In Living Colour

Textured Impressions Embossing Folders Have always been popular with papercrafters although most of us don't seem to realise how much creative scope there is at our fingertips and I include myself among that number.

It is only in the last twelve months that I have begun to fully explore the myriad of techniques that one can use to create some truly stunning art.

Below is a very simple card made using a very simple folder (Textured Impressions Embossing Folders 2PK - Blossom, Circles, Leaves & Diamonds 657394), a handful of die ink pads (I've used a brand called Memento, but any die inks will work) and an ink blending tool. I used a pale cream patterned paper from the My Mind's Eye Miss Caroline range.

I embossed the paper using my trusty Big Shot and then I tapped the ink blending tool over the ink pad before carefully rubbing over the flower heads starting with a pale pink shade. I always start with the lighter colours and build them up slowly.

Next I added a pale green shade to the leaves, don't worry too much if the colour overlaps slightly. When the two base colours are in place its time to build up the tones, if you look at leaves carefully you will see lots of blues and yellows too which blend perfectly using transparent die inks.

To complete the card I tore away the base and matted the embossed motif onto the spotty paper, tied a length of twine around the bottom part and attached a stamped sentiment which was cut out using a Framelits circle before mounting it all onto the pink, checquered base card.

This is just one simple technique but it's very effective. And remember, practice makes perfect!