Hi everyone!

As I write this, the sun is shining, and the sky is a clear, bright blue… but the outside temperature is a whopping -12* F. Yes, you read that right: it’s NEGATIVE 12 degrees. Ugh! Even my sweater needs a sweater! When is summer, again?

With the are-you-kidding-me level of cold outside, I thought it best to stay indoors and write this post sharing a card I made last night. I used a new-to-me technique that was super easy and so much fun! And a great distraction for cold days like today!

For this card, I used the new Layering Hearts Mandala stencil from Simon Says Stamp. I used a heavy hand and ink-blended a rainbow of colors through the stencil onto white cardstock.

I carefully removed the stencil from the blended cardstock and set the inked panel aside to use on a different card. For this technique, all I needed was the inky stencil that I would normally just wash off.

I set my inky stencil on my die cutting plate and gently spritzed it with water. I then then laid a piece of clean white cardstock over the top of the wet ink, added the other cutting plate on top, and ran it through my die cutting machine to press the ink and stencil into the cardstock. You will have to determine what the right sandwich is for your die cutting machine, but basically, you want a sandwich that will gently press the cardstock into the stencil.

When I took the cardstock out of the die cutter and removed the stencil, I was left with a watercolor looking impression of the stencil that had a tiny bit of embossed detail. The ink had blended perfectly! I set the panel aside to dry while I die cut the “XOXO” and trimmed the sentiment strip. Once the panel was dry, I mounted it on my card base using foam adhesive, then added my sentiments and a few pearls for some shine. I love the dreamy, watercolor look this technique created! And I love that I got two panels out of one ink-blending – what a great way to use up the ink that would normally just get washed off!

Do you love trying new techniques? I definitely do! Especially when they use products I already have! Oh! And…I hope it’s warmer wherever you are! Have a wonderfully (warm and) creative day!