Stampin Up Starter Kit Cards Contest

I made these two cards for a contest going on at Stampin' Up. You have to use ONLY the contents of your starter kit. It seems as though there is a lot of controversy over that though. I guess the kit has changed over the year, and others didn't know that you could customize the kit to contain patterned papers and ribbons ... well I figured it out, and I must say that I think I did alright.  They are picking five winners and each winner will get to pick a stamp set ... how cool would that be? 

I tried to throw a few techniques in there too.

For my first card, I distressed up the edges of the paper, I used my scissors on this one, but normally I would have used my Tim Holtz distresser (which Stampin' Up does sell, however it didn't come in the kit)  I also used my Chocolate Chip ink refill to dye my lace ribbon.  And as you know I love to ink the edges of absolutely everything, so I used the sponge that they provided in the kit. The colours I used are More Mustard and Chocolate Chip and the stamps that I used are from Word Play and Sense of Time collections.

The second card - and my favorite of the two - I used an embossing relief technique and my brand new Stampin' Wheel - loving that thing!  I used again the More Mustard and Cherry Cobbler this time.  What a combination I know!  After embossing with clear embossing powder and Versa Mark ink, I put the More Mustard ink on my craft mat and sprayed it down with water and ran the card through that.  After allowing it to dry I sponged on some Cherry Cobbler ink into the spots that were shy of ink for a little depth.  I love the way it turned out.  Then I used the Elizabeth stamp and two stamps from the Vintage Vogue collection for the sentiment.  I tore spiral circles and inked them for the flowers.  I will do a tutorial on spiral flowers soon on my blog; they are fun and easy to do.