FTL Challenge 105 - using Lovely as a Tree

When I saw this sketch on Clean and Simple Stamping today I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I'd been planning to make some Christmas cards with the Lovely as a Tree stamp set for a while now and I thought the fir tree would work well with this sketch. Here's the card I made:

Now I'm usually a very clean and simple kind of a girl but I do seem to have added quite a few elements to this card! It needed balancing out because the trees were monochromatic.

Here's how to make this card:

• Ink up the fir tree stamp with Old Olive, spritz with water and stamp onto Very Vanilla card stock. Then ink the stamp with Always Artichoke, spritz again and stamp on top of the Old Olive trees. Leave to dry.
• When dry, ink up the fir tree again and (without spritzing this time) stamp over the top of the previously stamped trees, using the same inks as before. 
• Use a versamark pen to dot areas on the trees where snow might fall. Sprinkle with Heat and Stick powder and go over it with a heat gun. Now sprinkle Dazzling Diamonds glitter over that and heat briefly to set.
• Scallop a strip of designer paper with the scallop border punch and add some grosgrain ribbon with Snail. Adhere the strip to the tree panel, then mount onto Real Red card stock.
• Attach this matted panel to a Chocolate Chip card blank. 
• Stamp a sentiment onto Very Vanilla card stock and cut round it with paper snips. Use dimensionals to fix it to the card.
• Finish with a button threaded with dyed linen thread. TIP: It's easy to colour linen thread with a marker. I like to lay the thread in an ink pad and use the same colour marker on top. That way I don't waste any ink. It's best to leave the thread to dry overnight.

Supplies
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Occasional Greetings
Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Real Red
Card stock: Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Very Vanilla
Other: Playground designer buttons, Sweet Pea designer paper stack, 1/4" grosgrain ribbon in Chocolate Chip, linen thread, Heat and Stick powder, Dazzling Diamonds

It's only FIVE more days until the Last Chance List is published and I can't wait to know... what will be leaving the catalogue?! A lot of the items from the mini catalogue will probably go - only the most popular make it into the new catalogue. And one thing I am sure of is that all this year's lovely hostess sets will be retiring so, if you want to get your hands on one, book a party for September OR join my Stampers 6 club and request to be hostess in the first month (details are at the top of my blog).

We're looking forward to a bank holiday weekend in the UK - yay! And the weather forecast is pretty good - double yay!! I might see a beach - whoopeedoop!!!
Have a fabulous weekend wherever you are.
See you soon.