After taking Altenew’s Beyond Basic Backgrounds class taught by the wonderful Lydia Evans. I felt inspired to create using various techniques within the same design; so today we’ll be touching upon some ombre stamping, inlaid die cutting & heat embossing.

So let’s get to it!

I decided to use this beautiful border stamp from the Envelope Art set; I placed a panel of Neenah 80lb (4 x 5 1/4in) in my MISTI stamping platform and I lined the straight edge of the stamp up with a pencil line I drew onto the panel to help me position things properly.

Once I was happy with the placement of the stamp I picked it up on the lid of my MISTI and I started to ink it up with the darker of the inks I had chosen making sure that I kept the ink onto the bottom half of the stamp going all the way across the width of it. I own mainly the mini ink pads because of limited storage and these are great for this technique; the smaller size allows for more precise ink placement.

TIP: When you are aiming for an ombre effect it’s really important that you use a lint free cloth to dab at the edge of the area you’ve inked. This removes any harsh edges where the ink finishes which is pivotal to a soft blended look.

Once I had stamped the darker colour I added the lighter one to the upper portion of the stamp; you need to make sure that the two colours overlap and again use your lint free cloth to soften the harsh edges of ink. These steps can be repeated if needed. Once I was happy with this side I flipped my panel round and stamped the same that side.

I used one the Hello die from Bold Greetings set to cut this from the centre of my panel, spacing it evenly between the two stamped borders; it’s really important that this doesn’t slip whilst I run it through my Die Cutter so I secured it in place with some low tac tape.

Whenever I am crafting I save the offcuts of any card stock I use; this can be an expensive hobby and I want to ensure that I get the most out of all of my supplies. I use the smallest pieces to test Copic colour combinations, and larger pieces are perfect for die cutting. I ink blended the same colours I had stamped with onto one of these pieces and then cut the same Hello die from that.

Once I had allowed the glue to dry I took a Versamark ink pad and wiped it across the edges of the panel. Versamark is just a really sticky ink that is takes some time to dry, which makes it perfect for embossing because the embossing powder will stick to anywhere the ink is and stay there long enough to heat it.

I added some glitter embossing powder by WOW! Once I had checked that I was happy with where the embossing would be I heated it up to set it in place. Make sure to heat glitter powder from behind first because if heated from above the heat tool is likely to be blown off before it heats enough to melt.

TIP: Make sure you pre-heat your heat gun so that it is really hot, this will melt the powder quickly and reduce risk of your card stock warping.