Lovely as a Tree - Sponged

Happy Wednesday!

I hope you're all having as much fun as I am today!  While I would normally be cooped up all warm and cozy on a cold blustery day like today crafting my little heart out, today was a special day.  It's was annual "Special Day Out" with Alicia.  Yes, starting last year I decided that no one should have to go to school on their birthday.  Heaven knows we don't get a "day pass" on our birthday in the "real world" so when it's the girls' birthday I let them play hookie.  Now TECHNICALLY Alicia's birthday isn't until Saturday ... but I couldn't let her get ripped off from skipping school just because her day HAPPENS to land on a weekend, right??  Well ... I probably SHOULD have made her go to school ... but really ... if you've ever met Alicia you'd know that it REALLY isn't worth the fight ... and she'd probably win anyway *lol* ... so I let her skip.  We went to Tim Horton's for hot chocolate and doughnuts (well, SHE had that - I had a coffee ... thank you very much Jenny Craig!) - then we hit the grocery store to pick up some marshmallows to make Rice Krispie Squares ... and we just *may* have bought a stuffie ... and a bucket of gummy creatures for her party on Saturday *lol*.  Then it was home for me to work out and walk the pooch before heading to the hair salon for a new doo for her (and just *maybe* a new earring/necklace set for me).  Then off to the mall for a burger (yes, I took my Jenny Craig chicken salad and crackers!) and shopping for a new outfit for her.  She's really into leapoard print at the moment.  Lucky for me that just *happens* to be the hot trend at the moment so she scored some new leopard print pants, a brown shirt and a leopard print cardigan.  Cute!  I now have a few minutes before making dinner so I thought I'd post a project I made yesterday.

It took a few cracks at creating before my mojo kicked in, that's for sure!  Do you ever have so many awesome ideas that you just can't craft fast enough??  That's what happened to me!  Once I finally calmed down and focused I fell upon a beautiful card that I wanted to case, created by Donna over at www.butternutsagedesigns.blogspot.com  Donna does amazing work and her projects are often featured on the Demonstrator only web site on the "Leaderboard".  Pop over and check out some of her creations.  ALWAYS inspiring!

Here are some of Donna's card that I wanted to recreate:

Aren't they awesome?!  They are all done with various masking and/or sponging techniques.  I really loved the bottom right hand card so got busy CASEing it.  Here is what I came up with:

Pretty close!  I like her "Northern Lights" look better than mine ... it takes a bit of practice to get the sponging just right.  Nonetheless I really like the look of this card.  I started with a Whisper White layer 3 1/2" x 4 3/4".  I grabbed a piece of scrap card stock that was the same size and then cut a window in it that was 3 1/4" x 2" using my Stampin' Trimmer (this is an AWESOME tool!!!):

I then stamped my tree image (from Lovely as a Tree ... the most popular stamp set amongst demonstrators ever!!) with Black Staz-on and then again with Smoky Slate.  I then covered the image with my new masked piece that I created, grabbed a sponge and started sponging in Smokey Slate.  Sponging DOES take some practice.  The key is to always start light and use a swirling motion so you don't get any heavy lines.  You can always add more ink but you can't take it away!  I sponged on the outside more and heavier than the inside.  I DID have a little too much in the middle so I then grabbed another sponge and swirled a little white craft ink to whiten it a little.  I stamped the Peace on Earth (from the carried over set Greetings of the Season) and the little pineone image with Black Staz-on.  I then took my White Gel Pen and just added a little white to the edge of the tree and a few spots in the sky.  I matted the whole thing on a piece of 3 3/4" x 5" Smokey Slate card stock and then THAT on a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of basic black card stock.  The whole thing is on a standard size whisper white card base.

I stepped away from the card to have some lunch and when I went back down to my "happy place" I was on a roll and created 3 more cards.  I wasn't done with my Lovely as a Tree set yet so pop in tomorrow to see what else I came up with!  Until then, have a stampy day!!!


Tam