It’s no secret that I love ink blending…almost every card I make has anywhere from a little ink around the edges to a full-blown inked background panel. I collect different blending tools and smooth cardstocks like my cat collects toy mice. So today’s card features some of my favorite inking techniques to create this peaceful tropical scene.
INK BLENDED BACKGROUND PANEL
- Trim a piece of white cardstock to 4.25″ x 5.5″.
- Die cut a piece of masking paper slightly larger than your cardstock panel with one of the Stitched Hills dies about a quarter of the way up from the bottom to form two masks (one measuring about 4″ x 6″ and one measuring about 1″ x 6″).
- Cover the top three-quarters of the white cardstock with the larger mask, angling the hills how you would like the sandy beach to look. Apply Mocha Ink (Color Fuse Set #3) to the cardstock using a blending brush. (Although ink may get through the mask where the stitching holes are, it won’t be very noticeable because the ink color and blending technique results in a very light application.)
- Press Mocha and Caramel ink cubes onto a non-porous surface and add a bit of water to each. Pick up the color with a paint brush or waterbrush and flick it over the ink blended area to create the look of grains of sand. (I also added flecks of Chill and Silver ink from Color Fuse Set #12 for more variation after taking this photo.)
- Remove the mask and set aside to dry a bit.
- Cover the sandy beach with the smaller die-cut mask and then add another piece of masking paper straight across the panel about a third of the way up from the bottom to cover the top of the panel.
- Blend Beachside and Whisper inks (Color Fuse Set #9) between the masks with a blending brush, concentrating the darker shade towards the bottom.
- Remove the masks. Spritz the small bud shadow layer stamp from the Summer Bloom stamp set with a mist of water and stamp in the ink blended ocean to create a few subtle waves.
- Mask off all of the previously inked areas with a piece of scrap paper or more masking paper.
- Blend Sonata, Sierra, Serene, and Sapphire inks (Color Fuse Set #8) to the upper two thirds of the cardstock with a blending brush, concentrating the darker shades toward the top of the panel.
- Stamp the sentiment from the Under the Sea stamp set in the upper right corner of the panel in Versamark Ink, cover it with white embossing powder, and melt it with a heat tool.
- Die cut the panel with the largest die from the Nested Deckle Rectangle Dies set.
I love the beautiful floral stamps in the Summer Blooms stamp set, but couldn’t help seeing the image of a palm tree in the gorgeous stem of the larger bloom. Since the stems are layered with tons of detail too, I figured they could stand pretty well on their own and decided to try to some fun trees. Spoiler alert: I love how they turned out!
CREATING THE PAINTERLY PALM TREES
- Using partial inking, we’re going to select the parts of the image we want stamped and also choose the colors. Ink cubes like the Color Fuse Inks are perfect for this technique because they are small enough to get into little nooks and crannies of stamps.
- Starting with the least-detailed layer of the larger stem in the Summer Blooms stamp set, ink the top of the stamp with Moss Ink (Color Fuse Set #10) and the bottom with Mocha Ink (Color Fuse Ink Set #3) as shown.
- Wipe away the green ink on the bulb portion of the stamp with a baby wipe or shammy and then stamp your layer onto white cardstock.
- Repeat this process with the second layer of the stem, using Clover and Caramel Inks. Remember to wipe away the green ink on the very top bulb portion of the stamp.
- Stamp the last layer of the stem using Basil and Cinnamon Inks.
- Fussy-cut the trees out with scissors, trimming some of the stem or palm fronds on one tree to make it look smaller and slightly different from the other.
CARD ASSEMBLY
- Adhere the ink blended background panel to a top-folding A2-sized white card base using foam adhesive.
- Arrange the palm trees on the left side of the card front and adhere down with foam adhesive, using a single layer for the first tree, and a double layer for the larger tree on top.
I hope you enjoyed this peaceful tropical scene card and thanks so much for stopping by today. Be sure to check out Rubbernecker Stamps on Instagram or visit their Facebook Fan Group for tons of inspiration!
Supplies Used:
Note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that I receive a small commission if you purchase a product through some of the links in this post or below at no additional cost to you. Thank you for helping to support this blog!
 Summer Bloom Stamp Set Shop at: RN |
 Under the Sea Stamp Set Shop at: RN |
 Nested Deckle Rectangle Dies Shop at: RN |
 Stitched Hills Dies Shop at: RN |
 Color Fuse Set #3 Shop at: RN |
 Color Fuse Set #12 Shop at: RN |
 Color Fuse Set #9 Shop at: RN |
 Color Fuse Set #8 Shop at: RN |
 Color Fuse Set #10 Shop at: RN |
 Color Fuse Inks Shop at: RN |
 Masking Paper Shop at: SB |
 Versamark Ink Shop at: SB |
 White Detail Embossing Powder Shop at: SB | HA |
 Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Shop at: SB | CCS |
 Picket Fence Life Changing Brushes – 4pc Shop at: SB | SBP |
 Domed Foam Blending Tools Shop at: SB |
 Cutterbee Scissors Shop at: SB | SBP |
 ATG Tape Runner Shop at: SB |
 Foam Squares Shop at: SB |
 Zig Two-Way Glue Pen Shop at: SB | SBP |
 Fine Detailer Waterbrush Shop at: SB | SBP |