Foiled Backgrounds & Spectrum Noir Triblends

 Hello and Happy Saturday!

For today's post I will be creating a card for a 70th Birthday. I'll be using a mix of products as I normally do but my focal point will be the lovely Simon Says Stamp Spring Bouquets stamp. This stamp features 2 beautiful florals and is perfect for alcohol marker colouring. It has available coordinating dies and along with my Spectrum Noir Triblends, I'm excited to get started. I do want to mention that I will be entering this card in the SSS Wednesday challenge which is titled Anything Goes for this week!

As usual I have a process video below if you prefer watching.

So to begin I stamped out one of the Spring Bouquets from the stamp set using some Memento Tuxedo Black ink (safe for alcohol ink colouring) and my stamp positioner. When colouring with alcohol markers I like to make sure I have a clearly stamped image with crisp black ink which is why I use the stamp positioner. Once dry, I started colouring with my new set of  Spectrum Noir Triblend markers: colours Pale Pink, Fair Skin, Hydrangea & Light Green.

Now I've been waiting to get my hands on this set for some time and I have to say it is so much fun colouring with them. Not only does it take the guess work out of choosing colours, they are so easy to use. For those of you who don't know, these markers come with 3 shades of the same colour in one marker. So there is a dark, medium and light shade in each marker which means you are essentially getting 24 x 3 (72) markers in this set. Since the colours come in 3 shades, I don't have to sit there picking which colours go best together (which minimally saves ink) and with 3 in 1, if say I'd like to take my colouring somewhere, I don't have to carry as many markers. They come in a bullet tip and brush tip (I have the brush and love them). And the price point is on point. I would definitely recommend giving these a try and if you're weary and a copic lover, you can always buy these in singles to give them a try. 

So I have one little tip here for those of you who are like me and hate leaving white spaces in your colouring, which is really your highlights. You can always colour away to your hearts content, which normally means leaving out your highlights, then use the Sakura Gelly roll pens in white size 10 to add highlights after! I always use this trick and it makes a huge difference. I then cut out the image with the coordinating die.

Next, I foiled a 4.5" x 8.5" piece of Navy Blue Cardstock using the Spellbinders Spot On Backgrounds & Sentiments glimmer plate and blush foil to match with the florals. It took me 6 or 7 passes through the foil and die cut machine to complete but once done, it looked stunning. Any over-foiling was removed using the Couture Creations Detailer Tool or you could use a sand eraser.

I then die cut the 70 from the Spellbinders Birthday Wishes For Everyone die set with some Sizzix Opulent Rose Gold Metallic cardstock. The 'th' and Happy from the same set was cut from Sizzix Opulent Ivory Pearl cardstock. I also foiled a sentiment strip, 'wishing you an amazing day', from the Spellbinders Sweet & Snarky Birthday Wishes glimmer set (sorry, I cant find a link for this one - might have sold out - you can use any other sentiment here),  using the same blush foil on black cardstock and used the coordinating die to cut it out. 

Finally I assembled all these pieces on the foiled background using some BearlyArt glue and strong double-sided adhesive.

Next, I cut a 9" x 8.5" white card base (center folded to make a slimline card). I took a scrap piece of cardstock to make a stencil using the same SSS coordinating die from the floral on the card front. I attached this to my card inside in the bottom left corner with some washi tape and did some ink blending with my make up brushes and Altenew Deep Iris, Coral Bliss, Rouge and Peach Perfect inks. I chose these to match the inks colours on the card front. TIP: blending these inks at first will be a bit splotchy but they even out as they dry. I then removed my stencil and stamped over the ink blended area with the coordinating stamp in Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink. 

I added a sentiment from the Altenew Say It With Love stamp set, inking up the typed portion in Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink and the script portion with Nuvo Peach Blossom Hybrid ink (which I also used for the dear friend scripty sentiment)

Finally, I adhered the card front to the card base and voila - there is my card for today! I hope there was something inspiring in this post for you and feel free to leave a comment as I love hearing from you!