Thinking of You

Happy April 1, blog friends! No April Fooling around here though. We have a most lovely day outside my window, and I can spy a lovely pinky-white tree blooming in my neighbor's yard. I think it is what we call a Flowering Cherry tree. There's a Carolina Blue Sky in the background, and some more green trees behind the cherry tree, so a very pretty sight to behold.

Mrs. A - the winner of the blogaversary candy - contacted me with her mailing info, so I removed the picture of the candy from the sidebar. Now just gotta start building a stash for the next milestone. Am wondering "what shall it be?". I'll think of something.

A while back I had an email from a very talented crafter MaggieC. She very kindly sent me instructions for doing a brayering technique, then covering the brayered piece with plastic wrap to create a background. I finally got a little time (and was in the mood too!) to follow her instructions. I came up with some pretty pieces, but don't have 'em made into cards yet. Well, I wasn't pleased with my stamping results, but I WAS pleased with the technique. It was definitely a case of Operator Error (on my part!) and it's something I'll try again with a different stamping ink. You'll see my results as soon as I get cards made up! So thanks MaggieC for the instructions and a pleasant evening experimenting! :-)

So I needed a card for today, and since I had some Stampscape Stamps at the ready after my brayering experiments, I did a quick Thinking of You card to build up my supply. Here goes:

 

 

- Stampscape scene done with Kaleidescope blues (the pad where you have several small rectangluar pads in one long block and can roll the brayer right over 5 colors. I just inked the stamp direct to rubber). Found that I needed to use my stamp press to get a crisp & even stamping. I still see a spot that looks as though it didn't get even ink coverage, but - honest - I think it is the stamp rubber and meant to be a highlight!

 

- Image was diecut with a Spellbinder label die, sponged with Memento Desert Sand

 

- moon was punched with a tiny EK success punch on a snippet that was on the desk. My hand got a blob of ink as I was sponging; so I covered it with a 'moon', hunted up a Stampscape flight of birds, stamped that with Hero Arts Wet concrete ink.

 

- blue checked paper from Farm House 6x6 pad..the imagery seen towards bottom of the mat is in the paper itself, not one of my smudge-y boo-boos!

 

- yellow textured bazzill mat, navy blue textured bazzill embossed with a Darice diagonal stripes EF. The first time I used a lighter weight paper, and this EF embossed too deeply and the paper tore. Thus ended up using the heavyweight Bazzill, and it worked fine. As usual, I cut out behind each layer to save weight on the layers, plus get a snippet for future projects.

 

- sentiment from a clear set was stamped with an old Opalite ink pad and I heat embossed with Ranger Clear EP. Tiny yellow pearls. In retrospect, I should have used a yellow ink to stamp, but IRL - this looks kinda pretty. Doesn't show up well in the pic though.

 

Stampscape stamps are some that I used very early when I was getting into this hobby, as there was a local shop having some classes. It was fun to create a scene with these stamps, and I had pretty much forgotten about them. I see some lovely work over at ShazinOz and her beautiful cards inspired me to hunt through my stamps for some of these stamps to revisit. Hope you like this one. Have a blessed day, and do come again when you have time. Hugs and thanks for visiting.