Hi everybody! It's FRIDAY night! Whew. To quote my friend Kat...Lordy Be! We made it. This week was rough. I think everyone is finally back to work and possibly grumpy about it and work was just busy. But, now, it's the weekend. I stopped by The Paper Garden on my way home and saw the girls and got some stamping therapy and some laughs...and now I'm home in my sweats blogging and then getting ready to kick Mr. Buddy out of my seat on the couch.
Today is my brother-in-law's birthday and this week I made him a cool, kinda grungy, rock-star birthday card. Rock on Steve! Happy Birthday! I tried a fun new technique and I took lots of photos to share it with you. I will certainly be doing this again. I was going for an overall Ed Hardy kind of vibe because that's exactly what he likes!
LOVE this color palette. Nice darker aqua with grey undertones and a bright olivey green. It's difficult to photograph the shiny window plastic...makes quite the glare!
I used watercolor paper, my distress inks, my perfect pearls and a big clear stamping block.
First off, I smeared some ink pads directly onto the clear block. I've seen people do this with reinkers usually, but I don't have any...so I just used the pad.
Next up, I spritzed the clear block with water and smeared it around with my finger.
Then....I smashed it right onto the watercolor paper. Since the paper has a texture, the ink pools in different spots and I think it looks neat. I left it on there for a few seconds to let all the ink soak in.
Here's what I ended up with! You can see the brown, green and blue all ran together. I love the way the edge came out! No two of these will turn out the same. One tip - I liked it MUCH better after it dried. So, if you do this and don't like it right away, wait a few minutes.
I got out a sheet of Judikins window plastic and stamped some cool images with my trusty black Staz-on ink pad.
While my Stayz-on was drying I spritzed some pewter Perfect Pearls onto my main color block.
I stamped the "Happy Birthday" words directly onto the watercolor paper so it would be a layer underneath the other images. Lastly I added some teal blings to the whole thing. I adhered the window plastic to the card using matte black brads.
What do you think? Will you try this? I like it very much and I can think of a bunch of other color schemes and images to use with it. I think it would be a nice clean and simple card to just do a color block and a pretty sentiment and leave it at that. Hmmmmm...not enough time and too many ideas!
I hope you all have a very fabulous weekend! Thanks for coming by! Mwah.
Love, love this card - what a cool techniques - never thought of using a window sheet like this!
Posted by: Pam Shank | 04/07/2012 at 07:23 PM
Oooh, very, very cool Wanda! Love that artsy background you made. So fun and so perfect for a grungy guy look. I think YOU are the rock star, my friend!
Posted by: Audrey Pettit | 01/17/2012 at 04:54 AM
Wanda! You are my ROCK STAR!!! Thanks for another great idea!
Posted by: Judy Gudeman | 01/16/2012 at 10:55 AM
What a fantastic card Wanda! That background is beautiful! Love the colors! :D
Posted by: Kimberly Gajewski | 01/14/2012 at 08:55 PM
What a great technique. Love the color combination. Great card.
Posted by: tinalala | 01/14/2012 at 05:49 PM
Great card Wanda, thanks for showing us your background technique.
Posted by: Tracey | 01/14/2012 at 03:59 PM
AWESOME! I absolutely love this card, Wanda! I have two sons and two nephews who would flip if I made them this card. I've always found it hard to stamp for the men in my life. I'm such a girly-girl, it's hard not make everything too cutesy :) BTW, are you going to any of Julie E's classes next weekend? Hugs :)
Posted by: Renée | 01/14/2012 at 10:45 AM
Oh! that is a "smashing" card. I think I'll adopt a couple of those ideas for my son's bithday card (celebrating tomorrow). Love the colors too!
Posted by: FondaJo | 01/14/2012 at 09:25 AM
Hi Wanda! Definitely going to try this!!! You and you creativeness....so great! Happy Weekend.
Posted by: Julene | 01/14/2012 at 09:15 AM
Isn't that just the coolest technique?! And it's so easy, I've never used the Perfect pearls for a little added bling and splatter, but that is a great idea - you are always so clever!! Love it!
Posted by: Natalie | 01/14/2012 at 08:00 AM
Love this technique- great tutorial!
What does Mwah stand for???????? It drives me crazy when I see it and I can't figure it out LOL
Posted by: vicki dutcher | 01/14/2012 at 07:38 AM
Such a great rock card..really great technique!
Posted by: Holly Saveur | 01/14/2012 at 07:34 AM
Wanda, I love this technique. Thanks for sharing. Work this week was just so daily. After a few short weeks, it was tough to get back. I did a bit of stampin' therapy last night too. Now, I have something to try today. Thanks, karen
Posted by: Karen | 01/14/2012 at 04:33 AM