(th)INK Positive: Stampendous April Challenge has begun!

Woohoo! It's the first Saturday in April, and that means the Stampendous team has a brand new challenge for you. This month, in honor of Earth Day, we are challengeing ourselves (and you) to make something that uses product(s) that are recycled, repurposed, or reused in some way. The possibilities are endless! Snazz up a household item and turn it into something beautiful, use something unexpected on your card, or even just use up some scraps you've had in your stash forever (that's recycling, right?!?)

When I was young, my aunt and uncle would take me "antiquing" with them and we would find an assortment of treasures along the way. I loved finding something cool that had been discarded. I'm a firm believe in "one man's trash is another man's treasure." Recently, a friend borrowed our trailer to remove some old junk from his basement. I had the opportunity to do a little digging through his "trash" on the hunt for some treasures. Of course, I had this challenge in mind and I was so hoping to find something I could use. I was not to be disappointed! In fact, you'll see a few more items I found over the course of this month.

For this week I have this nifty little "hanging basket" I found. It's really just lightweight fencing of some sort that someone creatively put together with wire. I didn't change the hanger or how it was pieced together as I loved it just the way I found it. I thought it was pretty cool! I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it the minute I picked it up! Have a little look!

I stamped Cling Lone Bird with my VersaMark pad to do a little embossing. I like to play around and mix powders. I combined aged copper, aged gold, and aged taupe embossing enamels and focused that mix primarily on the bird. I added aged green embossing enamel to the foliage around the bird. I colored the bird in with my Copics but it really didn't need much at all. I only used E42, E43 and E44. Next I distressed the edges of my image and added some Tim Holtz distress ink in gathered twigs. I decided to back my image with a small piece of My Mind's Eye paper from the Lost & Found Two Breeze 6x6 paper pad. Of course it needed a little work over in the form of "Fran•táge!" I took the rest of my powders I had mixed for the bird and added some sage color fragments to the mix and did each edge one at a time. Once complete I layered the two pieces together with double-sided tape

Prior to adhering my paper to the basket, I filled it with an assortment of eggs, twigs and feathers. I then added my stamped and layered image as well as a small bow at the top of the hanger. I plan on hanging this on the wall in my den close to a collection of other bird items. I love how sweet it looks! Can you believe someone would throw away something so cute!? Here's another view with subdued lighting to really show you the shine of the embossing powders.

Ready to see some more? Here is the whole list of my fantastic teammates, who are sharing some fabulous inspiration with you today:

Stampendous Impressions

Lea Kimmel (Me!)

Don't forget - we want YOU to play along with us! That means you have until Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 11:59 PM EST to add your direct link to our collection at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog). You do not have to use Stampendous products, but we sure love it when you do! As an extra incentive for playing along, one lucky crafter (drawn at random) will receive this fabulous Mother's Love Perfectly Clear Stamp Set. Available in stores now, it will be on the website for purchase soon!

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address. We hope you have a chance to play along with us (you can enter as many times as you'd like!) this month...Happy Crafting!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. I hope you enjoyed my project, I sure had fun creating it for your viewing pleasure!

Hugs,
Lea