Watercolor with VersaMagic, Brilliance and Delicata Ink Pads

By Jessica Lin

Skill: Beginner
Time: 45 minutes

Hi everyone! It’s Jessica here and welcome back to another card tutorial. Thanksgiving is coming up and I love to make cards to express my gratitude! Today I’m also watercoloring with various ink pads from the VersaMagic, Brilliance and Delicata ink lines. Let’s begin!

Step 1: Stamp the critter images from The Greeting Farm Wood Friends stamp set with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink. This is my favorite black ink for stamping and it’s perfect for watercoloring.

Step 2: Color the images with VersaMagic inks. I used Gingerbread, Pumpkin Spice and Wheat for the deer, and to add some shimmer and shine, I watercolored a layer of Celestial Copper from the Delicata ink line. For the squirrel, I used Sahara Sand and Jumbo Java as the base color and added Cosmic Copper Brilliance ink as an accent. VersaMagic, Delicata, and Brilliance ink pads are all pigment inks and I love that you can mix and match the colors for maximum creativity. For the final touch, I added small amounts of Pink Grapefruit to create their rosy cheeks.

Step 3: I decided to use Stampin’ Up!’s Mossy Meadow cardstock as the cardbase since it’s a nice foresty color. I also stamped some geometric striped pattern with my VersaMark ink pad. Did you know that you could stamp with VersaMark as well? It’s known for being the best ink for heat embossing, but I also stamp with it quite often to create additional interest to the background.

Step 4: Then I spritzed on a layer of Sheer Shimmer Spray in Sparkle. I wish you could see the shimmer in real life! The photo does not do its justice. The shimmer is just so beautiful and it truly transformed this simple card base.

Step 5: Next, I die cut an oval panel as a frame for the little critters, and I die cut the Grateful sentiment from gold glitter cardstock as well.

Step 6: To make the sentiment stand out a little bit more, I die cut again using white cardstock and layered it underneath the gold one. This creates a subtle shadow effect. The On Point Glue has a fine tip nozzle that makes applying small amounts of glue so easy. If you work with intricate dies all the time, I recommend having this glue in your stash!

Step 7: Finally, I stamped the “For You” stamp in gold as well to complete the sentiment. Initially I picked the Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink pad as it is my go-to gold ink, but I realized that the tone is slightly too warm compared to the gold glitter cardstock I used. So I

re-stamped with Gold Encore ink instead. I have a close-up comparison below as well.

The picture on the top used Brilliance Galaxy Gold and the one below used Encore Gold. Brilliance Galaxy Gold is a really yellow, sunny kind of gold while Encore Gold shows a cooler tone. The finish is different between the two as well! Brilliance ink pads are shimmery and the Encore line is metallic.

Craft Supplies

Imagine Supplies:

Other Supplies:

  • The Greeting Farm – Stamps – Wood Friends
  • Lawn Fawn – Dies – Stitched Oval
  • Stamplorations – Dies – Grateful
  • Stampin’ Up! – Cardstock – Mossy Meadow
  • We R – Tool – Precision Press
  • DCVW – Cardstock – Gold Glitter
  • White and Watercolor cardstock

Make a Thankful Card Using Multiple Stencils

Thankful-13-600

By Alison Heikkila –

I love to use stencils. They’re an inexpensive and simple tool that has a ton of options. For this Thankful card, I used stencils in a few different ways, along with a fun background stamp. You do not need to have the exact items I used to get this effect, so check through your stash to see what you have to recreate this look. Combining these tools along with some of your favorite inks from Imagine, will give you a visually interesting and unique card.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Time: 30-45 Minutes

Directions:

Thankful-1

Step 1:

Tape your background panel of Smooth Bristol Cardstock (4″ x 5 1/4″) to your craft mat. Adhere your stencil on top with washi tape.

Step 2:

Using a Blending Brush, apply Morocco, Tangelo, and Dandelion Memento Inks on to the panel, being sure to blend the colors where they meet.

Thankful-3

Step 3:

After checking the panel to make sure the stenciling is complete, transfer the panel and the stencil to a stamping platform. Adhere the 2 pieces in the middle of the platform temporarily.

Step 4:

Attach your stamp to the platform. We’ll be using this houndstooth background stamp with VersaFine Clair in Pinecone.

Step 5:

After inking up the stamp, press the stamp very firmly. You need to try to get the inked image past the stencil, which has some dimension. Depending on your stencil and the stamp, you may or may not get a complete image. This is fine, either way. It just depends on the look you’re going for. You can see on my example below, that the houndstooth pattern didn’t go from edge to edge on all the leaves, but I like this look.

Thankful-5

Step 6:

Using another stencil with a small design, apply Pear Tart around the foliage. We’re only inking the white spaces with this design. I chose a grid pattern that is easy to line up as I work my way across the card.

Thankful-6

Step 7:

Using the same grid pattern, I inked it up on to a deep pumpkin colored cardstock with Memento ink in Morocco.

Thankful-7

Step 8:

Arrange the sentiment die on top of the stenciled cardstock and die cut.

Step 9:

Repeat the process with brown cardstock

Thankful-9

Step 10:

Adhere the brown outer portion of the die cut to the card panel.

Step 11:

Adhere the stenciled letters into the negative spaces. Don’t forget to add the center of the “a” in brown!

Thankful-10e.

Step 12:

On an A2 sized card base, ink the edges with Pear Tart Memento ink.

Step 13:

Adhere your card panel to the card base.

Thankful-14

Art Supplies:

Imagine:

• Memento Ink in Morocco
• Memento Ink in Tangelo
• Memento Ink in Dandelion
• Memento Ink in Pear Tart
• VersaFine Clair Ink in Pinecone

Other:

• Brutus Monroe: Fall Foliage Stencil
• Simon Says Stamp: Game Day Patterns
• Simon Says Stamp: Bold Thankful Die
• Erin Lee Creative: Houndstooth 6×6 Stamp
• Strathmore Smooth Bristol Cardstock
• Brown and Pumpkin Colored Cardstock
• White A2 Sized Card Base
• Blending Brushes
• Adhesive

How to Use Fireworks Shimmer Sprays to Make Unique ThankFul Cards

by Jowilna Nolte

Today, I am sharing two quick ways of using your Fireworks Shimmery Craft Sprays to create fun and vibrant backgrounds. These spray inks can be used on cards or even in your art journals, decorative tags, and more. The best part is that you won’t be wasting any of that precious inks used and the shimmer on the finished backgrounds is simply gorgeous.

Skill: Beginner
Time: 15 minutes

Directions

Art Supplies

Imagine
Other
  • Enamel dots
  • Stamps Precious Remembrance Shop
  • Acrylic Block or stamping tool
  • Card Base
  • Adhesive
  • Diamante
  • White cardstock