Stampin’ Up.

Step 2:
Using the same layer of stencil, ink blend the center of the sunflowers with VersaFine Clair Tulip Red ink pad. This is an orangey-red shade on white cardstock, but on kraft cardstock, it has a golden brown undertone.

Step 3:
Then I ink blended VersaFine Clair Sand Dune on Layer 4 of the Abundant Beauty stencils.

Step 4:
For Layer 3, I used VersaFine Clair Acorn. This is a darker brown shade so I ink blended very lightly. You could also use Sand Dune for Layer 3 and Acorn for Layer 4 instead.

Step 5:
The leaves images are on Layer 2. I ink blended with VersaFine Clair Verdant and Rain Forest. Usually I would pick Green Oasis to pair with Verdant. However, the kraft cardbase mutes the color saturation of the ink pad, so Rain Forest brings out the dark green contrast better than Green Oasis on kraft cardstock.

Step 6:
To add a little more texture to this simple card, I embossed the stenciled panel with Stampin’ Up’s Timeworn Type embossing folder. Then I embellished the card with Doodlebug Design’s Sprinkles enamel dots and some gold thread and the card is complete!

Craft Supplies

Imagine Supplies:
● VersaFine Clair – Cheerful, Tulip Red, Sand Dune, Acorn, Verdant, Rain Forest
● StazOn Cleaner
● Tear-It! Tape
● Craft Mat

Other Supplies:
● Stampin’ Up! – Stencils – Abundant Beauty
● Stampin’ Up! – Embossing Folder – Timeworn Type
● Doodlebug Design – Glitter Enamel Dots – Limeade, Bumblebee

Let’s Give Thanks Card

By Anna Escalada York

To me, Thanksgiving is mostly about food but also an excuse to say thank you to those people who are a part of my personal and professional life. So I decided to make a thank you card to let people know that I am grateful for them. I decided to use some paper scraps because I always have too many and to enhance them with sprays or ink to transform them. At first, I was planning on making one card with a lot of leaves, but changed my mind after die cutting the leaves, so ended up making two.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 1.5 hours

Directions:

Step 1:
Pull out some scraps of paper from your stash and a variety of sprays and ink. Spray the scraps with the sprays. My scraps were colored with Cantaloupe, Angel Pink, Dandelion, Lilac Posies, and Tangelo Fireworks! Craft Sprays as well as Peanut Brittle Memento Ink. After the spray dried, die cut the scraps of paper with leaf dies. Reserve some of the sprayed paper for later.

Step 2:
Press Walnut Ink colored Walnut Ink Antiquing Solution as well as Elderberry Memento ink onto acetate packaging. Add water to the different parts of the acetate and splatter the die cut leaves with the Elderberry Memento ink. Then watercolor smoosh the leaves with both the Elderberry Memento ink and the Walnut Ink Antiquing Solution. After the leaves dried, rub the edges of the leaves with the London Fog Memento ink pad. Allow everything to dry again.

Step 3:
Trim a piece of kraft cardstock with a paper trimmer to about 5 x 3.75 inches. Then spray Rose Gold Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray directly into an embossing folder. Place the kraft cardstock panel into the embossing folder and then run the whole thing through a die cutting machine.

Allow the panel to dry.

Step 4:
Use Dark Brown Shimmer Delicata ink to add some color to the panel by brushing the panel lightly across the embossed paper. The raised part of the embossed panel will pick up the dark brown ink, while the other areas will be untouched. Then press the edges with the same Dark Brown Shimmer Delicata ink panel to add color to the border.

Step 5:
I die cut a scrap piece of rose gold glitter cardstock with a stitched circle die as well as the shadow die of a two-layer sentiment die. In addition, I die cut another piece of the lilac (purple) sprayed cardstock from step 1 with the top layer of the two-layer sentiment die. I also die cut two pieces of scrap cardstock with the same sentiment die. The layers of the sentiment die were glued together to give dimension and then they were glued on the rose gold shadow die cut.

Then the card was assembled. I glued three of the leaves onto the glitter cardstock die cut circle and then glued the whole thing onto the embossed panel. Next, the sentiment was glued onto the panel. Sequins were glued onto the panel. Finally, the whole thing was glued onto a kraft cardbase.

A second card was made with the leftover die cut leaves in the same manner. The only changes were that I used a light orange vellum and some more of the sprayed scrap paper from step 1 to create the die cut circular background and the sentiment.

