Hopes & Dreams

Welcome to my first Visible Image DT post of 2026.  Our theme for the next two weeks is Uplifting, encompassing positive quotes, hopes, dreams and inspiration.  For my card this week, I’ve paired a golden oldie, Where Dreams TakeYou, with a stamp set from a recent release, Change Direction.

After cutting a piece of white card to 5¼” square, I stamped the eye using Versafine Onyx Black and clear heat set.  To preserve the white of the eye and the highlight, I used a Versamark pen and scribbled over the white areas, added clear embossing powder and heat set.  I then repeated this as I didn’t want any spray stain to seep through, giving the eye a bloodshot look!

Next, the sentiment was white heat embossed under the eye.

Now I was ready for the spraying so I propped the panel up in my spray box.  I opted for rainbow colours of Distress Spray Stains plus some plain water to get things moving.  On finishing the spraying, I stood the panel onto a sheet of kitchen towel to soak up the runs so that the bottom area didn’t go all muddy coloured.  The spray that you see on the eye was resisted by the embossing and was easily mopped up with tissue.

Rather than stencil details to the background, I opted for stamping but used Versafine Clair Morning Mist so that the images blended into the background.

To draw the eye into the centre of the panel, I darkened the edges by blending a little of each of the colours and then finished with a little Black Soot.

The colours seemed a little flat so I spritzed and flicked some water to reactivate the inks and then mopped up the wet areas with kitchen towel.  The panel was mounted on a square of black card and then onto a white card blank.  A few iridescent rainbow gems attached in a loose diagonal finished the card.