let your heart soar

Hello again.  This is my second post today.  My daughter urged me to stamp, so I decided to make a card for the inspiration challenge on SCS.  Rather than spend time searching through the chosen site, I just picked one of the samples that had been presented. 

I picked out some stamps to work with that were similar or at least representative of the sample.  For the bird (elements of style - SU), I stamped in tempting turquoise craft ink on watercolor paper and then embossed with clear EP.  The flower (fabulous florets - SU) was stamped in barely banana craft ink and then again in bravo burgundy craft ink and both embossed with clear EP. 

The next step was the most fun.  I used distress inks in spiced marmalade, fired brick, aged mahogany, and vintage photo and swiped them across the paper till I had some pretty good coverage.  Then I took a water brush and spread the ink across the paper, blending and softening the look.  Being a bit impatient, I dried it with my heat gun.  Then I moistened a paper towel and wiped the ink off the embossed images. 

I added a couple of flourishes (Inkadinkado) and the sentiment (Innovative Stamp Creations) with jet black archival ink. 

The black grosgrain ribbon is attached with some copper brads.  I also added some piercing before attaching the piece to a black card base.  I really love the way this turned out, but it was hard to photograph with the embossing.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Your comments are always welcome and appreciated.