JAI 354 inspiration challenge - embossed paisley

Friday means time for a new challenge at Just Add Ink, & this week we're using this pretty image as our inspiration.

I was attracted to the purple & yellow colour combination & the beautiful pattern on the teacup, and they inspired me to make this card.

The cup pattern made me think of the Paisleys & Posies stamp set so I went with that, & I'm sure you can also see that I've been brayering again. 😊 Lovelies who came to my last class will also recognise this card is a variation of one we made. I'll share that one another time, as I realised I've forgotten to take pics.

Anyway, back to this card - image placement with shimmery white card & clear versamark ink is a tricky & eye-straining combination for these middle aged eyes, so I stamped each image & covered it in clear embossing powder before stamping the next image. This was a little more time consuming but made it so much easier to make a pleasing pattern with the 6 stamp images I used. Once I'd stamped the whole sheet, I heat embossed to set.

Then, yes, you guessed it, the sponge brayers came out for a play to create the ombre inked background. I used a combination of rich razzleberry & daffodil delight ink, with a dash of elegant eggplant for good measure. And can I tell you how annoyed I was to realise when brayering that I'd smudged one of the stamped images long the way (please don't look for it!), but I had no time to try again. Darn! Anyway, my new motto is 'done is better than perfect' so moving along.

I decided to create an embossed ombre sentiment too, so I brayered another strip of shimmery white, cut out the congrats sentiment (from Sunshine Wishes set) & gave it a really good smoosh in versamark & clear embossed it. I LOVE this look - it's so glossy & has so much more visual weight than just the cardstock.

The whole card is actually really shimmery & glossy but it's really hard to see in the first pic. See if you can see it better in this pic (click it for a bigger view)...

...Or try this one. The colours are much truer in the outside shot, but the shine is better on these.

So, have you tried the smoosh & emboss technique (or whatever you choose to call it). If not, you must as it's so fun. Messy too but so much fun! 

I must go for now as I need to get packed ready to head to Stampin' Up! Onstage event in Sydney tomorrow. So very excited to see what's coming in the next couple of months & really looking forward to hanging with some of my team & catching up with long distance stamping friends.

I will be back soon to start catching up on my backlog of projects to share. Until then, bye for now.

Remember to head over to the Just Add Ink blog to check out all the team's cards & try the challenge yourself.

Inky wishes, Di

SuppliesTo see & order any items used in today's project, just click on the items below to see them in my Online Store. You can order from me if you live anywhere in Australia. I would love to be your Demonstrator if you don't already have one.  Please allow "Demonstrator contact" in your preferences so I can thank you properly when you place your order.
Actual items I used are listed first. Alternative purchase options are listed at the bottom of the supply list.

Print Recipe

Paisleys & Posies Photopolymer Stamp Set $37.00	Sunshine Wishes Thinlits Dies $45.00	Rich Razzleberry A4 Card Stock $14.00	So Saffron A4 Card Stock $14.00	Shimmery White A4 Card Stock $14.00
White Vellum A4 Card Stock $11.50	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad $11.50	Rich Razzlebberry Classic Stampin' Pad $11.50	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad $11.50	Versamark Pad $15.00
Sponge Brayers $14.00	Heat Tool $50.00	Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder $8.75	Embossing Buddy $10.00	Big Shot $159.00
Big Shot Magnetic Platform $70.00	Paisley Framelits Dies $49.00