March Stamp of the Month Blog Hop: Winged Masterpiece

 The Close To My Heart March stamp of the month, Winged Masterpiece, is absolutely stunning!  I have had so much fun creating with this set, and I can't wait to share with you all month long.  You'll find lots of wonderful ideas and well, masterpieces, along this monthly stamp of the month blog hop.  (If you're already hopping, then you've probably arrived from Lauren's blog.  From here, you'll click on her name to visit Becca's blog next.)  I created three different cards to share with you.

My first card ended up being a shaker card.  I grabbed this black panel (leftover from another project) and heat embossed the dragonfly and sentiment in silver.

I am loving my Spectrum Noir metallic markers!  They show up beautifully on dark cardstock (like this black background)!  You might be able to see on the detail photo below how I painted the entire wings with clear shimmer brush.

Here's the stamp set with its beautiful images and sentiments:

My next two cards use similar techniques: distress oxide water "smooshed" backgrounds, Spectrum Noir coloring, fussy cutting, and clear shimmer brush wings.

My dragonfly card background began with Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, and Mowed Lawn distress oxide inks with splatters of Evergreen, Green Apple, Lemonade, and Gold shimmer brushes.  I added a piece of Avocado Mix-In paper and White Daisy cardstock (cut with my Fancy Borders Thin Cuts).  I love to stamp the insects on the card base then again on cardstock, coloring and fussy-cutting the wings to attach to the card base for a 3-dimensional effect.

This photo shows the markers I used to color the dragonfly wings.

Can you see the clear shimmer brush on the wings?  I also added black shimmer brush (which was way too juicy and bled onto my card front and the wings) to try to unify the body.

Because I loved how my distress oxide background turned out, I decided to keep this card pretty simple by only adding the beautiful butterfly and some Lemonade and Grape shimmer trim.  (My background uses Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Seedless Preserves, and Chipped Sapphire distress oxide inks along with spatters of Sapphire, Wisteria, Lemonade, and Gold shimmer brushes.)

Here are the four Spectrum Noir markers that I used to color my butterfly.  I painted clear shimmer brush over the top when I was done.

In addition to the beautiful insects, the March stamp of the month has some beautiful sentiments too.

Thanks for letting me share my creations with you.  I'd love to know which card you like best.  Please leave a comment before continuing on the hop to Becca's blog.  Thank you!

{Click HERE for all the hop participants and their blogs.}