Yesterday I was given a new stamp by Unity Stamps.  It was this giant heart cluster.  Well, giant is relative, but compared to most of the stamps I have, I consider it giant.

So last night when I had some free time to make a couple cards, I pulled up the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to use the new distress ink color Abandoned Coral.  I knew immediately that I wanted to use the ink with the heart collage stamp and use it to watercolor the insides of the collage.  Distress ink sure has some great properties for techniques!

I pulled out my old Wink of Stella brush.  That little gizmo is my favorite!  (gizmo doesn’t sound proper when speaking of an item with a feminine name?)  I have several of them because when one is used up, I don’t discard it.  I purchase a new brush to use for items which will not bleed onto the tip, and I refill with water the old one.  There is enough shimmer left clinging to the inside of the chamber for at least one refill, but likely more.  Additionally, it’s my favorite water brush of all that I’ve tried (I’m too cheap to buy the expensive ones), so even if there is no shimmer, I find it’s a great water brush.  I then use the refilled brushes for anything that could potentially contaminate the brush or chamber.  (I’ve had issues of my water brushes sucking up the wetted ink and contaminating the chamber, however, Wink of Stella doesn’t seem to do this!  Which is why I say it’s the best water brush of those I’ve used).

With the help of MISTI, I was able to whip out 5 of these cards in a little more than a half hour.  I didn’t have the correct color of cardstock (my selection is really rather limited), so I used the ink to color the card base.  Viola! It worked perfectly.

Supplies:  Neenah Index paper, Canson watercolor paper, Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Abandoned Coral), Unity Stamp, Simon Says Stamp (sentiment), Memento Brilliance Starlite Silver, misc (bling), Wink of Stella brush