You Make Me Smile

Hello there, I hope you’re having a lovely day!

Today I’m sharing a straightforward card that uses one emboss resist, my favorite technique for creating easy backgrounds.  This is my go-to technique when my mojo is lagging and I just want to play with colors without having to strain my brain too much 🙂

I started by using VersaMark ink and Hero Arts white embossing powder to heat emboss the Simon Says Stamp Deco Diamonds background stamp onto an A2-sized piece of Canson XL Watercolor paper.

I used painters tape to secure the panel to my work surface and then used a flat brush to add clean clear water over the panel.  I got it nice and wet and then tapped on Blue Blitz and Violet Brocade Nuvo Shimmer Powders.  Using a round 8 paint brush, I gently moved the powders around to fill in any uncovered areas.  I didn’t make wide sweeping motions because I wanted to keep the color variations, rather than end up with an even purple background.

While the panel was drying, I used the Simon Says Stamp You die to create three die cuts out of white 110# Recollections card stock.  I stacked and adhered the die cuts together.

Then I heat embossed the “make me smile” sentiment onto a strip of black #110 Recollections cardstock and backed it with foam tape.

When the background was dry, I trimmed it to 4″ x 5.25″ and adhered it to an A2-sized card base. Then I added glue to the back of the die cut and adhered that to the background, weighing it down with an acrylic block until it was secure.  Finally, I adhered the sentiment strip.

Thank you very much for coming by!