Autumn Arty Style

Hi folks, I had an idea in my head to create an Autumn card with a contemporary arty look inspired by a Distress Oxide Re-inker technique from Shari Carroll for Simon Says Stamp. Sometimes it feels good to step out of your comfort zone, throw caution to the wind and let go of your inhibitions but I wasn't feeling so good about it after the first attempt. But with my "if at first you don't succeed" hat on, I stuck with it and finally ended up with something I was "reasonably" happy with.

For my first attempt at that arty background, I trimmed a piece of Distress Watercolor card to size and squeezed a drop of Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide re-inker on to my craft mat, took a small acrylic block and pulled it through the ink. With the ink transferred to the block, I dragged the block down the card. I cleaned off my craft mat and the block and repeated the process with Peeled Paint and Fired Brick. I spritzed the inks lightly with water, dabbed with a paper towel and added splatters of Black Soot Distress Oxide ink.

I stamped Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Craze background inked with Black Soot Archival, used Tim Holtz/Sizzix Fall Foliage Thinlits to die cut 3 leaves down the centre of the panel and popped the leaves them back into place using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Black Mini Foam to create dimension.

but they were lost on the background so I pulled them off and started over on background No 2.  I used the same technique, leaving more white space around the edges and added small torn strips of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Halloween Collage Paper fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte.

I teased out strips of Idea-ology Mummy Cloth, fixed them in place with dots of Distress Collage Medium Matte. Once dry, I darkened the edges of the leaves with a Black Soot Distress Marker and popped them up on Tim Holtz/Sizzix Black Mini Foam to create dimension.

To finish, I added Idea-ology Clippings Stickers, trimmed the panel down, applied Black Soot Distress Paint around the edge using the dabber top and added the panel to an A2 Kraft Card Blank.

Between you, me and the goal posts, I think this may well be my first and last little dabble in the world of contemporary art...it's that old adage "each to their own/stick to what you know/don't try to teach your grandma to suck eggs" and with that in mind, I'm hanging up my crafty apron for today and heading out on an adventurous day with the Friday Girls...coffee, lunch and lots of chat, that I can do with my eyes closed.

Tomorrow is the start of the month-long fun STAMPtember party at Simon Says Stamp, lots of fabulous new products and loads of inspiration from the Simon Says Stamp Designer Family so I hope you will all pop in and join in the fun.

Have a great weekend whatever you have planned and I'll be back on Sunday with a project using one of the new STAMPtember products.

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx