Hello Christmas

Hi Friends,

I have another monochromatic Christmas card to share.

This piece started off as an experimental piece. I knew I wanted a large tree but since I don't own a large tree stamp I thought I would create one out of a little fir branch stamp.  How hard can it be?  As soon as I stamped the first branch I was having doubts. But, as we do, I kept stamping, hoping for the best.  When I had the basic shape of the tree stamped out I cringed.  It was that bad.  By this time I knew this was a mistake.  But, as we do, I kept stamping.  At this point I was just mindlessly stamping away to relieve stress while trying to overcome the disappointment.  Along the way I kept switching to a different shade of blue.  Four shades in total.  And then magic happened. My tree began to take shape and I couldn't believe the detail and shading I achieved.  I got really giddy as I stamped the last layer with white pigment ink.

I love this tree! I spent some time deciding whether or not to add sequins and gems.  In the end I opted not to.  Didn't want to detract from the detail on the tree.  To finish up I just ink blended the sky, added snow with a white gel pen, and mounted the sentiment with foam tape.  Oh, I also added some clear Wink of Stella.  Too bad the camera cannot capture the shimmer.  Its subtle but very lovely in real life.

Did I mention I love this tree?  I hope you like my tree as much as I do.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Phi.

Challenges:

A Blog Named Hero - Monochromatic challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Lets get ready for Christmas