Classic Lovely as a Tree

I am so happy that Lovely as a Tree didn't retire!  I hope it NEVER does!  It's one of my go-to stamp sets for both masculine and sympathy cards.  Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy card recently, and I had just made this card.

The card colors are Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip and gold.  On the card base, I stamped a couple of stamps from Timeless Textures then flicked on some spatters using gold Wink of Stella as well as an aquapainter dipped in Chocolate Chip ink.  I stamped the oak tree in VersaMark, embossed it with gold embossing powder then sponged it lightly with Chocolate Chip ink to soften the gold color a bit.  I distressed both the focal image and the mat with my bone folder then added a piece of retired crochet trim.

Happy stamping!

Using metal

There's a new set of challenges on SCS called Mix-ability.  They encourage use of mixed media.  That sounds complicated, but they make it easy!  This week's challenge was to use metal along with some other medium.  I remembered I had some copper, so I decided to see what I could do with that.  I ran it through the big shot with the houndstooth embossing folder.  Next, I sponged it with Early Espresso ink to tone down the brightness.  Then I mixed Baja Breeze with white craft ink and sponged that on to the metal to simulate the patina on weathered copper.  I discovered that I needed to heat set it because it took forever to dry.

I decided to use the sketch from the Fab Friday challenge blog.  The cardbase is Baja Breeze.  I stamped the Just Thinking image onto whisper white with VersaMark and Early Espresso ink, and then I embossed it with clear EP.  I watercolored part of the image with Baja Breeze.  I added a strip of Early Espresso cardstock and a bronze button.

Happy stamping!