Get a Spectrum of Colour without a Spectrum Pad! (Markers Baby!?!)

I wanted to do a card with clean lines; it's not my strong suit at all, but the little "Love note" and the rub on really helped. I found this technique (in the demonstrators newsletter, I think...) and have been jonesin' to share it with you. I've changed it a bit...

Markered Spectrum:

Stampin' Up has discontinued spectrum pads (Glad I still have an uninked one in case of creative emergency! I was tempted to ink it up for this...) BUT you don't need a spectrum pad to get the look.

Just take your markers to your stamps and draw stripes onto them! (Working with the marker at a 15 to 20 degree angle saves wear & tear on your marker tips and seems to apply colour most evenly.)


If you are working with a large stamp, you can wipe it with a damp paper towel first to give yourself more wet-ink time to work. After applying the ink, huff on it (breathe out on it to moisten the ink.) Then apply to a piece of cardstock. (I used blush blossom for this.) Press firmly and allow the stamp to sit for a little bit, then lift it.

Have an aquapainter ready to blend the colours together. (If you want a softer, more washed look.) Trim the paper to size and use as desired.

For this card I've used the Paisley background stamp and these colours of Stamp'n'Write markers: Regal Rose, Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, Rose Red, Real Red. If you use them in that order (from light to dark) it keeps them from getting wrecked by getting darker colours on them.

After I made the pattern, I dried the paper with my heat gun (it will buckle from the moisture, but if you dry the paper from front and back that will help correct it.) I was aiming for a fabric feel, so I inked up the Linen background in Rose Red ink with a brayer and stamped it. Then I stamped the flowers from the Simply Said stamp set. I haven't used that set to its full potential. I can't wait to use it more! (Here it's in Basic Grey ink.)

When everything was dry, I ran the image through my crimper. If you keep turning your paper and running it through the crimper several times, you get a waffled texture & the paper softens nicely. It feels neat to the touch. (Sometimes the paper can stretch, but just pull at it a little and run through again.) This shot should give you a better idea of the texture you can get:


When the piece was ready to use, I put glitter on the flowers (with a glitter pen.) I stamped the heart, used the same markers as above to colour it in, and then filled in the blank areas of the heart with more glitter pen. This markered spectrum technique is also fun on smaller shape stamps.

Thanks so much for checkin' this out. Hope you have a great day!
:0)
Mel

P.S.
I'm loving my New Year's resolution of using what I have more. I can't believe I haven't been playing with that poor neglected crimper! And I've never made a card I liked with the Simply Said set. (No fault of the set, lol.) It's fun to try and give new life to 'old' stuff. :0) Almost as fun as scrap-shopping online, heehee.