Art Supplies

Imagine

• Delicata Ink – Dark Brown Shimmer
• Fireworks! Shimmer Craft Spray
– Angel Pink, Cantaloupe, Dandelion, Lilac Posies (retired color) and Tangelo

• Memento Ink – Elderberry, London Fog and Peanut Brittle
• Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray – Rose Gold
• Walnut Ink Antiquing Solution – Walnut Ink

Other Products

• Alex Syberia Designs – die set – Large Thanks
• HAI Supply – embellishments – Cola Crystalline gems
• Simon Says Stamp – Embossing folder Modern Loop
• Sizzix – die set – Leaf Fragments by Tim Holtz
• Circular die
• A2-sized kraft card base Clear Embossing Powder Kraft cardstock
• Glitter cardstock
• Light orange sparkly vellum
• Patterned paper scraps and magazine pages
• Die cutting machine
• Paper trimmer Scissors
• Glue

Make a Fall Floral Coffee Cup Card

By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends! Today, we are going to do some watercoloring with Memento markers, stenciling with Memento ink, and stamping with VersaFine ink to make this Fall floral coffee mug card. Let’s gather your supplies, grab a cup of coffee, and get crafting together!

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 15-20 minutes

Direction:

Step 1

Cut out a piece white cardstock into 4″ x 5 1/4″

Put the stencil on top of the cardstock and secure it with some washi tape or removable tape.

Use a blending brush to add the Memento London Fog ink to the cardstock.

Remove the stencil and set aside for the ink to dry.

Step 2

On a piece of watercolor cardstock, stamp all the floral and cup images with the VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

Cut them with their matching die set or you can simply fussy cut them with scissors.

Step 3

There are two ways of watercoloring. The first option is you can do wet on wet technique by lightly wet the area where you want to add the watercolor paint, and then pick up the ink with a water brush and color on the wet watercolor paper. And the second option is called wet on dry technique where you add the watercolor paint directly on the dry watercolor paper. Both ways work well with these Memento Markers.

On this project, I used the wet on wet technique. First, scribble each color of the Memento Marker on the craft mat. Wet the stamped image, pick up the ink with a wet water brush, and then add the color to the image. Dry the watercolored image with a craft heat gun.

Step 4

Cut out a piece of copy paper with the doily die to make paper doily. Add it to the stenciled panel with On Point Glue.

Cut a piece of black cardstock into 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ mat, add the stenciled panel to it with On Point Glue.

Add the whole background panel to the card base with On Point Glue.

Put together the watercolored coffee mug and flower bouquet cluster with On Point Glue.

Step 5

Stamp the sentiment and faux stitch pattern on a piece of white cardstock with VersaFine Onyx Black, and then trim it into a sentiment banner.

Add the floral coffee mug in the middle of the card, on top of the doily with On Point Glue.

Add the sentiment banner on the left top of the card with On Point Glue.

Memento Markers are not only for coloring, but also watercoloring. I had fun making this card with a watercoloring technique using these markers. And I hope this Fall Floral Coffee mug card can perk you up!

Thank you for stopping by our blog today. Have a wonderful day!

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

Others:

Fall Thank You Card Using VersaFine Clair on Dark Cardstock

By Katy Ingram

Hello Friends! Katy here with another quick project. I love trying new things with my inks and embossing folders and in todays video I used my VersaFine Clair with some Brilliance pigment inks in Cosmic Copper and Galaxy Gold and Moonlight White, with a 3D embossing folder.

Video has all the details. Thanks for watching.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 15 minutes

Art Supplies

Imagine Products

VersaFine Clair https://www.imaginecrafts.com/versafine-clair

  • Acorn
  • Cheerful
  • Summertime

Brilliance https://www.imaginecrafts.com/brilliance

  • Galaxy Gold
  • Cosmic Copper
  • Moonlight White

Other Products Used

Affiliate links used at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support
Tim Holtz/Sizzix Acorn 3D Embossing Folder https://ldli.co/e/lmn50p2 
Gina K Dark Chocolate Cardstock https://ldli.co/e/lmn50p2  
Black Cardstock https://ldli.co/e/lmn50p2
Kitchen Sponge https://amzn.to/4f72Ka4
Double Sided Adhesive 5 inch wide https://amzn.to/455H6OS
Double Sided Adhesive 1/2 inch https://amzn.to/4m9cKlc
Matte Gold Cardstock https://amzn.to/4f3H5zn