Sponged Scenery

How about some sponging today?  Today's cards are all about that.  I demo'd this card at our Red Hot Stampers meeting last night.  I actually had the ladies sponge right along with me and then we each made up our own card. These are what each of us created.  They did a great job didn't they! :)

If you'd like to give it a try I've added a picture tutorial at the end of this post. :)

Those of you who have followed my blog for awhile might think I've already made this card....you'd be kinda right! ;)  Click HERE to find out what card I'm talking about.  I was going to make this one again and demo it, but thought instead that I'd use the same colors and idea, but change it up a little.  Plus I broke my woodgrain embossing folder in half from using it so much and for some crazy reason I thought the framelits I used were retired. :(  Guess I need to keep up on that!  Either way I'm glad I tried something a little different and that I got to do a little sponging again...ok, a LOT of sponging again.  Since I had a sample card, two sponged sample pieces and I sponged one there with everyone else I ended up with four cards myself.

Here's the color combo I used on my card.  How fun is this!  My Stampin' Blog added the ability to show color combos.  I'll have to check it out a little more, but I quickly added this into my blog in no time! :)

Hello Honey

Lost Lagoon

Mossy Meadow

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sara

I would love to be your demonstrator! If you like what you see and want to order anything just click on any of the products that I've listed at the bottom of my blog or click on the "Shop Now" tab at the top of my blog. Any of them will take you directly to my website! If you have questions feel free to contact me. Just click "Contact Me" at the top of my blog . If you're thinking of becoming a demonstrator click "Join My Team". I'd love to have you join me!

Supplies used on this card:

Step by Step Picture Tutorial

I started by cutting a piece of  Whisper White card stock using the second largest die from Lots of Labels.  You can use any shape you want really.  I originally made something similar to this with a different die (there's a link to that card earlier in this post).  I added a sticky note to cover about the bottom third of the shape.  Make sure it's straight when you put it on or your horizon won't look quite right!

Starting with a sponge (I use sponges like the one shown) and Lost Lagoon ink, dab ink onto the top of your piece of card stock to create the sky.  Make sure you dab off your card stock first just in case the ink on your sponge is pretty dark.  Also make sure you do not jab your nails into the sponge when you're doing this.  It will make blobs in your sponging and you don't want that!  I dabbed straight up and down onto the card stock to get this look, starting at the top and moving my way down.  I repeat it always starting at the top and moving downward until I'm happy with how dark it is.   

In this picture I've added more Lost Lagoon.  I pulled it down farther by sponging lower each time I add more ink.

Next start sponging with Hello Honey.  I worked my way up with this color, meaning I started sponging by the sticky note and moved up as I sponged.  

Using a piece of thin scrap paper punch a 3/4" circle and place it where you would like the sun to be.  If you look closely you can see that I have a little area at the bottom that is over the sticky note.  I want it to look like the sun is partially below the horizon.

Using Hello Honey again dab a bunch of ink into the circle.

Yes, it will look really dark against the yellow you sponged.

To blend the sun in just repeat what you did when you first sponged on the Hello Honey.  It makes it a little darker and blends it together well. 

If you want (and I did), add a little more Lost Lagoon to "blend" the colors in a little better.  I say "blend" because you don't really want to mix these two colors or you'll end up with a green sky! lol  I did it to pull the colors a little closer together.  Pull off the sticky note and this is what you'll see...

Time to put the sticky note back on.  You want to cover up what you just sponged.  I placed it over the yellow with just a smidgen of the yellow showing.  You don't want a gap between the water and they sky.  Not sure if you can see it or not, but there's a very small darker strip of yellow.  Now you need to sponge Lost Lagoon again for the water.  I rubbed it back and forth this time instead of dabbing it.

Keep adding more ink and rubbing it back and forth until it's as dark as you want it.

Pull off your sticky strip and see what you've done so far! :)

Now it's time to use Mossy Meadow to finish off your scene.  Ink up your sponge and once again dabbing the color onto your scene.  I didn't put it on super dark, just dark enough so I can see where I want to stamp my grassy area.  

I stamped the wheat from the set Wetlands a few times.  To add the grass you can use any grass stamp that you have, but I just turned the wheat stamp around and used the bottom of the stamp to add in my grass everywhere.  That way I only have one stamp to clean. :)

The last thing I do is add in more green with my sponge.  This time I rubbed the sponge in small circles.  I did it a few times to cover up each of the individual pieces of grass that can be seen in the picture above.  This just softens the look of it...and then you're done! :)  I hope  you enjoyed doing some sponging.  It will definitely get your fingers dirty, but it's worth it in the end.