Long Eared Owl Birthday

Hi all.  The reason I have been absent for so long is we have been away for just over a month visiting our son in Australia and we had a great time.  I did take my laptop and fully intended to at least put a couple of cards up and do some commenting, but we were so busy with all the lovely things our son had planned for us to do that it fell by the wayside.  When hubby has sorted out the photos I will put a few up to show you.  I have been back for almost a week but it is taking a bit of time to sort things out here before I turn my attention back to cardmaking, so here is one of the cards I intended to put up whilst I was away.  I love owls and I always think there is a bit of mystery about them as they are not commonly seen being nocturnal.  I have had this stamp for a long time and its a Crafty Individuals one..sad to say they are not around now.  I also used a postage ephemera type stamp one of several which came with Sentimentally Yours Box Kit No. 12.

I decided to use a 5" x 7" card and found a piece of card amongst my bits and pieces which luckily was the right size for the owl stamp.  I got out a couple of Distress Inks, namely Dried Marigold and Vintage Photo and I blended the piece of card with the Dried Marigold using a brush, making the outside darker and then I stamped the owl using Versafine Vintage Sepia Ink.  I decided for a bit more interest I would use just a small part of the postage stamp and added it using the Vintage Photo around the edges.  I thought I would soften it using a waterbrush but still wasn't totally happy as the ink cubes are beginning to dry up and I wanted to darken the edges more so I used the Dried Marigold rubbed straight onto the card which I liked better.  I then backed this with a black mat and added it to the card finishing with a black stamped sentiment using Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I'll see you again soon. 

I am entering the following challenges:

We Love Stamping Challenge - April '26 Spring/Anything Goes.

Stamping Sensations Challenge - April'26 Inspired by Nature/Anything Goes.

Allsorts Challenge - No. 847 In the Garden/Anything Goes.

Triple B Challenge - April '26 Using Birds, Butterflies or Blooms (1, 2 or all 3).