Lovely As A Tree

Hello, Crafters.

It's no wonder that the Lovely As A Tree Stamp Set is the longest-serving stamp set in Stampin' Up! range of crafting products. 

The versatility that comes with this stamp set is just amazing!

I was playing with it again yesterday, and came up with today's card, which could have been darker, but I'm still pleased with it!

The main black tree at the forefront of the card has been fussy cut, which I think has added a lot of depth to this card.
 
I think this can still be seen through to the photographs.

I started my card with a Whisper White Cardstock (CS) card base, with a layer of Tranquil Tide CS, and a top layer of Whisper White CS.

I took a piece of thin - 80gsm - computer paper the same size as my top layer, and cut an oblong out of the centre. 

To do this, I used my trimmer and allowed a 7/8" margin all round. 

I used temporary adhesive to attach this mask to my top layer of cardstock.

I cut another piece of computer paper to make a hill, and placed the top piece where I wanted my hill to end.

Using a Dauber with Tranquil Tide Ink, I sponged the area, leaving a lighter area in the centre which looks like the moon shining on to it. 

I'd like to say I'd planned this, but it was a fluke! LOL! 

When I was happy with the depth of the colour, I removed the mask, and took the  other half of my hill mask, and placed it over the hill so I could sponge the sky. 

Before I started, I took a 3" x 3" square Post It Note and sandwiched it in between a piece of folded computer paper, with the sticky edge against the fold. 

Using my 1" Circle Punch, I punched out a moon.

I do it this way because I get a much better result when punching Post It Notes. 

I placed the moon where I wanted it to be, and using another Dauber with Soft Sky Ink, I sponged the remaining visible Whisper White CS area. 

I removed the moon, and stamped the Father Christmas, plus the reindeer, flying through the sky. 

The stamp is from the Hearts Come Home Stamp Set, and was inked in Basic Black Archival Ink. 

Then I took the long stamp with five trees on it from the Lovely as a Tree Stamp Set, and inked it in Tranquil Tide Ink. 

I stamped the image once, moved it over slightly and stamped again without re-inking.

Finally, I stamped the single fir tree onto a piece of Whisper White CS, and, after giving it a few minutes to dry, I fussy cut it.

I assembled the front of my card, and added the sentiment, which is from Iconic Christmas Stamp Set.

Although I don't think it shows in the photographs, I finished the main tree with Wink of Stella Clear Glitter pen.

For the inside of the card I took a layer of Tranquil Tide CS and a top layer of Whisper White CS. 

Before I adhered these into the card, I stamped the top two thirds of the main tree in the bottom right hand corner of the Whisper White layer using Basic Black Archival Ink.

As I said at the beginning, this card could have been a bit darker, but my imagination sees this as morning is breaking, and Father Christmas is returning home. 

I think maybe I should add some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter to the trees to make them look frosty!

I remember when I was very young, about 6 or 7 years old, one of my very first school reports read "........has a very vivid imagination"!

Not much has changed! LOL!
 
That's it from me today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Iconic Christmas - Stamped or Painted?

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you've had a super weekend. 

Since our dear friend Liz passed away, and apart from the Incentive Trip, I've not taken any time off, but I did yesterday. 

Fortunately, hubby wasn't working this weekend, and we had a lovely relaxing day together. 

I feel so much brighter today that I've decided I'm always taking Sunday's off! 

I'll still post my Sunday video, because my videos are always ready the day before they go live, and are always scheduled to go live at 7 am.

Having said that, I'm still planning a little bit of time in my studio on a Sunday so I still get my daily fix of crafting! 

Yesterday evening I carried on playing with the Iconic Christmas Stamp Set and Ornamental Christmas Framelits. 

As all three cards are more or less identical, so you know which card I'm talking about, I've used a different Embossing Folder for the background of each card. 

Therefore the cards will be called Ruffled, Planks and Cable!

The first card I made yesterday was the Cable card, although the actual tree you see here is the second attempt! 

The Basic Black Archival Ink didn't stamp very well with my first attempt but, as I'd stamped it, I decided to use it for a practice. 
 
I stamped it with the two step stamps which allowed me another go at lining up the stamps.

The first test was to find out what the images would look like if I used my Marker Pens to fill in the little bits of white I missed when two-step stamping. 

I have to say I wasn't happy with the result as it showed darker areas where I'd also gone over areas that had already been coloured by stamping. 

Yesterday I noticed three little stamps in the set that I hadn't noticed previously! 

On the box cover, to the left of the complete trees, there are three tiny colouring stamps i.e. a bell, a reindeer and a gingerbread man. 

These are maent for the images on the complete tree, and I coloured the bell with Smokey Slate Ink, and Crumb Cake for the other two. 

I was amazed at the difference these made to the complete tree! 

I haven't put a sentiment on these cards, nor finished the insides - I can always do that later! - but I did utilise the tree trunk stamps and die!

I stamped the bark in Crumb Cake Ink, and then the background is Crumb Cake stamped off once. 

There is a die to cut the trunk out but it'd be very easy to cut freehand.

Next I decided to re-ink my Basic Black Archival Ink - never a good idea to use ink pad almost immediately after re-inking. LOL! 

