Crafting Without Colour

When we talking about colour following the release of the new collecions of card, inks and dots from Concord and 9th, one person's favourite colour is white and it made me realise that it's been years since I did a fully white on white card so I accepted the challenge to make one and today I'm sharing the card and my tips on making WoW work (you can do the same techniques in any single colour too)

Tip 1 - Texture

When making WoW or any monocrhomatic card then texture is a great place to start, it adds some depth and all important shadows to help your focal elements stand out.  For this card I started with the flowing wreath embossing folder this not only added some texture but gave me a nice base of leaves on which to add some depth and details.

Tip 2 - Die Cutting For Depth and Shadows

When you're working with just one colour, particuarly white, then shadows are your friend!  They help separate the elements from the background so die cutting is a really easy way to make monochrome work and stacked die cutting makes it pop even more.

For this card I used a scripty sentiment  - Altenew's Fancy For You die and cut it twice from the same card I used for the embossed panel and stacked and glued them together.  This really makes it stand out from the background.  I repeated the same idea for the floral elements and butterfly picking items with layers or texture.   The flowers are from MFT's new Flowers and Fillers die which has lots of flowers, leaves and stems which can be mixed and matched.  I just picked 3 different flowers to keep the design CAS, focussing on ones with layered petals to get the depth I needed.   The butterfly is from The Greetery's Curio Summer Findings Die.

Tip 3 - Rule of Three 

Whilst this is not a technique specific to wow cards, it does help with a cohesive overall design.  Our eyes scan elements that are the same so keeping things in threes helps our eyes bounce around a card.   Here I used 3 x layered flowers (3 layers of petals to each), 3 of each of the sixes of the 6 petalled flowers and two of the largest flower.  The larger two were paired with the butterfly to make my three in this instance - they are similar sized and I gave them all the same glitter finish to tie them together.  This still works with the rule of 3 without the need to add three butterflies which would have been overkill on this card.

Tip 4 - Sparkle and Shine

My final tip when you can't add colour is to add some sparkle and shine.  The different finishes will make the different elements pop.  

For the sentiment I opted for shine - once the stacked layers were dry I added two layers of white embossing powder to give a really glossy finish.  I used star dust stickles on the large flowers and butterfly for some gentle sparkle - following the embossed details only on both elements and then finally I added some flat backed pearls to the other flowers which gives some gentle shine as well as more depth.

Hopefully that's given you some ideas of how to craft without colour.  It's my turn to throw down the challenge to you now - why not make a white on white, black on black or whatever monochrome shade you choose (the wreath I used would be perfect in green) and then share it with us?   You can share your makes in our VIPs group on Facebook or by tagging us and using our unique hashtag #madewithsevenhills on Instagram.

Happy Crafting!

Tara