Orchid Trio by Glenda

Hello everyone - I've got a quick card to show you today, inspired by Lesley's recent card (which you can see here).

I have used the clear Awesome Orchids set to create a card in sepia tones.

I stamped the flower heads first, then carefully placed the stems to connect up with the flowers.  I used Adirondack Espresso ink on watercolour paper and just touched a wet paintbrush to the image in the areas where I wanted some shading.

I cut each flower to the same size and layered each one onto dark brown card.  The card background is stencilled with a delicate stencil (called North Star) using the same Espresso inkpad and a large stencil brush.

I stuck the stamped panels on to the ivory card base with foam pads and stamped the sentiment with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink at the bottom.

Not all inks will react with water like this so you need to know which of your inks bleed and which don't.  Adirondack and Distress will definitely give up their colour even after they have dried.  Memento will bleed a little if you do it straight away, but the longer you leave it, the more fixed the colour becomes.  Archival doesn't work at all, and Versafine is also waterproof once dry.

If you find inks confusing, why not make some little swatch card and test each one out.  You need to try it on different types of paper or card because that can make a big difference too. 

Hope you're enjoying the blog, the team are certainly cooking up some gorgeous projects for you, aren't they!  Don't forget to check out our Shop Blog too where you'll find even more to inspire you.

Happy creating!