Lots of distressing with Notably Ornate stamps!

 One of my fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrators recently organised a card swap on the In Love With Stamping forum.. the brief was simply to use your favourite stamp set to create a card. It was a tough challenge.. which stamps to choose?

Eventually I chose a set from the main Idea Book & Catalogue.. Notably Ornate. I love this set as it just cries out for plenty of distressing.. it's always fun to get a bit messy, right?

I used two invaluable tools in the planning of my card - the Idea Book & Catalogue to get some inspiration and the Colour Coach to choose a colour scheme. I was inspired by a lovely card in the IB&C which used the Nature's Nest stamp set.. and chose the colour combination Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard and Baja Breeze (I added Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla as my neutrals).

After making my card, I set about preparing all the bits and pieces I would need to make ten more! It's much easier to do this in a production-line style rather than making each complete card in turn.

• I stamped the birds using the 'rock & roll' technique: inking up the stamp with Baja Breeze ink, then rolling the wing tips and beak on to a Not Quite Navy ink pad for contrast.

• I made the tags from Very Vanilla cardstock, then stamped the label stamp over it using Crumb Cake ink. I then distressed the edges using a Distressing tool and sponged them with Tea Stain distress ink from the SU! Distressing Kit. The corners of the tag were curled and creased for an extra vintage effect!

• Strips of Newsprint Designer Series paper were also aged by sponging with Tea Stain distress ink. The pieces of Crumb Cake cardstock were roughly torn before being crumpled up and inked direct-to-paper using the Tea Stain ink again.

• Once all the cards were assembled, I spritzed the whole lot using the Early Espresso marker pen and the Colour Spritzer tool. It's so exciting seeing your work covered in tiny dots of colour... or maybe that should read horrifying if you love your cards clean and perfect! I have to admit, I love the extra detail (and yes, the mess!) the spritzer creates.

So here's the finished card...

Looks like I'm over that Clean & Simple phase I was going through... for a while at least..

Happy stamping!

Sarah :o)