Stamp Off Quiet Meadow with Blending

Greetings crafty friends.  Today, Susan, Buffy and I are

enjoying a Technique Challenge.

I am so happy that SU has added Blending Brushes (page 129)

to their product line.  They are so much better than sponges, at

adding layers of ink, right where you want them.  I feel that

it is a "technique" because you can create ombre effects,

or use simple stamping over shading that you have created,

as I have done in this example.

For this card,

I blended some Crumb Cake on Basic White, building

until I had just a bit of white showing.   Then I stamped the

flowers from the Quiet Meadow Stamp set (page 110),

using Early Espresso ink.   The sentiment comes from the

same set.  I added a few "splotches" of craft ink over the 

flowers, to add interest.   

The image layer and one behind were cut out 

with the Stitched Rectangles dies on page 165.  I ran the card base

thru the (retired) Subtles Embossing Folder.  Lastly, I added

a couple of Genial Gems (page 142) for some sparkle.

I know that this card is really stripped down, but I 

wanted to emphasize the blending brushes.  This is a fast

card, but the recipient will likely find it elegant.

Thanks for stopping and please pop on over to 

Buffy and Susan's blogs, to see their technique cards!

 

Sweet as a Peach Birthday

 The Sweet as a Peach set and coordinating Peach dies

(pages 61 and 161) is a dandy bundle.  That little scallop die

can be used in so many ways, with so many products.

I really like the way the different sentiments can be used

to give someone a peachy greeting.   And even if someone does

not know that that is a peach branch, the message still works.

I used a die from the Hippo and Friends collection on page 163,

for the sentiment.  The DSP is from the Beauty of the Earth

collection on page 130.  Finally, a Peach Open Weave

ribbon, found on page 139.

Lighthearted Hey Birthday Chick

As I've said in the past, sometimes you need a funny card,

that works for the guys in your life.  Both the 

Lighthearted Lines (page 31) and Hey Birthday Chick

(page 65) qualify and I think that they work great together.

I used the coordinating Birthday Chick dies to make little

footprints.  I cut the cupcake out of the chicken image,

colored it with blends and positioned it so that

 it would look like it was pondering the footprints.

 I layered the "Plot twist" and then cut out the other

part of the sentiment.  The colors are Shaded Spruce and 

Soft Sea Foam.