Rudolph Day - Snowy Pinecone Branches

Hi everyone.  Today is the first Rudolph Day of the new year and our new host is Mo of Scraps of Life by Scrappymo who has taken over the challenge from Sarn.  The challenge rules remain much the same but this year a single card constitutes an entry instead of two.  I decided to use a set of Verve stamps called Pinecone Christmas which I got in early December but actually didn't get around to using.  I also used a Cuttlebug Holly Ribbons Embossing Folder for the background panel.  The topper was mounted on to a Spellbinder Decorative Elements Labels Eight die cut.

The branch, leaves and cones come as separate stamps and you stamp the branch then add the foliage and cones.  The foliage is arranged on the stamp so that it lines up the branch for simpler stamping.  The branch was stamped twice on a snippet of white card using Adirondack Espresso ink, and then the leaves were added using Adirondack Lettuce ink,and then darkening parts of the stamp with Adirondack Bottle.  The pine cones were stamped using the same Espresso ink.  I added some Cosmic Shimmer Pearl PVA to the branches and then added a little bit of WOW Sparkling Snow EP on top and heated it gently to set it in place and to give it the look of snow settled on the branches.  I cut a dark green mat using the second size Labels Eight die and then using the die to shape the stamped topper I pencilled the inner shape on to it and then cut it out and mounted it on to the dark green mat.

For the background panel I used another snippet of white card and embossed with the Holly Ribbons EF after having inked the folder with the Bottle Adirondack ink.  After running it through the machine and having made sure it was perfectly dry I then used the Lettuce Adirondack ink to fill in the rest of the white area of the embossed panel.  I then backed this with another snippet of dark green card.

I mounted the panel and topper on to a square white card and finished by stamping the sentiment using the Bottle ink.

Thank you for visiting today.

Pat x

As well as the Rudolph Day challenge I would like to enter the following challenges:

Pixies Crafty Workshop - Week 161 where we use up our snippety bits.
Country View Challenges - Use Something New To You.
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - Anything Goes.