Blended Stains

Blended stains:  not a weird laundry problem, but this week's technique featured in Linda's Compendium of Curiosities 2 challenge.  Turn to page 45 in Tim's C of C 2 book and try it yourself.  It's easy, and it results in a very pretty background.  And this week all entries are eligible for a $25 gift certificate from the lovely peeps at Simon Says Stamp.

Although I did follow Tim's directions, I added one of the new metallic stains to the mix (antiqued bronze), and love the bit of shimmer it gives.  I'm not sure just how much of the background you can see once I finished embellishing it with stamps, rub-ons and flowers, but here is my piece, a 4x4 card for the birthday club I'm in:

 

 

The main image is one of my new purchases, a Dina Wakley stamp called Grungy Silhouette, stamped in black archival ink.  On the left, in sepia archival ink, the blueprint stamp from Tim's steampunk set.  On the right, stamped vertically, also in sepia,  bits of an old French script Stampin' Up stamp.

 

Both the stitching and the birthday greeting are rub-ons from K&Company.

 

The flowers, leaves and stem are Prima, and I added the tiny pearls around the head and the somewhat larger ones in the center of the bouquet for a little bling.  It felt like something was missing, and that's how the brown lace made an appearance.