September SOTM Sneak Peek

I sat down at my desk to create something for my team to make at our meeting on Sunday. I was stuck for a while, as my desk is literally covered in Whimsy pastels, and the September Stamp of the Month is a gratitude/autumn-y feeling kind of set. I popped over to Color Throwdown, and the challenge this week was also pastels, like the ones covering my desk, so I decided "Why not?" and got down to business. 

I used the new palest pink Bashful cardstock and ink combined with second generation Thistle and Lagoon to go along with the Color Throwdown challenge. I was working off the sketch over at  CAS(E) This Sketch, with the wider border on the right and the banner overlapping the edge. I filled the pink border on the right with the openwork heart image, which I also sprinkled around my feather work as well. I got to use my new Tim Holtz stamp platform for placing the Thanks and that arrow border, which made it way easier to line the border up over multiple cards. I don't know if you can see it but I applied shimmer pen to all the feathers for a subtle shine, then finished off the card with a few teeny sequins. 

The feathers were stamped using both the front AND the back of the feather stamp image. First I inked the back or solid side of the stamp, swiping the ink off and then stamping off before adding it to the card so the image would be distressed and lighter. Then I flipped the image back to the front side on my block so I could stamp it again with the same color full strength on top of the feather "shadows".  The September Stamp of the Month won't be available until September, of course, but I hope you'll forgive me for this little sneak peek!