AECP - Irresistible Inking Techniques

Hello again! I am back with a project for the Irresistable Inking Techniques class for the  Altenew Educator Certification Program. The are so many inking techniques out there! To start with, applying ink to Altenew's laying stamps is a technique, which Altenew has AMAZING layering stamps! Getting that right color combination is key! With this project, I will use a few different inking techniques that are quick and easy to do!
I love the Winter Cardinal stamp and die set so I wanted to use it for this class. It gives me to chance to show a few different techniques and get a beautiful card! As soon as I seen this stamp, I knew I wanted to use it for this class.
So the first thing I did was pick my colors for the cardinal. I usually take the ink pads of colors I am looking at and add a little color onto a scrap piece of cardstock until I see colors I like together. For my cardinal I went with Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red, and Jet Black inks, and I used them in that order. After my cardinal was inked up, I cut him out with the coordinating die.
I then cut the tree branch out with 110lb cardstock four times, and them inked them with Altenew Paper Bag ink. I then glued them on top of each other. Taking a dark Distress Ink pad, I then applied dark brown ink on the edges of the branch directly from the edge of the ink pad to add some contrast. I then added some Snow Tek to the branch in random areas so the branch looked like it had snow on it.
I then cut out a piece of watercolor paper and cut it to the size of 2.75"x5.75". I then took a couple of Distress Ink blue ink pads and added the ink onto my glass mat and added some water. I took a water brush and colored the watercolor paper piece with the watered down blue inks until I got the color I wanted. I used two different colors of blue so the background would have some contrast. I let the watercolor paper dry because it was wet with all the water. After it was dry, I splattered some white ink to make it look like a snowy sky and I glued the watercolor paper panel onto a red cardstock mat.
While that was drying, I stamped the sentiment that came with the Winter Cardinal stamp set in Ruby Red ink and cut it out into a strip. I then added a red cardstock mat behind the sentiment strip. I also stamped the "Sing" word in Ruby Red ink and fussy cut the word out. 
Now it was time to put my card together, so I popped the branch up onto the snowy sky with some foam tape and then I popped the cardinal on the branch using foam tape. I then popped the sentiment with foam tape and added some red jewel embellishments to compete the look.
Final step is to glue the card panel onto a 110lb white mini slimline card base. 
I really like how this card came out. My cardinal looks like he is perched on a snowy branch on a snowy day! I hope you like it!
See you all soon with another project!

​Happy Crafting Y'all!!