Thursday, April 12, 2012

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.

18 comments:

Lori said...

Fantastic cards! Thanks so much for joining the MAC! Good to have you back! That tip about the Staz On cleaner, you know I'll be trying that....lol...

Christina Lytle said...

They are beautiful!!!!

teri said...

Oh boy. I know what you will be doing for the next few weeks...

Love these.

Vic said...

Great cards! I did a bunch of agate backgrounds yesterday! Hard to stop. LOL

Alicia B said...

Beautiful cards and what a great way to get so many back grounds at once!!! *Hugs*

Helen said...

Gorgeous cards, and love the background. The trick about the stazon cleaner is really neat, thanks for sharing that.

Monica said...

great cards and the Man card is so appropriate.

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

Awesome Eileen! I love both! Thanks for the tips as well!

Dorothy said...

Love it all EIleen!!!

Gabrielle said...

I love these cards! Fabulous backgrounds and terrific tip about the archival ink - I'm ALWAYS stuffing up my stamping... Off to but cleaner now!

ellen vargo designs said...

Hi Eileen! Your alcohol ink agates look awesome with Wendy stamps! Love your manly birthday card - they always give me "pause" too. Thanks for sharing them with us at Simon Says Stamp and Show! Ellen ;)

Patzee said...

The background is super. I love the masculine card and the twine! Thanks for the super tip about the StaZ-on remover, too!

Tammy D said...

These are great Eileen. I especially love the last card.

Diann said...

Lovely works of ART here, Eileen - you go girl! I know you are the best in combining Tim & Wendy in your projects! Love the background you created and best your brother loves his birthday card! Diann

Unknown said...

such beautiful cards. Love the alcohol ink background! Awesome!

Anonymous said...

As always AWESOME! Carol

lilyandthelotus.blogspot.com said...

I love your cards..they are so beautiful and perfect for the season.Your work is always a treasure to look at..thanks for sharing.

susan s.

inge said...

hello Eileen,
I really like these agate backgrounds, but I have NOT experienced them myself... too busy with experimented some of Tim's other techniques :)

Great idea to ink a bigger paper and cut it up to use for future projects !

It's been a while since I participated in Linda's challenges, but maybe your invitation gets me started again..

greetings from belgium
inge