I recently found that I had so many crafty ideas and projects I wanted to try, and lots of lovely new products to play with, that my mind was a bit of a scrambled mess and I didn’t know where to start! I was craving something simple, and so I decided to do some nice clean ink-blended cards over heat embossing.

I chose two nice graphic background stamps – the Lined Up Dots background cling by My Favorite Things, and the Fractured Background cling by Simon Says Stamp. I used some Neenah Classic 110lb white cardstock, prepared it using an anti-static powder tool, then stamped the background image on using Versamark embossing ink.

I used clear embossing powder rather than my usual white this time, given the cardstock was a nice bright white anyway. I used my heat tool to melt the embossing powder and then ink blended over the top with distress oxides. For the Paper Hugs card, I used: Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Wilted Violet. For the Thank You card, I used Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio and Mermaid Lagoon (probably my favourite colour ever).

I use blending brushes for my ink blending because I find I get a much smoother transition, and a more even colour application. A little tip is to use some paper towel to lightly wipe the embossed areas after you finish your blending, as it removes any colour from on top of the embossing powder, and brings it back up to a nice bright white again 🙂

For each of the sentiments, I stamped them in Versamark ink onto some black cardstock (this is Concord & 9th I think), then heat embossed in white. The Paper Hug sentiment is from the Stamp Market, and the Thank you sentiments are from CZ Design (I love her simple, graphic designs).

I adhered the sentiments with foam tape for some nice dimension and trimmed down each ink blended panel so that it would leave a nice white space around the edge when mounted on the card base. Finally, I added a few raindrop gems by Little Things by Lucy (another of my favourite embellishments) with liquid glue, and that finished up these cards!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Let me know which card is your favourite!