Risky colour combination?

Half term this week and at last some time to get all my crafting stuff out of the cupboards. The kitchen has disappeared under piles of paper, inks and tools. I'd really love a craft room. Or even just a stretch of worktop that didn't need clearing everytime I have to get the tea ready. I've had lots of new goodies recently but it's taken a while to get warmed up. Crafters' block I suppose. But I've come up with this today.

I started with the black and red stamped images and couldn't decide what colour card to put them on. I finally decided on this pale gold pearlescent card. I wasn't at all sure about the colour but since I put everything together the card's really grown on me. What I'm particularly pleased with is the Versacolor Topaz ink on the gold card.

While I'm on a roll I might see what other stamps I have that will work with this combination. I'm glad I got several sheets in this colour. My local craft warehouse (Pear Tree Yard in Sandiacre) sells the most amazing range of papers (an amazing range of all crafting materials really) at such great prices that I can afford to throw caution to the wind.

Main image and background stamps are from Elusive images Wild Meadow. Greeting by WS Designs.

The Open Road

Tonight I've made a card for my son's good friend Joe who turns 18 on Sunday. They are both avid bikers. I couldn't find a bike stamp I was happy with so decided to make do with a peel off.

The tickets are made with The Open Road themeplate stamp from The Artistic Stamper. Inside I've stamped the Whitman quote from the themeplate because it seemed particularly appropriate for a youngster coming of age with his life ahead of him. It reads:

"Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose."

I've used three coordinating papers from Dovecraft's Kelly Harwood Abstract pack. The torn edges of the bike image have been embossed in black and gold with a bit of help from the Field of Sky stamp.

Quick late night inkings

Just grabbed a few bits from my stamping box tonight. Wanted to make a silver flourish background for a wedding dress image but thought I'd try out some Versacolor cubes I bought two weeks ago first. I'll buy anything with a flourish on it and love corners, frames and borders. But often I struggle to find a focal point to put on the background or inside the frame etc. That probably means that, much as I love these that I've made, they might be consigned to the bit box for eternity.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the best lit area for a picture and you can't really see the colours. The background of this one was DI Tattered Rose, overstamped with Impression Obsession Solid Florals in the same colour and edged with another of the Solid Florals in Adirondack Cranberry.





This one uses the same two stamps in Versacolor Old Rose and Topaz on a white hammered background lightly coloured with Old Rose and a little bit of Topaz and with an edge brushed in Versacolor Paprika.

I'd wanted these IO stamps for a long time after seeing them featured in Craft Stamper. I'd decided they were a bit pricey for me but then sent for them from the US for half the UK price. I think the next project for these stamps is on vellum tags and brushed with mica powders. Ooh, might just have to go try that one now!