Designer's Choice on Dream Scheme Thursday

I'm still playing with the pink and black colorway from last week's challenge, but this week I brought Dreamweaver's Color Solution, their new artist grade alcohol inks, to the party.  They are so much fun to work with.  The deeply saturated colors can easily be thinned with the alcohol blending solution and they stay wet just a touch longer so you have more time to work the colors to get the effect you're looking for.  The 14 colors in the Autumn and Winter Palettes plus silver and gold should be arriving at your local scrapbook store soon.  If you don't see them, just ask!

I began by paste embossing the Houndstooth (LJ913) and Heart Swirls (LL567) stencils with glossy white embossing paste (DGWP).  When they were dry, I put a few drops of Color Solution Winter Red on the felt pad on the blending tool and a few drops of blending solution to lighten the color.  Starting with the blending tool off the edge of the paper (be sure to use your craft mat when working with alcohol inks to protect your work surface), I began rubbing over the embossed surface in a circular motion, adding more ink and blender solution as needed.  It is important to start off the edge of the card so there are no heavy blotches of color where you first put the blending tool on paper.  The houndstooth background wasn't as light as I wanted, so I put a bit of blending solution on a clean felt pad and removed some of the ink from the embossing paste, letting it act as a resist, and removing just enough to leave a mottled look. 

For the scroll heart, I added a few drops of gold to the ink on the felt pad to give a shimmery look and applied the color in the same manner as for the houndstooth background.   The ribbon is also colored with the Winter Red ink and blending tool.

The embellishment pin (already the perfect shade of pink), was a bit too long, so I cut the end with wire cutters to keep it from poking out the bottom of the heart. 

Now, on to the next project . . . I wonder how a Christmas card would look in pink and black?

Don't forget to visit the other Design Team blogs and be sure to leave us a note.   It doesn't have to be long, just let us know you've stopped by.  And be sure to visit the Dreamweaver blog, DREAM it UP! as there have been pink and black posts all week.

Happy crafting, and see you next week!
Liz