Monday 30 June 2008

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers - 20

I am a little confused, but if I have managed to count the numbers correctly then I hope to be part of this sisterhood. You can find out all about this on the Sisterhood's Blog. If I understand the setup correctly when there are enough people asking to join the 20th sisterhood will be ready to get started. Anyhow I now need to add a list of others who are joining. Looking forward to meeting everyone and sharing ideas and tips.

Some More Skinnys

Well life conspired again to keep me away from my craft stash last week - don't you just love it when you think you have lots of free time and things just happen! Oh well that's the way the cookie crumbles, maybe this week I can have a bash at making some cards for Fab's Christmas Challenge. I want to join his "nutters" this time and try to make 6. But first I have been making more skinnys for the swap list with a floral theme which I joined. The swap is organised by Craft Swap Forum.

From the left the first skinny was made using a stamp which is a limited editon stamp from Elusive Images and made avaiable to members of the Graphicus Guild. I stamped this with Black Stazon then painted the flowers with Twinkling H2Os, allowing the colours in the flower to bleed a litte into each other. The edges are inked with some Violet ink from a Petal Point pigment ink pad.

The middle skinny was made using a brayer and masking technique. The stamp is from the Laura Ashley Contemporary Collection. First I stamped my image onto my card stock using a Kaleidacolor ink pad (Desert Heat), next I stamped the image again twice onto a post-it note and cut the images out to create masks. The masks were then placed over the original stampings and I used a brayer to create my background this time using the Fresh Greens Kaleidacolor ink Pad.

The third skinny on the right was made with some Moondust Pearlecent card - I love the shimmer on that card. First I used a sponge to blend in 2 colours of inks which would work well with the Prima Flowers from the "Stone Rose" collection. The inks were from an Adirondack Rainbow pad called Stained Glass. I used the same ink pad to ink a stamp from Clarity Stamp and stamp the leafy background. Finally I stuck on the Prima Flowers and added a gem in the center of each.

Wednesday 25 June 2008

Florrie's weekly ATC Challenge - Mellow Yellow

This week the theme for Florrie's Weekly ATC Challenge over on Craft Swap Forum was Mellow Yellow. I had fun getting inky with some inks and sprays for this project. First I took a blank ATC which was white and coloured it all over with inks from a Kaleidacolor pad in shades of yellow. Then I stuck down some punched out flowers and a butterfly shape using repositional adhesive so as I would be able to remove them. I then spritzed my ATC with some Memories Mists and let it dry. Once dry I sponged a little dark ink around the edges of my punched out flowers then removed them and sponged some orange ink into the middle of each flower and onto the butterfly. I decided to give the butterfly a little more emphasis by adding an outline of glitter with a Sakura Stardust pen and also added some sparkle to it's body.

Monday 23 June 2008

Daring Card Makers Challenge - A Quick Card

Wow, last week flew by and I hardly had time to get my craft things out at all. Some stuff was good like hubby's birthday - he was well chuffed with both his pressy and his birthday card, despite the teasing about my inability to stick stuff down straight! Some stuff not so good like pulling an extra shift at work. Hope this week I can get some more crafting done! To get going again the Daring Cardmakers Challenge to make a "quick card" was ideal on 3 counts: firstly time has been at a premium for me recently, secondly I did promise myself I would get a ahead of the game with my cards for Christmas 2008 and finally my mind had been wandering to thoughts of Christmas cards as the date for this month's "Fab's Big Christmas Challenge" draws closer - so this project is a nice little warm-up before the 25th of June arrives.

The card took a little over 20 mins to make. First I punched out 2 circles of card, stamped and heat embossed them using Gold Sparkle EP and the Holly background stamp from the Elusive Images Christmas Flourish Themeplate, coloured them green using a Stampin' Up brush marker and cut some little tops from gold card to stick to the back (what do you call those bits you suspend Christmas baubles from?). With my two baubles ready I chose a background paper from the Artylicious Season's Greetings CD. printed it off and covered part of my card. Finally I stuck on my "Christmas Baubles" and added a couple of green organza bows and a peel-off sentiment - I figured peel-off sentiments are OK for quick cards.

