Stamps want to get inky

Hello! The challenge theme this week as Simon Says Stamp and Show is 'the stamp I love but don't use'. Time to ink up those uninked stamps! I love rubber stamps, and most of my stamps have seen ink, but there were still quite a few that wanted some attention, especially newer stamps.

I was happy when I got hold of the Darkroom Door Home Sweet Home set, and wanted to use the stamps on this project since I am very fond of house stamps. I paired them up with Eileen Hull's Sizzix Caddy Bag, to make a homely caddy with two compartments for some of my pens and bits and pieces. I used BasicGrey Serenade papers for the background, and stamped it with different coloured inks.

The Birds on a Wire were die cut from manila cardstock and inked and a sentiment was stamped on a Tattered Banner.

The houses were stamped on scraps of manila cardstock which had been coloured with Distress Stain and embossed with Vintage Photo Distress embossing powder which gives a great texture to the houses. I stamped them one more time on top with Jet Black Stazon, wiping some off the ink off the stamp before stamping. The window was cut out and a piece of mica, on which the window had been stamped was placed there instead.

For the door and roof, I covered glossy cardstock with foil tape and painted it with Juniper paint. Then the house was stamped on top with Stazon ink. When dry, I distressed them further with a needle tool. The flower on the house is a part of the Caddy Bag die.

Here's the other side of the caddy, with a smaller house. I loved the tree and birds on the patterned paper and didn't want to cover them up. The sentiment translates 'home best' and comes from a Swedish saying. All the edges were inked with Gathered Twigs.

On this house you can see the effect of stamping with black ink over the Vintage Photo embossing better. It gives a great distressed and layered look.

I stamped the open areas of the patterned paper with a Tim Holtz number stamp. Another sentiment was stamped on a tattered banner and I also added a little keyhole.

Love this sentiment. The little hearts were die cut from patterned paper with the Hearts Set die.

The second side of the caddy bag with more stamping and an inked flower.

Here you can see the caddy from the top. It is really cute, and would work for lots of themes, use it for storage, or as a gift holder.

Ink up those stamps this week and show us your projects. As always, our sponsor Simon Says Stamp gives a $50 gift voucher to one random participant (so you can get some new stamps!).

Thank you for stopping by!

Happy stamping!

Anna-Karin 

Supplies:

Stamps: Darkroom Door: Home Sweet Home; Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Ultimate Grunge; Hero Arts Printer's Lowercase

Dies: Sizzix: Caddy Bag, Birds on a Wire, Tattered Banners, Hearts Set, Keyholes

Ink: Distress Ink: Bundled Sage, Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs, Tattered Rose, Pumice Stone, Evergreen Bough, Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters; Versamark; Stazon Jet Black

Distress Stain: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Brushed Pewter, Victorian Velvet

Paint: Adirondack Juniper dabber

Embossing powder: Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder

Surfaces: Ranger Metal Foil sheets, Manila cardstock; BasicGrey Serenade 6x6 papers; mat board