Group of Seven Cardmakers - OMBRE

Hello friends.  Hope the New Year has been off to a good start for all of you and that the busy, busy, busy of the holiday season has slowed down a bit so you can relax and have fun in the craft room again!  Because it's very COLD and snowy here in the midwest, the new challenge over at the Group of Seven Cardmakers caught my eye and made my first Christmas card of 2025!

The group is featuring the OMBRE technique, and I started my card with a ombre background using Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky & Chipped Saphire distress inks.  Once I finished with my ink blending, I added a bit of water splatter and white acrylic paint splatter to give the impression of a snowy sky.   

I used The Greetery's Twinkle Background Die on my snowy background and then added a piece of silver glitter cs behind it, before attaching to a white card base.  I used PTI's Psalm Reflections: July die for my top layer and stamped it with PTI's Reflections: November stamp in black and embossed with clear to make the sentiment shiny and a little more bold.  I added foam tape behind  this layer before attaching to my card panel for a bit of dimension.

 Here's a closer up shot so you can see a bit more of the water and white splatter and the ombre look to the background.  I'm loving the sparkle that shines through too to give the card a bit more of a celebratory look!  This would have been a quick and easy card except for the fact that I dropped the top layer that I had added the foam tape to and of course it ripped the ombre layer when I tried to remove it...grrrrrrrr!  Had to start all over with the ink blending, but hey, accidents happen and I got to spend a bit more time in my happy place, so it was all good!

The DT has some absolutely BEAUTIFUL cards to share with you using the OMBRE technique, and you can check it all out right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Bokeh, Bokeh, Bokeh

Hello friends.  The Group of Seven Cardmakers is using the Bokeh technique this month, and although it's a technique I have done before, it's been awhile and I decided to have a play with it.  The current Peace On Earth Challenge also fit nicely with this technique, where I was inspired by the snowflakes and hues of blue.  I have 2 cards to share with you, since the piece I made was big enough (6x6) to get 2 pieces from.  Here's the first one...

   I started by stamping Hero Arts Hand Drawn Snowflakes Bold Prints background stamp with Versamark ink and white embossing powder, and then blending blue and purple inks over it.  Next I used a Color Box Rounded stencil (it has all different size circles on it) and ink blended again in the blue and purple inks.  Then to achieve the Bokeh look, I used Hero Arts White Unicorn pigment ink with the same stencil...I almost didn't want to cut into this panel as it was so pretty!

There really is more purple on this card than shows in my photos...for some reason it just didn't pick it up very well!  I made a smaller than A2 size card (3 3/4 x 5 1/2) so that I could have enough of the print for my 2nd card.  I cut my piece on an angle, and then added a small strip of silver cardstock, before adding my die cut sentiment (MB - Special Merry Christmas).  I also added a small Impression Obsession snowflake that I die cut in the silver cardstock and placed a small purple gem (PFS) in the center of it for a little bling.  

I made my 2nd card the same size as the 1st card, and embossed the front of the card base with an older Darice snowflake ef.  I used SSS's Holiday Frames and Night of Navy cardstock for the frame and added my small leftover piece of Bokeh to the back of the frame.

I finished once again with a snowflake die cut from the same Impression Obsession set from silver cardstock with another purple gemstone in the center.  Really both very simple cards once the Bokeh background was completed.

And here are both cards together...

If you'd like to play along with the Peace On Earth Challenge, you can check it out right HERE...this challenge is open till Thursday, June 13th @ 8:00PM.  If you've never done the Bokeh technique, check it out HERE...lots of helpful tips and a video from all the gals on the GO7 team.  It's a very easy technique and really makes a WOW impact!  

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Stenciling Over Heat Embossing

Hello friends.  I'm playing along with the gals over at the Group of Seven Cardmakers where they are playing with the Stenciling Over Heat Embossing Technique.  It's been awhile since I've done this technique and had forgotten how fun it is to mix and match background stamps with stencils!  I have 3 cards to share with you, so let's get to it!

My 1st card started with SSS's Holiday Background stamp and white embossing powder, and then using a very light hand I used leftover residual ink from my turquoise blending brush to cover the whole panel.  Next I added Gina K's Stellar Snowflake Stencil over my embossed panel and used a bit heavier hand with the turquoise ink and then added Tranquil Teal ink and Medium Lilac ink (Gina K), starting from the inside of the snowflake and blending out to the edges.  I added a thin strip of Tranquil Teal cs to the left edge of the card and my sentiment is MB's Let it Snow Posh Script die (die cut 4 times and stacked for dimension.  A couple Disco Ball sequins finished off this card.

My 2nd card started with gold embossing using retired SU!'s En Francais background stamp, and then used Impression Obsession's Poinsettia stencil with yellow, red & green inks (all Gina K).  This is a new (to me) 6x6 stencil and I'm loving it...so easy to use!  I did trim off about a third of the bottom and added a piece of white that I embossed with SSS's Holiday Greenery embossing folder with a thin strip of gold mirror cs between the 2 layers.  I used MB's Special Merry Christmas die cut in black for my sentiment.

