Inky Thistle

This is an A5 size card (5" x 7"), fresh today for the June Challenge on The Bunny & The Bee's Crafty Hive, to produce a single layer card with lots of white space. Not sure this qualifies as 'lots', but fingers crossed! 

This is the larger of the two thistle stamps I have from Fred Mullett. This one's just called 'Thistle' (as opposed to Lil' Thistle in my last post!) On this one, I tried layering ink pads for a layered colour effect, but the flower head wasn't distinct enough, so I went over it with Marvy Brush Markers. 

The background was made with a combination of three different shades of green Distress Oxide inks, applied with the smoosh technique, but with a twist. I saw Julie Hickey on Hochanda recently picking up inks from her glass mat with a piece of acetate to apply it to the card. Thought I'd give it a try. Looks alright, I think, although it's probably no better than the other way. The cross-hatch texture is just because the card is linen effect. Quite pleased with that result, too.

Before I stamped the thistle, I stamped some script in Cool Grey ink by VersaCraft. The stamp is from A Stamp In The Hand, just called 'Background', ref. Q1771. The little round stamp is 'It's Your Day' by Hero Arts, and the 'Celebrate' stamp is from Stampin' Up.

Two Souls wedding invitation

Another thistle. More purple. You can see the verse more clearly in real life: "Two souls but with a single thought, Two hearts that beat as one." I think the stamp is Penny Black, but I'm not sure. That and the Wedding Invitation words are stamped in silver Encore metallic ink. The thistle is my favourite Fred Mullett stamp, and a couple of punched hearts complete the design.

Braveheart wedding invitation

This one is from several years ago. I haven't used peel-offs in years. Not that I'm snooty about them; I just prefer other methods for sentiments now. As with 99% of my wedding designs.. and other designs, come to that..  it's very simple. The hearts are punched out of embossed silver card, and the head of the Fred Mullett thistle stamp is coloured with navy blue and purple art markers.

Salt n' Pepper Funky Hand Thistles

This uses digi paper from the Funky Hand 'Salt n' Pepper' selection of black and white designs, grunged up and distressed. The thistle is a gorgeous stamp, and I've been racking my brains trying to remember who made it... Fred somebody, I think, but I know they ceased trading many years ago. It's possible you might be able to source one on the second hand market, but I think most people would hang on to this, once they have it in their possession. The top one is sparkled with a touch of glitter glue, and the script is handwritten.

Salt & Pepper #2

This simple black & white plaid paper is also from Funky Hand's 'Salt and Pepper' download (available HERE). One of a collection of lovely black & white papers.

First design for Funky Hand...

This is using papers from the 'Hills of Heather' colour collection on the V.Funky CD-Rom from Funky Hand. (You can purchase the CD from this web-site.. http://www.funkyhand.com/).