Ornament Card..!!

Hey Everyone!! Happy "Hump" Day! I can't believe this week is halfway over! OMG! Christmas will be here before you know it. I still have a ton of projects I would like to get accomplished for this week. I hope I don't spread myself too thin! Gotta remember to take it a step at a time! For today's project, I made a card for the holidays. This card was inspired by a talented artist who appears in the Simon Says Stamp YouTube channel! I find myself binge watching when I get a chance. The card that inspired this project featured a trio of patterned paper ornaments. I thought I could recreate this card and add my own spin to it. I'm fairly new to stamping and I only have a few stamps in my arsenal. But I really wanted to see how if I could recreate the look of a stamped image using a pen, stencils and watercolor pencils. I think I've achieved just that. You be the judge. Here's the pic of my "faux stamp" technique:

 

I think it turned out alright.

Here's the rundown of what I did:

 

To start off, I used a standard A2 size card base and layered a piece of green patterned cardstock cut at 4 x 5 1/4". I must of went through a few different patterns and colors before choosing this one. I inked around the edges using an Old Olive inkpad and adhered it down. Now for the ornaments that you see, I used a Christmas stencil that I own. I don't remember who makes the stencil but it features some fun Christmas themed shapes. To give the look of a stamped image, I traced the ornament shapes onto white cardstock. At first, I used a thin black marker to achieve this. It looked nice and I was happy with the look of it, till I started watercoloring. The outline bled through and mixed in with the colors I was using. So I went for a waterproof marker from Staedtler that I have. The marker tip was too broad and it didn't give me the look of a clean stamped image. So for attempt number three, I decided to use a regular black pen. I wasn't sure it was going to work at first but the pic speaks for itself.

 

Not only was I able to achieve a thin black outline mimicking a stamp but once I heat set it, it didn't bleed through. I did go over the outline a few times to darken it just enough. But I really like how this worked out. After I traced all the ornament shapes I wanted to use, I went back and added a few stripes and stars to dress it up a little. Once all that was done, I used my watercolor pencils to add some color. To finish them off, I added some stickles, ivory embroidery floss tied into bows and a gold gel pen to fill in the tops.. To attach them to the card base, I used pop dots to add a 3D effect and some more embroidery floss.  I like this technique it gives the appearance of the ornaments dangling on the front of the card. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment "Merry Christmas" on a layered banner that I cut on the diagonal. And voila! my card is complete!!

 

I hope you all enjoyed this project today! I'm happy with the final results and I will probably use this technique again. So stay tuned for more projects like this in the future. I will end this post here for now and hope you all enjoy your evening! I have to get my little girl ready for bedtime! Peace!! :)