Trees Greetings To Go Guest Artist

Hi, my name is Ink Stained Roni and I am the guest artist for the March Greetings to Go kit - Trees. You might recognize my name (or my blog Ink Stains) from the monthly Club Scrap blog hops I love to participate in.

I'm a stamper at heart, so I was very excited when I saw the fun images offered on this month's stamps, not to mention the great sentiments! The rest of the kit is just as exciting: the colors, designs and embellishments are a paper-crafter's dream. When I first saw the kit in person, "watercolor" instantly came to mind, so I went with it.

I mainly use Ranger inks. Tricia's blog post suggested Adirondack's Espresso, Pesto and Mushroom as good matches, so I dug them out of my stash. I also wanted to incorporate watercolor techniques, so I did a bit of color-matching of my own with the Distress product line. I discovered Forest Moss, Walnut Stain, Iced Spruce and Bundled Sage complimented the Trees collection nicely. I used a waterproof black ink and a combination of Distress Ink Pads, Markers and Stains for my cards. I also used a rotary cutter, double stick foam tape, scissors and a Niji Waterbrush.

Beige Cards 4.5" x 6.25"

Stamp the faded blocks (Collection UM) and dot background (Borders & Backgrounds) stamps with Iced Spruce to create the background for this card.

Distress markers direct-to-stamp.

Color directly on the tree image stamp using Walnut Stain and Forest Moss Distress Markers. Create the watercolor shadow below the tree by picking up a bit of Iced Spruce Distress Stain (directly from the dabber top) with the Niji Waterbrush. 

Coloring with Distress Stains and Waterbrush.

Stamp the collage image and emboss with Hematite embossing powder from the Tribal kit. Use the waterbrush to watercolor the image using Distress Stains: Iced Spruce for the moon, diluted Forest Moss for the script & left side of the tree, diluted Walnut Stain for the text area. Add very diluted Bundled Sage to the remaining uncolored areas.

Detail of stain-colored image.

The Cutaparts, ribbons and fibers can be combined with stamping for more beautiful cards.

Light Green A2 Cards - 4.25" x 5.5"

The card above is a great demonstration of what the Niji Waterbrush combined with Distress Inks can do! Notice how the tendrils of the tree look wispy and floating on the breeze while the upper portion of the tree has the illusion of a dense mass of leaves? Use Distress Markers to color image, then apply the waterbrush to the stamped inks, allowing them to pool and blend until it looks like the light and dark areas of a real tree. Note: This was done only on the upper portion of the tree image. I never touched the tree trunk or tendrils, leaving them exactly as stamped.

Close-up of waterbrush technique.

The card below shows the contrast between the waterbrushed leaves (using technique described above) on the front of the card vs. the untouched trees stamped on the inside flap.

I really like how the staggered flaps on the A2 cards offer the opportunity for tantalizing glimpses of more fun to come on the inside of each card.

More staggered flap goodness:

Dark Green Cards - 3.5" x 8.5" 

More fun watercolor with the Niji Waterbrush and Distress Inks:

Not only does the Trees collection offer beautiful stamps and papers, but the embellishments and fibers are stunning as well.

It's fun to use the small tree line from the Greetings Unmounted stamps as a border. Tear the bottom edge of the card and matte so the tree border is visible whether the card is open or closed!

I hope you enjoyed my cards, and that I've inspired you as well.

Ink on my friends...Ink on!

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Greetings to Go Guest Artists are given the current month's Club Scrap materials to work with:

• Greetings to Go Pack
• Embellishment Pack
• Collection Unmounted Rubber Stamp sheet
• Greeting Unmounted Rubber Stamp sheet
• Art Nouveau Unmounted Rubber Stamp sheet
• Extra 8.5 x 11" plain papers from the monthly kit

The artist may also choose to incorporate items from their own craft stash, as well as different inks and art mediums. We do our best to make note these additions in the card descriptions whenever possible.