Thursday 19 June 2008

Two More Cards for the WSW Challenges

It's been a busy week this week, so I have not managed as many of the World Stamping Week Challenges as I would have liked to, but here are 2 more I have done. The first was to make a Long Tall Card, or as we call it here in the UK a DL card. The second challenge was to create a project with the theme "Winged Creatures"

For the Long Tall card I used a floral stamp from the Elusive Images "Damask Squares" themplate which I stamped in Versamark and embossed with Cosmic Shimmer Embossing Powders onto some Moondust pearlescent card. I then blended in a little Adirondack ink in Eggplant around the edges and finally ran my versmark pad around the edge and sprinked on more of the Cosmic Shimmer Powder to edge the piece. This was mounted onto black card which I had randomly stamped a background on using a butterfly stamp from the same themeplate with Opalite Ink in Orchid Ice. The Opalite ink is an interference ink so can appear almost invisible until the light catches it - it works best on dark card.

For the "Winged Creatures" Challenge I decided it would be fun to make a card featuring a dragon from the Elusive Images "Here Be Dragons" themeplate. First I created my background using a brayer and some torn paper to mask a skyline and a seperate mask for the moon. The ground was brayered on with Distress ink (Pine Needles) and the sky was layered using Adirondack Dye inks in Stonewashed, Denim and Eggplant. Once this was done I used a stamp from Clarity Stamp to stamp in the moon and cloud details using Encore Silver ink. The trees were stamped in Versafine Onyx Black using stamps from a set by The Angel Company and now my background was ready. Next I stamped and embossed the dragon image in with black embossing powder, painted this with various shades of Twinkling H2Os and then cut him out. The dragon was mounted onto the card with foam pads. Finally I used some Distress Ink (Old Paper) to age a long narrow strip of paper by applying it with an ink blending tool and stamped a text stamp from the "Here Be Dragons" themplate in the middle of the strip using Adirondack ink (Cappuccino. The extra length of paper at the top and bottom of the strip was rolled up to create a sort of scroll and this was stuck down on the card. The message on the scroll reads "Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup"

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Hubby's Birthday and Our Anniversary


These occasions both fall in June. Last year my card for hubby's birthday was a disaster and I mean a serious disaster - my first attempt at using a brayer and it all went horribly wrong and kept doing so no matter how many times I tried. Anyhow this year I think I managed to produce something better.

My Anniversary Card to hubby was made using 2 heart shaped stamps and a text stamp from the Elusive Images Damask Hearts themeplate. I stamped and embossed the hearts in clear onto white card stock then used pigment inks in 3 shades of blue to achieve a resist effect then cut them out. The background was made with a brayer and Adirondack Dye inks - Denim and Stonewashed. I was hoping for something romantic for an anniversary, but not too soppy and girly.

Hubby's birthday card I have posted details of how I stamped the image before, but here it is again mounted onto a card now. Umm this time at least hubby's only complaint was it was a bit squint... it is too! Maybe one of these days I will master the art of sticking stuff down straight, but until then I shall carry on insisting that "squintness" is a highy desirable and unique feature of a hand made card.

Monday 16 June 2008

World Stamping Week - my first Challenge attempt

I heard about this even from Jan (Far North), it's organised by Two Peas in a Bucket and sounded like a lot of fun so I went to take a look. WOW!! Loads of fun challenges to attempt this week. This is my first - the challenge was "Naked Stamping" - use only ink and stamps to create your project - no printed papers, diecuts etc.

For this card I created a background using a brayer and Kaleidacolor ink pad (Cappuccino Delight) and edged round it with Brilliance Galaxy Gold. The flowers were stamped using stamps from the Elusive Images "Big Flowers" themplate with Archival Black ink and coloured by sponging on colour from a Kaleidacolor pad (Desert Heat) and also some Distress Ink (Mustard Seed). The flowers were cut out and mounted on foam pads - the edges of the flowers have been cuved over the back of mu scissors to give a little more dimension and to help conceal the foam pads underneath.

I had fun making this and hope I can find time to fit in a few more of the World Stamping Week Challenges. Take a look at the Two Peas site, there is lots going on - just visit the message board and choose General Stamping - posts relating to the challenge all start with WSW in the thread title - you need to look for the WSW Master Thread to get all the information about taking part.

Sunday Stampers Challenge - Ebony & Ivory


This week the Sunday Stampers Challenge hosted by Ink On My Fingers was to use only black and white. I have had a project in mind for a few weeks now involving the 2 stamps I used, but had been hanging back. The truth is I was dreading finding out that the idea in my head would not work in reality. However this week's challenge theme made me decide it was time to throw caution to the wind, get out the stamps and inks and go for it. I am glad I did because I am pleased with the results.

