The inspiration for this first card was the layout sketch for February in the Happy Stampers group. I love the simplicity of it! Had I not been feeling so lousy, I might have done a bit more layering or something with Crystal Effects, but I think my white gel pen did a good job by itself. (Unfortunately, the lighting when I took the photo washed out the white gel ink in the heart... but trust me, it's there!) I used the SU! stamp set Love You Much for most of the card, but snuck in small Inkadinkado "Think Happy Thoughts" stamp because it fit so perfectly. The DSP is Bella Rose, and colors are Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, and Pink Pirouette.
This second card I did with scraps from Monday's work. Stamp set is Be Happy, DSP is Hawaii Papaya, and I used an oval punch, some brads, a couple felt flowers from Flower Fusion, and a bit of chocolate grosgrain. Although these are not my favorite colors to work with, I'm really pleased with how it turned out!
I posted this card to another one of the Yahoo groups I belong to, and I got a comment back about how good the "B" looks -- solid and evenly inked. I'm a fanatic about getting a nice, crisp image when I stamp. My first "trick" is to use a well-inked stamp pad and to keep checking that every bit of the rubber is covered with ink. Secondly, if I see the rubber is resisting the ink in any area, I clean the stamp and then sand it gently with a sanding block. I find it best to sand all in one direction even thought I was taught to sand in small circles. I feel I have more control this way. Then I clean the stamp again, removing the gritty residue -- and voila! without fail the stamp takes the ink SO much better!
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