Continuing on with my theme for the week, I am featuring some products that are included on Stampin’ Up’s retiring list that I am sad to see go.  Today I’m paying my respects to Simply Stars and Perfectly Penned.

I tried a technique that’s new to me.  My goal was to create an ombre watercolor effect.  I started with a piece of Whisper White card stock and four ink pads — Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, and Pool Party.

I used a sponge dauber and my Island Indigo ink pad and swiped the right side of the card stock from top to bottom.  I repeated this process about 1/4 of the way across the card, swiping more or the very right side to give it a slightly darker hue.  Then I repeated this process with the Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, and Pool Party inks, blending them a little between each color with the sponge dauber.

I then took a clean paintbrush and dipped it in water.  I then lightly touched it against my newly colored ombre card stock, leaving larger pools of water where I wanted larger splats.  The water does all of the work for you.

After this dried, I embossed the sentiment with White Stampin’ Emboss powder.  I stamped the stars with Pumpkin Pie and Crushed Curry inks and popped them up with dimensionals.  I think this would make a great guy card.

I’m not usually a “technique” kind of girl, but this was really fun, and I’ll be trying it again with some different colors.