Brusho sketch

I'm hosting the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this month , and this is the sketch I've chosen.

I wanted to play with the brusho stencil technique I used here. I didn't have any stencils the right shape for my triangles though, so decided to use die cuts instead. I used a snow flake swirl, and an abstract Christmas tree. And this is when this all started to get much trickier than expected! I had a load of trouble doing the die cuts to start with - they wouldn't cut, then wouldn't release from the dies.

Once I finally had them, I realised why stencils are generally made from mylar, not coated paper! Brushing ink round then without moving them proved a bit of an art.

Once inked, I spritzed with water, removed the sdie cuts, and sprinkled on some brusho. For the snowflakes, I used blue shades. 

 

The simple sentiment is cobalt blue archival ink, which also edged the card.

For the tree, I inked in green, then added  green brushos. I went for a tiny touch of a festive red - but was heavy handed and ended up with loads! But think it looks bright and cheery, and as I didn't add more water to mix the colours, haven't got too much mud between the red and green.

The brighter colours needed a more striking sentiment - I'm not sure I've used this one before. I stamped in fern green archival, then coloured with polychromos. I blended the forest moss oxide around the edge - my current favourite colour! Then edged in the fern green.

I then realised that my hard won die cuts now had ink on them! The snowflakes I haven't used yet, but for the trees, I made another background with the same brushos as above, then added them to it as per the sketch.

Then a bit of finessing. I edged as above, and stamped some holly to add interest. I lightly coloured these with polychromos. The sentiment is black, and I use a white gel pen to help it stand out against the busy background. Then to help the contrast in the trees, I went round them loosely with a fine black pen.

This one using the "waste" may be my favourite!

To join in visit us at 52CCT - you can be inspired by my design team colleagues, and share your interpretation of the sketch with us. You have until Friday 11th March to join in.