WMS Christmas Card Challenge for April - Birds and Trees

Lynn has the Waltzingmouse April Christmas Card Challenge up in the WMS Forum.  Her challenge for us this month is Birds and Trees.

And I used the April 7th WMS Sketch for my card -  turning the sketch upside down - using trees instead of banners!

For those of you who sometimes ask how I did one thing or another - I thought I'd show step by step pictures on how I created my card.  First I traced around one side of an oval Nestability with a light pencil line on the bottom of my card to guide where I'd stamp the trees from the WMS set Teeny Trees.  (be sure to use a good artist eraser when you erase the pencil mark so you don't leave any marks)

Then I die cut the oval out of a piece of Eclipse Tape to use as a mask.

I placed the mask over the area I wanted to keep white and then sponged over the rest of the card starting at the outside edges and moving in towards the center in a circular motion using the Inkssentials blending tool and Ranger Distress Ink.

When you remove the mask - you have a snowy white hillside!

I placed the panel inside my Swiss Dots Embossing Folder and ran it through my Cuttlebug.

And now we have 'snow' in the sky!

For the final steps -  I stamped the sentiment on white, die cut it with a Spellbinders Ribbon Banner sponging the edges before taking it out of the die.

Here's how it looks all sponged - leaving it lighter in the center.

And when you remove it from the die - you  have a lovely white edge!

I adhered the image panel directly to the white card base and layered the sentiment banner above it using foam tape.

I was really  happy with how this came out -  it went from vision to card exactly how I thought it would  - sometimes it doesn't work out that way!

I hope you'll join us in the WMS forum for the Christmas challenge each month!  You'll be glad you did when November rolls around and you have all your cards made!!

Thanks for coming by today!

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Teeny Trees

Paper:  white - Papertrey Ink

Ink:  Archival Ink - Coffee, Memento Lady Bug, Cottage Ivy and Bamboo Leaves, Ranger Distress Weathered Wood.

Accessories:  Oval Nestabilities, Eclipse Tape, blending tool & non-stick craft mat - Inkssentials, foam tape, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder - Provo Craft,  ribbon banners - Spellbinders.