Urban Tapestry

Hello all!  Thank goodness Blogger Dashboard seems to be back in action.  I've mostly been relying on going to old posts and repaying visits to commenters there, and haven't had much spare time either - so apologies if you're feeling neglected!  I hope to do some more catching up soon.

On to happier things...  It's time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey, hosted this time by the lovely Nikki of Addicted to Art.  She'd like you to Use Every Stamp In A Set.  As always, there's tons of great inspiration from my brilliant team-mates, and do make sure you check out Nikki's challenge guidelines carefully as well as our Travelling Instructions to be in with a chance at the prize, generously sponsored by Country View Crafts.

Okay, enough with the crazy links... on to my inspiration offering.  Guess what... it's a tag!

I loved the challenge of using all the stamps in a set, and decided this was a great invitation to return to my first love, simply stamping.  (If you saw my Simple Cards over at Artistic Stamper, you'll know that I've already been up to some of that!)

This is not quite as simple - I couldn't resist some glossy embossing! - but it's pretty close!

I was caught up in enjoying myself, so there aren't many process photos today (I did mean to do one of the background before I stuck the sentiment on - it had a lovely pale glow at the centre - but there you go), but then it's all pretty self-explanatory so who needs'em?!

I used Tim's Urban Tapestry set, by Stampers Anonymous.

I couldn't resist the lure of the wonderful tangle of meadow flowers and grasses, which I stamped several times around the foot of the tag and straggling up the sides.

They're stamped in Potting Soil Archival Ink, and in and around them I also used the little texture stamp, in Sepia, to add more pollen and flower heads and depth.









The bird on a branch is also stamped in Potting Soil, then clear embossed, and then I reheated the embossing and sprinkled on just a touch of copper embossing powder which melted into the clear stuff.

Of course a few grains went elsewhere, but that was fine by me - an imperfection I'm more than happy to embrace.

I did the same process at the foot of the tag with the architectural corner flourish - clear embossing, and then reheating that as I sprinkled copper embossing powder over parts of it.

Again, you get some extra shimmer escaping into the depths of the grassy tangles.

I inked up the tag, using a mask over the body of the bird (no need to mask the rest of him - the embossing resist takes care of that), building up layers of colour.

From the bottom we've got Gathered Twigs, Vintage Photo and Rusty Hinge.

And from the top we've got Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky and Broken China.  

I also stamped the texture stamp, this time in Faded Jeans, to get that lazy hazy look of a summer sky.

The sentiment takes centre stage, stamped on watercolour paper in Potting Soil Archival, and then stamped again on kraft card so that I could cut out certain words to highlight them.

Those words are mounted on padded tape to make them pop even a little more.

The texture stamp is in action again on the Idea-ology Crinkle Ribbons, stamped in Sepia Archival...












... before I dyed them with some Faded Jeans and added some extra inking in Gathered Twigs for a grungier look.

If that hasn't got you in the mood yet, then do hop over and see all the fabulous projects being offered up by my team-mates over at A Vintage Journey.

We hope you'll join us with your projects where you Use Every Stamp In A Set some time in the next fortnight.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Now is the time to enliven, ennoble and enrich your life's tapestry.

Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha

Oh, and don't forget there are just a couple of days left if you want to sign up for a chance to win my Butterfly Blogaversary Candy - it closes at midnight (BST) on 30th June.