Feathers and Paint

I've been playing with some stunning new stamps from Crafty Individuals,  Dawn Serenity and Dawn Hideaway. They were designed by Sandma, who combined various existing Crafty Individuals stamps to make these gorgeous scenes. They are all beautiful, but my favourite is the kingfisher, not only because they are amazing birds and I love their colours, but also because they were my late father's favourite birds too, and they remind me of him every time I see one.

 

I made an easel card for the kingfisher. The lake scene behind it was created with masks and Memento dye inks, the distant birds being hand drawn. The foreground grasses and the butterfly were stamped separately, cut out and adhered to the upper part of the card. The kingfisher was likewise stamped and cut out, then coloured with Arteza coloured pencils and fixed to the card with foam pads. A stamped sentiment provided the stopper for the card. All stamps used are by Crafty Individuals. The background papers are from my own photos of peeling paint on some old forestry machinery, which had the most wonderful colours and texture. 

My second card shows the lovely robin.

The background for the scene was created first, again with masks and dye inks, then the robin scene was stamped over it. It was stamped a second time on plain white card, the robin was cut out and coloured and adhered over the top of the first one. The sentiment is also by Crafty Individuals, and the background paper is another of my peeling paint photos.

These stamps have gone straight into my list of all time favourites. There are two more in the series, so watch this space!

Here's a photo of some of the old forestry machinery, which I am reliably informed are ditch diggers!

This is one of the original unedited photos of the paint. I have edited the photos for use as backgrounds.

It was a dull, damp day when I saw the old machinery, and I wasn't expecting to get much in the way of decent photos. However, a closer inspection revealed the possibilities! As well as the rust and peeling paint, various mosses and lichens added even more texture. Just goes to show that even if the bigger picture doesn't look promising, it's always worth checking out the details!