I’ve mentioned before that there are allegedly no mistakes in stamping. It really is amazing how you can fix or hide issues, often ending up with a completely different card from your initial plan – and sometimes a better one. Last Thursday I posted a card using the Lovely as a Tree stamp set and a sponged background. As I mentioned in that post, my first attempt on whisper white card stock resulted in my trees looking blurred on the left hand side after having had to stamp them twice – so I started again. My first attempt sat on my desk (well, the kitchen table) for a few days until I realised that the right hand side was perfectly fine.

I trimmed it down and decided to mat it in black before putting it on an always artichoke base. Apologies for the photo – the card really is a rectangle!

I am really pleased that I didn’t just throw out the “mistake”; I’d have lost a pretty good card that way. I confess I did throw out the left hand side of the mistake – the blurriness of the double stamped image just made me want to call the opticians so I can’t see that I could have retrieved that one.

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.

It’s rather warm here today, so perhaps this card isn’t appropriate, but I wanted to post it fairly soon after the other cards using this stamp set. Earlier I did a masculine “Sending good thoughts” card stamped in always artichoke and then more recently a Happy Birthday card in night of navy on pistachio pudding coloured painter’s tape. Here’s another take on the same stamp.

Base: Night of navy cardstock 8.5″ by 5.5″

Top layer: Whisper white 4.75″ by 3″

Stamp set: Lovely as a tree

Ink: Night of navy

This is a very simple and yet effective technique. In case you haven’t noticed, I like simple techniques that give more than you’d expect. I merely stamped the image in night of navy ink and then, without re-inking, stamped it again having moved the stamp up and to the right. I had to try it out a few times to get the trees to sit right and in fact, the stamp-a-ma-jig is very useful here.

The colours make for a rather soothing card, I feel. I decided that it was best without a sentiment on the front and left it blank inside so that I could add an appropriate sentiment when needed.