A Perfect Pair

What makes a perfect pair?  Well, today I'm talking about a Tim technique paired with some Wendy Vecchi stamps.  The current Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge is to make something featuring one of Tim's techniques.  I took one of my favorites from his online Creative Chemistry class...alcohol ink agates...and filled an entire 8 1/2 x 11" sheet with it.  I think if you're going to the trouble of doing a background, you may as well do it BIG and have lots on hand for future projects.  As I'm in need of a bunch of greeting cards, I cut the background up and used them for that purpose. 

Here is my entry for the challenge, a birthday card for my brother. Cards for men always give me pause, but Wendy's "serious" man (from the Serious Art set) works well.

Besides the "serious" stamp, I used the number background from Wendy's Dimensional Rose Art set, and the polka dots, which are also from the Seriously Art set.

Inside the card is the sentiment from Card Art Essentials, which you will see in the next card. 

Speaking of challenges, over at the Wendy yahoo group, our challenge is inspired by the piece on page 38 of Wendy's third book.  We're to do something that includes two eyes and a hand. 

The eyes come from the An Eye For Art set, and the hand is from Mail Art.  The sentiment you already know about; I've been using it a lot lately on my birthday cards.

Like I said before, I cut my original background into several pieces, and here are a few more cards.  These have no sentiments yet, though I did leave room on the bottoms for that.  You'll see the large weeds from Well Worn Art, the smaller ones from Botanical Art, and a swirly flower, also from Botanical Art.  Plus some twine and a little bling.

Oh, and I have to share something I discovered while making these cards.  I screwed up the stamping (archival ink, by the way) on one and really felt terrible about tossing it, so I tried something I'd never done before.  I swiped it with Stazon stamp cleaner and guess what?  It removed the archival ink but left the alcohol ink background untouched.  How cool is that?

One more card, not from the above group.  The background has distress inks, sprays, picket fence stain, patterned tissue paper, and some stamps by Wendy (those weeds again....love 'em! and the birthday sentiment too) and Tim (the splatter stamp from Urban Tapestry, and the curved floral spray from Fairy Tale Frenzy).







And you know what starts tomorrow.......can't wait......the first challenge from Tim's Compendium of Curiosities II.  Head on over to Linda Ledbetter's blog to get the scoop.