House Warming Card

We have been invited to a belated house warming party this afternoon.  As they actually moved in a year ago, but have recently finished their extension, I have chosen to make it a Happy Home card rather than a New Home one.  I love the 3 way overlay stamps from Claritystamp and as I have the stencil in the same design as the Town House set, I decided to use the two together.  Having seen Barbara Gray using Distress Oxides on these stamps to build up colour, I decided to try out the technique.  I also ended up with an additional topper and background from cleaning off my stamps and stencil, so had a choice to make about which combination to use. 

I cut a piece of Clarity stencil card to 9cm x 9cm and stamped the outline stamp from the Townhouse 3 way overlay set in Smokey Grey Versafine ink, using my stamp platform.

I lined up the second, inlay stamp from the set on the stamp platform, added Tea Dye and Ground Espresso Distress Oxide and stamped again.

Rather than waste the ink on the stamp,  I gave it a light mist with water and stamped it off onto another piece of stencil card.  I really liked the soft effect which this gave.

I then placed the original topper back into the stamp platform,  lined up the third, background stamp, and added Weathered Wood,  Stormy Sky and Dried Marigold Distress Oxides.

Once again,  the excess ink was misted with water and used on the other topper.  I did add a little more Stormy Sky and Dried Marigold first.

I then used my Pergamano blending pen and nibs to add some Mustard Seed and Ground Espresso Oxides onto the first topper, changing nibs for each colour.

Both toppers were mounted onto dark brown card, leaving a narrow border.

For the background,  I took two pieces of Clarity 7" x 7" stencil card,  laid the Townhouse stencil which is the same size over one of them, then blended Stormy Sky,  Ground Espresso and Dried Marigold Oxides through the stencil using Clarity Stencil brushes.

For the second background,  I lightly spritzed the stencil with water,  laid the second piece of card over the inky side and ran it through my Grand Calibre using the embossing plate combination, another technique which I have seen Barbara use.

Once the background and stencil were dry,  I laid the stencil back in place and blended Mustard Seed and Ground Espresso Oxides through it.

Having trimmed the sides of both backgrounds slightly,  I used a corner rounder on the second background.  They were both matted onto brown card in the same way as the smaller toppers.  I did go round the outside of the first background with a dark brown Sakura micron pen.  Two completely different backgrounds from one stencil.

Having tried various combinations of toppers and backgrounds,  I decided to use the first background.  As this one is not embossed, it meant I could stamp a sentiment directly onto the stencilled image.  I used my stamp platform once again and the words Happy and Home from the Clarity mini chains 1&2, stamping in Acorn Archival ink.

It only remained to add the background to a 7" x 7" pre made card blank and the topper of my choice.  As the lines are so well defined on the background I chose,  I decided to use the first topper as the lines are more defined on that one.

I will definitely be playing around with Oxides on my 3 way overlay stamps again!