Ebony and Ivory? (posted by Lesley E)

Hello Everyone,

When Glenda first sent us these lovely chess stamps I immediately thought of cards for men but once I got to work with them I thought they would also make lovely feminine cards too especially with the scenic image which is rather romantic.  I don't play chess myself but when I see chess sets I always think of Steve McQueen and Faye Dunnaway in The Thomas Crowne Affair, lol!

Anyway, here is my first project using this lovely set of stamps.

I started with an ivory 8" x 8" base card and punched a border across the top and bottom front edges.  I punched the same border along the edges of a piece of black perlescent card and trimmed them off the main piece adhering them behind the borders on the front of the card.  The piece of black card which was left I embossed down the right half using the Tim Holtz Texture Fades Checkerboard embossing folder  and then sanded off the black surface before adhering to my card front.

I stamped the main image onto ivory card using black Versafine ink, trimmed to the size I wanted and then added touches of colour with Coloursoft pencils.  I masked the image and dusted Stormy Sky Distress Ink round the top half of  the border and Bundled Sage round the bottom border and I then matted it first onto black perlescent card and then ivory card before mounting onto the card front.  Finally, I stamped the King onto white card with black ink and the Queen in white onto black card before cutting them out and positioning them together with the stamped sentiment onto the right side of the card.

I think the chess pieces on this stamp set are excellent for making tags or ATCs too and they also combine well with several other sets.  Keep an eye on my own blog for a card I made recently combining them with the lovely music set and I know there are more projects coming up from my Design Team buddies so lots of inspiration to come.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx