Hope is a Thing With Feathers

I am seriously bringing up the rear with this week's CCC2 challenge! Oh well, better late than never, right? The technique chosen by the lovely Linda Ledbetter (I just can't say Linda Ledbetter without adding 'lovely'!) is Faded Layers, which can be found on page 43 of Tim Holtz' wonderful book, Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 2.

As always, I used this challenge as an excuse to try a few new things! First of all, I had a chunk of wood lying around from some work we're having done on our porch (main reason for my lack of posting lately). Anyway, I love all the little bits and pieces that are left over from construction and thought one would make the perfect base for a collage. I thought about it more and was like....hmmm...what if I covered it with Claudine Hellmuth's Sticky Back Canvas? I could make my own little chunky canvas for under a buck!

And it worked great! What makes it so much better than a regular canvas is that you can stamp right onto it without worrying about getting a good impression. Also, you can make this any size, depending on the wood you have. I am getting pretty hooked on Sticky Back Canvas!

I also used this as an excuse to get out my new Spring Distress inks - yay! I used the new Sizzix Harlequin border die to cut my mask/stencil. It's a little hard to see after all the layering I did. I also cut a scrap of French text and layered that to the collage. The letters were cut from chipboard using the new Sizzix Word Play die, sponged with Vintage Photo Distress ink, and stamped with the same ink, using a script image from Artistic Outpost's Secretary Pool collection. The wonderful Emily Dickinson quote is from AO's new Quotes and Quotables collection.

I'm so totally in love with these flowers! They were made by sponging the new Peacock Feathers ink onto a manila scrap, which I then cut using the new Tattered Flower Garland die. The edges were inked with Vintage Photo ink and the whole flower was sprayed fairly heavily with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. You can barely see the shimmer in the pic, but it adds so much!

My other experiment looks fantastic in real life, but didn't photograph well. It's my little rusty verdigris fence above. I might do a little tute for the technique if I can get a decent photo.

Speaking of flowers, that is the theme over at the Inspiration Journal blog. We would love to have you join us - you could win a $50 shopping spree at the IE online store!

All the supplies I used can be found at Inspiration Emporium via the links below. If you use my coupon code - stamptramp - you'll save yourself 10% on your entire order!

Spring Seasonal Distress Ink	Stormy Sky Distress Ink	Vintage Photo Distress Ink	Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist	Sticky Back Canvas
Sizzix Harlequin Border	Sizzix Word Play Die	Sizzix Tattered Flower Garland	Sizzix Distressed Doily Die	Sizzix Iron Gate Die
Idea-ology Tiny Fasteners	Idea-ology Box Corners	Idea-ology Adornments	Idea-ology Memo Pins	Inkssentials Glue N' Seal
Snow Cap Paint Dabber	Inkssentials Blending Tool	Distress Embossing Powder - Vintage Photo	Distress Embossing Powder - Walnut Stain	Ranger Glossy Accents
Vagabond

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