Mixed Bunch Card

I used several great but easy techniques to create this card with the Mixed Bunch stamp set.  It is a no layer card so that means no extra postage.  I hardly ever do a card without some kind of layer or embelishment, I really don't mind placing an extra stamp on a card after I've spent all that time making it special.  Most of the cards I make go for only 1 stamp though.

I started by placing 4 post-it notes in a square in the corner before stamping the flower.  This is called masking, making it so part of the area where you are stamping doesn't get the ink on it.  I also used the "Rock and Roll" technique on the flower by inking it up with Daffodil Delight ink and then rolling the outer edges of the flower stamp in Pumpkin Pie ink.  This gives it dimension without much trouble at all! 

After I stamped the flower I stamped another flower on another post-it, being sure the edge of the flower was stamped so it would be above the sticky part.  Then I cut it out (actually I only cut half of it out since the other half would be on the other mask and didn't need to be cut) and placed it exactly over the flower image I had stamped on the card.  That is double masking!  With the border mask and the flower mask in place I sponged on some Pacific Point ink lightly in the remaining unmasked area of the card.

It is kind of like magic when you remove all the masks.  This is a fun technique.  After removing the masks I doodled some lines and stamped a greeting with the Thoughts and Prayers set.

I'm thinking about doing some straight line embossing using my Simply Scored tool instead of the doodle lines.  If I get around to it I'll post so you can see the difference.  I think the doodles are easier but I'm always dissatisfied with my doodling and the scored lines would be more "perfect". 

Guess what else I did today - planted more beets and some squash in my garden!  I reckon it doesn't make your day but I'm all excited about it when my garden starts sprouting up in the Spring.  I have lots of spinach and lettuce coming up as well as snow peas, corn, tomatoes and beets.  Oh, and I planted these funny gourds they call snake gourds.  They are supposed to curl around and look a lot like a big ol' snake.  I hope they turn out looking like the picture on the front of the package.  Today I planted 8 hills of yellow squash, 8 hills of zucchini and 6 hills of butternut squash and another row of beets.  Did I mention that I LOVE beets???