My Favorite Stamps

Simon Says Stamp and Show has a fun challenge I just had to enter; we're supposed to use our favorite stamp!    I guess for me it's still the Hero Arts Hydrangea, but I also threw in lots of other stamps that I love to pair it with.  You cannot make a mistake with the hydrangea stamp - you can color it, stamp it in colored inks, use it as a background - it always turns out right.  I think, though, that this is the first time I've done it all in pinks. Look at my flickr photostream to see how many times I've used this stamp.

supplies: parchment cardstock, digital image of a vintage postcard, sized down, Hero Arts stamps K5376 Hydrangea, CG168 Circle Doily, LL040 Woodland Ferns, H2141 Manuscript Background, CL383 Antique Engravings (butterfly), Papertrey tiny tags die and sentiment (Friendship Jar Spring Fillers), Prisma Watercolor pencils to color hydrangea, victorian velvet, worn lipstick, antique linen, and peeled paint distress inks, versafine onyx black ink, versamark ink and white embossing powder for doily, hand-dyed seam binding, twine, tiny pink button

Starting with an ivory parchment card, I white embossed the doily, then shaded the card with victorian velvet, worn lipstick and antique linen distress inks.  Then I overstamped the manuscript background, ferns and butterflies.  The hydrangea was stamped, watercolored and cut out, then popped above the postcard, adding some seam binding and my tiny tag.

Edited to add that this card was published in CREATE: Stamping, February 2013.