Evening on the Savannah

Hi everyone.  I made this birthday card featuring a Sheena Douglass set of stamps called African Landscape and then stamped the images on to a piece of background paper from a pad by Craft Consortium called Grunge - Light Tones, and the paper I chose is the 2nd from the left with orange and blue in one corner, as I thought this was a good starting point.  I laid down some of the Distress Inks first to give a basic background colour and then stamped the large acacia type tree first in Versafine Onxy Black and some Vintage Sepia on the top of the tree, following by more Vintage Sepia for the three giraffes, and then I added the smaller trees using the same black, one tree stamped three times overlapping with two stamped in second generation ink to add perspective.  

I then used more of the various Distress Inks, Chipped Sapphire, Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Vintage Photo and Black Soot, using a blending tool to apply it, to give a darker tone to everything   I also used the side of the pad dragged upwards to give the look of long grass using the Vintage Photo.  Applying more inks to the background did add a bit of ink to the images but I did where possible go round them and I think the overall effect adds some mistiness to the scene so I was happy.

I finished by stamping a sentiment using the Onyx Black and heat embossed using WOW Clear Gloss EP.

I am entering the following challenges:

Stamping Sensations - Trees and/or Leaves and/or Autumn.
Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark.
Seize the Birthday - No. 176 Anything Goes (No Optional Twist).