No Line LetterPress

Hey friends....it's Michelle back with  a new project featuring the latest release from Crafty Meraki.  We've all seen no line colouring techniques, using regular stamped images, but I thought why not translate that to using the letterpress plates with the BetterPress machine.  Let's get started shall we and I'll show you how I created a no line letterpress effect.

Place the Floral Fantasy Press-Tacular Plate in your Betterpress machine and add a piece of watercolour paper.  You can use any type of paper, but a thicker watercolour paper or even the paper made specifically for the Betterpress works best, as you get a thicker and more impressive impression.  You could really just use this clean pressed image and call it a day, to make a very simple, quick and clean card.  This brings all of the focus on the pressed image, but we are adding some colour to the image today.

Be sure to line up the stencils well with the pressed image.  It may be a bit hard to see with the first one, as there are no outlines, but I find that if you hold the paper up in front of you, it's easier to see.  Start adding colour to the image using the coordinating stencils, in order starting with the first one.  You want to make you are remembering to go light to dark with the ink colours. The ink colour will settle into the lines of the image, so it'll be easier to see.  Repeat with all of the stencils, going darker as you go.  

I added some black splatters using a black gouache concentrating it over the floral image. For the sentiment, I turned to a technique that I love using when I don't want to cover up my background (or very minimal coverage). I diecut the sentiment from the coloured image using the Hi Standalone die and cut the second shadow layrer using black cardstock.  The black layer gives it a very small border and lets the sentiment really standout, since it could get lost, seeing as it is part of the background.

Once the splatters were dry, I felt that it needed a bit more, so I did some light ink blending using any residue blue ink that was on my blending brush.  I kept this to the outisde of the cardstock and left the inside untouched.  The sentiment was added and it was all added to an A2 cardbase.  To add some sparkle to it, I added small clusters to the center of the flowers using the Meraki Sparkle Magic Crystal Gems.  

I've always been a bit intimidated by no-line colouring using Copic or alcohol markers, as my skills aren't quite up there with others, but I love how this can be applied to projects using Press Plates and stencils.  I love the softness that the no-line colouring technique lends to it! 

Thank you so much for joining me today on the blog!  I hope that I have helped to inspire you in some small way and I wish you all the most wonderful and crafty day!  Until next time, Michelle :)