Summer Sun - Playing with my Distress Inks

One of the swap groups I belong to on Facebook has just started a monthly Rolodex Card swap and being a bit of a nut for slightly retro office supplies I thought I'd join in.  I was lucky to find an old Rolodex full of the index cards at a very reasonable price so I treated myself :o)  It's plain black at the minute so I need to 'alter' it but I need to decide on a theme for that!

The card size for this swap group is 4" x 2 1/4 (there are other sizes around as I found when I was looking to see if there were any other groups out there) so a little larger than an ATC, but just as fun!

The theme for the swap was 'Summer Sun' and there were 4 others in this month's swap these are what I created:

I started with 5 blank cards, so I could keep one for myself, and set to on the backgrounds.  I had recently seen a technique working with distress inks through a stencil and wanted to give it a go, but just for the background itself so I took a handful of inks from my ever growing collection (I used Dried Marigold, Worn Lipstick, Peeled Pain and Tattered Rose) and then pressed each onto my craft sheet, sprayed it with water and then using a mini blending tool worked each colour into the card in turn.  I really love the way that they have blended into each other to give a seamless background - I think these are one of my favourite mini-makes ever!

Once dried I then stamped the word 'Sunshine' on each, together with a floral stamp and added a small metal embellishment and some card candi from my stash.

These are actually the second set of rolodex cards I made as (foolishly) I hadn't realised the theme of the swap and actually made a collaged set with a Vintage Advertising theme to start with.  I sent both sets in though which meant everybody got a bonus card - a win-win really!  This is a picture of the first set:

My return swaps arrived yesterday and I'm really pleased with them, so that's a good start to a collection that will hopefully grow and grow!

I would like to enter my Summer Sun Rolodex Cards into the following challenges:

Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper - Week 321 - Moon Shadow (Backgrounds) - here  http://pinkleart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/sunday-stamper-week-321-moon-shadow.html

Use Your Stash at Try it on Tuesday - here  http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/use-your-stash-at-try-it-on-tuesdays.html

and

Fan-Tastic Tuesday Challenge - No 49 - Anything Goes (Must be square or rectangular) - here  http://fattastictuesday.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/fan-tastic-tuesday-challenge-49.html


Thanks for reading
Steffi xx