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Monochromatic Early Espresso – Sepia Technique

Today I shared a card on my Instagram feed for the Crafty Collaborations Monochromatic Insta Hop. We are featuring one of our long-standing neutral colours – Early Espresso. When I saw this week’s colour I immediately knew I was going to share a card using the Sepia technique.

WHAT IS SEPIA TONE?

Sepia is a term generally used in photography where photos are edited/printed in brown, tan and reddish tones. It’s a black and white photo with some warmth added to it. There is a lot more of a technical aspect with the photography side (I’m not a photographer) but this is the basic colour explanation to an amateur such as myself.

I remember my parents’ wedding photo from 62 years ago had a sepia tone. It was not black and white but brown and white. With my card today, I wanted to create the Sepia look using Early Espresso ink. I’ve used the Magnolia Mood bundle from our Online Exclusives range and right now it’s on sale until 30th June for $85.50 (regular price $96.25).

HOW TO CREATE THE FOCAL IMAGE

  • Spritz a sheet of Fluid 100 Cardstock with water
  • Using a Water Painter, paint Early Espresso over the entire piece using the ink refill and lots of water. You want to create a wash over the Cardstock.
  • Leave to dry or use a Heat Tool to dry it well.
  • Stamp the magnolia image with Jet Black Stazon ink
  • Using Early Espresso ink refill and a Water Painter, watercolour the image with a fairly dry brush. This will give you more control over the application of the colour, allowing you to apply dark and light shading.
  • Add a small amount of Pecan Pie in sections to highlight. I did this where I thought the sunlight would hit the image.
  • Allow image to dry completely
  • Add shading with Early Espresso and Basic Black Watercolor Pencils, creating some shadow on the petals and leaves.
  • Once dry, I added some veins on the leaves with a White gel pen.
  • Die cut some additional leaves from Fluid 100 Cardstock (to add behind the main image)
  • Roughly apply Pecan Pie ink refill with a Water Painter. This will give some white space which adds to the texture.

The Embossing Folder I’ve used on the background is called Birch Wood and will be available in our September – December Mini Catalogue. As a demonstrator, I’ve had the opportunity to purchase this and some other products early as part of an Online Event we have coming up. I just had to use it on this card as it looked so pretty with it.

I hope you give this technique a try. It’s a lot of fun and really gives great results. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. Want to purchase any of these products? Just click on any of the images below and you will be taken to my Online Store where you can make your purchase or alternately contact me to place your order.

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Monochromatic Poppy Parade – Embossing with Stencils

Welcome to the weekend friend, Today I have a clean and elegant card using a rather bright colour for our Monochromatic Insta Hop challenge. This week’s featured colour is Poppy Parade. With the colour being so bright I went with adding it in small doses – so to speak.

I created a frame and added a panel of Basic White Cardstock which had been embossed in the centre with a mask from the Foursquare Decorative Masks.

HOW TO DRY EMBOSS WITH A MASK/STENCIL

I’d seen a fun technique and though I’d give it a try for this card. Have you every tried dry embossing with your Masks or Stencils? It’s so easy to do.

Use the same sandwich you would do like you would do for die cutting. You may need to add a shim depending on the calibration of your machine ie: if it doesn’t feel like there’s enough resistance to apply the image of the mask onto the paper.

I die cut a small section with the Elegant Borders dies and added to the bottom of the card for a decorative border. Another one of the border dies was used to blend through to create the little pattern on the butterflies.

The sprig was die cut 3 times from White Cardstock and layered together to add depth as well as making it more stable. I added the Linen Thread and the Cork embellishments to help create a more natural look and thereby toning down the Poppy Parade. The simplicity of this card made it fitting for a Thinking of You sentiment working well with the minimal colours.

I hope you try out embossing with your stencils to see what fun backgrounds you will create.

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Purchase a Starter Kit for $169 and choose $235 of product shipped free to you.

SHOP WITH ME

Shop in Australia with me Online or by contacting me

Rochelle Ph: 0404 255 001 or email: rochelle@stampingflair.com

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION GIFTS

All orders receive a handmade Thank You card and a gift from me. Orders over $75 will qualify for the Crafty Collaborations Tutorial bundle and orders over $90 will also receive the Create with Us Tutorial Bundle.

Please use Host Code for all orders under $250. If your order is over $250 then don’t use the Host Code as you will get your own Stampin’ Rewards.

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Sketchtember Challenge – Day 13 Good Feelings

It’s day 13 of my Sketchtember Challenge where I’m celebrating my birthday month with my favourite type of challenge – sketches!

My card has been inspired by this photo challenge at Just Add Ink Challenges JAI620. I loved the background on this photo and wanted to replicate the lighter look in the centre getting darker towards the outer edges. When I saw the photo I immediately thought ‘sunflowers’ (it was obviously my bad eyesight!) but I went with it because of the bright yellows.

The photo background had a blended look and I created that on the Cardstock by using Belnding Brushes and adding Tahitian Tide and Starry Sky ink onto Tahitian Tide Cardstock. Then I added Starry Sky through a mask to resemble the faint pattern you can see at the base of the inspiration photo.

I received the Good Feelings stamp set in a Swag Box during a Stampin’ Up! online event and hadn’t used it until this card. I chose one of the larger images to use for the focal point of my sketch. The sentiment was heat embossed in White and then I blended over it with Tahitian Tide which brought out the sentiment.

The sunflower was coloured with Stampin’ Blends and fussy cut to resemble the yellow flowers in the inspiration photo.

You could try out this card sketch and swap out the sentiment panel for some DSP or a stamped image and add a sentiment in place of the flower. I love the many ways you can interpret sketches and inspiration photos and get creative.

Sketchtember Challenge, Artistic Mix Decorative Masks 2022, Day 13, Celebrate Sunflowers, Good Feelings, Stampin' Up!, SU, Card sketch, card layout

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