Finding the grass in Love and Sympathy

I have the loveliest people in my team, the Inkredibles. They come from various locations in the UK and, since I am readily contactable by email and phone, I've been able to help those that wanted to build businesses as well as keep in touch with those that enjoy Stampin' Up as a hobby. It works brilliantly for us but every now and again it's good to actually meet up - and what better place to meet than the Stampin' Up Regionals tomorrow! It's a fun demonstrator-only event and I'm so excited to be getting together with some of my downline as well as many other friends from Stampin' Up.

The next big event will be the Stampin' Up Convention in November and if you'd like to be there too, why not consider joining Stampin' Up yourself? There'll be an extra £25 worth of goodies in your starter kit if you join this month! You can read about joining my team here, or I'd be happy to chat about it with you over the phone (01280 820593) so that you can work out whether or not it would be right for you.

Now, onto some stamping: Yesterday, I suggested using markers to get grass only from the image in Love and Sympathy. Well, having mentioned it, I had to try it out didn't I?! Come and see:

Oh I do love a spot of sponging! This panel was roughly sponged with So Saffron ink first, then the bottom third with Wild Wasabi, and lastly a little Island Indigo very lightly in the sky region. The background was ready for its grass!

Here's a close-up of that. It's very quick and easy to ink up the rubber with the brush end of Stampin' Up's markers and by stamping several times without re-inking, you get quite a lot of depth to your stamped image. Once I'd done the longer fronds, I tapped the bottom of the grassy stems into an inkpad and added those to my panel in the same way. I like the hazy light effect you get with these backgrounds and you can emphasise that by sponging round the edges of your grass with darker ink - I chose Garden Green.

And to finish - what better than my favourite sentiment and a rainbow of die-cut butterflies! No I didn't fussy-cut them this time as it was raining in the garden and anyway, I need to prepare for tomorrow!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Love and Sympathy, A Word For You
Ink: So Saffron, Island Indigo, Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green, Garden Green
Card stock: Whisper White, Very Vanilla
Other: Markers, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslits die, stamp-a-majig
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I was issuing instructions to the children last night about what needed doing while I was away. "Wait," said my eldest son. "Where are you going?" I sighed. I have been talking about the Stampin' Up event in Telford all week and only now does it register on my son's radar! It transpires that he'd thought I was talking about one of the maths teachers at his school who shares a name with the town. "Yes, that's right," said my daughter sarcastically. "She's spending the day in Mrs Telford's maths cupboard!"

Well, I'd better go and get myself packed - mustn't forget my camera! I'll be back very soon, hopefully with some fab pictures! See you then,