Autumn Glory

Well, it doesn't seem five minutes since September arrived, and here we are at the start of October! This year is flying by! It means, of course, that it's time for our next challenge at Stamping Sensations, and this month we have one of my favourite themes -

* * * * * AUTUMN GLORY * * * * *

Not my favourite season of the year, as it reminds me that we are getting closer to winter (hate the cold and the long dark nights) but I do love the autumn leaves, trees and colours. So I will be hoping to see lots of those in our challenge entries. As usual, you may interpret the theme however you wish, but please do remember that stamping (rubber, clear or non-pre-coloured digi) must be the focal or predominant element of your project.

Our October sponsor is the wonderful Penny Black, and we have a fab selection of their products for our winner.

Recently I came across Andy Skinner's video showing how to do the alcohol ink float technique. Haven't used my alcohol inks for ages, so I decided to try the technique for my Autumn card. It was very easy to do!

The effect, produced on porous paper or card, is much softer than that obtained by using the inks on non-porous surfaces, and it makes lovely backgrounds. Having made mine, I stamped over it with Inkylicious leaf stamps, which I then coloured with diluted distress inks. Being water based, the DIs didn't affect the alcohol ink background. The next step was to stamp some of the flowers and the butterfly from Penny Black's "Enamor" set, which I also coloured with distress inks. The sentiment is from the same set. 

I added some shading around the leaves, flowers and butterfly with a Spectrum Noir pencil to make them stand out a bit more. The finished picture was then mounted with various layers on to a 7" x 7" card. The patterned paper is by Bo Bunny. A snippet of ribbon, a few punched leaves and a flower button were the finishing touches. I didn't look in my button box for a suitable button until after I had coloured the flowers, and it is a lucky coincidence that I just happened to have one in the same style and colour, which I'd forgotten I had!

I thoroughly enjoyed trying out the technique, and it's one I think I'll be using again. If you'd like to try it too, you can watch Andy's video tutorial here.

 My lovely teamies have some gorgeous projects to inspire you on the Challenge Blog, so do pop over and take a look, and we will look forward to seeing lots of awesome autumn entries!

Summer Blooms

There can't be many people who don't like flowers, so I think our June Challenge at Stamping Sensations will be very popular! The theme is

SUMMER BLOOMS

We have a wonderful sponsor this month too - Heartfelt Creations, who have given us a gorgeous prize. Some lovely floral stamps and a set of matching dies.

I decided to make a tag for a change, and have chosen a Dutch Iris as my summer bloom. The matching stamp and die sets are by Heartfelt Creations. (They don't appear to be on their web site now, but there may be some shops which have them in stock still).

Irises were my late mother-in-law's favourite flowers. She had them in her garden in various colours, one of which was a gorgeous deep purply pink. For the background to my tag (which is from Inkylicious), I used a technique shown by Andy Skinner in a video on his blog. He calls it Alcohol Ink Floating Background. Very easy to do, and a lovely subtle marbled effect. I overstamped it with a Texture Fragment stamp and a Floral Edge stamp, both from Chocolate Baroque, and a text stamp by Stampin' Up. The little butterflies are also by Chocolate Baroque, and they and the iris were coloured with Derwent Inktense pencils (which I found at Dunelm Mill last week for half price - a bargain - and I love them!). Having sponged ink around the edges of the tag, I matted it on some green card and finished it off with a sentiment by Hobby Art, some ribbons and fibres and a bit of lace. 

My talented teamies have some bloomin' gorgeous samples for you this month! Do go over to the Challenge Blog and have a look at them, and then show us your summery projects. We can't wait to see them!