Saturday, March 28, 2015

Christmas Trees... Just Add Water

The challenge prompt at Merry Monday Christmas Challenge this week is to feature a tree on your card. I have tree stamps! 


One of the nice things about making Christmas cards out of season is there is time to play around and experiment. If something doesn't work, oh well, there are still several months to go before panic sets in. ;) My card is actually a by-product of one such experiment.


My initial idea was to make a watercolour background, then stamp and emboss this tree as the focal point. I patted three shades of green distress ink on my *craft mat* (aka butcher paper), spritzed with water, and inked up a background stamp. I was able to stamp twice, and set aside the two backgrounds to dry. Before I wiped off the excess ink, I thought to try my tree stamp on another scrap of watercolour paper. And I liked it! I stamped twice more, not worrying about lining them up precisely... after all, it's artsy. It's so artsy, I even distressed and sponged the edges of the panel. I then found some patterned paper to coordinate and finish off the card. (Some day, I may learn to pick my papers and match my inks to them. Not this week. This must be the fourth card where I've inked something then thought, oh, I think I want some patterned paper for this. Sigh.) 
Maybe Merry Monday will offer a challenge next week where I can use those backgrounds I now have! ;) Hope you're having a great weekend. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Canson 140 lb watercolour paper, BoBunny A Gift of Love patterned paper, Artful Stamper stamp, bundled sage, peeled paint & evergreen bough distress inks

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10 comments:

Inkyfingers said...

Love this very modern design and the watercolouring technique is awesome!

Jessi Fogan said...

I never never never pick the papers first (unless I'm not colouring at all, duhhhh) and thus I spend a lot of time flipping through pads going NOPE, nope, nuh-uh, crap, wtf, etc. :D
This is absolutely GORGEOUS and you're so right, you get more adventurous when there's not a tight deadline :)

Dotty Jo said...

Great effect! And what a sensible idea to start your Christmas cards before the panic sets in!!! Have a happy Sunday, hun, Jo x

Bonnie said...

I LOVE these artsy trees, Lindsey! I hope we get to see your backgrounds soon! Thanks for sharing with us at Merry Monday!

Kathy Schweinfurth said...

Your card is so pretty and elegant! Great tree images! Thanks so much for joining us this week at Merry Monday!

Becca Cruger said...

Super cool!! This is definitely ARTSY! Glad to see your experiments working out!

Wendy ten Hove said...

I like this, Lindsey! The green is so pretty and it looks light. Beautiful card!!
Hugs, Wendy

Lisa Arana said...

You just reminded me of my goal to do a Christmas card a month... yeah, I'm 3 months behind already. ha. Love your sweet simple design, so very artsy!

Heather said...

I don't see my comment here...I think it's in "tablet black hole." Anyway, I really like this card. Love what you did with the trees and stamping them. I really need to try some new things. And, if I try to coordinate my papers at the beginning, it usually doesn't work any better than if I scramble at the end.

Anonymous said...

It's very artsy; I love the watercolour fade in the trees. What a happy result from your experiment.