I don’t know where the time is going but I think I’m going to run out of month before I run out of things I need to get done. Sadly not all of them are fun tasks but I have a strategy… I’ll use the nice ones to reward myself for doing the boring and less enjoyable jobs. Of course it would probably help if I set a timer to stop myself spending all day on a ‘reward’. It’s tough though when I have new stamp sets like Courage & Faith to play with!

COURAGE WITH COLOUR

This project actually started when I was experimenting with some new colours of ink pads. I cut a 2″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Thick Basic White Card and covered the surface with a layer of Tahitian Tide ink using a Blending Brush. Unfortunately the ink hadn’t gone on smoothly and I had a number of dark lines across the card. I think it was because I was rushing and overloading the brush with ink. So, disappointed with myself, I set the piece aside and made something else instead.

A few days later I noticed the inky card and decided to see if I could salvage it. Instead of adding even more Tahitian Tide ink I decided to add Azure Afternoon ink over the top. This time I was more careful to take my time and not overload the brush with ink. It really didn’t take long but with a light layer of the second colour I’d managed to create a vibrant blue background with no tell-tale marks. So I finished off by making the Azure Afternoon ink slightly darker around the edges and across the corners.

Now I went looking for a sentiment and my eyes settled on the Courage & Faith Stamp Set and its Bible quotations. I chose “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” (Proverbs 3:5) and stamped it onto the card strip using Night of Navy ink.

HOPE & PRAYER

Although the Courage & Faith Stamp Set has some images I decided to use the dove from the Hope & Prayer Stamp Set instead. So using Night of Navy ink once more I stamped the dove above the quotation.

Of course because the image is simply an outline this meant the bird was the same colour as the background which wouldn’t do at all! So I stamped the outline a second time using Night of Navy ink on a scrap of Basic White Card. Then I cut around the bird using Paper Snips, leaving behind the olive branch. After all, I enjoy fussy cutting, but not that much!

With the bird cut out I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to fix it over the one stamped on the card strip. Now the dove really stood out and appeared to be holding the olive branch again.

To finish my project I first added a hole at the top of the card strip using the slot option on the Very Best Trio Punch. Then I cut two 6″ pieces of white twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack and folded them in half. After poking the loops through the slot, I threaded the cut ends though the loops and pulled gently to secure them in place. Job done.

I’m so glad I didn’t throw away the original inked strip. In fact if it had worked out perfectly I probably wouldn’t have tried adding the slightly darker Azure Afternoon ink over the top. Sometimes you just need the courage to set a ‘mistake’ aside and go back to it another day, don’t you think?

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