Darkroom Door Sponsor Spotlight #2

Hi There and Welcome Back to our 2nd Darkroom Door Sponsor Spotlight of the month! 

Today, our Sew and Sew Challenge Hostess Jan (found Scrapbooking from the Attic, from time to time), is showcasing a project in keeping with her own challenge theme.  



I was so excited when I received my rubber stamps from Darkroom Door.

 The detail and stamping is beautiful, they are a joy to work with. I decided to follow the February Challenge theme and have an element of sewing. I wanted to create a patchwork effect to show off all the stamps, it ended up as a cushion!

I wanted a patchwork effect so I tore strips of calico (from my daughters stash!) I love how the fabric frays and reminds me of waves on the shore, perfect with these sea themed stamps. I used Archival Ink and was so thrilled with how the stamps worked with the fabric showing all the details.

I used masking techniques for the shell patches.

I stamped the shell onto the fabric, then onto a post-it which I cut out then positioned on top of the shell when I stamped the background. I heat dried the ink before stamping the background.

I created all the shell patches this way.

I enjoyed playing with the other stamps in the sets to create different effects, adding layers of stamping with the seaweed and translucent inks and repeat stamping. I tore some of these into smaller strips.

The photo stamps have amazing detail and I love the effect on the calico. I stamped seaside and seaweed stamps over the top to create more interesting layers.

I used the background stamp in a repeating pattern on the cushion front. 

My cushion pad was 16 x 16 inches square so I started with a larger piece and tore the edges to fit when I had finished all the stitching.

I stamped lots of patches of different sizes to play with to get the effect I wanted. I used a 14 inch zip at the base of the cushion. The shell patches were padded with toy filling before machine stitching to give them dimension. I hand and machine stitched around the shells to make them puff up a little. The other patches were sown flat onto the base. I folded the ripped edges so they were raised up and ruffled.

I wanted more layers so my favourite starfish was stamped, then cut out with a layer of padding and calico and machine stitched around the edge. I hand sewed them onto the cushion at the end.

I was so thrilled with the finished cushion. It reminds me of all of the holidays I have spent collecting shells with my children and granddaughter. I also remember all our lovely holidays in Australia where Darkroom Door is based. 

A huge thank you to Rachel for the opportunity to use her stamps.

You still have time to enter my challenge, Sew and Sew.  I hope this has inspired you to try something different.

Hugs Jan x

Such an Amazing sewn creation, Jan!  Your use of the nautically themed Darkroom Door Rubber Stamps to create this cozy looking cushion is just Wonderful! 

And like Jan mentioned, there's still time to enter your sewing themed projects into her Sew and Sew Challenge--there are 10 days left, 'sew' what are you waiting for?  Hope to see you there!