First I stamped the face stamp which is an Impression Obsession stamp, then used a stamp from Clarity Stamps to create a frame around the face. Both were stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I then trimmed my card and mounted it onto layers of black and white card. Finally I took some black card to make my card blank and stamped the Clarity stamp all around the edges using Brilliance Moonlight White ink.

Friday 13 June 2008

My Lovely Surprise!

If you read my very short description at the top of this blog then you will see that for me this is primarily a diary. I am a novice papercrafter and wannabe rubber stamper. Here I simply document stuff I am making and note a litte bit about the learning experience from each project. One thing I have learned, if you want to play with rubber then you need ink, and lots of of it in all it's various colours and types. Pigment Ink, Dye Ink, Embossing pads... the list seems endless. Everytime I think, "OK, that kind of ink is best" I discover something new to do that needs a different type of ink. At this point it is probably worth mentioning quality, it does matter! Cheap ink pads will not give you the results you want and can put you of stamping for good! I have been seeing some fabulous work done by various bloggers using the Ranger Distress Inks. Ranger is a company I have been aware of for some time but only recently realised how lovely their Adirondack Dye Inks are, and now here was yet another "type" of ink to collect!

Anyway to get to the point... Roni was celebrating her Ink Stains blog's 6 month birthday with some fab blog candy give aways over a period of several days, I was lucky enough to win a Tim Holtz ink blending tool and Jan (Far North)a friend, was also lucky and won some Distress Ink pads. Yesterday my parcel containing the ink blending tool from Roni arrived but when I opened it, to my suprise some Ranger Distress inks were the first things to fall out into my lap! Jan knew I did not have any of these inks and had very kindly asked Roni to pass on her prize to me! To both those ladies a HUGE thank you from me!

Of course I hot footed it to Roni's blog where she has posted a her top ten tips for working with the Ink Blending Tool and set to making something. I knew what I wanted to make, I just needed to check up on Roni's technique tips for #4 Spritz & Flick. Well not only did I get the tips I was looking for, I got some inspiration for my card design too. There is a very cute sample card on that particulur tip and it was a thank you card.. the very kind of card I was about to make... so here is my take on on Roni's Spritz and Flick Thank You card.

The inks are Ranger Distress Inks in Pine Needles, Mustard Seed and Old Paper, the Stamping is Versafine Onyx Black using the Elusive Images "All of a Twitter" themeplate and a Thank You sentiment from the Elusive Images "Flower Spray" themplate. A little sparkle was added using a Sakura Stardust pen in yellow. My verdict on the inks..... WOW they are indeed lovely to use and blend beautifully I can see I NEEEEEED them ALL ;)

Thursday 12 June 2008

Skinnys with a Floral Theme

I joined a swap list recently to swap skinnys, the theme for the swap is "floral" and these are my first three makes for the swap.

From the left the first one was made using a Kaleidacolor inkpad (Pastel)to brayer the background. I was curious to see how this would turn out on porous cardstock so I used 200gsm artist's cartridge paper. It's not as smooth a finish as obtained using coated cardstock but I like it. I the stamps are from and Inkadinkadoo set called "Bohemian Flourish and were stamped with Versfine Onyx Black ink. The white highlights were added with a Sakura Souffle Pen. The finished result was edged with a sliver Pentouch pen and mounted onto black card.

In the middle skinny I used a stamp from the Laura Ashley Contemporary set. I stamped the image twice onto damp watercolur paper. Before stamping I had spritzed the paper with water and then rolled a clean dry brayer over it to make sure it was evenly damp. With this done I first stamped the image using a Kaleidacolor Pad (Desert Heat)the inks bled on my damp paper just a little, blurring the image as I had hoped. Once this was dry I stamped over it again using an Adirondack Pad (Cappucino), this time leaving a much sharper impression as the paper was dry. Finally I made my background layer by sponging ink onto my card using various shades from the Kaleidacolor Desert Heat Pad, and then stamped one of the Inkadinkadoo Bohemian Flourish Stamps around the edge.

