Irresistible Inking the Altenew Way

For my final class in the first stage of the Altenew Educator Certification Program our course instructor, Sara Naumann, was concentrating on the may different methods of using ink to create our cards. I love ink blending, and most often I use this technique to add colour to my cards rather than choosing different coloured card. But what happens if you ink your cards and think it looks a little plain? That’s exactly what this excellent class focused on.

How to Ink Blend a Handmade Card

Generally, cardmakers tend to use ink pads either for stamping with or for blending over the background of a card. And these are both excellent uses for the wide variety of inks there are out there. But it isn’t my favourite technique. I like to use my ink pads to create soft watercolour looks, and this can work especially well if you’re using it over stamped and heat embossed images.

I took a piece of watercolour card by Crafter’s Companion and die cut a rectangle using my stitched inside and outside dies by Sue Wilson. This cardstock is one of my favourites because it’s really thick and hardly warps – perfect for making card front panels. Floral stamps work really well with this inking technique, so I chose the Altenew Poppy Garden Stamp Set which has an absolutely wonderful collection of flowers and individual leaves. It’s a lovely versatile set that works brilliantly for layering and building up a picture.

To start, I took the largest flower and stamped it directly in the middle of my cardstock before heat embossing it with WOW! Embossing Powder Gold Fine. When it was set I used the Poppy Garden Stencil Mask and covered it over so that I could stamp another two poppies. Remember, by stamping over the top of a masked stencil you are actually placing that image ‘behind’ the first one you stamped. I went ahead and used the same layering technique with some of the leaves as well, and then heat embossed all the new stamped images with the same gold powder.

When that was done, I began the faux-watercolouring which is super easy to do. I used a sheet of clean acetate and pressed the blue inks from the Altenew Mini Inks Icy Lake collection directly onto the acetate. When I dropped a little water on them, they became much more liquid and act a lot like paint. I used a mixture of all the colours to paint over the poppies and leaves, using the brighter inks on some and faded ink on others. I ran a heat gun over it to dry it quickly before adding some splatters of the same inks.

As soon as the whole card front was dry it was ready to assemble, and that doesn’t take too long at all – this card is pretty quick to make. 🙂 I used double sided foam tape to adhere the watercolour panel to my side folding 4.25″ x 5.5″ card base to give it dimension. I added some self adhesive white sequins from W R Memory Keepers and finished the card with a sentiment strip stamped with the Sapphire ink cube from the same set.

Isn’t Inking Irresistible?

I love finding out new ways to use the products I already have, and this Irresistible Inking course from Altenew is a fun way to discover new tips and tricks that work well with their inks. But who needs an excuse, right? lol. I love how easily the Altenew inks blend onto card, so I’m going to have to go shopping again for more. What’s your favourite ink blending technique? Why not share some of your cards with me on Instagram!

Fiona x