Altenew Educator Certification Program: Irresistible Inking Techniques

One of the recent Altenew Academy classes that I have taken is called Irresistible Inking Techniques.  Most of the techniques shown in the class are techniques that I’ve used before, but that I haven’t done recently.  It was nice to be reminded of some nice, classic techniques!

My card layout for the day uses this week’s Paper Craft Crew sketch.  I really liked this sketch and it lent itself really well to the inking techniques that I wanted to use today.

I have 4 inking techniques on this card.

To begin with, I created a stencil out of the Altenew Halftones Circle Cover Die and sponged some Dew Drops ink very lightly in the center of the card.  I kept it lighter around the edges of my inking area so that it would look faded.

Then I did clear block stamping.  I actually have an old video on YouTube for this technique.  I used one of my new round clear blocks from Catherine Pooler.  I’ve only ever used square or rectangular blocks for this and I couldn’t wait to use the round one for this technique.

I used the Teal Cave ink and inked up my clear block, then I spritzed it with my distress sprayer and stamped it on the card.  WOW!  That color is spectacular!!!  I love the splotchy effect that I got from spritzing it.  It almost looks like a planet or a moon.

I added a touch more of the ink to my clear block and then grabbed a paint brush dipped in water.  I picked up some of the ink and used my brush to create a few spatters around the circle.

The star is stamped in yellow and is from Atlenew’s Halftone Stars stamp set.  I used the coordinating dies to cut it out.  The sentiment is from the same stamp set.  That is stamped in black on a very thin piece of white card stock.  I absolutely love the sentiments in this stamp set.  It is a perfect encouragement or way to go stamp set.

I die cut the congrats which is also from Altenew using silver glitter paper.  I actually cut out several layers and stacked them to give the script word die some dimension.

For my last inking technique, I ran the edges of the card front around the ink pad in a direct ink to paper technique to create contrast and give the front a little border. That is a nice little touch that I just don’t do often enough.  It gives a tiny bit of contrast and makes that front panel stand out.

I added the entire piece to a card base with foam tape.  The star and the sentiment also have foam tape under them to give the card elements some dimension.

I couldn’t resist adding some silver enamel stars to the card for a little extra sparkle.  You can truly never have enough sparkle.

Here is the stencil that I created for the background:

You can see that I cut the stencil to fit the front of the card.  I used washi tape to hold it down.  This picture shows the area that I colored.  This stencil will slide into the plastic sleeve that I store my cover die in to be used again another day.  Had I done more sponging, perhaps this stencil would make a nice background for another card!

I absolutely love the cover dies that I’ve purchased from Altenew.  I have honestly used them for stencils more than I have as die cut background panels.  They have such a nice variety of cover dies and I’ve only scratched the surface with using them on my cards and scrapbook pages.

Do stop by Paper Craft Crew this week and check out what the rest of the design team has done with the sketch.  Every card is different since every person has put their own little twist on the sketch!

We would love for you to play along with us this week as well!  Give the challenge a try.

This card was fun to create since I played around with a few techniques.  The end result is nothing like I had in mind to start with.  My plan was to make vellum flowers and leaves to add to the inked circle.  Once I saw how “planetary” the circle looked, I realized that this card needed a star!

I hope that you are having a great week!  I appreciate that you took the time to stop by and visit.  I hope you find time to craft today.  Remember to embrace the imperfections!