The skinny on the right was made using another Kaleidacolour pad (Fresh Greens) to brayer the background. This time I added spritzes of Memories Mist in Mango Lemonade, Orange Juice and Amaretto. I used a stamp from the Elusive Images Wild Meadow Themeplate with Versafine Onxy Black ink and used a Sakura Clear Glaze Pen to colour the and give it some dimension. Finally I edged this with a gold Pentouch pen and mounted it on black card.

On a final note, today I received a lovely surprise with which I hope to make something tonight. If it works out I will share this fun technique tomorrow.

Wednesday 11 June 2008

Penny Black Challange Blog

I love Penny Black Stamps, and have made a start on a small collection of them. Looks like I can have an excuse to use them more now with the arrival of the new Penny Black Challenge Blog.

Black Colour Challenge Card

I got some new ink pads yesterday, they are Kaleidacolour pads which are a rainbow effect pad. I have already got some of these and they are fun to play with. Today's card is one I made using the one of these pads, the pad is called Desert Heat, scrummy hot oranges and reds!

First I brayered my background using the Kaleidacolor pad, then I stamped some flower stamps from Lavinia Stamps using Versfine Black Onyx ink. I was using a glossy coated card stock and this was my first mistake - the Versafine does not seem to dry on the none porous card and it smudged long after I thought it was dry... oh well back to the drawing board. I started again recreating my background with the brayer, but this time I used Ranger's Black Archival Ink to stamp my flowers - success - no more smudges! I then trimmed the edges and ran the Archival pad round them, mounted this onto some gold foiled card and then stuck it onto some glossy black card stock. I rather like the result. Sorry about the photo, it's kind of tricky to get a good photo of glossy card.

Tuesday 10 June 2008

Q? When is Purple not Purple ?

A: When it's a mostly Green card!

A few days ago I had settled down to make a card for a swap, the theme was to to be the colour Purple. All was going well, I had stamped and embossed in white onto some purple card, a little flower stamp that came as the free stamp with a copy of Craft Stamper several months ago. I then painted my little flower with some purple H20's, edged the card with some Brilliance ink (Lavender) and all was looking good - very "purple" - buth then the rot set in! I decided to add some sparkle in the form of some rather nice green glitter, just a touch, not a lot, it was looking good, a nice point of contrast with the purples. Next came a greeting, well my eye lighted upon some rather nice Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder, Malachite Fire Aurora to be precise, and my brain decided that as it has a lovely green shimmer it would co-ordinate nicely with my touches of green glitter. So I chose a stamp with the word "Celebrate" from an HOTP set of clear stamps and proceeded to emboss my greeting onto some more of the purple card and still things were looking good....

My next decison was what to stick these bits onto? Well, I had some rather nice bright juicey lime green card, and after all a little of that showing around the edges would again bring in a hint of the green contrasts I had been using. However the green card ended up being a much larger piece, with more on show than I had envisaged but no matter .. back to purple card for another layer. This time I stamped the stamem part of my flower stamp around the edges of my purple card using the Brilliance Lavender ink, edged the card by running the ink pad round it and layerd this up - I was back on track, my card was going to be a purple card after all! But hang on a minute wouldn't that look even better with an edge of green glitter? So I added more green glitter along the border where the green and purple card meet.

Now there was one final hurdle to clear - what was I going to use for my card itself and after trying lots of different things I found the only card I liked was more of the lovely lime green! I was pleased with my card, but it just was not a "purple" card, however as my next project was to make a card for a Birthday List which has a birthday today I decided my "mostly green" card would make a nice card for a birthday card and so I hope "Craft Addict" enjoys her card and her birthday today!

Monday 9 June 2008

Well Done Card

Earlier this year a lady who posts on a craft forum I read told us she had won a competion to design some stamps for a local craft store. Infact she has designed a whole range of stamps which have been launched under the name Kadoodle Stamps. Sandra, the designer was to take part in a launch event on the weekend of the 7th and 8th of June and would be demonstrating cards designed with her stamps! I made this card to send to Sandra to congratulate her on winning the stamp design competition and to wish her luck for the launch event.

The image was stamped with a stamp from the Stamp-It range and coloured with Prismacolour Pencils, using paper stumps and artist's low odour white spirit to blend the colours. The wording "well done" was added with a small clear stamp from a set I have but cannot recall the maker of the set.

