Mostly Blue Peace

First of all, I wanted to apologize to anyone who came to look at some images only to find the picture links broken.  I did a large update to my website, changing locations of a lot of files, and didn't realize that a lot of the links were broken to the archived months.  Hopefully now everything is working fine.  :)

I've been busy the past couple of days getting ready for a workshop I'm giving.  I'll have six ladies joining me in the studio on Saturday ... it's going to be "cozy".  These ladies are all from the dragon boat team that my good friend, Frances, belongs to.  Some have stamped a little, some not at all.  It's going to be a lot of fun showing them the basics ... the cards we'll be making are fairly simple, but at the same time ... beautiful!  I really excited about tomorrow!! :)

I made time this morning to participate in Friday's "Free for All" challenge on SCS - today it's "Mostly blue".   Here is a link to Holly's gorgeous card that I used for my inspiration (click here).

"Peace"

Stamps:  Gifts of Christmas, En Francais (SU!); Peace (Anita's)

Paper:  Night of Navy, Whisper White, Old Olive (SU!)

Ink:  Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Night of Navy, VersaMark; Stampin' Write marker Night of Navy  (SU!)

Accessories & Tools:  Stamp-a-ma-jig, sponges, Sizzix "Little Leaves" die-cut, Big Shot, Ice embossing Powder, heat tool, Cuttlebug "D'vine Swirls" embossing folder, sticky strips, adhesives, Tombow glue and dimensionals

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Using the Stamp-a-ma-jig for positioning, I stamped "Peace" in Night of Navy in the middle of a small piece of Whisper White cardstock (4"x2 3/4").  I inked the En Francais stamp with Old Olive and stamped overtop of the whole piece.  Starting in the middle, I sponged Old Olive ink in a circular motion around and over the Peace stamp.  Next I sponged Not Quite Navy, blending into the edges of the Old Olive ink and going further away from the middle.  Lastly I sponged Night of Navy around the edges of the cardstock.  I mounted the main image onto a frame of Night of Navy cardstock.

I ran a large piece of Whisper White cardstock through my Big Shot with the "D'vine Swirls" embossing folder and then cut it to size.  Using sticky strips, I mounted the embossed background panel onto a card base of Night of Navy cardstock.

I mounted the main image on top of the embossed white background, popping it up with dimensionals to add depth.

I ran the "Little Leaves" die-cut through my Big Shot with Old Olive cardstock and then sponged the edges of the leaves with Old Olive ink to give them interest.  I found the leafy branch to be a little too big for what I wanted, so I cut off two leaves and the end of the stem.  I glued the branch in place at the edge of the main image.

I inked just the dove from the Gifts of Christmas stamp with the Night of Navy Stampin' Write marker and stamped onto a small piece of Whisper White cardstock.  I swiped my VersaMark pad across the dove and then embossed the image with Ice embossing powder to give the dove some sparkle.  I cut the dove out and glued it sitting on the branch on top of the main image.