*Distress Ink Silhouette*

Thanks for being patient with my short blog hiatus... I can't promise it won't happen again... sometimes the creativity doesn't flow on my days off (not to mention DOG SNUGGLES!)

I am on the Scrap'n Stamp blog today, sharing a card I created this past week using a great stamp set from My Favorite Things as well as a couple of colours of Tim Holtz Distress Inks. As always, I have tried to keep with my Clean and Simple style although I think this one pushes the boundaries in some sense of the idea of clean and simple.

I started out this card by cutting out a piece of white cardstock using one of the dies from the MFT Stitched Rectangles die set. I then used Post It tape to mask off the edges as I wanted the stitching to be a break between my blended background and white. I then used my Tim Holtz Blending Tool and Wilted Violet and Shaded Lilac inks to create my background. I started with the lighter colour on one end, the darker colour on the other end and then slowly got them joined up in the centre. I layered up extra colour along the bottom to create a deep dark colour, trying to do a gradient of colour towards the top.

I took this coloured piece and placed it in my stamp positioner using the strips of Post It tape that I left in place to keep the piece in place. I then used VersaFine Clair ink in Nocturne to stamp up some of the images of the MFT In Bloom Stamp set. I used my stamp positioner so that I could double or triple stamp as needed to ensure I got a good deep black stamped image each time.

Before I removed the Post It Tape, I used a paint brush and water to make spatters on the piece. The Distress Ink reacts with the water to leave a distressed look. I then did the same thing with my Nuvo Glimmer Pen to add just a hint of sparkle.

To finish off the card, I cut another rectangle using the MFT Stitched Rectangles and layered my decorated piece on top of it, then centred it on the front of a white card.

I encourage you to get out your Tim Holtz Distress Inks and some solid image stamps to create your own Silhouette scene.

Items Used:
*Cardstock: SU Black; Neenah Solar White
*Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilic; VersaFine Clair Nocturne
*Stamps: MFT In Bloom
*Dies: MFT Stitched Rectangles
*Tools: Misti; Tim Holtz Blending Tool; Big Shot
*Etc: Post It Tape; Nuvo Shimmer Pen