Another Christmas card!

Hi all - was thinking about my new Hero Arts goodies and wondering what to do for the current contest which runs through September 30th.  The challenge - to be inspired at Hero Arts and to use items from the new Holiday & Stamp Your Story catalog.

I just loved Jennifer McGuire's blog post the other day featuring Concentric Stamping.  Link here to her technique article with video.  I really wanted to try this technique with my new stamps.  Here's the card I created:

My focal point is a paint splotch from the cling set AC027 My Notebook (love this set!) and from there I built my concentric design using clear stamps from CL725 Borders and Arrows.  I used Hero Arts Soft Granite and Soft Pool inks, plus Tim Holtz's Picked Raspberry Distrss ink.  I decided this looked like a snowflake so made it into a Christmas card!  My sentiment is from a new holiday clear set CL722 Merry Christmas Messages, stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  There are so many great sentiments in this set; I can see myself using it often this season and for many to come!

Too bad my photo isn't very vibrant on this cloudy day - I matted my stamped piece with a thin black mat and then a raspberry one (they're kinda blurred together in the photo with the raspberry looking a bit brownish- darn).  I used foam tape to pop it all onto a Tide folded card from Hero Arts (a fave color).  I decided to leave off any bling - this will be a nice flat card for holiday mailing!

Concentric stamping is tons of fun - hope you try it soon!  Of course, Jennifer did some careful drawing of pencil lines before she stamped, while I just eye-balled it.  I don't have a good eraser and couldn't find my vanishing line marker - oh well....  It's not perfect but I like the effect!

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!