I had such a nice time sharing my excitement for using Distress Stains last night at stamp club and really enjoyed seeing all the groups' wonderful Christmas tags.

Recently, I picked up a new Hero Arts Christmas stamp set; I just couldn't resist (remember this blog is about my obsessions). I love the crisp, clean look of this set: Merriest Christmas Wishes and it has a nice collection of verse. I stamped the image in Distress Stormy Sky on white. I looked nice, clean and crisp, but.... I had an idea. Many of my recent projects get thrown into the "box" to get spritzed and glitzed so... First, I inked the image with Stormy Sky,

then I spritzed (twice) a flourish background stamp with "pearl" Perfect Pearls Mist. Remember to shake until all the color is suspended before spraying so the nozzle won't clog.

Next, I "kissed" the inked image to the spritzed background stamp and then stamped the image on white cardstock.

I really love the "stormy" look that resulted. A bit of red marker and a coating of glossy accents for the bird, plus a few more finishing touches and another set of Christmas cards are ready to share with friends. I find that my attention span for making a stack of cards is limited to about 20 cards. My goal was to have three sets done by Thanksgiving. Yes, I know it's next week-this makes two sets done.

Kissing

 I spent some time this week getting inky. At our weekly "Cult Meeting" this past Tuesday, Anita shared the first row of techniques from the Jennifer McGuire online inspiration sampler. She brought supplies for us to make samples of our own to staple to our directions. I was insprired by the "Kissing" technique; one I haven't done in quite a while. I cut up a page of glossy paper into ATC size pieces and pull out my distress inks and then I played with various color combinations. Check my Stamping page under Nov 6 for more examples and directions. The backgrounds are lots of fun and addicting - you just have to make one more!

Putting these pieces into cards was just as much fun. Don't you just love the embellishments? These were just as addicting to make. This is a Tim Holtz technique from the same class (he was a guest artist). The ribbons were dyed with distress stains and spritzed with pearl misters. The card backgrounds were sponged, embossed, distressed, blended and spritzed.

I was having so much fun making embellishments, that I also made a tag to share at our meeting this week (as well as for the St Augustine Stamp Club Christmas Tag challenge). Check out directions on the Tag Book page under Nov 8.