Viva la Verve & Virginia's View {Happy}

I am enjoying working with distress inks SO much. Where have I been? I think they are my new favourite ink and mixed with some glossy paper...well, let's just say I am in inky heaven! This is a photo I took of two cards I made on Friday-this is an Instagram photo!

My local craft store brought in Sweet Stamp Shop stamps. I was on the Sweet Design Team this past summer and in January, had the pleasure of meeting both Mr. & Mrs. Sweet! I was delighted to find out that these "sweet" stamps would be available close to home!

I was inspired by the colours at Viva la Verve...Pink, Gray and Green. That is what I used on my first card! The card base is a bright pink-Melon Mambo. I hope it is ok to use a different pink hue. I used a Tim Holtz stencil and added the 3 colours. Then I die cut a leaf and stamped the sentiment. I wanted to try the "skewed" panel sketch that I have been seeing around. I am usually a clean and layered kind of crafter but I am trying to move out of my comfort zone-so I can grow as a crafter.

Then I played with the images again and used the leaf's negative die cut space left from my first card and inked it up with blue and green. I allowed the colours to touch, to create a blended look. I am entering both cards in Virginia's View Challenge-to use stencils. On this particular card I created my own stencil from the die cut.