Southern Girls ~ Add Some Stamping

A warm hello to all my crafty pals today. I am here to share a new challenge at Southern Girls Challenge with you. This fortnight, we'd like to see some 'Stamping' on your projects. We're hoping for a little more than just a sentiment too please. It could be background stamping, grunge stamping, a stamped feature. There's a lot of room for interpretation with this theme. We have two fabulous sponsors this challenge, Altenew and Kinda Cute stamps. So there's two great prizes up for grabs!

I had two very special ladies to celebrate, so made two special cards with a beautiful stamp set from Altenew. This set is called Beautiful Day and has the loveliest old fashioned open rose on it plus some leaves, and buds. It really is a very beautiful set. I didn't buy it for quite a while, because I would have preferred the sentiment to read 'I wish you a beautiful day' or 'wishing you a beautiful day', it just didn't read right to me. But I loved the image so much, I splashed out in the end anyway. 

I coloured the image twice, once in a slightly darker colour palette and the second time in a much softer colour palette. I bought a handful of Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to see what all the fuss was about and I'm pleased I did, they were lovely to work with. So much richer in colour than I was expecting! Very easy to use and give a lovely rich finish.

I white embossed the outline of the stamp set, masking the bigger roses to add the other stamps around it. I tried some different looks in the top right corner for balance and interest. I like both effect, the more leafy one and the buds, so that was a fun experiment. I kept the rest of the card recipe the same, punching out a tiny heart with my smallest heart punch in the bottom right corner of each image panel, so it showed the colour mat beneath. Just a little touch, but I really love the effect. I used a Sunny Studios Stitched Scalloped Border die to create the coloured mats for both cards. I think they're both lovely in their different colour tones. 

The sentiment stamp I've used is actually from another Altenew set, which has some really lovely inspiring sentiments. It's called Precious Moments and I just knew this sentiment was perfect for both these amazing women. One card was for my mother-in-law's birthday and the other was for my eldest Aunt who just turned 80. She is amazing, both these women are and although my kiddies both suggested it was weird giving two people that same sentiment, when it suggests they are 'the' most amazing person, I can think of a few more incredible women I'd like to use this sentiment for too, including my own mummy! So they just rolled their eyes and left me to it, LOL.

I hope you'll come and play along with me and the rest of the Team Lou lovelies this time for our 'Add Some Stamping' challenge. I can't wait to see what you're inspired to do! With two fabulous prizes up for grabs, it's well worth entering! I'll be back soon with another crafty adventure, in the meantime, have a fabulous week and happy crafting! Hugs, Wends xoxo

Challenge Entries:
The Paper Girls: #157 ~ Paint It

Addicted To Stamps: #304 ~ CAS
Dragonfly Journey: #124 ~ Flower Power
Tuesday Throwdown: #404 ~ Anything Goes
Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends: #87 ~ Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments: #209 ~ For the Girls + A Sentiment
Fashionable Stamping Challenge: #137 ~ Use Those Inks Anyway You Want
Stamping Sensations: August ~ Use Your Current Favourite Stamp (my absolute fav' floral stamp)