Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe!

     The thoughts that cross your mind when starting a new endeavor certainly can sound like a broken record.  I've been quite nervous to start a blog and put myself "out there" for the crafting community to see.  I've been stalling ferociously.

     Finally, I just told myself to pretend I'm chatting with my crafty friends and let go of the hardness of it.  Goodness knows I can chat.  Now there's just a record of it, with pictures.  (And maybe some videos here and there).

     My first card is an homage to a Facebook Group I started with friends of mine, Stamp Junkies.  If you've not heard of us, please search us out on Facebook and ask to join.  The site is 2 years old and was started primarily due to our love of the MISTI.  We wanted a cool place to share our passion and show what the MISTI is about.  Fast forward two years later:  I've got a TRIBE of people in a crafting community including fellow stampers, business owners, bloggers, designers and friends.  Here's what I created from that inspiration.

     The beautiful red rubber stamp, Quinn Girl, is designed by Angie Blom for Unity Stamp Company.  I think she portrays my feelings behind my tribe and because I love neutrals, I wanted to make a card that nods to Unity's style as well as my own.   

     I began by pulling out my Mini MISTI and removing the black foam insert because my red rubber stamp has foam on it.  Had I been using a photo-polymer clear stamp, I would have left the foam in place.

Easily remove the black foam insert for stamps with foam

     I then stamped my image with Brutus Monroe Raven Detail Ink.  This is a phenomenal black ink that is safe for alcohol markers and it is waterproof, when dry, so you can watercolor with it as well. I love the dual purpose it serves.  In the picture below, you can see after I colored with my Prismacolor pencils, the colors fade the black ink because I can't stay in the lines.  

     Luckily, my stamp was still on my MISTI and I was able to stamp her again, right over the colored image, using VersaMark ink and heat embossing with a black fine embossing powder.

     I added some Martha Stewart Liquid Gilding, Gold, to the feathers and also splattered tiny dots around her.

     I was recently inspired by a video that showcased using fabric on cards.  I mounted her on fabric and then onto black corrugated cardstock.  My favorite embellishment was the letters spelling out Tribe along the side.  These are from Ideology and were originally black.  I painted them with the gold gilding to coordinate.

     The finishing touch was stamping the sentiment on the inside of the card.

And isn't it the truth?

Thanks for joining me on my first card posting.  I'm sure there's lots of practice yet to come.

Big Junkie Love,

Marci