Winter Wonderland

Lovely as a Tree has been in the Stampin’ Up! catalog since before I ever began stamping with SU in January of 2002.  That said – I have never owned this amazing stamp set – until now.  Yes, you read that correctly.  It is the ONLY stamp set that has stood the test of time with this company. 

Why have I never owned this classic, you ask?  Well, since Lovely as a Tree had always been in the catalog, I continually thought it was going to retire; and then I wouldn’t be able to use it for demonstration proposes.  Yes, that’s what I told myself year, after year, after year.  My girlfriend Rose laughed when she heard I broke down and bought it…actually she said – “oh great, now they’re going to retire it, just because you bought it!”  So if they do, I’m sorry Rose and everyone else!

Now that you know my personal history with this stamp set – here is the first ever card that I’ve stamped with this oldie but a goodie!  It’s nothing to complicated – I wanted the image to stand on it’s own so I created a winter wonderland at night around it.

• First, I stamped a mask for the edge of my hill.  I cut that out and applied it to my Whisper White card stock. 
• I then went to work creating the moonlit sky at the border of the hill and around the masked moon.
• I started with Bashful Blue, then worked a little with Marina Mist, added some Midnight Muse and finished with a very thin edging of Night of Navy.
• I made sure to leave a little white in the sky so that it wasn’t too dark.  This gives it two effects, depending on how you look at it – some illumination from the moonlit sky or a snow storm.
• Once I was happy with my sky, I added a separate mask for the bottom of the trees (Keep in mind – I haven’t stamped the trees yet since I wanted to use Midnight Muse and not StazOn Jet Black). 
• I sponged a slight amount of Bashful Blue to add depth to my snow bank around the trunks.
• I added several masks for the snow drifts and lightly added a little Bashful Blue to each one, working from the top down.

• I stamped my image onto a Stamp-a-majig so that I could perfectly line up the double image.  First, I stamped in Versamark® and then stamped a second image in Midnight Muse.
• I then embossed my image using clear embossing powder.  I wanted to give my card a frozen look, rather than a snow-laden look.  If you want the snowy tree look, use white embossing powder.
• I added a saying in Versamark® and embossed it with White Embossing Powder on the Midnight Muse card base.

My card has depth and a wintery feel to it.  This project would make a great one layer card – which is what I started out intending to make.  I ended up wanting a bit more pop, so I trimmed it and layered it.

If you want to see exact step by step instructions on how I made this card, check out my video here.  I know you’ll have as much fun as I do – and the end result looks SO much better in person.  You’ll say to yourself – did I really just make that!

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Stamp Sets – Lovely as a Tree (127793), Sweet Essentials (128315) Paper – Whisper White (100730), Midnight Muse (126843) Ink – Midnight Muse (126860), Marina Mist (126962), Bashful Blue (126961), Night Of Navy (126970), Versamark (102283) Cool Tools –Stampin’ Sponges (101610), Heat Tool (129053)  The Perfect Finish – Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder (109130)