Challenge #49! Animals

Well, I really didn't know what to do for this one at first. You see, I do not own any sets that have "animals," or so I thought! Turns out that although I don't own a traditional nature or kiddie animal set, there ARE animals in my stamp collection....and maybe there are some in yours as well! There's frogs (Unfrogettable), butterflies (Ok, maybe that's a stretch!), there's horses (Wanted...that stamp has yet to see ink!), and a couple of birds (Touch of Nature, Always).....and that's what I used here. Birds are hot in the stamping world right now....and now that I've actually USED this one, I've fallen in love with it!

So, I decided on the bird image from my new set, Always....this whole set is just so lovely, but I have to be honest and let you know that I purchased it just for the heart! Ok, so the animal was chosen and then I spotted this scrap of Ginger Blossom DSP on my desktop and worked from there. Have you ever created a card and didn't know where you were going with it?....I mean you had no direction or design in mind...just kind of went with it? That's what happened here. I don't think it's a copy or CASE of anything out there, but it may have come from something I've seen....who knows?!

The bird image is a solid-image stamp and sometimes they are the most difficult to get the best ink coverage, especially when brand new, like this one*. That's why he's embossed....first stamped in Chocolate Chip Craft Ink and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder....but, I don't think you can really see than on your computer screen. Everything on this card is from SU, except for the brown silk flower which I purchased last year on my jaunt to visit some stamping gal pals at Cape Cod last year. And you know what?!! I think I've fallen in love with River Rock! After all these months of not knowing quite what to do with it!! AND it's only around for another 2 months! (sigh!!) Sometimes, I'm a slow learner!

Hope you enjoy this week's edition of the Challenge. Now I'm off to see what all the other uber-talented bloggers have done. Come on and visit with me!

Stamps: Always

Inks: Chocolate Chip Classic & Craft, Ruby Red

CS: Whisper White, River Rock, Groovy Guava, Ruby Red, Ginger Blossom DSP

Misc: Chocolate Satin Ribbon**, Brown Silk Flower (non-SU), Brass Build-a-Brad, Clear EP

**Retired

*Check out Pat's blog here for some great tips on working with solid-image stamps. She has an EXCELLENT tutorial on conditioning and preparing your stamps for ink....you shouldn't miss it!