I have long loved mountain scenes in paintings and photos. There is something so majestic and serene when I look at a mountain scene. When I was trying to do an ink blending technique to create a water color scene, I knew exactly the stamp set I wanted to use for this card. I chose the Altenew Once Upon A Time stamp set. It has the perfect mountain to allow for easy water coloring.
I started by stamping the mountain on a heavyweight 130lb white cardstock panel using Altenew Espresso Ink. Since I knew I would be ink blending with water, I wanted to use a heavy cardstock that could withstand all the liquid. Next, I stamped the same mountain on Gina K Masking Magic masking paper. I fussy cut the mountain out of the masking paper with my Tonic Studios Tim Holtz Precision Scissors. This Altenew stamp set has a coordinating die set; however, I wanted to make sure the mountain was cut exactly to the line without a slight edge. Then, I removed the release paper and placed it to cover the mountain on my card panel. With the masking paper in place, I was able to stamp the trees to appear as if they were peeking out from behind the mountain. I stamped three trees on the left and two on the right behind the mountains. After that, I stamped these trees on more masking paper and fussy cut these too. I placed the masking paper on the trees to get ready to do ink blending on the sky.
For my ink blending, I stamped the Altenew Desert Night ink block on some acetate. Any porous work surface would have worked. I spritzed some water beside the ink and began to dip my watercolor brush in the water, then the ink. I brushed the ink on the card panel around the mountains and trees and all over the sky until I achieved a blue sky. Next, I stamped Altenew Espresso, Altenew Dark Chocolate, and Stampin’ Up! Soft Suede on the acetate. I spritzed more water and picked up the Altenew Espresso and Dark Chocolate on my brush. I covered the mountains all the way to the bottom of the cardstock panel with the blend of these two colors. Then, I added in the soft suede ink to give more depth to the mountains.
Once the ink blended panel dried, I stamped the road and more trees near the bottom of the panel. With the road the same color as the mountains and no variance of color, it seemed to be missing something. I wanted a little bit of shine, but not too much. I took my mini Versamark ink block and ran it directly over the cardstock panel where the road was stamped. I poured gold embossing poweder over the road and cleaned it up with a fine tip brush. I heat set it until the powder melted to create a shiny road leading up to the mountain.
While I wanted this to be a serene card, I thought of all the beautiful gold frames encasing art at museums. Altenew had one of the embossing folders to create a frame that would be perfect for this panel. I used a shiny gold cardstock panel and the Altenew Simple Frame embossing folder. When I ran it through, I left me with a gorgeous detailed frame. Using a crafting knife, I cut out the center piece and then using my Tim Holtz Precision Scissors, I fussy cut the frame. It was gorgeous!!! I used thin strips of heavy cardstock to put on the back of the frame for added support. I added a few dimensional dots in each corner and a few on each line of the frame. Then I set it on top of the mountain scene. Next, I used dimensional foam tape to pop up the panel. I set that to the side, then I stamped the “Just Because” sentiment from the Altenew All the Hearts stamp set at the bottom of my card base. I finished the card by placing the framed mountain scene panel in the middle of the card slightly above the sentiment. I was very pleased with how it looks like a little piece of art hanging in a gallery. What other stamps do you have on hand to create an art scene?
THIS is stunning!!!
Thank you!! I’m really loving this stamp set!