Eimear, my sister’s upline found a variant of this card online. I had the stamp set, the colours and sponges so thought I’d give it a whirl. It’s a completely different sort of card for me!

I tried it out first on computer paper and then moved onto whisper white card stock. My first attempt wasn’t too great because I’d made a mask for the horizon and also of the trees (unnecessary) and forgot to remove the mask when stamping. Rookie mistake! Of course when I tried to stamp the trees again, it wasn’t perfect, even using the stampamajig. So I had to start again. This time, it occurred to me that the sky isn’t a single colour and my first attempt had been fairly monochromatic. So I purposely had streaks of different colours on this one – I think it’s rather effective.

Base: 8.5″ by 5.5″ always artichoke

Top layer: 4″ by 5.25″ very vanilla

Stamp set: Lovely as a tree

Inks: always artichoke. daffodil delight, pumpkin pie, real red and cherry cobbler

Other: 2″ circle punch, sponges

Firstly I stamped the trees on a piece of scrap paper and then drew a horizon line onto it. I snipped along this line and saved both pieces of paper.  Then I punched out a 2″ circle out of another scrap. I put the bottom mask onto a piece of very vanilla and started sponging in daffodil delight. I put the 2 inch circle in place  ( I think it’s most effective if it’s partially below the horizon) and then sponged some pumpkin pie, cherry cobbler and real red ensuring that the sky wasn’t a single colour. After removing the sun’s mask I carefully sponged wisps of colour over the top to give the impression of clouds. Next I put in place the upper mask and sponged always artichoke onto the bottom portion of the card – perhaps if I had the neutrals inks I could’ve added some soft suede or another brown for contrast. I’ll get them next month! Finally I stamped the trees onto the card and mounted it onto an always artichoke base. I really like how this came out – especially as it’s such a different sort of card for me. I see a lot more sponging in my future.