Just say it with words...

Hi everyone and thank you so much for joining me. Today sees the start of a new theme for August over at Our Creative Corner - Words. Be they stamped or handwritten your project needs to include some.

So in my head I had a 'sort of' plan' for altering a small canvas shabby chic style with my favourite antiquities stencil, but after spending hours on it the whole thing was just not working. Don't panic, it's not been binned! I just needed to walk away from it for now and give it a bit of a rethink. OK, now I needed a new idea. How wonderful that I have such inspirational crafty friends and a middle son who has plans to be an author. It's a while off 'til his birthday but now I'll be prepared in advance with something which incorporates some 'tools of the trade' and superb TH sentiments.

So who else inspired me?

Let's start with, for me, the queen of parchment craft and vellum, Rosie of Crafting at SG. I loved seeing a card she had made with stamped/inked vellum as it added sharp detail but with a softness to it.

Then there's Toni, the Artistic Craft Dabbler herself who did a fantastic tutorial on feathers with a link to the  Todolwen blog of the utterly genius Karen B; seriously, I want to relearn how to crochet so I can make pansies just like hers!

The idea of the peacock feather came from Kim of Incognito who posted this amazing tag - oh wow does that make a statement or what!

And then of course I am constantly inspired by the work of my team mates Laura and Alison who blend and mottle colours with such skill and expertise.

I tried to plan colours (Peacock Feathers/Shaded Lilac/Frayed Burlap and various similar shades in other inks/media) but having mottled Shaded Lilac and Frayed Burlap over a stencilled background the colours seemed to alter. Then when I added similar colours to the black CS feather everything took a blue/brown slant.

There had to be a spot of embossed/inked CS somewhere and it was also rather therapeutic to chop into the feather to give it a much more 'damaged' look. Thank you Anne for the pen nibs; you can see one in action here, and there's a lovely pen image I haven't used for ages (covered in Glossy Accents) and a key double embossed with my faux rust recipe.

Just realised 'with a little help from my friends' would have been a better title for this post! At least it's a project I'm more than happy to share alongside the first half of the talented team over at Our Creative Corner. You need to see what they've been up to as their samples are superb, and then it's your turn.

Thank you again for joining me. Take care of yourselves, Jenny xxx

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Shaded Lilac	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Frayed Burlap	Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Paper Lace Doily	Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Embossing Paste - White	Tim Holtz Sizzix Texture Fades - Collage & Notebook Set
Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Classics 3	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Simple Sayings	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Pen Nibs	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Stormy Sky	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents