Penny Black Bell

Before the month is over, I wanted to enter this card in the December "Winter or Christmas" challenge at Penny Black.

I put the stamp in my MISTI and inked it up using mini Distress inks and Distress markers. The mini ink pads make it easier to get into the different areas, and then the markers let you do fine areas like the stems. I stamped onto mixed media cs, repeating the process until I was happy with my colours.

I kept the stamp in place in the MISTI so that I could use a technique I learned from Jill Foster in this video.  Basically you stamp over the coloured image with Versamark and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. It is then very easy to do your watercolour wash background around the image without risking the colours in the image running into the background - especially the red from the berries.  I did the wash in a pale grey-blue.

Once dry, I splattered with a bit of watered down gray ink. I stamped my sentiment on a scrap using the same ink, heat embossed it, and trimmed it into a little banner. I sponged around the edges of it with a bit of the grey.

I trimmed my main panel with a Spellbinders matting basics die, popped it up on fun foam, and added my sentiment banner.

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black Bell and Berries, Old Island Stamp Co. sentiment

Ink - various mini Distress inks, Versamark, Versafine Smokey Gray

Paper - white and mixed media cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Distress markers, clear embossing powder, Spellbinders matting basics rectangle, fun foam