Starry, starry night

I have never gone much on distress inks, probably because I have spent the past year building up my marker pen collection, and I didn't want to get embroiled in yet another money pit obsession. However the advent of the "Less Is More" style has sparked my interest in distressed and shaded backgrounds, and I was further inspired when I saw Debby's wonderful distress backgrounds with resist and stamped images using the fabulous Unity wildflower stamps here (I am as we speak eagerly waiting for a set to arrive from America!)

Anyhow, I pulled out the very limited collection of distress inks I own (grand total of 7!) and decided to have a go at a "nightime sky" background as a precursor to some silhouette stamping with my beautiful but neglected Lavinia stamps (again, the only ones I own).

This exercise, in conjunction with some very kind tips and comments I received from Debby and Lisa, taught me that I needed several things:

a) a non-stick craft mat (bought one today :-) )

b) some more distress inks (likewise ... bought 4 new ones today ;-) )

c) a blending tool - haven't managed to get my hands on one yet, but in the meantime I have bought some cut'n'dry foam to keep me going.

Here's a card I made BEFORE buying my new bits & pieces ... watch this space for my experiments in the near future with my new stash!!

I actually made his card for this week's Less Is More Challenge - masculine - and then I felt foolish when I looked on the blog and saw no one else had used a flower!! I think my mind was full of the drama of silhouette flowers against the masculine colours of a night sky ... though I can see the overall effect isn't necessarily masculine in the sense of giving the card to a man. However it's done now, so I might as well blog it and move on lol!!

Recipe:
Main image: various stamps from the Lavinia "dandelions" set;
Sentiment: Penny Black;
Background: "Dusty Concord" and "Faded Jeans" distress inks;
Supplies: Papermania "sparkly trims" black frayed ribbon; pearls from The Hobby House;

Challenges:
Less Is More #7 - Masculine
PaperPlay #12 - Distressing
Spoon Full Of Sugar #144 - Ribbon + Pearls/Rhinestones + Flowers
CES #28 - Inspired By A Song

Crafts & Me #27 - Anything Goes
Scrapbook Sisters #28 - Anything Goes

That's all for now. Hope to have chance to play with my new toys and get my fingers inky later ;-)