blending brush | My Inky Paws

As soon as I saw the Arctic Bears Bundle this card was in my head. I knew this combination of stamps and dies would lend itself perfectly to the highlighting blending brush technique I used for the Winter Storm and Watching You Watching Me cards last year.

I love the look of whisper white used with a blending brush to lighten up a focal area of a design. It really elevates the card to art status for me and provides some added drama to create depth. The center area of this Pacific Point cardstock base was lightened to several shades paler using Whisper White Ink. Blend out from the center carefully to avoid any lines of demarcation.

Using Basic White cardstock for the foreground pieces adds more depth. I chose to use Memento Black for the contrast and starkness that echoes in the landscape.

The stamp set and dies are rich in imagery. This is the largest bear. There are cubs, and a smaller bear in the die cuts. There are a couple more detailed background images in the stamp set, a sun/moon die, and a variety of landform dies to stage your bears on. I can’t wait to play with this set some more. I will probably combine the bears into some holiday cuteness as well. This card is a little somber in sentiment, though I needed to make this card for personal use. I hope you enjoy the technique and post me pics of anything you create, too!

This card fits in an A2 sized envelope with standard postage.

Watching You Watching Me Spanner Peekaboo Card

For more cards and Live demos, stop by My Inky Paws Facebook page The Supplies list for this card is here. Thanks for hanging out with me! Happy Crafting to You and see you next time with a new project!!

This is a card I did last winter, and now the DSP I used is back (in the clearance section.) The Feels Like Frost DSP is beautiful so if you are going to create wintery cards this year think about picking it up.

Watching You Watching Me is a Window Card. The illusion is formed by cutting a 1-1/2 inch gap and then adding a 2 inch x 5-1/2 inch piece of clear window acetate between the cardstock and the DSP panels on the card front. The sentiment bar spans the front making it look as though it’s what is holding the card together. Cool effect and has a lot of other applications too!

Before stamping the deer on the inside I used white pigment ink on a blending brush to lighten the cardstock area and the result looks like a snowstorm in the moonlight. I added some stamping around the perimeter with a dot stamp. You could even add a few well placed “flicks” of white ink after stamping the deer to give a feeling of snow in the air, too. Vary the pressure of the blending brush and keep layering to get the brighter “snow” in the foreground.