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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