Oliver Owl

Oliver Owl flew into my craft room recently. He's the stunning new stamp from Hobby Art. Isn't he gorgeous?!

I've put him on an A5 card, so you can tell how large and imposing he is (a good 6" from the top of his head to the tip of his tail). The detail in his feathers is amazing. I coloured him, the ivy leaves and the fence with watercolour pencils.The background is sponged with pigment inks. All stamps on my card are by Hobby Art.

Oliver brought with him his equally fabulous friend, who lives on a Nature Reserve, also by Hobby Art. I'll be inking him (or possibly her!) up soon!

Close To Nature

For our March Challenge at Stamping Sensations we're staying with the natural world, but whereas last month's topic belonged to the animal kingdom, this month we're opening it up to anything nature related, with the theme

* * * * * CLOSE TO NATURE * * * * *

As usual, you may interpret this however you wish, as long as the main element of your design is hand stamped (or a hand coloured digital image) and reflects the theme. Please do check that your project fits our rules, otherwise it will not be eligible for the prize or top 3 and may not be commented on, in fairness to others who do follow the rules.

You certainly would not want to miss out on the chance of winning this month's prize, as it is a stunner!

Quite some time ago I bought the Kingfisher set by Hobby Art, and for some inexplicable reason, as it's the most gorgeous set, I hadn't got round to using it. However, it was perfect for our nature theme, and here's the card I've made with it.

I also used stamps from other Hobby Art sets to build up a scene around the main kingfisher image. I coloured the background with watercolour pencils, and the main elements with Zig Clean Color markers to make them stand out. I matted the picture with some Lawn Fawn paper, the colours of which complemented the kingfisher beautifully. All stamps by Hobby Art.

My lovely teamies have created a wonderfully diverse set of superb samples, which you can see over on the Stamping Sensations Challenge blog. Nature themes are my favourites (you probably guessed!) and I'm anticipating lots of entries for this one, especially with such a fabulous prize on offer! Can't wait to see them all!