Thank You

Hey Everyone! Happy Hump Day! Today, I have a card inspired by The Shabby Tea Room's challenge. I used polka dots and the tea theme to create my card.

Yesterday, I got braces on a few of my teeth. I say a few because they're only on the bottom, thankfully! Now, this is the second time I've had braces in my life. The first time around, I was very young and sometime during my college years, the retainer was 'lost!' So, that means this time around I'm responsible, not Mom and Dad. If you have children who have braces or may need braces in the future, remember to tell them to keep that retainer in. Now, they do permanent retainers, which may be an option for me when I'm done, in hopefully less than a year. I'll take a picture to share with you all, but today is not the day! They look horrible! haha After they straighten up a bit, I'll share!

Anyway, I stumbled on a new technique while creating this card. Sometimes, I stamp on my scrap paper to make sure the stamp is conditioned and inked well. This time, I stamped on an area previously stamped and liked it, so I repeated the process for this card. I share this with you below. It is similar to stamp kissing, just not on the actual stamp.

Instructions

1. Trim rustic cream cardstock to fit an A2 card front.
   
2. Stamp polka dot pattern in sweet blush ink.
3. Add doily and trim half off the edge.
4. Add distress ink to the card front.
5. Add ribbon treatment.
6. Die cut oval and emboss, stamp sentiment, and add distress ink.
7. Pop oval die cut off card front.
8. Stamp sweet blush cardstock in white ink with Hero Arts doily stamp.
9. Stamp teapot in tea dye ink on top of stamped doily pattern, cut out, ink edges, and pop off card front.
10. Add pearls and color with a Copic marker.
11. Add pearl flourish.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques

• Stamp Kissing on Cardstock - Stamp pattern with white pigment ink on cardstock, then stamp a solid image using a darker ink over top stamped background. The result is a patterned image.
• Doily Finds - Recently, I've found a few doilies. When out to eat at a restaurant, check to see if they use doilies to decorate serving plates. If so, sometimes you can remove them before they're stained or used and use them on your projects, like the one I used here. Another tip - Ask your server for some. They may look at you weird, but it worked for me and I got at least five of them and they're really huge and unique and...FREE!
  

Supplies

Stamps :: Waltzingmouse Stamps - say it with style (sentiment), off beat background (polka dots); Hero Arts - starburst lace (stamp kissing technique); Renaissance by Design - coffee and tea (teapot)
Ink :: SU! - white; Ranger - tea dye, old paper; PTI - sweet blush
Cardstock :: PTI - rustic cream, white, sweet blush
Embellishments :: Craft Supply - doily, crinkly stained ribbon; SU! - pearls; KaiserCraft - pearls; Copic marker - Sand; Prima - pearl flourish
Tools :: Spellbinders™ - petite ovals small nestabilities (S4-138), wizard; Ranger - blending tool