Banish the winter blues!

It's been so grey and miserable outside lately that I thought I'd brighten things up a little with a cheery card. Oh, and I also wanted to prove to my friend Alison that you CAN team pink and red and get away with it (you may think otherwise, of course).

I coloured the image with blender pens and two ink pads. If you squeeze a closed Stampin' Up! inkpad hard with your thumbs on the lid, when you open it there is a little pool of ink on the inside of the lid. You can use this for watercolouring or for blender pens - never use a paintbrush or blender pen directly on the ink pad!

Blender pens: For those who are unfamiliar with blender pens, they are clear, double-ended markers. You can use them with chalks or with your ink pads. You can then colour in your project in any shade of the ink - if you want a stronger shade, add more ink; if you want a paler shade, use the blender pen on scrap paper to get rid of some ink. Using this method I coloured both the strawberry and the very pale pink drink with the same Real Red ink pad.

"Clean" the blender pen on scrap paper and then you're ready to go again with another colour. It won't look clean but as long as it runs clear on scrap paper, it will be okay. You can also use blender pens with markers - just scribble with your marker on a plastic surface (I use an ink pad lid or the lid of a stamp set box) and take up the ink from there; perfect if you want a paler shade of a marker but don't have the corresponding ink pad.

The greeting says "Cheers to you!" but I only wanted "Cheers" so I masked half of the stamp with a piece of scrap paper while inking it. Remember to remove the scrap before stamping on your project - sounds obvious but... well yes, I found that one out the hard way! You could also ink just part of the stamp with a marker.

Right, enough rambling... here's the recipe:

Stamps: Cheers to You (p35).
Cardstock: Pink Passion, Real Red, Green Galore, Whisper White.
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Green Galore.
Accessories: Blender pens (p81), 1/4" grosgrain ribbon - real red (p86).

(All page numbers refer to the UK Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue 2007-2008) It's been so grey and miserable outside lately that I thought I'd brighten things up a little with a cheery card. Oh, and I also wanted to prove to my friend Alison that you CAN team pink and red and get away with it (you may think otherwise, of course).

I coloured the image with blender pens and two ink pads. If you squeeze a closed Stampin' Up! inkpad hard with your thumbs on the lid, when you open it there is a little pool of ink on the inside of the lid. You can use this for watercolouring or for blender pens - never use a paintbrush or blender pen directly on the ink pad!

Blender pens: For those who are unfamiliar with blender pens, they are clear, double-ended markers. You can use them with chalks or with your ink pads. You can then colour in your project in any shade of the ink - if you want a stronger shade, add more ink; if you want a paler shade, use the blender pen on scrap paper to get rid of some ink. Using this method I coloured both the strawberry and the very pale pink drink with the same Real Red ink pad.

"Clean" the blender pen on scrap paper and then you're ready to go again with another colour. It won't look clean but as long as it runs clear on scrap paper, it will be okay. You can also use blender pens with markers - just scribble with your marker on a plastic surface (I use an ink pad lid or the lid of a stamp set box) and take up the ink from there; perfect if you want a paler shade of a marker but don't have the corresponding ink pad.

The greeting says "Cheers to you!" but I only wanted "Cheers" so I masked half of the stamp with a piece of scrap paper while inking it. Remember to remove the scrap before stamping on your project - sounds obvious but... well yes, I found that one out the hard way! You could also ink just part of the stamp with a marker.

Right, enough rambling... here's the recipe:

Stamps: Cheers to You (p35).
Cardstock: Pink Passion, Real Red, Green Galore, Whisper White.
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Green Galore.
Accessories: Blender pens (p81), 1/4" grosgrain ribbon - real red (p86).

(All page numbers refer to the UK Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalogue 2007-2008)