Velveteen Stamping

Mynnette from On A Stampage has started a new challenge called Technique Tuesday based on a new tutorial each month.  Last month's was Velveteen Stamping, which I was keen to try but didn't think I'd make the deadline as I've only just got my mitts on my Whisper White Craft Ink pad so I was delighted when I read that she's extended the deadline to the 15th!

I won't go into how I made it - you'll have to check out the Technique Tuesday blog for that!  It was a fun technique to try.  The effect is a bit like emboss resist but more subtle.  I went with bold colours for the overstamping as per the suggestion but just musing now I wonder whether it would work with pastel shades too or whether I should stick to emboss resist for those.... hmmm... if I get chance, I'll have an experiment...

Anyway, here's the card:

Definitely not my usual colours, but I was flicking through the Colour Coach for some inspiration and thought I'd try this one.  If you don't know what the Colour Coach is, it's a great little book with every SU colour in it and two different combinations which work well with it.

Here's a close-up of the velveteen-ness (but take my word for it, this is one of those techniques that's much better in real life than in a photograph):

And here's my mini rosette:

Supplies
Stamps: En Français background stamp, Apothecary Art, Greenhouse Garden
Ink: Perfect Plum, Marina Mist, Rose Red, Basic Black, Whisper White Craft ink, marker pens in Perfect Plum, Marina Mist, Rose Red, Wild Wasabi
Card: Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Other: Edgelits Adorning Accents, Framelits Labels Collection

As always, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to place an SU order or have any questions about SU supplies.  I'd be delighted to help you!  Just give me a ring on 07977 141605 or drop me an email.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks of The Velveteen Rabbit when I hear the word 'velveteen'.  If you have never come across this delightful children's book, it is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read.  I hope you'll forgive me including such a long quote to finish.

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.


"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"


"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."


"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.


"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."


"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"


"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."


"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive.


But the Skin Horse only smiled.

Isn't that lovely?!  I'm all teary-eyed now!  I'll be back tomorrow with a copied card (but it's ok, I'll explain why!) and a couple of photos of Socks.  It's been so long since I posted a picture of him, you'll be getting withdrawal symptoms!

Thanks for visiting!  A big wave to my new follower Lynda from Zippy's Zone.  Lynda makes some really lovely cards and has only started blogging this year so do pop over for a visit!