Floating.....

Yes, I know, two posts in one day from me must come as a bit of a shock! However, I came across a rather gorgeous background technique on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it out. It's called reinker float. Basically you emboss a design on to your card, soak it with water and then "float" the reinkers on the water so that they spread and merge. I won't go into all the details now as you can see just how to do it in a tutorial by Selene Kempton here.

I don't have any "shimmer white cardstock" (which Selene recommends and which I presume is from Stampin' Up), so I used some pearlescent card which seemed to work fine. (Bought it a long time ago so can't remember exactly what type it is, but I think it was from PDA and the colour is "ice white".) The main criterion is that the card should hold the water on top rather than absorbing it. 

Most times when I try a new technique it takes several goes before I master it to my satisfaction, but I'm actually quite pleased with my first attempt at this one! Of course it helped that it was easy to do! Using the pearlescent card gives it a lovely shimmer, almost mother-of-pearl like. The photo doesn't do it justice. 

The flower stamp is by Technique Tuesday. I stamped it with Versamark ink and embossed with clear powder (you could also use white powder but I wanted the sheen of the card to show through). Having thoroughly soaked it, I then dropped on Distress reinkers (Dusty Concord, Shaded Lilac and Antique Linen).  The card didn't need much besides the flower panel to finish it off. (Sentiment by Technique Tuesday, butterfly by Justrite, paper flower by Prima.)

I had avoided joining Pinterest until very recently, knowing that if I did I would end up spending quite a lot of time there! However, I've succumbed, and I'm so glad I did! There is so much inspiration out there and my boards are filling up very quickly. That's why I wanted to give this a go straight away rather than spend so much time browsing that I never got round to making anything. Must keep that thought in mind.......