Branching Out . . .

I made this card for today's featured stamper challenge on SCS. It's loosely based on this card from BeckyTE's gallery. I kept with the same color scheme, but changed the orientation of the card and the stamps used. I alos added some brads and some sparkly stuff, too, on my version.

The main image is a branch stamp from Starving Artistamps. The branch is part of a set of 5 stamps--the branch plus several things to embellish it with. It can be used as a branch (like I did here) or it can stand vertically to be like a tree. Here, I stamped the branch in Basic Brown ink, then added some flowers in Purely Pomegranate ink. I used my aquapainter to watercolor the flowers by pulling in ink from the stamped image--a quick and easy way to add a soft wash of color to an image. Once the flowers dried, I added some Diamond Stickles to the flower centers and used a sponge to add some Creamy Caramel ink along the edges of the panel.

The kraft cardstock layer is stamped with the lil' squares background, also from Starving Artistamps. This is such a cool looking background! I stamped it on the kraft with Close to Cocoa ink, then softened it a little by sponging on some Close to Cocoa ink.

Now I'm off to wait for the selection show for the NCAA basketball tournament. I wonder where my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will get to play. I hope they're headed east to Washington, DC for the first round so I can cheer them on in person . . .

Materials Used:

branch set and little squares background (Starving Artistamps); Basic Brown, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, and Purely Pomegranate Classic inks, Purely Pomegranate, Chocolate Chip, Kraft, and Very Vanilla cardstock, Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, ticket corner punch, aquapainter, distressing tool, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Diamond Stickles (Ranger); copper brads (Making Memories)