Birthday card with new stamps from Australia

I am so lucky. When M-J was visiting Australia last month she brought me some wonderful stamps that are not readily available here in North America. One set is a fabulous set of flowers from 'darkroom door' called the full bloom collection.
I used one of these stamps to create a birthday card for a friend.

I inked up the tulip stamp using Distress Inks. I used 'victorian velvet' on the blossom and 'peeled paint' on the foliage. For the two darker images I inked and stamped the lighter on was stamped without re-inking.
I matted with pink and green Bazzil CS and mounted it on a white of A2 card base.
I'm really looking forward to working with the rest of this wonderful set.

Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy

My First Calendar Page

There is a card maker who's blog I follow regularly and she has given me a lot of inspiration. Lynette's blog is called "My Stamping Addiction" and you can find a link to it on the right sidebar. One of the things she has been sharing for several years is a set of calendar pages. This year for Christmas I gave a couple of sets as gifts and through out the year I will share them with you.  Thanks Lynette for this wonderful gift idea!
Well, I just learned something for next year's calendar pages...If I'm going to scan white pages make sure that I put a dark background on the scanner first. They looked fine in my photo albums but as you can see I've had to make a 'greying background' change to my blog so you can see the edges of the page. Oh well, it is all part of the learning curve.

For the stamped image I used a clear stamp purchased in a bargain bin at a LSS. The sentiment used on this, and the majority of the pages I will be sharing for this year, is from and wonderful stamp set by  Papertrey Ink called 'Mixed Messages'. All of the stamping was done using Versamark along with silver detail embossing powder. The border for this piece to be mounted on was produced with the same embossing powder using the technique I learned watching Gina K video's. This way the silver in your stamped images match perfectly with your border.

I want to take this opportunity to wish all a very Happy New Year. May 2012 bring everyone health, happiness and for those who are my stamping friends...lots of fun times creating!

Thanks for dropping by,
Sandy