Tuesday Tips - Emerging Color Technique

Have you tried the emerging color technique on a card?  This technique was done at a recent stamp camp, and it thrilled the ladies who tried it!  If you were there, no doubt that you remember it well.  Today's card uses that same technique.

A Brocade Blue classic inkpad and a Versamark Inkpad are the only inkpads used for this card.  For the floral card element on the right side of the card, I stamped large flowers in Brocade Blue classic ink onto a River Rock-patterned dsp (retired dsp packet called Apple Cider).  I added River Rock brads in the center of the flowers and layered the piece onto River Rock cs.

For the flower element on the left side of the card, I stamped the same flower onto Very Vanilla cs & punched it out with a circle punch.  I sponged River Rock ink into the flower's center.  Then, I punched 5-petal flowers from River Rock cs with the 5-Petal Flower Punch & arranged the punched flowers underneath the punched circle. 

I stamped  the greeting in Brocade Blue classic ink onto River Rock cs.  The two floral focal point elements are adhered with dimensionals to the card.

The blue background on the card is the element where I used the "emerging color" stamping technique.   Below I have explained what I did for this particular background.

EMERGING COLOR TECHNIQUE FOR THIS CARD:

1.  Notice that the background looks primarily Brocade Blue, though you can see some River Rock and Very Vanilla patterned flowers peeking through.  I began this technique with a piece of designer series paper cut slightly smaller than the card front.  This is the base on which to work the technique.  The dsp here is called Apple Cider (retired) - the pattern is actually a Very Vanilla background with River Rock flowers.  That Very Vanilla/River Rock colored design is what showed through ("emerged") when I was done with all the steps.   

2.  I stamped my large flower image several times in Versamark ink directly onto the dsp.  I find this technique looks best when the base layer pattern is a smaller design than the stamp image size.  For instance, on this card the Apple Cider dsp's pattern consists of small River Rock flowers and the flower image on the stamp I chose to use for Versamarking covers a larger area.

3.  Next, I sprinkled the VM images with clear embossing powder & heat embossed with a heat tool.

4.  Using a brayer inked on a Classic Brocade Blue inkpad,  I repeatedly rolled the brayer over that entire piece of dsp until there was a uniform color.  After braying, the entire piece of dsp should look nearly solid blue.

5.  Now, with a paper towel, I wiped off the ink on the dsp.  The Versamarked images resist the blue ink, so the blue ink that was brayered atop Versamark embossed areas are easily wiped away, allowing the pattern underneath those see-through Versamarked big flowers to show up again!  So, colors underneath “emerge” - that's how this technique get's its name - "Emerging Color Technique"!

This technique is sure to WOW anybody & is fun to try!  I hope you give it a whirl & let me know how beautiful your card looks!   Have fun!

Linda