Hand Stamped Sentiments #IC385

It's my choice of mood board for this week's challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I hope you find something on there that inspires you.

I started off with some Tim Holtz watercolour card and I masked off the edges.  I used two Distress Oxide inks for my background - Salty Ocean and Fossilised Amber.  I added lots of water to the cardstock before adding the inks and letting them mix together.  

I then used a circle stencil and stenciled some of the Salty Ocean on top.  I used Tracy Evan's stamp sets Nesting Bird and Foliage for my images.  The nest was embossed with black embossing powder.  The eggs were embossed with Tim Holtz Speckled Egg powder.  I added some twine behind the cut out bird.

I'm adding this into the following:

Stamping Sensations - moodboard inspiration 

We love2create - AG 

Pink Gem Challenge - AG 

Allsorts Challenge - In the Garden

We love Stamping - Spring 

Spring is in the air

My card today is inspired by Tracy Evans who has a challenge running on her FB group for circles.  I also wanted to add a card for Ukraine and used their colours.

My  card uses Tim Holtz Distress Oxides in Salty Ocean and Fossilised Amber  with a watercolour background with the Flutter stamp white embossed on top.  I then added part of the Bird Song stamp set and the words Fly Free which I thought were apt for Ukraine at the moment. 

I'm adding these into the following challenges

The Paper Players - Spring mood board 

Mod Squad - Ukraine 

Addicted to stamps 

Mixed Media Lovers 

Everybody Art - Beginning with B for Birds 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS #384

These colours were my choice for our challenge this week at Hand Stamped Sentiments.  I thought they were perfect for spring and I'm ever hopeful here in Wales for some sunshine and spring to show itself.  Saying that we've had a lovely weekend and although a bit chilly the sun was definitely shining.

For my card I used one of my favourite SU sets Dandelion Wishes.  I stamped them flowers randomly on to some white cardstock.  I then used a blender brush  ( I use make-up brushes which are a lot cheaper and just as good) to add the Mind Macaron and So Saffron to some of the flowers.  I used Fresh Fresia for the wording and used an old SU punch to stamp it out.  I added a butterfly in the same colours and some So Saffron twine.  A very simple but effective card.

A 4x4 card

This is a new size card for me - a 4 x 4 as asked for by Retro Rubber in their challenge this week. It is a tic tac toe and I chose the vertical line of 4 x 4, embossing and twine.

I started out by using Distress Inks to create my inky background.  I added a very old stamp by Cherry Pie Art Stamps in Black Versafine and then used an old SU embossing folder Painted Texture to emboss it all.  The stamp must be at least 15 years old!  I added extra stamping around the edges, added some twine and some pearls and layered it onto coloured cardstock.

I'm adding this into the following challenge:

Love to Craft Challenge AG 

Pastels - what a challenge!

Well this was a real challenge for me - over at As You See It challenge they had a mood board as below and you had to use all of the items. It was only as I sat down to join in I realise how much I don't use pastels! 

I grabbed an old SU Set Choose Happiness which I don't think I've ever used much.  I've been going through all my old sets and sorting them in to keep or let go.  I'm now looking at these sets with a different eye - and if I can use them on my art journals or mixed media then they stay.  This was one of the stay ones - anything with birds on has to stay too lol!

And so my challenge began to find some pastel inks.  I stamped the main images in Versafine Clair Nocturne ink which is my favourite black ink.  I then used some Distress Inks and a water brush for my flowers - Victorian Velvet and Milled Lavender.  The leaves were stamped in Versafine Clair Shady Lane and coloured in with Distress Ink Twisted Citron.

I then used my favourite SU embossing folder Painted Texture to emboss the stamped image.  i went over it in parts with some SU Soft Pastels.  I found them in a drawer and haven't used them in a while.  I cut out some butterflies with an SU butterfly punch in the same colours and added some pearls.

The ribbon is old SU Powder Pink shimmer and I added the bird in Archival Distress Picked Raspberry which had been stamped off to make it paler.  The sentiment comes from another old SU set that's a keeper Feather Together.

I didn't have any pastel cardstock to layer it onto but did find this very pale patterned cardstock someone had gifted me which fit perfectly.