And the second:
On both these I was trying out my new Moonglow Stains and Spritzes, which I got at the stamp show the other weekend, at a booth run by "Lindy's Stamp Gang". While the stains looked good on the samples, I've been really disappointed with them on my samples--the main color, when looked at straight on, is very washed out and actually not super-pleasant. The mica glow when you move the paper side to side is quite nice, but really, who does that except perhaps on a card, the first time you get it? Certainly if it's a piece that hangs on a wall, you're almost never going to benefit from that reflection.
The stains, on the other hand, are super-saturated with color and I adore them. =) They also have a nice little shimmer, too!
The background on the 2nd piece was made according to a technique I recently learned from Ruth C. on the OSA group, called Cheesecloth Backgrounds. I adapted it (not having any cheesecloth) by dabbing the stains over a small piece of burlap which I moved around on the semi-gloss paper until it was covered. Then I also experimented with brayering the saturated burlap, and it left a really nice pattern plus a lot of stray fibers which left cool marks (and which I brushed off when it was dry).
I love that little brazier stamp! You can't see it in the scan too well, but I carefully embossed the brazier itself in black, then the coals in red, and the steam in gold... Fun!
