Transforming Natural Composition Designer Paper – Part 1

I have so many ideas for using the new catalog stuff it's hard to know where to begin!!!  Fun, fun, fun! 

I decided to start with the new Natural Composition Specialty Paper, because I thought it would be fun to add ink for some resist techniques. 

Natural Composition sheets are heavier than most designer papers, more like a card stock weight.  The base is similar to Crumb Cake, but darker and richer in color (see the comparison shown above).  There are six clear embossed designs to choose from in this 12-sheet package.

For my first Two Cool cards, I experimented with the bleaching technique that I used on the Everything Eleanor card from this post.  It worked beautifully with the Natural Composition Papers!

The photo doesn't do this technique justice!  I used an old, dried-up Blender Pen dipped in fresh bleach to paint all of the flowers and leaves.  The subtle lightening creates a beautiful and elegant, two-tone background.

I sponged around each panel with Early Espresso ink for a lovely distressed look.

The From My Heart sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso, die-cut with the Apothecary Accents Framelits, then layered on a Labels Collection Framelit in Early Espresso.  Pearl Jewels finish off this antique look.

The second card uses the same bleaching technique, but once the bleach dried, I colored it in with a Blender Pen and Classic Inks.  I used Midnight Muse, Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive inks, blending them over the bleached areas and on the outer edges of the embossed designs for more definition.

The final step was to brayer on Wisteria Wonder over the entire background to really make the resisted patterns pop!

Here is the same card with more light shining on it, so you get an idea of how shimmery it is—gorgeous!

I used the same sentiment, this time in Midnight Muse, layered on Rich Razzleberry card stock, and accented with Rhinestone Jewels.

Complete Supplies List:

• Stamps—From My Heart
• Ink—Early Espresso (card #1), Midnight Muse, Rich Razzleberry, Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder and Old Olive (all card #2) Classic Ink; and Blender Pen
• Paper—Natural Composition DSP; Early Espresso (card#1), Night of Navy and Rich Razzleberry (card #2), Whisper White card stock  
• Accessories—Pearl Jewels (card #1), Rhinestone Jewels (card #2)
• Tools—Apothecary Accents Framelits, Labels Collection Framelits, Big Shot, Sponges (card #1), bleach, old Blender Pen, Brayer, SNAIL, Dimensionals

I had so much fun with this paper, I tried a couple more versions that I'll show next time!

Angie