NEW YEAR, NEW STAMPS

Now that the holiday rush is over, I can once again relax in the stamping tower and be more creative.    Today was the first opportunity I've had to try some of the new stamp sets that accumulated on my "new toys" spot.  I have a special place set aside to keep new stamps and products until I have time to use them.  With the holiday rush, some of them have been on the shelf for weeks.  So here we go!

First, I opened a clear stamp set from Sweet and Sassy Stamps, and do I love them!  These stamps ink up nicely and give an outstanding image, especially on the greeting.  This one from "Poppies and Greetings" came out better than I expected.  After coloring the image with colored pencils and mounting the two large blossoms (stamped separately on scrap cs) with dimensionals, I stamped the greeting above.  Since I wanted a bit more of the designer paper underneath to show, I used a Fiskars border punch.  Then I added the black lines freehand to frame it.  Before mounting it on the card, I used a light blue watercolor pencil to highlight the edges of the flowers and leaves.  (The black around the flowers is just a shadow from taking the photo with the sun coming in the window.)    After mounting the white panel to the card with dimensionals, I added some black glitter to the flower centers for the final touch.  Now that it's done, I think this card would make a nice Valentine for someone special!

Check back later for  more new stamps!