Orchids, Stencils and Penny Black Stamps

Hello and welcome!

It's the start of a new challenge over at the Allsorts challenge blog, Lynn is hosting this week and her theme is "I Love......". Hope you will join us and share what you love with us. As always we have a great prize on offer, this week it's a surprise bundle kindly donated by Oakwood Archer and a second prize of an Oakwood Archer stencil. By the way, if you are looking to add some new Spring Stamps to your collection, Oakwood Archer will be releasing their new Spring stamps and stencils on "the Craft Store" TV February 21st at 9am and 1pm  (UK times).

And here is what I love:

Stencils of course, no surprise, they've become my favorite type of tool over the last few years. And then of course Penny Black stamps including this gorgeous Orchid and the large sentiment. And then my favorite type of inks: Distress inks. 

Using a stamp positioner (a necessity for Brushstroke stamps, I think) I inked the beautiful stamp Gentle Whisper using Distress inks/ Oxides. Here I used Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Vintage Photo on the leaves/stem. Then Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry, Blueprint sketch on the flower. My Distress markers are pretty much all useless now so I just used the ink pads and that's why you see some shades of green mixed in on the blossom, but I like the effects. I do try to wipe off any extra ink with a paper towel but it's not possible to remove it all.

When using these stamps, I don't add all the colors at once, I start with a base inking then simply add more ink as I go and that's why a stamp positioner comes in so handy as this would be impossible otherwise. At some point I lightly spritzed with water too for a better coverage. 

Next I used Tim Holtz's stencils from this stamps and stencils set with Blueprint Sketch ink on the background. 

The large sentiment is from Penny Black's set "Happy Wishes" (also on Amazon with free shipping), stamped using Versafine Onyx ink. Then I finished it off by stamping the script border on the left side. This is another one of my long time favorite stamps, retired from Whimsy Stamps. It was hard to get the script stamp stamped on straight and I'm not happy about it being crooked, but the rest of the card was complete so I just decided it will have to do. 

 Thanks so much for visiting!

    >>>>Stamping Sale at Scrapbook.com// Ad

This post may include some affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through the links. As always, this is at no cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!

I will link up here:

We Love Stamping - Stencils // Penny Black Saturday - Use PB Stamps // River of Creativity - AG //  Sisterhood of Crafters - Feminine and Flowers // 

Always Anything Goes:

Taylor Made Cards 4 U // 613 Avenue Create opt. twist watercolor // Creative Moments // Through The Craft Room Door // The Corrosive Challenges // A Bit More Time to Craft // A Perfect Time To Craft // Classic Design  Challenge * // Crafts Galore Encore // DL.Art Linky Challenge // Love to Craft // QKR Stampede // The Creative Crafters // World Wide Open Design Team Challenge // Lil Patch of Crafty Friends 

Link Parties:

Dare to Share //  Inspire Me Monday //  Link Up Potpourri //  Random-osity Good, Random, Fun // You're The Star Blog Hop Link Party @Stonecottage Adventures // Anything Goes with Your Hosts @ My Random Musings // Jenerally Informed The Happy Now // Spread the Kindness Linkup @ Shelbee on the Edge //  Thursday Favorite Things // Little Things Thursday // Encouraging Heart and Home @ Slices of Life //