Sunday 8 June 2008

Heaven in a Wild Flower

My second attempt at a blog based challenge, this time Daring Cardmakers and the theme is "Quoted by..." The challenge was to include a quote on a card, the text of the quote could be incorporated by any means, stamps, rub-ons, computer generated etc. I have been dying to find a reason to use my recently purchased Elusive Images Wild Meadow themeplate and this seemed like the perfect chance, all I needed was a quote that referred to wild flowers and the Willam Blake one was perfect!

I made a background using some blue and green inks applied to my card with a sponge. Once this was done I stamped lots of the flowers from the Wild Meadow themplate around the bottom and sides. The birds in the sky are were added by stamping just part of an image from a stamp by Lavinia Stamps and finally the quote the quote was printed. Once this was done I added some silver round the edges with a Pentouch Pen and mounted it onto dark blue card that has a silver shimmer over it.

Saturday 7 June 2008

A little bit of Dazzle for Florrie's Challenge

This week the theme is "Sprinkle Some Sparkle" for Florrie's weekly ATC challenge on Craft Swap Forum. To make my ATC I decided I wanted to use some new stamps I bought recently - the Elusive Images "Big Flowers" Themeplate. I started by applying some ink with a sponge to a plain white ATC size piece of card with Yellow, Orange and Red inks from a Petal Point ink pad until I had a nice effect for my background. Once that was done I chose one of my "big flowers" and inked it up with more of the red ink and stamped round the edges to create a border. Also with the same red ink I stamped the word "Bloom" onto the ATC using a stamp from the Flora Bella themeplate which is also by Elusive Images.

Next I chose another flower from the Big Flowers themeplate and stamped it onto some white card again using the red ink, but this time embossing the image with clear embossing powder. I then cut out my flower and coloured it using Sakura Glaze pens, once again choosing yellow, orange and red. I applied the orange to the center of the flower and also in the inner parts of the petals. While the orange glaze was still wet I added the red glaze from the outer edges of the petals in towards the middle, letting the red and orange bleed together. With that done I sprinked on some clear holographic ultra fine glitter then left things to dry. Finally I coloured the stamen parts of the flower with the yellow glaze and again sprinked on glitter while the glaze was still wet. Again I left this to dry, then mounted my flower on some foam pads and stuck it onto the ATC.

Friday 6 June 2008

Inchies For Spring

Wow, difficult little blighters aren't they! I had signed up for a swap this month on a Yahoo Group I belong to, Crafty Card Creators, the breif was to make 6 inchies with a pastel spring theme and this would be my first ever attempt at inchies.

So Springtime eh? Well I know what spring makes me think of, life returns, things start to grow, flowers bloom and the birds start singing. People seem happier as the winter ends, they laugh more. So here is my take on Spring, I used a mix of Petal Point Chalk and Pigment inks with various stamps from Elusive Images (Flora Bella Themplate, Wild Meadow Themeplate & All of a Twitter Themeplate, Lavinia Stamps and See-D's Morsels.

Thursday 5 June 2008

Roses Are Red

A while ago I started making some ATCs with one stamp, the idea was to see how many ways I could find to colour the rose red. Here are the first 3 of the series, I have another 3 ideas for colouring my rose still to do and maybe more ideas will happen along the way!

The rose stamp is one I bought on ebay, part of a set I beleive originally sold by QVC UK. From the left, the first is stamped in Stazon and coloured with water colour pencils. In the middle I covered some gold foil card with clear UTEE, heated it, added a second layer and heated again, then sprinkled some red and green embossing powder in the area where I would stamp the rose and heated a 3rd time. Once that was done and with the embossing still melted I stamped my rose which I had previously inked up with Gold Encore Metallic ink. Third along is stamped on acetate with Stazon and then coloured with Sakura Glaze pens. The backing paper is something I came up with when messing about on Hubby's computer - he has Photoshop Elements and I thought it would be fun to learn some of what that programme can do. the rose stem is also from the same set of stamps as the main rose image and was embossed with red embossing powder.

Wednesday 4 June 2008

My first Skinnys

I recently signed up to take part in a Skinny swap on Craft Swap Forum. I have never made a skinny before, but they are much the same idea as Fat Pages except for being a different size. The size is 5" x 3", and they should always be decorated in portrait orientation. Like a Fat Page the back should be decorated, but not as heavily as the front. A margin area on the left side should be kept clear to allow them to be punched for binding into a book.

