LIMES: Geo Happy Birthday!

Welcome to this week's LIMES inspiration post!

I chose this card as my inspiration from the gallery of this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper, Sandye!

LIST: Colours (rainbow, black, white) Techniques (reverse stenciling, inkblending, heat embossing) Elements: rainbow colours, geometric pattern, black sentiment speech bubble with white embossing, clear gems)

INCLUDE: rainbow background with dark geometric areas, stenciling, inkblending, clear gems

MODIFY: use of layered stencils, grey instead of black, pastels instead of bright rainbow, inlaid diecut sentiment 

EXCLUDE: heat embossing

SPIN: negative frame with inner portion 'turned' to break up pattern and add interest, white gel pen dots

I love geometric patterns partly because they can be used for any occasion, simply by changing the colours and sentiments.

This is a fun layering stencil set that contains 3 stencils but I only used 2 of them - one you turn 90 degrees 4 times, to create the dimensional cubes, and the second one adds the centres. I blended my rainbow inks diagonally from top right to bottom left each time I turned the first stencil, but on turns 2 and 4, I put down two layers of ink. This variation in intensity is what gives the pattern the 3D look.

When I have a large panel of a pattern, I often use my Essential Shapes dies to cut out a smaller panel with a narrow frame, then re-mount the inner panel without the frame. This helps to draw the eye into the centre and I think it works especially well with a geometric pattern like this.