Masked Sunset One Layer Cards by Laura

Hello, crafty friends! It’s Laura on the blog with you today, and I’ve got three, one-layer cards featuring Distress-blended sunsets with silhouette images to set off the tropical scene. I used Catherine Pooler Designs (CPD) stamps from the Tropically Yours Collection and I am totally stoked (see what I did there?) with the beachy-retro, 80’s vibe this trio of cards gives.

As usual, lots to cover today, so let’s get started!

Backgrounds

First, I got to work creating my backgrounds. I created all three sunset scenes with (mostly) the same colours, techniques, and tools. I used Nuvo Blending Brushes and Distress Inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac, and Tumbled Glass.

To mask the palm tree scene, I used Post-It Tape to mark off where I wanted my sunset to be. I used a strip straight across the card about 1.25” down, and again about 3”. This left me with about a 1.5” window in which to create/blend the sunset.

To create the sun, I used a similar technique for all three cards. After I got a good layer of Squeezed Lemonade and (just a bit of the) Picked Raspberry down, I covered the area (where I wanted the sun would go) with a circle I die cut from a full stick Post-It Note. Then I blended the rest of the Picked Raspberry (and the rest of the colors) whilst the (sun) mask was in place. You’ll see across the three cards, I varied the amount of Picked Raspberry that made it into the sun which I think changes the feel of the sunsets.

Stamping

Once the scene looked the way I wanted, I used Versafine Onyx Black Ink to stamp palm trees and that gorgeous sentiment, both from CPD Fearless Pursuit Stamp. Versafine is my go-to black ink because the color is so deep and dark. A real rich, true black. I use Memento only when I’m Copic coloring. I also heat embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder to give it more pop.

To create the island for the palms, I originally used a half die cut circle to lightly mark (with a pencil) where it would go, then used a black Copic marker to fill it in. But I wasn’t happy with the wavy line it created along the bottom of my beautifully masked scene. So, I went ahead and die cut a circle from black card, trimmed with my snips, and adhered to the card base with Tombow Mono Multi Adhesive. So, technically this card isn’t one-layer but its darn close! ?

Using Masking

For both of the oval scene cards, I used Inkadinkado Stamping Mask Paper instead of Post-It Tape. You could also use a piece of copy paper if you don’t have any masking paper but I like the masking paper because it has a sticky back so you know it won’t move while you are blending. I cut a piece of masking paper to be at least as big as the card base, then die cut an oval window (where I wanted it to be on the card) and placed right on top of my card base. The blending on these cards is slightly trickier with the water but keep working it and you’ll get it right.

Extra Card

I ended up with two cards for this style because I really wasn’t happy with the sunset blend on the original so I started another. Notice I don’t tell you which one I didn’t like and that’s because after I got another scene all blended I decided to go back to the first one and work the blend a bit more. Once I got the rest of the stamping onto it, I was quite happy with it so I decided to use them both. Now I’m not even sure which one was almost for the bin! Play around with it and experiment where and how much color to use.

I like to start by choosing where the “horizon/water line” will be, then start with a light layer of yellow base right over the water line, with more yellow concentrated above the water line. After I got an initial bit of color onto the paper, I did use a piece of Post-It Tape to mask off the water line so I could concentrate on the sky first, and so we’d get that horizon line in the middle. I used the same colors as used above for the palm tree version.

For create the deeper colour of the water, I went with a heavier mix of the same colours (used on the sky) and added a touch of Seedless Preserves and Chipped Sapphire (in place of the Tumbled Glass.). After the blending was done, I used Chipped Sapphire and the water ripple stamps from Stand Tall set to add those lovely waves in the water.

Silhouette Stamping

After I was happy with the blended scene I used Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and a stamping tool to stamp the silhouette elements onto the background whilst the mask was still in place. For the elements that “hang over” the edge of the sunset scene, I simply saved those for last and made sure to remove the mask before stamping those elements.

Finishing The Cards

Here I used Memento because the flamingo image is not meant to be a silhouette image and has a lot of open space in which to color him (or her!) in. So, to remedy this all I did was to use Copic 100 (black) to color the image in after I stamped it. I did wait for it to dry and went over it two more times to make sure the image was nice and dark.

However, tragedy struck when I was putting the third coat on one of the flamingos. The marker decided to leak right onto my almost-finished card and Mr. Flamingo had a big black blob hanging off his tail! ? Not to worry though. I used a few well-placed sequins to hide my mistake and unless you knew it was there, I don’t think anyone would ever notice.

And that, my crafty friends, is three one-layer cards done! I love these sunset scenes so much and find myself pining for a tropical getaway. Be sure to share your makes in our Facebook group, The Little Paper Treehouse! I can’t wait to see everyone’s creations!

Thanks for stopping by…and see Y’all next time! xo