Ink Blending Class

Altenew Ink Blending Techniques Class

Todays post is on my inspiration from Altenew’s Easy Ink Blending Techniques class. I’m not new to ink blending but still have trouble with dark edges and selecting colors. My go to ink for ink blending is Distress Ink although any ink would do. Using a dye based ink helps if you’d like to do watercolor or water techniques after the blending. For today’s cards I did an emboss resist, ink blending and then added watercolor for extra detail. I was really inspired by this class and made three cards using the Altenew Botanical Garden Stamp Set.

Emboss Resist

On Bristol cardstock, I used Brutus Monroe Alabaster embossing powder and Versa Mark Ink to stamp and emboss images from Altenew’s Botanical Garden Stamp set. These images are outlined images and large so they are great for coloring and watercoloring. I stamped and embossed one image at a time because it’s difficult to see the prior stamp. I then used a variety of Distress Inks to blend over the images.

Distress Inks: Tumbled glass, salty ocean, wilted violet, worn lipstick, spun sugar, wild honey, fossilized amber, old paper and shabby shutters

Distress Inks in spun sugar, worn lipstick and shabby shutters

Distress Inks: Spun Sugar and Festive Berries

Using the same Distress Inks from the original blending to add details using water coloring

Watercolor with DIstress Inks: tumbled glass, spun sugar, worn lipstick, shabby shutters, old paper

Adding watercolor from Distress Inks to add dimension to the flowers: shabby shutters, bundled sage, spun sugar, worn lipstick and festive berries

Watercolor for depth

To add some shading and depth to the images, I watercolored the embossed images with Distress Ink. I sprayed water onto the paper-just a little will be ok as this is Bristol and not watercolor paper. I then squished some of the Distress Inks onto my work surface and picked up the colors with a clean wet brush. I added the ink around the images and made sure to clean off my brush before moving to the next color. I really like how the blending caused an ethereal quality and the targeted watercolor brought a bit of depth to the images.

Putting it all together

After the panels were dry, I trimmed them down and mounted them onto fun foam panels and then added to A2 sized cards. The sentiments were from different Altenew stamp sets and were stamped in Momento Tuxedo black ink and then stamped with Versa Mark and then added clear embossing powder to give the sentiment some shine and dimension.

The panel was cut to 5 1/2" wide and 2 3/4" tall and backed by a piece of pattern paper and then mounted onto metallic card stock. The sentiment is from Altenew + Simon Says Stamp collaboration Dainty Sprig

The panel was cut to 5 7/16" tall 3 11/16" wide and mounted onto a piece of fun foam. A thin strip of washi tape added just the right metallic shine. The sentiment from Altenew + Simon Says Stamp collaboration Fabulous You was black heat embossed onto a piece of 1" wide vellum.

The panel was cut to 4"W by 5"H and mounted onto a piece of fun foam. The sentiment from Altenew + Simon Says Stamp collaboration Fabulous You was stamped with black ink and then clear heat embossed.

I hope these cards inspire you to try out resist inking and then watercoloring. Please let me know in the comments below which card you like the best. Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful and creative day!