August 2010 Stamp of the Month

Wow, July flew by.  I just realized that I didn't post any of my creations this month.  I remember waiting so I wouldn't spoil anything, but here we are at the cusp of August (and I still have the unmailed items in my possession), and it's time for another Stamp of the Month blog hop.  This month we have over 60 Close To My Heart consultants participating in our hop, featuring the August Stamp of the Month Something Splendid.  If you just arrived from Angela's blog, you are on the right path.  If you are just starting here, our round-robin hop can still be enjoyed in it's entirety.  Just follow the links at the end of each post, and eventually you'll end up right back here!

My creation is an altered wood frame for a 4X6 photo.  I think I may have picked this up from the dollar bins at Michael's.  I mixed Delta Ceramcoat paint (available in the Distressing Kit Z1299) and Chocolate Re-Inker (Z2211) to achieve my desired shade to coordinate with the Cherry-O papers.

After painting the frame with a sponge brush (also in the Distressing Kit) and allowing it to dry, I mixed my second custom paint.  This one was made using the Create-a-Shade Pearl paint (Z1039) and Chocolate Re-Inker, mixing to a darker shade than my first custom color.

I then used the fan-shaped brush from the Distressing Kit and dry brushed the mixture on the frame.  The result is almost like a shimmery wood grain.  After allowing that to dry, it was on to the stamping.

The coolest (I think) thing about Something Splendid is the two versions of the large flower, which allow you to get lots of definition without lots of work.  I stamped the more solid image first in Blush, then followed up with the outline image using Tulip ink.  The image was stamped on the Crystal Blue side of the striped paper from Cherry-O.  The center of the flower was stamped with the second generation (in Chocolate ink) and rock and roll techniques (ink the image, stamp once on a piece of scrap paper, then roll the edge of the stamp on the ink pad to give more dimension and definition to the image, then stamp.  I used Tulip ink for this part.).  Of course, it wouldn't be me if I didn't use 3-D Mounting Foam, so the center of the flower has been mounted using it.  I added five Adhesive-backed Pearls (an old Connections Club reward) to the corner opposite the flower, and used a piece of Cherry-O paper so that the frame is decorative even without a picture.  If you love the Adhesive-backed Pearls like I do, just WAIT for the new Autumn Idea Book (***HINT HINT***), which will be available September 1st.

Remember, the August Stamp of the Month is only available 1-31 August 2010.  Contact your CTMH consultant, or click here to get yours. 

Now, hop on over to Traci's blog to see what she has created!