I did the Planks card next, and this time I painted all the images using Marker Pens. 

Apart from going over edges a little bit now and again, I'm really happy with this outcome, but no good if you're not a fan of painting..................it was a little bit time-consuming, albeit very relaxing. 

On this card I also adhered the tree trunk using Tombow as opposed to using Dimensionals which I used on the other two cards. 

I think this actually gives the tree more dimension.

The third card is the Ruffled card and is the same as the Cable card, except the Basic Black Ink was more intense, because I'd re-inked the ink pad! 

I still have other ideas for cards that can be made using this bundle, but I'm putting it away for the time being and will come back to it later!

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Iconic Christmas Tree Card Video

Hello, Crafters.

Yesterday I couldn't stop playing with the Iconic Christmas Stamp Set and co-ordinating Ornamental Christmas Framelits Dies. 

Earlier this morning I uploaded my video which shows how I made another version of the card I shared yesterday. 

At the end of the video, I showed another two cards, one of which will be the subject of next Wednesday's video!
 
I used two very untraditional colours for the card I made on the video - Night of Navy and Pool Party.

Another change I made to the card I shared yesterday is that I used the "full" Christmas tree stamp to be the images that showed through the die cut windows.

I'm really not sure which look I prefer.
I like the effect I achieved with yesterday's card i.e. the solid colour, because the images in the windows stand out more. 

With the outline images, none of the windows are empty, each one has a line image and I think it makes the overall effect look busy. 

Even so, I still quite like the look.

Then there's the card I made with Tranquil Tide, where I used three colours which I imagine is the way the designer planned it! 

I love how this colour combo worked, but I was disappointed I couldn't use the Lemon Lime Twist stamp on it's own for the window - as I did for the other solid colour stamp yesterday. 

This wouldn't work because the Lemon Lime Twist only appears in nine windows which means there would be eleven windows completely white. 

With yesterday's red stamp images - albeit partial images - they appeared in seventeen windows. 
 
I love the amount of options that are available with the set of dies.

For example, when the Christmas tree is die cut using the tree window die, it produces 20 small die cuts all of which can be used as another part of the project, or as another project in its own right, or as a part of a project that uses the larger individual dies. 

For each of my cards, I used the window die cuts to decorate the inside of my cards.

There's another option that I didn't have time to try!

That is to stamp the detailed tree using Basic Black Archival Ink, and then to colour the images using our Marker Pens. 

I hope you've enjoyed hearing about the play I've had with this bundle!

I wish you a very happy Sunday. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.

Iconic Christmas

Hello, Crafters.

Christmas is definitely my favourite time of year, and I'm really looking forward to creating Christmas  projects!

Today's card has been made in my favourite colour combo for any occasion - black, red and white. 

I used the Iconic Christmas Stamp Set and the co-ordinating Ornamental Christmas Framelits Dies these are available as a bundle in the new catalogue.

I started with a top layer of Basic Black Cardstock (CS), and wiped over it with my Embossing Buddy. 

There's always a smear of white powder when doing this on dark CS, but I keep this to a minimum by wiping over it afterwards with a smooth cloth, normally my sleeve! 

I don't recommend this if you wear designer labels!

I stamped the complete tree stamp with Versamark and then dipped the cardstock into my box of Whisper White Embossing Powder. 

After I had heat embossed the tree, I gave it a few seconds to cool down before lining up the tree die. 

I ran it through the Big Shot, and saved the small die cuts so I could use them to decorate the inside of my card.

Next I took a piece of Whisper White CS that was a bit smaller than the Basic Black layer, and stamped the tree with the solid circle at the top using Real Red Ink.

I die cut the red tree using the tree outline die, ready to adhere behind the black layer.

It was easiest to put Tombow Glue on the back of the Basic Black layer to ensure I didn't put glue anywhere it would be visible from the front!

I chose the three line sentiment as I think it makes the tree look as if it's standing in a tub. I stamped it in Versamark, dipped it into my Whisper White Embossing Powder, and heat set it.

I adhered the Basic Black CS top layer onto a layer of Whisper White CS. 

Rather than using two pieces of Whisper White CS, I could have worked out where to stamp the red tree on the Whisper White CS layer that would be going underneath the top layer.

I decided against this idea because if I mis-judged it, even just by a fraction, it'd spoil the overall look of the card. 

To save myself the frustration, I chose to use two  pieces of Whisper White CS!

I was thinking about tying a piece of red ribbon around the black and white layer so the bow sat between the tree and the tub i.e. the sentiment. 

Then I had the idea of using two strips of ribbon - no bow - and am very pleased with the effect! 

Something different!

I adhered the black and white layer to a Real Red CS card base. 

To finish off, I adhered a layer of Whisper White CS inside the card. 

I retrieved the die cuts I'd saved from my die cut tree, to see exactly what I had and think about how I could use them. 

There were a total of eighteen die cuts, twelve different ones, and two of six of the designs. 

I adhered a line of them along the bottom and played with other ideas like adding more coming up one side, and then coming up on either side, or along the top. 

Finally I decided along the bottom was enough!

I'm really pleased with this card and am thinking about videoing how I did it to share tomorrow!

I hope you have a great weekend. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.  

JanB.