Color as a focal point

For the latest installment of my Altenew Educator Certification Program, I was inspired by a class called, In the Mood for Color. In this class, the instructor discussed how different colors evoke certain moods, I wanted to explore this so I made two cards that contain the same elements and design but in different colors. I chose yellow which signifies energy and blue which signifies calm. I used Altenew Peony Bouquet stamp set to build the flower which will be the main design element on the card. Please read on for how I assembled this card. And leave me a comment about which color you like the best.

For this card I wanted the elements on each card to be in the same color family. The first element was stamping the large flower from Altenew Peony bouquet stamp set. The inks on the blue card were all Hero Arts inks: Soft sky, Cornflower, Deep blue and Navy. Inks on the yellow card were : Catherine Pooler Tiara second generation, Catherine Pooler Tiara first generation, Hero Arts Butterbar and Hero Arts mustard. I didn’t have enough yellow inks so using second generation stamping stretches your stash. The second generation stamping is made by first stamping the image on a piece of scrap paper and then using the remaining ink on the stamp to color your image. Second generation provides a lighter color so you don’t need to have a ton of inks in your stash. Conversely you can stamp an image multiple times to get a darker color. In this way you can have just a few basic colors and through second generation or multiple stamping you can really stretch your stash.

I then stamped the outline of the flower image onto InkaDinkaDoo masking paper and cut the mask out. I used this mask to build the rest of the card elements. Next was stamping the leaves from the Peony bouquet set which were stamped in: Momento Pear tart, Hero Arts Field greens and Momento Cottage ivy. 

To add more color, I applied Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass for the blue card and Fossilized amber for the yellow card around the flower image using a Tim Holtz stencil brush. This brush allowed me to get a soft glow around the image with minimal effort. To further add color and provide a grounding base for the flower, I used a large stripe stamp from Waffle Flower Plaid play set to stamp a thick line.

Now that all the color elements were on the card panels, I added the sentiment. The blue card felt like a sympathy or get well card and the yellow card felt like a thank you or hello card. Using the die from Hero Arts Stamp and Cut set, I cut out 8 hellos from Neenah Solar White 80lb cardstock. For the last two hellos, I stamped one with Hero Arts Butterbar and another with Hero Arts Navy Inks. I then added Shimmer with a wink of Stella pen before heat embossing the die cuts with clear embossing powder. Using a stamping positioner like the MISTI helps stretch your stash of embossing powders because you can stamp the image in any color ink you want and then add the clear embossing powder to get the dimension and shine. This way you don’t need a whole bunch of different powder colors to get different results.

Before adhering the hello die cuts, I stamped a small sentiment to add onto the hello. I stamped this under the stripe and heat embossed with clear powder. I then added the die cut with Gina K connect glue. Some coordinating Nuvo drops and sequins added extra shine.

Thank you for joining me today for this card. Let me know in the comments below which color combination you liked better and if you could sense a mood shift as you looked at each card. I’m excited to see if you use color in a similar way. Have a crafty day.