Just stamping

Branka's final challenge for April at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is a technique - Stamping.

This is a great challenge and opens up so many options. I wanted to make a card with just stamping on it. I've been watching Lavinia Stamp videos recently, and did a workshop with Angela Simpson last weekend using Lavinia stamps and techniques, so they influenced these cards a lot.

For my background, I used a leaf shaped stamp from Clarity, and stamped in shades of yellow and green distress ink. I started with lighter yellows in the centre and got darker towards the outside. I repeat stamped until I had a full coverage.

I then overstamped in the same inks. I took two routes, to compare. One background I used other leaf stamps, one I used script and swirls for a less realistic look. I definitely preferred the latter!

My focal point is this lovely deer from Clarity, stamped in potting soil brown archival on one and gothic purple stazon on the other.

I then added the foliage. The trailing ivy stamp is from Lavinia, as are the mushrooms. The other foliage stamps are an unbranded set I got secondhand. I used distress oxides in more natural shades on the leafy one, and archival in blue tones on the script one. For the shadow to ground the deer, I used the script stamp.

I edged the cards in archival, in brown/blue.

They were lovely at this point, but not that Christmassy! The holly on the deer and ivy were not enough to make them festive. So I had to add a sentiment. I heat embossed to help them stand out, although I wanted them to blend in a bit. This sort of worked - they show up or disappear depending on the angle.

This was my second choice background, so became my trial card. The oxides are a bit dull, the foliage at the bottom a bit messy, and the sentiment placement doesn't work too well. All lessons learned!

Which is not to say that I don't like the card, I think it's very pretty and like the light in the centre.

But I am much happier with this version. The archival inks are more luminous, and I used less realistic colours which give a more mystical feel. The foliage is less busy, and the sentiment on the left is more balanced.

So I'm very pleased with this! And all done with just stamping (and a bit of heat embossing!)

I hope this has inspired you to have a go. For more inspiration check out the other DT cards at the 52CCT blog, then the link to share your card is at the bottom.

The challenge is open for a week, until Friday 30th April.

Happy crafting x