Blending Brushes with Color & Contour

Welcome back for a new stamping challenge with Susan, Jackie, & me! This week, we’re using our Blending Brushes.

I was so happy when  Stampin’ Up!® added the Blending Brushes to the catalog. These brushes are so fun to use. I love using them to create colored backgrounds for a scene as well as with our masks (stencils). For this challenge, I used them with the Basic Patterns Decorative Masks. First, I used the Soft Pastels in Mango Melody and Granny Apple Green.

This is so easy to do. Simply color over the mask with the Soft Pastels (chalk), then use the Blending Brushes to move the color into the open areas of the mask. So simple! It gives you a very subtle background. I die-cut the Basic White background layer using the largest scalloped die in the Scalloped Contours Dies.

To finish this card, I stamped the flower outline from the Color & Contour Stamp Set in Granny Apple Green, then stamped the petals in Mango Melody. I added a bit of Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends to the leaves, then die-cut with the Scalloped Contours Dies. These dies can be bundled with the Color & Contour Stamp Set for a 10% discount.

The sentiment, also from the Color & Contour Stamp Set, is stamped in Mango Melody Classic Ink. I added a few Basic Pearls that I colored with Granny Apple Green and (retired) Mango Melody Stampin’ Blends.

For this card, I layered the flower, background, and sentiment to a Mango Melody card base.

I had so much fun with this, I decided to make another one. It’s exactly like the original except I used Mango Melody and Granny Apple Green Classic Ink with the Blending Brushes instead of the chalks.

I used the same colors, stamp sets, and dies; all I changed was the medium, card base (Granny Apple Green), and sentiment. Using the classic ink gave a little bolder background.

While I like both cards, my favorite is the chalk background. It’s a little more subtle and doesn’t detract from the flower as much. Which is your favorite?

Before you finish “surfing the web” this morning, take a look at what Jackie and Susan have done with their Blending Brushes! Jackie likes shaded backgrounds behind stamped images and Susan loves using stencils. I can’t wait to see if I guessed correctly!

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

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