Anyhow here are my first 3 skinnys from left to right:

The first on the left was made using a stamp from the Elusive Images Peacock Glory Themeplate which I heat embossed in gold then coloured using stencil brush and inks from a Kaliedacolour pad (Blue Breeze). It was then mounted onto a backing paper made using a technique I learned from my friend Jan aka Far North. It involves stamping a scrunched up plastic bag all over some paper and is lovely messy inky fun! Some ribbon making a loop behind added a bit more texture and interest.

The middle one was made using Hero Arts stamp which I stamped with Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black) then coloured in with a light wash of water colours. I added some clear glaze from a Sakura Glaze pen over the postage stamp to give some dimension and then cut stamped image. Next I mounted it onto a background I had made using Petal Point Fluid Chalk inks to colour the card and then stamped the edges with a Stamp from Clarity Stamp which I had inked up with an Adirondack Rainbow pad(Woodlands) The tag is secured with a brad at the top and some foam pads at the bottom edge.

The last one on the right is a stamp from Creative Expressions stamped in Jet Black Versafine ink and coloured with Twinkling H2Os. I edged the cardstock with touches of Brilliace Lightning Black and Rocket Red ink.

Sunday 1 June 2008

Sunday Stamper Challenge

Do you believe in fate? Through the week I had decided that as I now have a blog, it might be fun to try some of the challenges that other bloggers post on a fairly regular basis. As I am off on Sundays I thought it I would have a look and see what the Sunday Stamper challenge is this week on Ink On My Fingers Blog and maybe have a go. Then fate took a hand!

I had had a bit of a spending spree last week and had decided that I had best not go to the Art Stamps Scotland show this week as I had spent enough already, but if you like stamping you will know how hard it is to resist temptation and Hubby was willing to drive me through - I hate driving in Edinburgh! I promised myself NO big spending, but then hubby stepped in when he saw me pining for some lovely stamps from the Lavina Stamp's stand.

With that purchase safely clutched in my hot little hand we wandered on and came across a stand run by Little Claire Designs. They had the most cute little dog stamps... hubby's words... "oh well, it's only money"... and the rest as they say is history. Once we got home again, I took a look at the Sunday Stamper challenge and the theme is Dogs! I guess fate was telling me that as I had just bought some lovely doggy stamps I really ought to take the plunge and join in the challenge - so here is my card.

The main dog design is from the Little Claire Designs stamps that I bought today, stamped with Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black on to white card stock. I matted and layerd on more black and white card, then created a final mat with black card stamped with a stamp of a paw print from a The Angel Company set of dog stamps using White Brilliance ink. More of the Archival Ink stamped the border of paw prints on the inside of the card.

Another Graphicus Guild Limited Edition Stamp

This is another of the Graphicus Guild Members' Limited Edition Stamps which some of us who were at a recent workshop were allowed to purchase early! I think this one may be my favourite.

I have used water colour paper for this project, spritzing it lightly with water as I wanted to see what happened when the paper was already damp before the ink was applied. The inks were Adirondack inks applied with a brayer. First I stamped the image onto some scrap paper and then tried to tear fairly accurately along the line of the hills in the background. Once I had torn this I had a mask which let me apply the green Airondack ink (Bottle) to the bottom and leave an edge which would match the skyline created by the hills. I then used the other peice of paper I had torn to mask my newly created skyline, and a second torn edge just a few centimetres above that to create the deeper yellow area of the sky using Adirondack Butterscotch ink. Next I removed all the torn paper masks and added more ink to the top. At this stage it had not turned out as well as I had hoped. I had been looking for a softer more mellow effect, so I decided I had nothing to loose by spritzing more water onto it to see what would happen. So I did, I spritzed rather a lot actually and the paper was now very wet but I could see that under the water I was getting a result. I got some kitchen towel and blotted my paper to get rid of the excess water and was really pleased to see I now had the background I wanted! Finally, once my paper was dry or at least nearly so, I inked up the stamp with Adirondack ink (Espresso) and lined it up with the paper so as once I had stamped it the top edge of the hills would match fairly closely to the skyline I had created. I like the fact that the texture in the water colour paper has left a kind of mottled effect on the trunks of the trees as I think it creates the look of the bark you see on Silver Birch trees.

I have not put this on a card yet, as I can't quite make up my mind what to use with the image which is just a little under A6 in size. If anyone has any ideas about what would look good leave me a comment. I often get stuck when I have stamped something I really like because I find it hard to decide what other things will be worthy of my stamped image.