Under a New Moon

Even with all the fun new tools and techniques available to us as stampers these days, I often find myself going back to the basics. There is nothing like the rich feel you get from a polished stone background, is there?
That is what I used to create my night sky for this card...polished stone using blue bayou and bashful blue re-inkers from SU! and some silver colorbox metallic ink (along with some good old-fashioned rubbing alcohol). I then stamped my Artful INKables Sea Oats stamp over the polished stone 2 times and colored the open areas in with a black marker. Now since I used polished stone, I couldn't mask out the moon so, I stamped the sea oats image again on white card stock and punched out the area I wanted with a 1 3/8" circle punch and overlayed it in the correct position. To create the shine of the moon's light on the plants, I used a medium white Gelly Roll pen in places that the light might hit...keeping in mind what angle the moon's light was coming from.
Oh, I forgot to mention...for this card I used a wonderful new black pad I bought. It is a Watercolor Black Inkpad by Stampa Rosa. I love that it is a TRUE black...not purple like some, doesn't smear when using water, or markers (or alcohol apparently, since I used it with my polished stone), it dries FAST and for those who like archival...apparently it is that as well. I'm seriously thinking of carrying these pads in my store!!
So, to finish off my card, I stamped the 'Miss You' sentiment from Basic Sentiments in black. mounted the whole piece on black card stock and placed it to the far right of my folded Blue Bayou card. Then...I needed something to embellish the left side. Here, I went back to basics again. No need for fancy glitter jewels, big brads or special rub-on. I just punched 1/2" and 1/4" circles out of heavy white card stock, filed them a bit to smooth and bevel the edges and applied them up the side with glue dots. Then I covered them with a bit of diamond glaze to give them a bit of shine and a more 3D feel. I like the way these pieces reflect the white in the main panel and mirror the shape of the moon. Very graphic! :D

In other news, I have been renovating my craft room. It is almost done so when I get it finished I'll share some before and after images. I'm definitely liking the change already though...all my stuff is much more accessible and I'm feeling much more creative with this new change!