Hello Crafters.
I saw a video on YouTube yesterday by Tina Zinck – known as the Serene Stamper – featuring the embossed tone on tone technique. Her cards were stunning and I just had to CASE her idea! As you know I’m not much of a colourer and refer to my methods as “quick and dirty”. Tina was very patient and used three colours that blended in well with each other on her Coastal Cabana card, whereas I used one colour! I’m thrilled with how both my cards turned out.
I’m sharing two cards today that are almost the same. The first card I made I created my image directly onto my top layer, whereas for my second card I die-cut my image so I could dry emboss my top layer because I felt the first card was lacking something! The dry-embossing made a huge difference between the two cards even though there isn’t any significant difference between the quality of my colouring! 
I started by stamping the image using Versamark and dipping it in Whisper White Embossing Powder. Even after having been heat-embossing for about ten years, it still never fails to amaze me! I love watching the powder turning shiny – I’m totally fascinated! To colour the flowers and the leaves I used the Coastal Cabana Ink together with a Blender Pen.
My quick method of getting the shading is by dipping the brush tip of the Blender Pen onto the ink pad, and then painting a very short area in the centre of the flower or leaf I’m working on, and then work to the outside edge, by which time the ink is reduced to a much lighter colour. I dip the brush in the ink pad and repeat the process, making sure I work on a very small area each time.
By the time I’ve finished colouring all the flowers and leaves, I find the paint at the beginning has started drying. At this time it’s easy to see how much shading I have achieved, or not, as the case may be! I check over each flower and leaf to make sure I’m happy with the effect I have achieved. Any areas I’m not happy with usually tend to be those in the centre of the flowers, and find they aren’t dark enough, which is easily remedied!
The HAPPY BIRTHDAY sentiment is from the Peaceful Moments Stamp Set and has also been heat embossed in Whisper White Embossing Powder. I started both cards with a card base of Coastal Cabana Cardstock (CS), then a layer of Whisper White CS and a top layer of Coastal Cabana CS. On the second card, I embossed the top layer using the Subtle Dynamic Embossing Folder.
n you look at the photograph of the two greeting cards together, it’s amazing what a different embossing the top layer makes. I was very tempted to dry-emboss the top layer of my first card but I didn’t want to take a chance on spoiling the heat-embossing! It is an experiment I will carry out one day because I really want to know the answer! At a guess, I don’t think it’ll work; I think the embossing will split/break! Have you ever tried dry-embossing heat-embossing?
I added a layer of Whisper White CS inside the card, but before I adhered the top layer of Coastal Cabana, I heat-embossed a top section of the top of the blossom image in the bottom right-hand corner. When I had finished colouring the image, I adhered the layer in position. As I said earlier, I’m really pleased with how my cards turned out. Many thanks to Tina Zinck AKA the Serene Stamper for her tutorial!
When I send one of these cards to someone, I’d write my greeting inside using a white gel pen – the ones I buy are by GellyRoll. That’s about it from me today. I hope you have a fabulous Friday and I look forward to being back with you tomorrow. In the meantime, happy crafting!
JanB. xx
Cardstock Layer Sizes: Europe & South Pacific (A4) Card base 8¼” x 5¾” scored and folded at 4 1/8” First layer: 2 pieces 3 7/8” x 5½” Top layer: 2 pieces 3¾” x 5 3/8”
Cardstock Layer Sizes: North America (Letter-size) Card base 8½” x 5½” scored and folded at 4¼” First layer: 2 pieces 4” x 5¼” Top layer: 2 pieces 3 7/8” x 5 1/8”
Products used for this project: please click on any of the links to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. The Hostess Code for January 2020 is NCFPAHXQ. Thank you. xx
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Jan, I have to admit the dry embossed card is my favourite. Now I have a question about the colouring – when using the blender pen, did you dip it into the lid after squeezing the stamp pad or did you dip the pen directly onto the ink pad itself. Hope you understand where/what I am asking. Colouring is my next thing to tackle! XX Mal
Yes, Blender Pen straight onto ink pad. Sunday’s video will show you colouring a stamp with a Stampin’ Write Marker rather thank using an ink pad. I also show how to mask a stamp if you don’t want to stamp the whole image! You’ll love these techniques! xx
Thanks Jan for your continuing advice and support. I will look forward to Sunday (Australia Day and the day three (3) years ago, I was adopted by Maddi my Border Terrier). XX M
Well, I myself, love both of the cards Jan. I love the Coastal Cabana color. Very elegant. TYFS
Many thanks, Claire. xx