Golden Greenery and Bells

Hello friends!  I hope you're staying dry if you live anywhere in the path of hurricane "Helene".  Oh boy, we've had enough rain for a while, but I don't think it's quitting any time soon.  They've even shut down the area schools because of high winds.  That just gives me a good reason to stay inside and get a blog post in.  Today's card is taking us forward to Christmas again.  It's a simple card with just stamps, ink, and paper.  I did have to add another layer or two just because I couldn't help myself.  Come play with me...

Have you gotten the Golden Greenery set yet?   I've had fun using the evergreen boughs on several different cards, but now I'm finally giving the bells a try.  I was worried about how they would look, but I love them!  And they're so simple to make with 2-step stamping!   You really should give this set a try.

I started with a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock that measures 5 1/8" x 3 7/8" that is used for all the stamping on this design.  The first thing I stamped was the sentiment so the design could be arranged around it.  The sentiment comes from the Perched in a Tree set and is stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink.  It's fairly low and about 1" from the left edge of the cardstock.

Next the evergreen boughs were stamped in.  The more solid branch was stamped three times with Granny Apple Green ink.  There is also a partial image stamped in the top right corner to fill in.  Over these branches, the finer needled image was stamped with Old Olive ink.  This 2-step aspect really fills out the look of the branches.

The bells were stamped next.  There are two sizes, and I used them both.  I practiced with a couple of ink combos to find one I liked.  For this card, I used Daffodil Delight on the solid layer.  Then Crushed Curry was over-stamped to add the details.

The berries were added next.  There are two stamps for the berry clusters - the outline and the solid.  For this card, I used only the solid stamp and didn't add the outline because I didn't think it was necessary this time.  They are stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink to match the sentiment.

I wanted to add to the colors of the card, so I spattered Old Olive ink from a marker over the design.  I love the speckled look this achieves, but you need to keep a light hand, so it isn't overdone.

Speaking of overdone, I think I got a little carried away with the berries and added a few too many.  Reminds me of Heather's first shirt painting class when we were painting watermelon slices on our shirts.  I was painting my own shirt, so I wasn't really paying attention.  She was having so much fun painting the seeds that it was totally overrun with them.  We still laugh about it, but she kept that shirt for years.  Anyway, the lesson is - don't go overboard with too many berries.

The stamped layer was attached to a Cherry Cobbler layer that measured 5 1/4" x 4".  This gave me a very skinny Cherry Cobbler frame around the stamped images.  Then this is attached to a folded Very Vanilla card base.  I used Dimensionals to adhere it together.

I debated about adding some bling, or a bow, or something and really didn't like anything I tried.  So, the only bling added to the card is a coating of Wink of Stella on each of the bells.  So pretty and subtle.

I said this was an easy card to make.  The 2-step stamping on the images really does all the work for you.  I love the finished look of this card and hope you do too.

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon