Hi everyone!
Today’s post is part of the MASSIVE #SpreadJoyNotGerms blog hop, hosted by Catherine Pooler and The Hedgehog Hollow. You should have come here from Ute Berger and the next stop is The Hedgehog Hollow blog. If you get lost along the way, you can find the entire hop lineup on both Catherine Pooler‘s blog and The Hedgehog Hollow’s blog.
Because Catherine Pooler is one of the hosts of the hop I have used a whole array of her inks to create a couple of bright and vivid backgrounds, as a starting point. Then I sprinkled these with some magic aka heat embossing, as I’m also on the WOW! Embossing DT.
On one panel I inkblended directly onto Bristol Vellum card stock, on another I did the ink blending through a stencil, Swoop stencil, to leave some white space on the background too. As a yin and yang to each other.
The inks I have used are Limoncello, Lime Rickey, All That Jazz, Suede Shoes, Grape Crush, Rockin Red and Mandarin Spice. I used a different Life Changing Blender Brush for each ink so I could go back and add more colour or even out the blend. It’s a big investment having so many brushes but it really is worth building up your collection if you do a lot of ink blending.
After cleaning off the stencil I put it back on the rainbow background panel, and dabbed the Embossing Pad right over it. Then I sprinkled Opaque Bright White embossing powder on it, which I then set with the lowest setting of the heat tool. Even though I used the heat tool to dry the ink AND an anti-static tool, there are still some stray bits of embossing powder on the panel. Sometimes that can’t be helped, but if you really don’t like the look, leave your panel to dry overnight and then make sure your stencil is very clean and dry before using it.
To finish off the cards I used a diecut and stamp combo from Hero Arts. The die says ‘Thinking of you‘, and it has some sweet stamps to make a longer sentiment. For these cards I used the ‘puts a smile on my face’, which I stamped up with black ink on white cards stock with the help of my black Mini MISTI. These are cut out using a small banner die.
The word sentiment I cut it out of black card stock, eight times, and stacked four together to make two nice, sturdy ones. Both the Licorice card stock and the liquid glue are from Lawn Fawn.
On top of these I dabbed the Embossing pad very generously and then sprinkled Clear Gloss embossing powder on, set this with the heat gun and did the whole thing again, to make them super shiny and puffy.
This is a fun technique to use when you want lots of height and mega shine on your word diecuts. By doing the heat embossing twice, you also get the added height from the gloss. I absolutely love this and prefer this technique to adding Glossy Accents and having to wait for that to dry. These are ready to use as soon as they have cooled down, which only take a minute.
With all these bits and pieces ready, it was quick work to add the backgrounds to white card bases, and add the word die cut as well as the little banner. I love how they turned out and will be sending these out to friends I haven’t seen in ages.
What do you think? Ink blending or heat embossing through the stencil? Which one is your favourite?
There is also a video over on the WOW! Embossing YouTube as well as my own YouTube channel, if you wanted to have a little peek at the making of these cards.
You might have seen this card already, but it’s so fitting for the theme of this hop, I thought I’d add it in here too. I used a new-to-me stamp from Trinity Stamps, called Folded Hugs. It has a sweet message and gorgeous font.
After prepping some Bristol Vellum paper with an anti-static tool, with the black Mini MISTI and the Embossing pad, I got a good stamp done with this Folded Hug stamp from Trinity Stamps. I sprinkled Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder over this and then set that with my WOW! Heat tool
To add bright, happy colours I have used re-inkers from Ink On 3 to do some quick water colouring. In a plastic tray, I dripped a few drops of each colour into the wells and then added Liquid Pixie Dust to them. This adds gorgeous colour AND shimmer in one fell swoop! The colours I used are Bee Sting Yellow, Marigold Orange, Marilyn Red, My Jam Purple, Peacock Blue and Goddess Green.
There is a video for this card too, over on my YouTube channel.
That’s it from me for today, I hope you have enjoyed these cards and the hop! By leaving a comment on my blog here, you will be in the running for a $20 gift voucher to Catherine Pooler!!
If you found some inspiration here and want to grab some of these goodies for yourself, I have used compensated affiliate links in this blog post for your convenience.
If you shop using these links I get a small commission from the company directly at no extra cost to you whatsoever. Thank you so much in advance if you choose to support me this way, I really appreciate the support and encouragement it gives me. Any money I make from this goes directly back into running my blog and YouTube channel to keep the content fresh, fun and free for you.
Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica
PRIZES We have 31 Sponsors!! The prizes will be randomly drawn from all the blogs and all the comments. Leave as many comments on as many blogs as you can, that will increase your chances of winning! Some of the companies are also offering discounts and freebies. That info will be found on the company blogs, it’ll be like a scavenger hunt for crafty deal!
Deadline to enter is April 24 for prizes. Winners will be announced on Monday, April 27 on the Catherine Pooler and The Hedgehog Hollow’s blogs.
Product lists below
Catherine Pooler shop http://shop.catherinepooler.com?aff=75
Inks https://shop.catherinepooler.com/collections/ink?aff=75
Other products used are from Hero Arts
Hero Arts shop
Black MISTI’s
Thinking Of You stamp and diecut
Scrapbook dot com shop
Thinking Of You stamp and dies
All Black MISTI’s
Black Original MISTI
Mini MISTI
Lawn Fawn
Glue tube
CARD STOCK
Rainbow Pack
Black Licorice
You can find me on various social media platforms if you want to see more of my work
My blog (that’s right here)
CaCaCraft by Erica 
I love the technique that you used by stacking sentiments and then coating them with embossing powder. They look like a solid image.
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Your hug card is lovely! Thanks for the inspiration!
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Pretty cards – I love the embossing on the die cut sentiment.
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Love your cards!
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Beautiful cards! I love the vibrant colors on all your cards. Thank you for sharing.
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Love all of the bold and vibrant colors. Very cheerful. Thanks for sharing
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Thank you for participating in this excellent way to encourage stay-at-home! I prefer ink blending through stencils because it doesn’t add any dimension to the cardstock. That being said, the stark white of your heat embossing was also beautiful against those bright colors.
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So pretty, mine are never this neat….!
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just fabulous cards…love the raised and glossy sentiments.
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Such fun cards. Reminds me of the 60’s! I mean, Watching 60’s movies and such, LOL!
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Fabulous cards! Such wonderfully happy and bright colors and wonderful designs.
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Great colours and wonderful cards. Love them all!
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pretty cards… always love rainbows that are bright and cheerful. thank you for sharing.
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Great cards and great tips!! I love how your embossed words turned out I’m going to have to try this technique!
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Your bold beautiful backgrounds are pure fun! I love the hug one the most!!!! ❤️
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Stunning cards Erica. I love the intense bright nature of the cards. They can’t help but make you happy. Thanks for sharing!
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These are stunning! I especially love the reminder about double embossing!
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Super fun cards my friend!
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Hi Erica 🙂 I don’t know what it is about white and color OR black and color but they whether it’s white or black they just make the colors all the more vibrant!!! Awesome cards! Thanks for inspiring me 🙂
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Love the cards- Love the hug stamp.
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SWOON!! I LOVE your Cards that you shared!! Such FUN and HAPPY Cards!! THANKS SO MUCH for sharing and have a FABULOUS WEEKEND!!
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Really love how you use the embossing powder’s
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So so pretty!!
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I think these cards would brighten anyone day
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Thanks for sharing these cheery, colorful cards.
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Bright and cheerful cards. Love them! Thanks for a wonderful hop and the inspiration!
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