Hi Creative Friends,
I know we have been featuring lots of holiday card designs but since it is still Autumn I decided to pay tribute to the stunning Fall colors and there is no better way to do that than to use a beautiful Penny Black stamp! Once again, I used the fountain of inspiration from Mimi’s Mimi A La Carte Facebook account for this card.
The stamp is called Winter Still. The title is a little confusing to me but nonetheless, it features glorious leaves and the Always Thankful sentiment stamp set is just too perfect not to use!
I started with a hot-pressed watercolor panel mounted in my stamp positioner. I like to use Fabriano paper but you can use whatever watercolor paper you have on hand.
The stamp was mounted in the upper left with the leaves cascading down toward the bottom. I inked the stamp with Scattered Straw and lightly spritzed it with water, and stamped to get the first impression on the paper. I also lightly laid a piece of masking paper over the top (currently I am in love with the Eclipse masking paper roll!) and stamped the lower leaves.
I removed the masking paper and cut out the bottom section of the masking paper leaves and set them aside while I continued to add color to the leaves on the watercolor paper by inking a few colors, spritzing with water, then stamping again. As always, it is important not to move the stamp before you are pleased and done with that section.
I love using a combination of colors to add interest to each leaf. The colors I used were Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Crackling Campfire, Fired Brick, and a dash of Peeled Paint distress ink here and there.
For the stems of the branches, I used a brown Tombow pen. The pen allows me to pinpoint exactly where I want the ink to go. I also used the darker colors of distress inks for the berries, including Aged Mahogany.
After the first section of leaves was completed and I was happy with the result, I moved the stamp so I could add leaves even lower on the panel.
It was now time to use the previously cut-out mask. I placed it over the lower already stamped leaves to protect them while I stamped and colored more leaves just as I did before.
I moved the stamp one more time to add a few leaves in the upper right corner. Once all the leaves were stamped and colored, I dried everything well.
For the background, I used a loose mixture of Broken China and Prize Ribbon, with a dash of Evergreen Bough distress inks, and gently added color with my brush.
Once the background was complete and dry, I stamped the elegant Emily Bronte sentiment from the Penny Black Always Thankful stamp set. I used Versafine Black Onyx ink and dried it thoroughly!
The panel was then mounted to a card base to complete the card.
I am in love with the colors and the beautiful falling leaves!! ♥
Goodies Used:
