Cruel and unusual punishment?

I'm not sure what we did to deserve it but Nikki over on CBC banned stamps for her latest challenge! She asked us to imagine that all our stamps were suddenly off bounds but to find a way to stamp, nevertheless! I think that amounts to cruel and unusual, don't you?

Anyway, this idea popped in to my head while I was trying (and failing) to get to sleep last night and although I should have been doing a zillion other things today, it wouldn't go away until I'd tried it on paper. My main image is a download of a vintage photo (from the photo bit at Altered Bits), I've just sponged a little ink around the edges of a black and white print. Can you spot my "stamps"?

I added drop shadows to the leaves with a marker pen, some gold foil freehand swirls and a pre-printed quote (RAKed by Caroline - thank you!) to finish.

Did you get the non-stamps right? Here they are in all their glory - two ivy leaves and a piece of bubble wrap! Hee hee! I love the way the veins on the leaves have left a white "halo" effect even though I pressed down quite firmly (I rolled the fleshy part at the bottom of my thumb over the inked leaf) so you can still see some of the vein structure as well as the leaf shape.

The inks are all dye-based (Distress Shabby Shutters & Vintage Photo and Memento New Sprout & Bamboo Leaves) and I think everything else is obvious.

Thanks for dropping by, hope you're enjoying your weekend!