Stamping Contrasts - Guest Designer

In our August issue our designers had the chance to get creative with these lovely, versatile sentiment stamps from Visible Image. This stamp set is perfect to brighten up someone's day and the flower is separated into flower-head and stem to make it even more adaptable for your own designs.

We gave one lucky reader the chance to play along with this month's stamping contrasts and here are the results. We love the original way in which Hellen Pearce has used this set!

Materials…
STAMPS: Visible Image – Thinking of You set. INKS: Adirondack; VersaFine - Black. OTHER: Memory Box Dies – Butterfly Vine and Kensington Border; DecoArt Glamour Dust; cardstock – black, white, pale blue, silver.

Because Every Cloud Should Have a Silver Lining
I felt that the sentiment stamp needed an understated background to ensure it was the main focus. I played around with a few techniques but in the end chose this one made by marbling ink and water as it gives a ‘floaty’ feel which I feel suits the sentiment’s reference to ‘skies’. I continued with this theme using silver card to create a ‘silver lining’. I stamped onto the dried background using black ink and arranged the matted and layered pieces onto a card base. I also added some die cut butterflies because when I watch butterflies in the garden they make me smile, and I would use these stamps for a card to cheer somebody up.

Butterfly Love

My tag was made to compliment the card. I used the same techniques but with a few different butterflies and a sprinkle of glitter. All the butterflies used on both the card and tag came from border dies which I cut up – I always try to buy products that are versatile and good value for money!

Thank you Hellen for these beautiful makes – visit Hellen's blog to see more of her work. If you haven't seen the article in our August issue, then grab a copy and get even more fabulous inspiration from Kim Bacon, Chris Dark, Chrissie Stokes and Joanne Allison! Available to buy from WHSmith, many craft shops or with free P&P for a limited time from our shop! Also available as a digital download here.

Visible Image Thinking of You set costs £8.99. To purchase this or to see other stamps from Visible Image  visit www.visibleimage.co.uk.