Well, some people have asked how I made that watermelon card we had on display in our Island County Fair booth. 

So even though it's long past watermelon eating weather around here (yeah, like we ever HAD watermelon weather this year, lol), I'm gonna try to explain.  Wish I could demo with a video, but I'm still not set up for that around here.

It's all about sponging.  Specifically, "burnishing" color with a sponge.  There's actually no stamping involved at all.

I started by tracing an everyday dessert plate onto Whisper White cardstock.  That gave me a circle about 5-1/2" across, so it fits fine in an envelope.  I cut out the circle with the Craft & Paper Scissors….. then folded in half along the grain of the paper.  (Translation:  in the direction it folded easily.)  That gave me the basic card shape.

Then I started sponging/burnishing with Regal Rose Classic ink.  Taking the ink up on a quarter of a sponge, I began by wiping a couple strokes of excess ink off onto my scrap paper.  Then with the ink that remained on the sponge, I started sponging in tight continuous circles, at first starting off my cardstock and then moving up onto it over the fold.  I started with light pressure, and as color was applied, gradually increased the pressure.  Every time I needed to reload the sponge with ink I began back at the point of wiping the excess off on the scratch paper and then began the circular burnishing on my scratch paper and then working up onto the card again.  Same process – over and over – working in tight circles to within about 3/4" of the open edge of the card as shown by the pink area.

When that area was totally covered with Regal Rose ink, I switched to Melon Mambo and repeated the entire process – right on top of the same pink area.

Finally, on top of that, I applied Rose Red – with the exact same burnishing technique.

Then it was time to work on the rind.  I used the same burnishing technique, except instead of approaching from the folded edge, I worked up onto the open edge of the card.  The initial layer is Certainly Celery – and applied lightly right up to the very edge of the pinks.

Then came Wild Wasabi – applied up to about half-way between the edge of the card and the pink area.

Finally, I used Garden Green – just barely up onto the very edge of the card…. and then finished off with some deliberate strokes of that same sponge right along the edge to darken it.

Gradually building up these layers of color gives the whole thing a more "alive" look – with depth to its color, closer to real-life.

For the seeds, I just cut a template in a Window Sheet using a Hobby Blade – freehand.  It took several attempts to get the size and shapes I wanted, but the "loser" holes I just covered with Scotch tape.  I eventually had 3 sizes that worked – and applied a deep saturation of Early Espresso ink with a Sponge Dauber – in a few random directions and sizes.

I've never actually sent this card to anyone, but I could easily see it used as an invitation to a BBQ or summer picnic. 

Hmmm….. "summer" picnic……. wonder what THAT might be like?  Maybe next year…… 😉