You may think that this card, the Festive Foliage Merry Christmas Card, has lots of stamping on it, but it is really only ONE stamp! The stamp is Festive Foliage! I have to admit, it is one stamp that I really overlooked in the Stampin’ Up! Annual Catalog. You’ll find it on page 90 in the lower-left corner of the page. Very easy to miss! But when a few of my customers started ordering it, I wondered what the big deal was and started looking at some samples. Of course, then I had to have it, too! All that foliage will make some very pretty Christmas cards!
The card base is Shaded Spruce cardstock with a layer of Real Red. You wouldn’t have to add the red layer, but I love red and I think it brightens up the stamping and all the green. The foliage is stamped in Memento Ink on Basic White cardstock.
It’s really handy if you have a Stamparatus (146276) with a large stamp like this one. As long as you don’t move the stamp or the paper, you can reink the stamp and stamp again if you need to. Sometimes one little area doesn’t get inked well enough or doesn’t get pressed enough to transfer the ink from the stamp to the paper. But with the Stamparatus, you can just stamp again!
For coloring the foliage I used Stampin’ Blends…almost all the greens I could find! And then I dotted and colored in all the little berries with Real Red.
The greeting is in the Perfectly Plaid Stamp Set. This is one we have had for a couple of years. It is stamped with Real Red ink and then die cut with one of the Tasteful Labels Dies. It is popped up on Stampin’ Dimensionals. There was plenty of space and plenty of foliage still showing on this card to use such a large label. Then for some bling, I added two green Holiday Rhinestones and tied a bow with the Real Red 3/8″ Sheer Ribbon. It is adhered with a Glue Dot. I liked this sheer ribbon because it adds something to the card but because it is sheer, it doesn’t block the stamping underneath!
If you like coloring, you will love the Festive Foliage Stamp….and if you don’t love coloring, just stamp it in one color like green and don’t color in anything!
If you don’t own the Stamparatus, to get a good image with a background stamp like this one, I recommend laying the stamp face up, ink it up, and then lay your cardstock over the top. Put a piece of computer paper over the top or pull up your Grid paper over it, and give it a good rub with your fingers to get all the ink to transfer to the cardstock. This way you can see what you are doing and have a little more control over the pressure on the cardstock and stamp.
I can’t wait to make more cards with my new Festive Foliage Stamp because I really like how this Festive Foliage Merry Christmas Card turned out! Go check it out in the Online Store and see if you noticed it before in the catalog or missed it!