Nature's Harvest with bolder color

Nature’s Harvest using Stampin’ Blends on Crumb Cake

I LOVE using the Stampin’ Blends to color almost everything! I did run into a bump in the road however, when I tried coloring on Crumb Cake cardstock. I usually find myself coloring on Basic White or Very Vanilla but for this card I really wanted to use a slightly darker color of cardstock. But, when I tried to color on the Crumb Cake card stock the color seemed to disappear It just seemed soaked into the paper leaving only a faint hint of color on the top.

The image on the left shows the muted colors that I originally got coloring on the Crumb Cake cardstock. The image on the right shows how I was able to achieve the bolder look I was after.

I was determined to find a way to get the bolder colors that I was looking for. So, I experimented around. My first experiment was to use the watercolor pencils instead. They too didn’t really give the richer colors I was looking for. But, I went a step further and applied the Stampin’ Blends over the base coat of color that I had from just the watercolor pencils.

My experiment had worked! I felt like a mad scientist who had just stumbled on the correct concoction. (well, maybe not quite – at least on the mad scientist part.) The real key is not just starting with the watercolor pencils but being sure to use the blender pen after you color with the pencils. Somehow the blender pen is the star of the show and leaves you with a “basecoat” which keeps the Stampin’ Blends from soaking completely through.

I also worked fairly quickly when doing both of these layers and that may play a part in the success. There may need to be some further experimentation to see if speed truly does impact the effectiveness. Feel free to experiment at you house as see what works the best. Now, although I enjoyed Biology in school, Chemistry was not my forte. So, you’ll have to conduct your own experiments and maybe even come up with a hypothesis as to why my technique was affective, scientifically.

So, if you prefer the bolder color that can be achieved with a “basecoat” to prepare it to better receive the alcohol ink, then I hope you’ll give it a try. It may seem to be double the work, but you don’t really have to spend much time on the water coloring part. Here is a link to the video to show the process in action.

Here are the measurements and details for this card:

Evening Evergreen cardstock cut at 8 1/2 x 5 /12 then scored at 4 1/4, Soft Succulent cardstock cut at 5 1/8 x 3 7/8 then run through the Stamp Cut and Emboss machine in the Timeworn Type 3D embossing folder. A strip of Soft Suede cut at 3/4 x 5 1/8.. I used Soft Suede ink to stamp on and “off” on the strip to create the modeled pattern using the “splatter” pattern stamp from the Nature’s Harvest stamp set. The flowers were stamped in Soft Suede onto Crumb Cake cardstock and die cut with the flower from the Harvest dies. The wheat looking die is also from the Harvest Die set and was cut out of Early Espresso. I used Early Espresso and Crumb Cake for the sentiment which was stamped with the top half of one of the sentiments from the Nature’s Harvest stamp set. I popped the colorful flower up on dimensionals.

And here is a list of supplies that I used to make this card.

Product List