Loving the New Sparkling Trees Christmas Stamps from Chocolate Baroque

I just love the Sparkling Trees stamp set, especially the reindeer. I have given instructions on how to create a mirror image stamp of the reindeer – so that you can have 2 facing each other on your design.

Materials

• :Sparkling Trees and Christmas Candlelight stamp sets
• Smooth cream and mid brown card
• Adhesive, 3D gel glue, foam pads
• Inkpads: Versamark, Versafine (Black Onyx), and brown dye based ink
• Distress Ink (Gathered Twigs and Peeled Paint)
• White gel pen, fine tipped brown and green markers, green glitter gel pen
• Polychromos pencil  (dark brown and green)
• Embossing powder – Glitter in white base, and WOW Pepper (Earthtones)
• Clear glitter glue, Glossy Accents (Ranger), and greenish gold PVA pearls
• Pricking tool or needle
• Gold coloured faux gems, green velvet ribbon and brown organza bow

How to make it:

1. Make a top folded card base with cream card to give approx. A5 (14.5 X 21cm) finished size (landscape). Prick a border around the front edge and add faux stitching with brown pen. Stamp the fir tree branch with brown ink and enhance the edges with green Distress Ink.
2. Cut a large circle from cream card approx. 8” (20cm) diameter and ink the edges with brown Distress Ink. Glue to the card front. Glue on the ribbon strip and gems.
3. Cut a slightly smaller circle from brown card approx. 7” (18cm) across. Stamp the trees, stars and snowflakes with Versamark and heat emboss with glitter powder. Tip: Heating the powder from underneath will prevent all the glitter flying off before it embeds into the molten powder. Draw the ‘landscape’ and faux stitched border with white gel pen. Colour the central star with green pen. Add glitter glue to give extra sparkle. Mount onto card front with foam pads.
4. Stamp the Christmas tree onto cream card with Versamark and heat emboss with brown powder. Colour the baubles with green glitter marker and green pencil. Add highlights with white gel pen to make them look 3D. Add Glossy Accents to make them shine. When dry cut out the tree and mount onto the card with 3D gel. Add the organza bow.
5. Stamp the sentiment onto cream card with Versafine. Colour with pencils and coat with Glossy Accents. Tip: Some inks and pens will bleed when covered with Glossy Accents – Versafine and pencil are ok. When dry cut out and mount onto card.
6. To stamp the reindeer I used brown dye based ink. To make the reverse mirror image stamp I made a ‘stamp transfer surface’ by sticking a piece of cling mounting foam to acetate. The cling side then sticks to your acrylic block giving an acetate surface to stamp from. Ink up the stamp and stamp onto the acetate surface, then transfer the image onto the paper from the acetate. Hope that this makes sense. The image will not be as sharp or strong as the direct stamping. Use the fine tipped brown marker to go over and touch up the image.
7. Colour the mirror imaged reindeer with brown pencils, cut out and mount with 3D gel. Finish the card with PVA pearls.