Playing with Penny Black

I think I mentioned in my last post that I was very fond of Penny Black stamps and needed to get a collection going.  Some of my favourite stamps, which I don't yet own, are the floral ones where they have some text stamped over part of the image, like Poppy Poems for example. So, I created my own version with the Gossamer stamp.

Paper: cardstock (PTI); patterned paper (Out of Print - Basic Grey)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa; Reeves watercolour crayons; vintage photo DI
Stamps: Penny Black (3865K - Gossamer); Hero Arts (S4878 Old Letter Writing); PTI (Asian Fusion)
Other: Dimenstional squares (Recollections); PTI Edgers Die #1

All I did was ink up the text stamp and then wipe off some ink with a baby wipe before stamping over the Gossamer stamped image.   I applied some water colour crayon to the petals and leaves.  And then I just inked the edges of the centre panel with some Vintage Photo DI.

( I will also add this to Moxie Fabs' "Fanatical about Botanicals" challenge which ends on the 8th of August).

Ok, now just sharing a really neat idea that I found from Betsy Veldman, you can read the post
here at Papercrafts Connection.  What to do with your scraps of paper, the larger scraps as well as the long strips we are often left with.  I don't know about you, but I have fallen in love with 6 X 6 paper pads, they just seem to be better and more economical to work with for card makers.  Now, if you are anything like me, over the years you have collected piles and piles of 12 X 12 patterned papers for all those scrapbook layouts you were going to make and never go to doing!  In a nutshell, one of Betsy's ideas is to cut down those 12 X 12's to 6 X 6's and she stores hers in these nifty little plastic crates in which they fit perfectly.  So yes, thank you Betsy, I went and bought just two crates today (Walmart) and chopped away whenever I had time, and boy, those crates are filling up pretty fast!  But now, I am looking at that patterned paper in a completely different light, it's like, wow, now I can actually do something with it!  But do yourself a favour and check out her post as she has another cool idea for the scrap strips.

Sorry for the long post.  Off to cut some more!