One of my favorite color combinations is pink & orange, and even though this 3rd card is a rather simple layout, I think it's my favorite of the 3!  I started with SSS's Friendship Text Background stamp and embossed it in white for my background and then used Gina K's Bold Bouquet stencil and lots of masking off to keep the colors separated as I did my ink blending.

This is just a single stencil, so you do have to be careful to keep the colors separate unless you don't mind pink or orange leaves.  I cut it down a bit and added a Passionate Pink panel behind it before attaching both to a white card base, and then added a sentiment strip using a couple small stamps from Gina.  A couple silver dots finished off this sweet birthday card.

There are so many AWESOME cards from this talented group of cardmakers that you can check out right HERE...it is definitely a FUN technique to try and also very addicting!  :0)

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Dry Embossing with Re-inker Water Coloring

Hello friends.  The Group of Seven Cardmakers is a group of 7 friends that get together each month and try a new technique...this month it was Dry Embossing with Re-inker Water Coloring.  Sounds intriguing, doesn't it?!  The cards were absolutely BEAUTIFUL and I really wanted to try it, but there was one drawback for me...using black ink on the inside of your embossing folders!  I basically only use Versafine Black Onyx ink and it stains!  I could care less if it stains my stamps...I just clean it really well and they still stamp beautifully time after time.  After reading Bonnie's post (HERE) and her experience with using permanent black ink on her embossing folders, I almost didn't try this technique!  I tried Bonnie's faux version and came up with this...

It's a nice enough card, but I didn't like it!  I was trying to be too controlling!  I used SSS's Pepperberry embossing folder and dies along with Lindy's Magicals instead of re-inkers, and painted the die cuts and then fit them into the embossing folder with a piece of black cs I had already embossed.  The Magicals have a shimmer to them because of the mica flakes in the powder (you activate it with water and then paint with it), so in real life the shimmer is very pretty, but again, it just wasn't the technique like all the gals had done.  And it bugged me for a few days because I really wanted to try it, but just didn't want to stain my embossing folders and have the ink come off on other cards.  So after mulling it over for a few days, the light bulb went on, and here's 3 cards I came up with...

I stuck with using the Magicals rather than re-inkers and water colored my cardstock with Red Hot Poker Orange and Autumn Maple Crimson from the Autumn Leaves collection.  Once it was dry, I inked up the flat side of TH's Poinsettia 3D EF with SU!'s Basic Gray ink, which is a dark gray and a firm foam pad, so it inked up the flat side of the folder beautifully!  I probably could have inked it up again to achieve an even darker background, but I was so happy with the way it turned out that I didn't want to tempt fate and try to line it up perfectly again!  I matted it with some gold mirror cs and attached to a black card base and then finished with a gold embossed sentiment from C&9th's Festive Flower stamp set.  

This one didn't photograph as well but it really is pretty with the blues (Tibetan Poppy Teal) and greens (Ponderosa Pines Olive) and SSS's Vine Canopy embossing folder.  I used SU!'s Night of Navy ink to ink up the embossing folder for this one, and I did get brave and inked it twice!  The sentiments are from Honey Bee's Bitty Buzzwords stamps and dies.  Once again the shimmer from the Magicals is SO PRETTY!!

For this card I used SSS's Fall Foliage ef and then the Magicals again in Autumn Maple Crimson, Cattail Copper Brown, & Red Hot Poker Orange.  I used SU!'s Blackberry Bliss ink on this one and I really think it might be my favorite!  The shimmer and color on the leaves truly makes me think of the beauty of Autumn and what a master artist God is!  I cut my panel in half (so I could make 2 cards) and attached it to a full panel that was embossed on plain white cardstock...it really makes the colors stand out next to the white!  I added a strip of gold mirror cs between the two for definition and then finished with a foiled sentiment from Spellbinders.

So I went a little rogue and didn't quite follow the instructions exactly, but I am so pleased with the way these cards turned out...LOVE them!  Thanks so much ladies for all your BEAUTIFUL inspiration that got me going...I enjoyed every minute of this FUN technique!! 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Ink Blending On Colored Cardstock

Hello friends.  Just a quick post today after seeing all the BEAUTIFUL cards from the Group of Seven Cardmakers post where they all ink blended on colored cardstock.  They even show a video on how easy it is to achieve this elegant look, and of course I had to try it!

I started with Pretty Peacock (SU!) cardstock and an image from WPlus9 called Beautiful Bouquets: Mums and came up with this...

You are basically heat embossing (a lined image works best) on your colored cardstock (medium to dark colored cardstock shows up best) and then ink blending around the edges.  I used Altenew's Rose Gold embossing powder and embossed my image 3 times, and then started the ink blending with Pretty Peacock ink and then a tiny bit of black ink just around the very edges...you leave the center of your cardstock un-inked.

I did a little splattering next, starting with just plain water, but it didn't show up too well, so I moved on to white ink splattering.  Next I sprayed my panel quite liberally with Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Mist and let me tell you that this card really SPARKLES in real life!  Lastly I added my sentiment (Gina K - Radiant Roses) that was also embossed in the Rose Gold and a few gold sequins.  Easy peasy and done.

Definitely a FUN technique to try, and you can check it all out right HERE.  Thanks ladies...your cards are ALL AWESOME!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!