make it merry...

it may be 88 outside with 95% humidity...

but I'm thinking CHRISTMAS!

here's some photos & the steps if you want to get an early start on your cards...

grab a sheet of tim's  watercolor card stock...

I cut it to 4 x 5 inches...

and a 3 x 4 gridblock...

work on the laser etched side...

you will feel the lines/grooves...

swipe the mini tumbled glass pad on the gridblock & swipe the evergreen bough just on the edges...

mist with water...

and press onto the center of the watercolor cardstock...

I like the smooth side for this...

the top is the first generation inking & the one I'll use today...

there was still enough ink leftover to create a lighter second generation for later play...

stamp the tree using leaf green, fern green & tree branch...

I added the fern green to the tips of the branches...

next, stamp the sentiment with jet black archival in the lower right corner...

stencil the small tree using fern green archival & the mini blending tool...

and now it looks like this...

use jet black to stamp the holly in the top right corner...

place the coordinating SiSi stencil over the leaves and ink with leaf green & fern green...

now the holly leaves look like this...

replace the stencil over the berries & ink with carnation red...

so far we have this...

swipe the iced spruce marker onto the craft sheet & use the detailer water brush to add a shadow under the holly...

grab a black fude ball pen & doodle around the inked background to add definition & create a frame...

replace the stencil over the holly leaves & use the mini mesh stamp with watering can archival to add the pattern to the leaves...

the mini mesh is one of the 9 squares from the large collage background stamp...

the leaves look like this after being stamped...

use tumbled glass to add shading to the edge...

use watering can to stencil the yikes stripes inside the frame...

to add some tiny inky dots, swipe the iced spruce marker on the craft sheet, pick up the color with the detailer water brush & tap over the card...

you can also use the marker spritzer to add the little dots of color...

 

the dots are a very small detail...but they do add interest & they help to unify the card...

 add more doodling...

use jet black to stencil the large star...

 add 3 x's with the tiny attacher...

 the photo shows test driving the card to see if I want to add it to a green card or black...

99% of the time black wins...

shocking!

I added Ranger's new adhesive foam tape to the back before adding it to the black card...

super convenient & it sticks very well...

and it's BLACK!

now replace the stencil & add translucent embossing paste over just the berries & set it aside to dry...

the paste goes on cloudy...

and dries to create nice clear raised shiny berries...

to finish off the big tree, I added a remnant rub and also a DEC25 remnant rub on top of my sentiment...

here's the finished card...

ahhh...that was FUN!

did you notice that no brown was used?

as a side note...

NOTE TO SELF...

always double check before posting...

autocorrect changes FUDE BALL to

RUDE BALL...

that made me laugh...

have a great weekend...

I hope you have some time to...

make art!

wendy