Weeks of Wonder: Perfect Blends

There are times when I want some elements to jump right off of my artwork and make a bold statement. But there are also times when I want a more subtle touch, and my main goal is to get the items to blend in to the overall design. Today we’ll look at a tool that can help you make your stamping do both: the blending pen.

This layout shows a few ways that the blending pen can bring a softening touch to various elements of your artwork. The shading on the cork alphabets and Milepost shapes and the touches of Crème Brulee on the moose and bear images are some examples. These elements don’t jump off the page, but they do make a big difference in the appearance of the final project.

The blending pen shines a little bit more in this circle card. It is a great choice when you want to soften the border that you get when you stamp a Cricut shape with a coordinating image. Both of these Cricut flowers were filled in using the blending pen dabbed in Crème Brulee ink. The control you have using the pen makes it easy to shadow images and even words, like the word “smile” in this card, which has a Crystal Blue shadow to emphasize the Cocoa stamping.

And here’s another beautiful card that shows the blending pen in action. There are a number of ways you could achieve the multiple colors of leaves in this wreath, but the blending pen may just be the simplest. After stamping all the leaves in a light color, such as Crème Brulee, you can then go through and colorize them individually using the blending pen and some darker ink colors, such as Olive and Sunset. Let’s look at how this is done on another card.

On this card, you can see the multicolored technique applied to the clustered leaves. There are a few other effects going on here that deserve a closer look as well.

Start with your stamped image – again, start with your lighter ink colors when you are looking to add color to parts of the image.

Swipe your blending pen across another color of ink – such as Sunset here – and add the color to the desired portions of your stamped image.

If you use the blending image with no ink added to it, it will do a wonderful job of softening hard edges. You can also use the blending pen with the same color ink as your stamped image to add depth and shading.

This versatile tool is a must-have for any stamper. There are so many fun ways to bring it to bear whether for a big effect or the perfect finishing touches. Don’t let your artwork blend into the crowd – make it uniquely you!