A whim of whatever...!

Another Monday and another week to explore a great new challenge theme from Simon Says Stamp & Show! It's a fabulous 'Anything Goes!" theme so indeed... why not just follow your whim for whatever!!!! Ink, paint, paper, sprays, die-cuts, stamping, cute, Grungy or funky - this is your week to show it off and play along...

There's been a flurry of celebrations for our Queen Lizzie and just recently I saw the Olympic torch run past my very street... You just can't help being swept along in a bit of British flag waving, Patriotic pride and euphoria. So that was my inspiration to get inky. With a stiff upper lip of course!

I just got a new stash of Ranger's Glossy cardstock so my Alcohol inks weren't that far behind... I decided to make a set of three cards using the wonderful Loverly London and London Underground sets from Artistic Outpost.

l used Pool and Red Pepper Inks and applied them in three different ways to achieve my background. Firstly I used the applicator tool to pound my cardstock, then I softened the colours by adding a little Blending Solution and then I dropped some ink directly onto the card for more intensive areas.

Then... I stamped lots and lots of the images over the card using Ranger Jet Black Archival ink followed by a blast with my heat tool to make sure it was dry. There's so many great stamps in each set and they are really fun to mix and match! This Gent sure reminds of an English actor. Hmmm, might be Simon Callow... What do you reckon?

l then cut out my images roughly and spent hours moving them all around until I was finally happy with each card. I went for six pieces per card and tried to create a good balance between the images and words.

l trimmed a few of the images down slightly (like the postcard/flag) so that the shapes worked well together and then I mounted them on black card for extra depth and effect.

I mounted them on very white card which works well with the Glossy cardstock. My card bases are unusual shape and size but I do like the chunky, larger than normal look! I just need to make my own envelopes for them now! So there you go, a bright and funky start to your Monday! Hope you think they all look rather spiffing and jolly nice...

It's time for you to get creative now. Remember there's this great $50 voucher up for grabs AND it's a free-style week - so I'm looking forward to a wave of fabulous makes.
Cheerio darlings, one must be dashing oorrrfff!

Sarah.