If you don't already own the stamp set "Lovely As a Tree" you should really add it to your collection right away! We all held our breath when Stampin' Up! retired stamp sets this last time because "Lovely As a Tree" has been around for awhile! But it just is the most versatile, necessary stamp set to have on hand! It is perfect for making cards for men, which is often a bit of challenge, but it can also be made into a beautiful Christmas card or a sympathy card or used on scrapbook pages and gifts. Since my husband and I are planning a fall foliage trip to New England, it seemed perfect to make yet another "Lovely As a Tree" card for his birthday yesterday, this time with colored leaves and the new Autumn Traditions Designer Series Paper in the catalog.
I used an old technique called "thumping" to ink up this stamp of trees. It is a little hard to describe, but you just hold your Stampin' Write Marker loosely and let it flop up and down onto the stamp! Kind of a tapping thing I guess. I used various fall colors, like More Mustard, Old Olive, Ruby Red, to make the leaves. Then I just kind of colored in the tree trunks and branches with the new Soft Suede marker, just hitting the lines as well as I could…..plus some green marker for grass lines on the stamp. When I got the trees stamped, I decided to sponge in some blue ink for the sky and some green for the grass. The card might be a little "busy" with that particular DSP, but too bad, I wanted the one with the colored leaves!
