Patina Flower Block

card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

(Click photo for more detail)

Two things about my stamping 1) I rarely use any patterned paper and that's why I love the TJ thing so much - gives me almost unlimited options for interesting backgrounds, etc., and b) >;o) I generally can't see my finished card in my mind when I start a project so I make it up as I go.

I got the idea to emboss in a light shade and color in the flower from a card by Glenda C. posted on the Technique Junkies Retired Stampin' Up Card Gallery pages (under Reverse Prints). These pages are open for anyone to go look at and there is a Current Sets Gallery also. If you've never checked it out go see! It's amazing how many cards Pat has posted there!!

The background border is the Patina technique from the current Technique Junkies October newsletter. I hated to cover it all up but I always seem to make my main image panels too big and then my background pieces end up WAAAYYYY in the background! LOL

For the main image panel I started with Stampin' Up!'s Very Vanilla cardstock and stamped the Judi-kins artist's names background on it in Distress Antique Linen. Then I inked the flower block image from the retired Stampin' Up! set Reverse Prints with embossing ink and covered it with off-white semi-transparent embossing powder. I filled in the flower/weed with SU markers.

I used a sponge to add more Antique Linen over all and around the edges, then added Distress Tea Dye around the image with a small stencil brush. I added more Tea Dye around the edges, then a small amount of Distress Walnut Stain.

I stamped the verse "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song For he has done marvelous things." PS 98:1 by Biblical Impressions/Eureka and Rejoice by Stampin' Up! in Palette Burnt Umber ink. (Just a sidenote and why I picked this verse: I was running errands this afternoon and while I was sitting in my car waiting for the light to turn, I saw the most amazing grass seedheads in the median! They went sideways and hung there like bleeding heart blooms would. I had never noticed this type and was so amazed at the precision of each one, wondering what the purpose of that shape was. Seems the longer I live the more proof I find that nothing in God's creation is random and I always love to find out how/why.)

To add some dimension I used the previous Distress inks to add second generation flourishes from the See-D's/now InkBoutique Shabby Chic and Aged and Elegant sets.

When I got ready to layer cs to finish I found I didn't own any brown to match or even blend with what I had used for ink. Argh. So I swiped my Distress Walnut Stain pad over scrap SU Very Vanilla till it was completely covered.

And that's it! :o)

Thanks for looking!!