Old reliable Lovely As a Tree

I needed a quick masculine birthday card last week, so I turned to a classic Stampin' Up! stamp set: Lovely As a Tree.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Stamps: Lovely As a Tree; Up, Up & Away; Hardwood
Paper: Watercolor paper, Soft Suede card stock, wood sheets
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Soft Suede ink pads; Pear Pizzazz, Soft Sky, Pool Party ink refills
Accessories: Aqua Painter, Dimensionals

I actually started this card by making the "frame" with 1/4" wide strips of the wood sheets. I cut the ends of each strip in a diagonal and then assembled them in a rectangle, using little pieces of adhesive on the back of the frame to hold it together. Then I just stared at the frame for awhile, trying to decide what to do with it. Hmm ... After playing around with a few ideas that weren't quite right, I pulled out Lovely As a Tree. I've made a couple of similar cards with this image over the past ten months (using Watercolor Wonder Crayons and as a set of one-layer cards), so I wasn't sure if I should use it again. But sometimes when you're stuck, you need to pull out an old reliable idea.

I stamped the image on watercolor paper using StazOn ink. To add the color I placed drops of Soft Sky, Pool Party, and Pear Pizazz ink refill inside the open lids of the same color ink pads. (You could use any non-porous surface, such as a large clear block or a piece of acetate, but by using the ink pads, you don't have to clean up when you're done; just close the pad.) I dipped my Aqua Painter in one of the colors and brushed the ink across the paper, using fairly quick and steady strokes and picking up more ink as needed. For the sky, I first applied Soft Sky ink at the horizon line. Then I blended that with Pool Party, moving up the image.

After the piece dried a bit, I decided it needed one more detail, so I stamped the image of the birds from Up, Up & Away between two of the trees. I trimmed the panel, adhered it behind the frame, and then used Dimensionals to attach it to the Soft Suede card base, which I had already stamped with the Hardwood background. I thought about adding some linen thread or another embellishment, but I decided I liked it just the way it was, and I hope the recipient did, too!

Thanks for stopping by!