The Stamp Man Challenge - A Perfect Pear

When I arrived at the retreat at Beamsley last Friday, Janet (part of Lovin' Ink) told me I had won the last Stamp Man Challenge. So I was really chuffed. We just happened to manage a trip to the shop the next day and I was able to spend my voucher (and a good bit more!!). Then Jill (Mrs Stamp Man) asked if I would like to join the Design Team!!!

Well I was so surprised but delighted too. I try to enter their challenge every fortnight because of the high standard of entries to look at.

So this is my first go!! I didn't have alot of time for this one so it's a quick project. Janet lent me her pear stamps at the retreat and I finished off the sample at home. The pear I used is a beautiful patterned pear by

    Aspect of Design 

Here is what I did with it: 

The background was made by blending 3 colours of Distress (Antique Linen, Scattered Straw and Brushed Corduroy). Then I inked up the large Music background stamp (Hero Arts) with Versamark and spritzed with water. I stamped onto the background card. This lifts off some of the ink to create a subtle resist in reverse. I love this technique as a first layer of stamping when building up backgrounds.The swirl at the side is another beautiful Hero Arts stamp called Fabulous Flourish (well named!!). I stamped this with second generation Brushed Corduroy.

I stamped two pears. One I cut out with an oval nestie and the other I cut out the pear without the leaf and stem. The cut out pear was then shaped on a mat with a big ball embossing tool and then silicon glue applied in the hollow to keep the rounded shape. This was a technique shown to me by the lovely Liz on the retreat!!

The rest is pretty easy to work out. All the embellishments are die cut with Spellbinders. I bought the Foliage set (where the leaves came from) this weekend too. The quote is from one of Tim Holtz's Stampers Anonymous sets CMS110 "Stuff to Say"

To show detail of the background

All the products used in this card are available from The Stamp Man. Remember to check out what the rest of the DT did with this challenge and drop by the Stamp Man Challenge Blog.

It seems a bit unreal to be part of such a talented DT!!

Siobhan