Flowers and Technique Challenge

Today is a Stamp Off Friday Challenge. This week’s challenge is a technique/inspiration challenge. We have to use flowers and/or leaves and a technique.

My card uses a flower – the Painted Harvest set, of course – and a shaving cream technique. I was going to say “faux shaving cream,” but it really does use shaving cream. It’s just easier and neater with less waste than the “old” method. So first – my card.

My flowers colors are Fresh Fig and Perfect Plum with a Soft Suede center. Now, you would think that the Fresh Fig would be the darker of the two purples. You would be incorrect. I stamped them side by side and my Perfect Plum was a lot darker than the Fresh Fig. Go Fig(ure). When stamping this card, I would start with the Soft Suede centers. Use your larger flower stamp to get a feel for where the flowers will be, then stamp the Soft Suede first. That sounds like a backwards way to go about it, but it really is much easier to see where to layer images when you start with the darker colors. Then, stamp the larger flower image with Fresh Fig around the center, and then the Perfect Plum with the smaller flower image.

Now comes the fun part. Stamp the larger images again with VersaMark, then heat emboss with clear powder to create a resist. And now you’re ready for the shaving cream.

Make sure you have shaving cream, not gel. I’ve been doing the shaving cream technique for years (where you spread a thin layer of cream in the bottom of a container, then add drops of ink refill – 2-3 colors – and swirl them), and I’ve always used shaving cream. I don’t have personal proof that gel doesn’t work, but I’ve heard from others that it doesn’t. So just go to the dollar store and get the largest can of shaving cream you can find.

We’re not going to layer it in a pan. This is messy, and after you dunk 3 or 4 pieces of card stock into the colored creamy mess, it gets kind of muddy. We’re going to use a new method that I learned about a few weeks ago.

Ink one of the smaller acrylic blocks with Classic Stampin’ Ink. I used Crushed Curry. Then take one of the palette knives and spread some shaving cream over the ink on the block. The more ink on the block, the darker your background will be. If your block doesn’t get completely covered with ink, that’s ok; it’s going to mix with the shaving cream and cover the whole block anyway.

Now, place your inked/creamed block on the cardstock and kind of drag and swirl it. You can go back and pick up excess inked cream and move it around on your cardstock. Leave some white spaces.

I inked/creamed my block several times. Be sure you clean it off with a paper towel between inkings so you don’t get shaving cream in your ink pad.

When you’re happy with your background, use another palette knife to scrape off any excess shaving cream, then repeat this process with a lighter ink. (I used Peekaboo Peach.) Since the centers of the flowers are not embossed, you want to stay away from them, but you can go right over the flower petals and they won’t get inked because of your embossing powder resist.

That’s it! Super easy. I’ve done this with lots of colors – even black with Lemon Lime Twist (gorgeous). A little hint, though. If you want to use black, use Memento, because it’s water based. It will swirl with the shaving cream easier, and it will be easier to clean your blocks.

So that’s my project for today. I didn’t add a sentiment, because I’m not sure what I’ll use it for.

Now – head over to Jackie’s and Susan’s blogs to see what they’ve created for you. You’ll learn even more fun techniques!

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a wonderful day!

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