Control Freaks — Technique Junkies

Hello and welcome to the Control Freaks Blog Hop for December! You may have just come from the blog of our fabulous leader, Wendy Weixler. I’m sure you enjoyed her amazing creativity. Be sure to continue on through the blog hop using the button at the bottom of this post.

This month, we are showcasing new products from the Mini and Saleabration Catalogs (products available to purchase or earn for free starting January 3, 2020.) We’re also throwing in a technique, just for fun.

For my projects, I chose the new Mountain Air reversible stamp set and coordinating Majestic Mountain Dies! These stamps are SO COOL, because you get double the stamping options. Each stamp has both a solid side and a detail one. Stamp the solid, clean off the stamp, flip it over, and then stamp the details! Or, just stamp one side or the other … the possibilities are endless.

I used a “watercolor stamping” technique on my cards. First, I cut a layer of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper and spritzed it with clear water. Next, I stamped the solid side of the stamps to establish my colors. I stamped the mountains with Balmy Blue ink (after stamping off once), the mountains again with Night of Navy (stamping off once), and the row of trees twice with Night of Navy ink (full strength.) As you can see, the ink bled, but that’s the beauty of this technique.

Tip: It helps to have some paper towels nearby to mop up the water and remove too much color.

While the paper was still damp, I hand watercolored the sky using Lovely Lipstick, Terracotta Tile, and Grapefruit Grove ink. These “In Colors” make AMAZING skies! I also used an Aqua Painter to add some Balmy Blue ink to the “lake” portion on the bottom.

After the paper was fairly dry, I stamped the detailed side of the stamps with both Balmy Blue and Night of Navy ink. For some of the stamps, I used an Aqua Painter to soften the details and add brush strokes. When the paper was thoroughly dry, I used an Embossing Buddy to remove the static and embossed the detail mountains in white.

I approached the die cuts using two methods. For the larger trees, I cut them out of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper first, and then used an Aqua Painter to watercolor them with Night of Navy ink.

For the smaller tree and row of trees, I spritzed the watercolor paper, then stamped with the solid side (stamping off once), dried the paper, and then stamped with the detail side. Afterwards, I used the coordinating dies to cut them out.

Lastly, I embossed the sentiment from the Well Said stamp set in white on Night of Navy Cardstock.

Be sure to continue on through the rest of the Control Freaks Blog Hop for more sneak peeks of new Stampin’ Up! products coming out in January 2020! Next up is the super creative Cindy Elam.

Have a great evening!