Have you noticed lately that the word "retro" means different things to different people? I say "retro," and I feel like it means the 1960 or 70's. When I ask my daughter, she says the 1980's. I think age makes the difference in perception here. At any rate, I went back to my old techniques booklet, and found this retro technique that back in the earlier 2000's was introduced to me. I don't even know from where. Years ago, I used Glossy White cardstock for this technique, but it worked ok with Basic White cardstock, as I shared on Wednesday during What's Up! Stampers. Follow the steps below to see how it's done.
Step one: Choose three tones of the same color - one light, one medium, and one dark. I chose Real Red, Melon Mambo, and Flirty Flamingo.
Step 2: Take a piece of Basic White cardstock and use about six small sticky notes to cover up areas of the white cardstock at random. Leave some areas of the cardstock visible. Because I threw a large sticky note in the mix, I decided four was good enough for the 3 1/2" x 4 3/4" piece of Basic White cardstock that I was working with.
Step 3: Ink a brayer with your darkest color (Real Red). Roll the brayer over the entire piece of cardstock, re-inking the brayer and rolling it over the cardstock again and again.
Step 4: Take some of the sticky notes off and bray over again, this time with your medium color (I used Melon Mambo).
Step 5: Take the rest of the notes off and bray again with your lightest color (Flirty Flamingo).
Step 6: Stamp however you'd like to enhance your background. I used Read Red ink and the Country Bouquet stamp set from the Annual Catalog.
I think I intended to use it as a landscape placement, but ended up making a portrait card instead. Although I maybe would have used a different color scheme (perhaps Melon Mambo, Flirty Flamingo, and Petal Pink) that had a bigger difference than Real Red and Melon Mambo, but boy, am I happy with how it turned out!
The cardstock I used for this card is as follows...
Flirty Flamingo cardstock:
-5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored in half at 4 1/4"
-Scalloped oval from the Double Oval Punch
Real Red cardstock:
-Second largest of the Perennial Postage Die
Basic White cardstock:
-Oval from the Double Oval Punch
-Scrap for the hearts from the Country Bouquet stamp set
-3 1/2" x 4 3/4"
I played around with more color combinations using this retro background technique and found that I REALLY love it. For this color combo, I used four colors instead of three. I started with a couple more sticky notes, and made sure not to take too many off for each layer of ink.
The next color combo I tried is so pretty! This time, I left a couple of sections white in the end, although I noticed the specks of the darkest color (Misty Moonlight) were left in that white space. You know what, though? It's kinda cool.
Pretty rad technique, huh? I'm glad I resurrected it again since I haven't used it in years! Now my wheels are turning...
Happy techniquing!
Amy