In today’s post, I’ll be sharing a card made with the retiring Beauty of Tomorrow Set! This project was created as part of my Sepia Effects Technique Class.
Do you ever make what seems like a huge mistake and then somehow manage to create something beautiful that you love? Well, that’s what happened with the card I’m sharing today made with theBeauty of Tomorrow Set. I was showing how to make this card but decided to heat emboss some of the images instead of simply stamping. By changing this one element, and forgetting to use my trusty embossing buddy, I ended up with the mess you see in the photo below.
All the heat embossed images, and anything that wasn’t completely dry, got covered in white embossing powder creating cloudy white patches. I started trying to fix it by stamping some additional images in black to bring back the black elements I had lost with my heat embossing. It definitely helped but still wasn’t enough.
What a mess! LOL!
While I didn’t think it was salvageable, I just had to give it a try because I love a good creative challenge!
So one of the fundamental features of any project with the Sepia look is a pleasing balance of black, white, and the signature reddish-brown look of Sepia. One of the essential problems with my piece above is that I completely threw off the color balance.
So, the task at hand was to rebalance the colors.
To do that, I added more black images, did a little more heat embossing in white to bring back some stark white elements, and used a blending brush for some added reddish-brown in the background. Also, since browns are the predominant color in Sepia I also stamped my script image in crumb cake ink for some added brown tones and interest in the background.
Last but not least, I realized there was really no salvaging the stamped birds as they looked like a total mess.
So, I restamped them in Jet Black StazOn and colored them in with Soft Suede and Crumb Cake inks. Then they were die-cut using the Beautiful Leaves Dies. These dies are on sale for 50% off through January 3, 2022, or while supplies last! Check out the dies and coordinating stamp set in the photo below!
Here’s another look at the final card. It turned out totally different from the original design featured in my Sepia Effects Technique Class and I love it. I’m super proud of my “Happy Accident” card!
Check out the side by side, before and after photos of my focal piece here:
I hope you’ve enjoyed my “Happy Accident” card featuring the Beauty of Tomorrow Set and Beautiful Leaves Dies!
Make sure to buy these products before they’re gone!
If you enjoyed this project and want to learn more about creating cards with the look of Sepia you may want to check out my Sepia Effects Technique class.
Here is a sneak peek of the projects we made in this class:
Thanks for spending some time with me today! You’ll find dimensions and a complete supply list at the end of this post.
Happy Crafting!
Melissa 🙂
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Project Dimensions:
- Basic White Thick Card Body: 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″
- Basic Black Layer: 3-1/4″ x 5-1/2″
- Watercolor Paper Focal Piece: 3″ x 5-1/2″
- Basic White Sentiment Backing: 3/4″ x 1-7/8″
