A Pigmented Pear

Morning!

Well the good news is that you've almost made it through the week.  You're practically in the home stretch! If you're anything like me, you're looking forward to some much deserved crafty time this weekend after a work week of hustle bustle.  Make sure you take time for that break - you deserve it!

For today's card, I decided to try a fun technique that I came across on Jennifer McGuire's blog.  The greatest part about this technique is it uses supplies you probably already have! Or if not, you probably have something that you can use to get a similar look.  I decided to stay on a fruit theme - in keeping with the tutorial - but as I didn't have any black embossing powder, I went ahead and embossed my pear in gold.

I stamped and embossed my image twice - once on some scrap paper to cut out and then again on my card face. I then used one of my dies to emboss a stitched border around my pear.  Funnily enough, I've discovered that a mouse pad can be substituted for an embossing mat in my Big Kick! This has opened up a whole new world for me and I'm so excited to play more with this new technique.  Because all mouse pads differ, be careful if you attempt to try this.  I used my Big Kick at the lowest plate and placed my die face up on my cutting plate.  Then I layered my paper, my doubled up mouse pad and my top cutting plate and ran it through.  Voila!  A double-stitched embossed border.

Coming back to the card, I created the blending on my pear by using my Dauber Duos and my finger!  I simply took my yellow ink and rubbed it where I wanted that highlight.  I then did the same with my red, blending the two to create a softer colour.  Then I went in with a vibrant green and pulled the colour in from the sides before doing a slight blend where all three colours met.  I did find that the green overtook the other colours a bit so I just added a bit more yellow to the highlight - no harm no foul!  

Now because pigment ink takes a looong time to dry and because of the time I spent blending this together, I decided I wanted to use the clear embossing technique that Jennifer McGuire used; however, I don't have any clear embossing powder (guess I had better add that to my list..).  What I did have is a Kaleidoscope powder which is clear with a bit of a rainbow sheen to it.  Since there is so much colour in this pear, I decided to give it a chance and I just love how it came out.

Once I had my pear all prepared, I fussy cut around it and then adhered it with some foam tape overtop of my naked embossed pear.  I curled out the leaf on top to add a bit more dimension and mounted my white panel onto a kraft card stock base.

So there you have it.  Clean and simple, yet colourful and shiny and full of new techniques with products I already owned.  Love it!  I definitely think this is a technique you should try.  Who knew one could blend so well with your finger! 

This card is being entered into the following Challenges:

• Virginia's View Challenge - All Things Embossed

Please click the link above to learn more about this challenge and the wonderful folks who run it!


Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now I'm off to sip my morning tea before heading off to my day job.  Wishing you all a fantastic end to your week.

Sending love and hugs until next time,