Always...and again

I figure I've been so slack lately I owe you two projects...so here's a couple using the beautiful Always. Both of these were created very late Friday/ very early Saturday as I kept an eye on the Olympic opening ceremony....a visual feast if ever there were one!
The first is a 6x6 layout. I've used Soft Sky, Purely Pomegranate, Very Vanilla and Basic Black as my colour scheme for this one....you can't go wrong with Soft Sky! I've used the lovely textured card stock and some paper from the Spring Silhouettes pack.

The rub-ons down the side are from the Eastern Elegance pack. The black brads are from the Vintage pack and are layered on little circles of Pomegranate punched with the 1/4" Circle Punch. I used my mat pack for the brad spacing, and the Stamp-a-ma-jig for sentiment positioning. Don't you just love that bird? Too adorable!

Edited to add: Oops! thanks for the emails everyone....yes, that's me and hubby, I'll have to remember to include photo info from now on!

The second project is a super simple card. I've used Pomegranate and Vanilla again, this time with Chocolate Chip. Yummy colour combo!
The paper is just a strip from the Holiday Harmony pack. The sentiment was again stamped using the Stamp-a-ma-jig. I wanted a way to use up all those ribbon scraps I'm hoarding, so came up with the little bow. It's super simple, just pleat a wide ribbon scrap and adhere it to the card with a brad. The brad holds the pleat in place and attaches it to the card at the same time!

One heart was stamped with Chocolate Chip, the other was inked with Pomegranate then "thumped" with a Chocolate Chip marker randomly to create the mottled appearance.

Thumping is THE easiest technique, you just "hit" the already inked stamped with a darker coloured marker, but it creates a lot of visual interest in a stamped image. I also stamped one of the small circle images in Chocolate Chip and punched it out with the 1/2" circle punch and attached it to the heart using a dimensional. Simple and pretty!

I always seem to reach for these same elegant colours when using Always, I may have to jump out of the box and try a crazy colour combo with it soon! Speaking of crazy combos....stay tuned, tomorrow I'll bring you a new one that I ended up really liking!

Stampin Supplies:
Stamp Set: Always
Ink: Stazon, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip
Card stock: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Purely Pomegranate, Soft Sky, Basic Black
Paper: Spring Silhouettes and Holiday Harmony DP
Punches: 1/4" Circle, 1/2" Circle, 1 1/4" Circle, 1 3/8" Circle, Scalloped Circle punches.
Accessories: Chocolate Chip Wide Satin Ribbon, Vintage Brads, Eastern Elegance Rub-ons, Chocolate Chip marker, Stampin’ Dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive.
All supplies available from Stampin' Up!