Stamp Club: December

Oh shucks, my original card had a white satin bow on the top left corner. Can you imagine it? ;)

This was my demonstration card for December. I really, really love it! A big thanks to my friend Jen Marie for inspiring me to try some Michelle Zindorf scene techniques! Jen actually went to a Michelle Zindorf class and when she showed me her beautiful creations, I knew I had to do this with my Clubs. Here is Michelle's tutorial for this deer in snow technique.

Basically to get this look, you just sponge and brayer a little. It's really easier than it looks! Some good tips Jen gave me were to ink the brayer but then to roll off excess ink before taking it to the card. She also said not to lift the brayer when you are on the card. I was calling it a "vacuum cleaner" technique, using the motions I use with my vacuum without coming off the paper so not to get the dreaded line from the edge of the brayer. Jen also tipped me off to using just regular whisper white paper, not glossy like we used to do with our brayers.

I also advised my girls to "dab sponge" when they do the snow lines...as opposed to "rub sponging". That worked best for me in my experimenting. The brayering at top and sponging at bottom use both Night of Navy AND Not Quite Navy for some contrast in color.

You absolutely cannot beat the quality of SU's white gel pens. Look at that snow? Using the gel pen is so easy and such a vibrant white. It's literally like painting white dots on your paper. I have gone through so many SU gel pens, I love them!!!

I did Dasher in Soft Suede. I love that Michelle colors in the image with the matching marker color after stamping. It gives the deer a really bold look without having sponged blue snow showing through his body.

Lastly, I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder on the background. THEN I brayered it in Night Quite Navy to color the embossed parts. I again made sure to use my vacuum cleaning technique, not lifting off the paper. Trust me, you will get a line every time if you do! Then I sponged around the 4 edges of the card.

I am in love with this look! Are you encouraged to go dust off your brayer and give this a try? Be sure to look at Michelle's tutorial for all the details I've left out like masking with sticky notes and the order of the steps.

And if you need a Dasher, remember he's "in-season" all winter long! He's an individual stamp in the big catalog. Love him!