Alien Invasion Skyline Card with Embossed Characters

A project from our live show MONDAY MADNESS - Join Simon from AVAGO-INK for his latest products - Broadcast 31st OCT 22 · 31/10/2022 · watch it from 5:15

Create a layered card featuring little alien characters stamped across the top in a descending pattern, with a gradient sky background in warm sunrise tones, and a black silhouette skyline of apartment buildings with window details. The sentiment is integrated as one of the tower blocks.

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Step by step

1. Cut a piece of card to 7¾ by 3½ inches as your base. ▶ watch 5:45
2. Use the grid system on the stamp block to line up the alien characters where you want them positioned on the card. ▶ watch 6:00
3. Rub an anti-static pad over the stamp to ensure crisp detail, then ink up the alien stamp block with black ink. ▶ watch 6:30
4. Press down firmly to stamp the aliens across the top of the card, re-inking as needed, and add a few random aliens descending down the page as if attacking. ▶ watch 7:00
5. While the ink is still wet, apply embossing powder over the stamped aliens and tap off the excess. ▶ watch 8:00
6. Heat the embossing powder with a heat gun until it becomes shiny and sets. ▶ watch 9:00
7. Blend ink colours from light to dark across the background: start with yellow at the bottom, then orange, rosy pink, and purple at the top to create a sunrise gradient effect. ▶ watch 10:00
8. Cut random-height strips from black card to create apartment building silhouettes, making some taller than others for dimension. ▶ watch 14:15
9. Use a silver pen to draw window patterns on each black building strip—vary the designs with dots, dashes, lines and L-shapes so they look different. ▶ watch 16:15
10. Glue the tallest building strips flat onto the card first as your back layer, leaving the coloured gradient visible. ▶ watch 18:45
11. Add foam pads to smaller building strips and layer them in front to create depth and overlap at different heights. ▶ watch 19:45
12. Stamp a long, thin sentiment (such as 'Congratulations') on black card using black ink, then emboss with silver embossing powder and heat. ▶ watch 21:15
13. Trim the embossed sentiment and mount it on mirror board to add shine and draw attention, then position it in the centre gap between buildings. ▶ watch 23:45
14. Stamp a small word stamp (such as 'OMG') around all four edges of a white card blank using black ink to break up the white border. ▶ watch 25:30
15. Mount the finished card panel onto the decorated card blank using foam tape for height and dimension. ▶ watch 27:00

Tips from the show

• Work lighter to darker when blending inks so colours don't contaminate your tools.
• Don't worry about window designs being perfectly even—vary them to avoid a uniform look.
• You can use coloured embossing powders or even colour the aliens in different ways if you prefer.

More from this show

• Stencilled Gradient Background Card with Character

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