Back to Black Card

Hello Everyone,

I'm still on a mission to use up as many of my snippets as possible but this time I also had the aim to make some use of the stamps that linger in my ever-growing collection unused - not unloved - just unused for whatever reason. So when I discovered that the Sunday Stampers  theme is the colour Black as a tribute to the late Amy Winehouse, one of my favourite performers, I put my little grey cells to work and came up with this card.

Initially, I thought that black would be difficult but once I got going, I was on a roll. The stamp was an easy choice as this one from Aspects of Design's Alluring Ladies (free with Craft Stamper, Nov. 10 Issue) always brought Amy to mind anyway - she had striking eyes just like these. I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and then embossed it several times with clear embossing powder to glaze it. Finally, it was layered on black and white card, and to give it added dimension adhered to the card base with glue gel.

The card is made up entirely from leftovers - Papermania Textured Card in black and Neenah Solar white ultra smooth. Note to Jules: no new sheet of cardstock was harmed in the making of this card :) The black base was stamped with the music script from Inkylicious Simply Script set in VersaMark and embossed with docrafts Seafoam White embossing powder. The same stamp was stamped onto white card with Memento Tuxedo Black, torn and distressed with Tim Holtz Black Soot.

The sentiment, another Inkylicious stamp from the Sentiments 1 set, seemed most appropriate to the theme and again it was stamped in the black ink and clear embossed several times then matted onto black card.

The front and back are finished off with black & white polka dotted ribbon - By making a faux bow I was able to use a small length of leftover ribbon - measuring just 15".  As you can see, I find it almost impossible to leave the back of a card undecorated.

The insert is made from a small piece of white copy paper on to which I have stamped in Memento London Fog.

So, three much neglected stamps were broken out of their wrappers and christened at last, and, with the card used, my card mountain is now a teeny weeny bit smaller.

On the home front, the EM has just finished painting the kitchen. It now has 3 walls in a pale duck egg shade and the fourth wall has been painted in a darker shade called Turtle Seas - sounds so exotic, doesn't it? This is a definite improvement on the rather luminous shade of yellow that was the choice of the previous owners - I don't do yellow! I can't think why it has taken us four years to paint over it!!! The Welsh dresser is looking absolutely pristine in Moonlight White, whilst all the rest of the woodwork got a fresh coat of Brilliant White. It all looks so fresh and new. Tomorrow, when it is all dry, comes the job of putting back all the cookery books and crockery and life will return to normal - which will please The Boss no end - she has been quite put out by it all, poor dear :)

The much promised photographs of our Highland journey will be the next post - I've managed to narrow them down to a reasonable amount to show you.

In the meantime, I hope you are all enjoying a weekend break and maybe finding time to get some crafting done.