You're A Gem

Hello crafty readers!  Welcome back to the start of a new week after a hopefully fun and exciting 4th of July holiday weekend!   Today I am on the Joy Clair Designs blog sharing two cards using the You're a Gem clear stamp set.  When I received this stamp set from Martha (thank you so much for the extra bonus in my DT package!) I knew immediately that I envisioned cards made with alcohol inks to really play on that multifaceted dimension and variation in colors you would typically find on a gemstone.   I ended up trying a few different things before achieving this final result that I was happy with.

Card details: 

Both of these A2 sized cards were made using the same products, just in different color combinations.  Both cards use 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth as the card base and Yupo paper to create the alcohol ink backgrounds on.  Please continue reading for step-by-step instructions on each card.
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For this first card, I created the alcohol ink background by "ink blowing" Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Sailboat Blue, Denim and Silver Mixative.  Once this background dried, I matted it with a piece of silver foil cardstock and adhered both to the card base.  I die cut a diamond from royal blue cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment "You're a real gem" in white embossing powder.  I stamped several of the gems and geodes in Versamark ink on vellum cardstock.  I heat embossed the images with white embossing powder and fussy cut each image out.  I adhered the cut images to the card using vellum adhesive.

​For this second card, I created the alcohol ink background by "ink blowing" Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Butterscotch, Meadow and Gold Mixative.  Once this background dried, I matted it with a piece of gold foil cardstock and adhered both to the card base.  I die cut a diamond from coffee brown cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment "you are a rare find" in white embossing powder.  I stamped several of the gems and geodes in Versamark ink on vellum cardstock.  I heat embossed the images with white embossing powder and fussy cut each image out.  I adhered the cut images to the card using vellum adhesive.

I hope you have enjoyed these unique cards - and a break from sharing lots of floral ones! 
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XO, Crystal