Love is in the air

Today is my day to share my Pick of the Week for Repeat Impressions.  One of my favorite things to do with stamps is create my own backgrounds.  Don't get me wrong, I love patterned paper, but there is something about being able to make your own.  You can match your colors perfectly and all you really need is a stamp and some ink.  And as stampers, we all have those.  The first background I have to share with you uses one stamp (Love Letter), one ink color and a random stamping pattern:

I finished this one off with a stitched rectangle die and some inking around the edges.

 Random can be a little scary for me, so often, I will create something with a repeating pattern like this (using Love Stencil):

 You could use it just as it is, but I went ahead and dressed it up a little bit more with the Postcard stamp.  This is where it starts to look more like patterned paper.

 I decided to use this background for the Valentine's Day card for my husband.  Since I really liked how it turned out, I decided to keep the rest of the card very simple:

The sentiment was created by 3 different stamps from 3 different cling sets that I mixed, match, masked, and stamped together.  The "you" is from the "Hello Cling Set" and I stamped it just as it is.  The "me" is from the "Happy Cling Set" and actually read "you make me so" but I masked off the beginning and end to leave just the me.  And now we come to the part I am most proud of!  You can look through all the cling sets and NOT find the "and".  But I was very committed to this sentiment and was going to make it happen.  It turns out that "handsome" (which my husband is, of course!) from the "Hello Cling Set" contains "and" if you mask off the "h" and  "some".  Tricky, but perfect!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope this inspires you to look at your stamps in new ways, both for creating backgrounds, and also for creating new sentiments.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Love Stencil", "Postcard", "Hello Cling Set", "Happy Cling Set"
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle

Challenges:
Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #76--anything goes
Cardz TV #135--anything goes
Alphabet Challenge--X is for Extra Special Occasion (Valentine's Day for my hubby)
As You Like It--favorite way to add a sentiment (I really like stamping the sentiment on a little banner; you can use it to add bold contrast, like on this card, and pop it up for a little more definition)
Crafty Creations #360--anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #322--anything goes with uplifting sentiment
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--add a die cut
Crafty Gals #159--add a heart
Penny's Creations #367--anything goes
Fab n Funky #81--babies, children or men (this one for my biggest child, my hubby)
Crafting by Designs--be my Valentine
{Pin}spirational #209--inspiration photo (inspired by the colors and the hearts)

If You Give a Crafter a Cookie #87--inspiration photo (inspired by the colors and the hearts)

Creative Craft Cottage #104--love is all around
Sheep Ski Designs #11--red, hearts, love, romance
Dare 2 B Artzy--love
Unicorn Challenge #29--love/Valentine's