Blazing Poppies Veteran's Day Card

Autumn here with you today to share a very personal card I made for my husband to celebrate Veteran's Day.  I absolutely adore the Poppycock stamp set!  It was one of my first IndigoBlu purchases and stamping it never disappoints!  However, I wanted to use it in a more personal way so my husband would know I was truly thinking of HIM and not just making pretty cards to blog about.  Ha!  I know some of you can relate...  I looked up the specifics of my husband's service and printed them in a very small font to create my background.

I dipped my panel in a watery mix of Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo Distress Inks to age it.  This tiny corner of text refers to his company and our home during his tour.  Before I go on, let me say thank you to our service men and women who so bravely keep our lands safe.  Thank you for your service!

Now, our theme this month is burning bonfire.  What could be more blazing than a red poppy?!  I have been experimenting with this technique some and have had beautiful results.  I scraped a bit of Postbox Red acrylic paint onto my craft sheet and sprayed with water, then dipped my paper panel into the mixture.  Why use paint instead of ink?  Because of the coverage!  If I had done the same technique in Distress Ink, I would have had pink poppies.  But with IndigoBlu paints the pigment does not dilute.  The water only adds transparency and does not change the color.  I made a large sheet and then stamped my poppies strategically so I could get the highlights and color variation.

I dipped the dried red panel into a mix of Walnut Stain and water to give it a vintage look to match my text background.  Yes, you can layer paints and inks.  :)

You won't believe what I did next, but I actually used the same process to color my seam binding so I could add a coordinating bow.  It worked wonderfully!  There's no end to the possibilities with this line of paints.  Now look at the gorgeous tones on the poppies!  I do hope you will try this technique, perhaps for a Veteran's Day card for someone you love?

Pick up you Poppycock stamp set today!