A Trio of Artsy Trees

Hero Arts has a lovely tree stamp called Overexposed Tree. It came in my birthday order because a girl really can't have too many tree stamps. My first experiments with it involved Kaleidacolor ink pads and some very old word stamps (Everyday Expressive Phrases, I think) from StampinUp.

Don't you just love how the colors glow right off the white card stock? Wow, those are some vivid ink pads! If you don't have Kaleidacolor pads, I highly recommend asking Santa for a few. Start with the single-color spectrum pads, as I used here. They are, I believe, the most useful, although some of the others are also extremely gorgeous!

After inking, I spritzed the stamp with a few squirts of water from a spray bottle, which gives them a nice, watercolor-y, blended effect. Once the stamped panels were completely dry, I stamped the words in Memento Luxe black.

With these cards, color carries the day. No embellishments needed.

I hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season. We're on vacation at our house, and most of the preparations are complete. I still need to send cards (can you believe it!) and to make a batch of angel cookies, but most everything else is done. We're not traveling this year, and no one is traveling to us, so it's going to be rather quiet...which means there'll be time for stamping!

Yay!!!

I love having most of the busyness behind me so I can really focus on relaxing, on family, and on the Reason for the Season.

Are you having a quiet holiday or a crazy one? Or something in between? What's your favorite part? Please do share!


Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts, SU
ink: Kaleidacolor, Memento Luxe
paper: Papertrey
accessories: water spritzer, dimensionals