Stamping was a creative outlet I'd chosen to ignore over the years, until 2006 that is, when I somehow happened upon Yahoo's Oriental Stamp Art galleries online. The artwork I saw there inspired me enough not only to join, but also to place an order with About Art Accents, the group's vendor of the month, for my very first stamps. It was a learning curve, un-mounted stamps too. It's hard to believe that three years has gone by since then! Oriental has a certain charm of its very own; it seems to evoke a wonderful sense of serenity.
This was my card for a recent Greenery Day contest within this group. Greenery Day being a celebration of nature in Japan on May 4. The focus of my card went into the shoji-screen which started as a sheet of black glossy cardstock. Through the panes you can see out to the rolling hills in the distance with a scattering of cherry-blossoms in view. This comes from a sheet of Japanese washi-paper, with a muted effect offered by a layer of vellum.
The stamped image comes in the form of the bamboo stems, a stamp named simply "bamboo" from About Art Accents, embossed with gold, and coloured with Sakura Glaze Pens (leaves) and markers (stems). The pots were cut from hand-coloured (swipe with a stamp-pad) cardstock, that had been textured with a Cuttle-bug folder .. and a rolling pin! Then a little metallic rub-ons added.
As to the "canes" in one of the urns; they were pulled out of my backyard straw broom since they seemed like just what I needed for that urn, with a small kanji sticker added lastly.
If you'd like to read more about the Oriental Stamp Art group, here is a review written by myself on Helium site, for all new-comers to Oriental stamping.