A 'Sepia' Style Wreath Card for Christmas

Good morning all! Martina here with the first of a series of Christmas cards... Yes, there is no point in denying it, it is on its way now! On the upside - it feels all 'autumny' here, cold and bright mornings for the school run and bright colours starting to peek though. Anyway, enough of my musing and back to the job in hand...

So, the cards from me this month are all very easy and quick to do (perfect for batch making). With the addition of a stamp press, (such as the Press to Impress) you can be 'cooking on gas' in no time! 

The main element of my card is a layered Wreath Stamp from Nellie Snellen. There are 3 separate layers to the set, so it easy to stamp each colour layer without having to colour in or do any fiddly inking. It is also easy to line the layers up as the stamps are all clear and a good size.

I started my stamping by using the cones and sticks layer with some Bark Versacolor Ink. While the stamp was still in the press, I inked the same layer again with a darker brown to give some shading and depth. With the brown layer done, I moved onto the greenery and used Bamboo Ink with another darker green on top (I am rubbish at writing the colours down I use, it tends to be the nearest one...)

The last layer is the floral and bow detail. I decided I wanted to have a muted, sepia tone for this card, (more manly?) so I went for the creamy poinsettias that you sometimes see. I inked the flower and berries with Vanilla Versacolor and stamped down. It was very feint, so I inked again and repeated. To add a little more colour, I dotted some Canary Versacolor to the edges. To add the bow and finish the wreath, I inked it in Burgundy.

With my wreath all done, I decided I wanted to use it as a frame for a little scene. I cut a little moon from some sticky notes and placed into what would become the sky. Using some Scattered Straw Distress Ink (or maybe Antique Linen??), I smudged the ink outwards to leave a 'halo'. To create the ground I used some good old torn paper and a brown...(Vintage Photo?? who knows...!)

Using the same colours, I inked around the edges of the topper to bring the eye in. I added a couple of deer from a Christmas Card-io set and a sentiment from the Hobby Art Christmas Frosting Set to finish off (I stamped with Potting Soil Archival Ink to keep with the brown tones). Ta dah!

That's it from me this week, I am off to Lisa's PaperArtsy workshop on Saturday, so might see some of you there? There are a couple of places left...

Love

Martina

xxx