ThePowerOfACard: Ombré Strips Featuring Amazing Phrasing

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Ombré Strips Featuring Amazing Phrasing

Even before blending brushes became available, I’ve loved making custom colored paper using shades of a color or blending several colors together. So ombré strips has been on my list of video ideas for a while now. As I was preparing to shoot the video, I kept coming up with more variations to show! It was hard to pick which one to demonstrate, but I decided to show turning black and white Designer Series Paper (DSP) into a beautiful vibrant strip of color to decorate both the front and inside of a card, along with the Amazing Phrasing stamp set, which is one of the products you can get for FREE during Sale-A-Bration (SAB).

Gather your supplies:

Cardstock: Basic Black 5-1/2" x 8-1/2"; Basic White 2-1/8" x 3-1/4" and 4" x 5-1/4"; Perfectly Penciled DSP 2-1/4" x 5-1/2"
Stamp Sets: Amazing Phrasing and Watercolor Shapes
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Melon Mambo, Polished Pink, Fresh Freesia and Highland Heather
Other: Blending Brushes
Adhesive and Tools

For my demonstration, I choose to blend Melon Mambo, Polished Pink, Fresh Freesia and Highland Heather on a 2-1/4” piece of Perfectly Pencilled DSP. (In case you wanted to know, the card I showed during the intro used Starry Sky, Orchid Oasis, Tahitian Tide and Parakeet Party.) Blending brushes make this coloring task easy. I start with Polished Pink, the second color in the list because I didn’t want this to get overshadowed by the adjoining colors. Because I colored this one first, it is easier to gauge how dark to color the Melon Mambo at the top of the strip. Once all the blending is done, trim 3/8” off the side to use on the interior white panel. Add the large ombré strip to the front on the card base with Multipurpose Glue.

Time for stamping! Using the smaller rectangle from Watercolor Shapes, stamp it in each of the four colors, flipping the stamp 180º so that the the design variations within the rectangle are not in the same position each time. Depending on how close you stamp the rectangles, you may want to trim a little off at the bottom to give you an even border. Next stamp the words in black ink, starting with the "you did it!" at the bottom and the "Hey" scattered as shown. There are plenty of fun combinations you can make with this stamp set!

To finish the card, simply pop up the sentiment panel with Dimensionals, add the small ombré stipe to the inside white panel and stamp your sentiment. I chose to stamp "amazing" in the two purple shades (half and half) and the "you are" in Polished Pink - this just carries the ombré theme throughout the card. You can even blend the flap of the envelope in the same colors, or stamp another sentiment with split colors on the front of the envelope.

As I mentioned, I had lots of fun making samples to show this technique. This first one is super adorable and also features three other products you can get for free during SAB; the Hippest Hippos, Hippo Dies and Silver & Gold 6" x 6" DSP are all items you can select for free with a $50 purchase. (Hurry - SAB only goes through August and items are while supplies last!) But look at that trickery - my hippo looks like a cow! By adding a few black spots, I have an adorable cow winking at me! I used Parakeet Party and Tahitian Tide and love how they blend together, don't you?

For the next card, I started with a 3-1/2" x 4-1/2" piece of Basic White. I blended Cherry Cobbler along the center diagonal. Then I added Cajun Craze on each side of that and Pumpkin Pie in the corners. I also stamped leaves from the Hello Harvest bundle in the same colors in each section, stamping off before adding them to the panel. I cut the panel into 1-1/2" strips and added them to a Crumb Cake card base. Some Linen Thread, a banner from the bundle and a few Champagne Rhinestones finish this lovely fall card.

For my gnomes card, I cut out a the mushroom and gnome from the Storybook Gnomes DSP using the dies in the Kindest Gnomes bundle. I chose Pale Papaya, Calypso Coral and Poppy Parade to blend my ombré panel on a 2" strip of Basic White. But when I was done, the red portion didn't look dark enough to compliment the mushroom, so I added a little Real Red. Before cutting it into 1/2" pieces, I embossed it with the Splatters embossing folder. I added three strips to the card base of Soft Suede, alternating the direction of the colors and used the fourth strip for the inside of my card. A simple sentiment finishes this one nicely.

The next one uses only one color to make the ombré strip, Shaded Spruce. It is also blended on Vellum Layering Designs which is super easy to blend on! One word of caution - because this is vellum, the ink does not absorb the same way it does on cardstock, so be careful handling it while blending (or touching it with damp fingers like my son-in-law did right after I took the photo of it for this blog!). I used the Fond of Autumn Bundle to cut out the leaves and berries and colored them with Blends. The sentiment is from the Sweet Candy Canes stamp set.

For my last example, I didn't have to create the ombré effect - I just used the 2022 - 2024 In Color Glimmer 6" x 6" DSP. The three colors are Starry Sky, Parakeet Party and Sweet Sorbet, each cut into 1/2" strips. The flowers are from Hand Penned Petals and colored with Blends. I added a little sentiment strip and some Matte Black Dots to complete this striking thank you card.

Which one of these did you like the most? I really liked turning black and white paper into colorful DSP for the card I demonstrated in the video, but loved the elegance of the vellum card. Then again, the cow was so stinking cute and so was the Gnome... and the fall card was lovely and the glimmer on the black card looked fabulous too. Well, you see my dilemma! But it's a good one to have and I hope it inspired you to make some ombré strips of your own.

Karen

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