Rustic Retreat for As You See It Challenges

Well, I haven't thought about Christmas in a long time, but there are only 6 months left you know, so I guess it's time to have a thought here and there about it. As you know, we crafters have to get an early start on the season! But the real reason I'm thinking about Christmas is As You See It Challenge #204.

This is a Recipe Challenge designed by our Design Team Member, Jane Knudsen, and she obviously had Yuletide on the brain:

For a Recipe Challenge, you are given a variety of elements and you have to include all of them in your project, so here goes my Christmas in July card, which makes use of a new stamp set in the Annual Catalogue called Rustic Retreat. It was designed by Million Dollar Sales Achiever, Mary Polcin:

• I also tried out one of my new background stamps for the back panel. It's called Birch and it looks just like a piece of birch bark. I stamped mine on Whisper White using Early Espresso ink. I wanted to add to the rustic look of the card, but it does look a little busy. It may have needed a larger Buffalo Check panel behind the main image to keep them apart from each other a bit more to tone it down. I do like the effect though.
• I love the varying scripts in the sentiments from this Rustic Retreat set. They would look great embossed in white on black cardstock with a faux blackboard look, but I used Real Red here to comply with the recipe elements.
• I stamped the cabin from Rustic Retreat by inking it up in Early Espresso, Smoky Slate and Mossy Meadow using Stampin' Write Markers. I made a mask of the cabin to cover it up and then stamped 3 levels of the evergreens behind it using Mossy Meadow, Old Olive and Pear Pizzazz. The mask allows the evergreens to look as though they are behind the cabin.
• The stars are from the Little Twinkle stamp set, stamped in Daffodil Delight.
• The recipe also calls for a ribbon, so I've used some Lovely Lipstick 1/8" Grosgrain Ribbon in a little fork bow. And it calls for a die cut, so I brought in the Dashing Deer stamp set for a stamped stag, die cut with the Detailed Deer dies, mounted with Mini Stampin' Dimensionals.

I'm still camping with all my kids and grandkids and having a wonderful time! I'll share some photos when we get home! Happy Stampin'!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Rustic Retreat Cling Stamp Set [150285] $33.00	Little Twinkle Cling-Mount Stamp Set [151264] $26.00	Dashing Deer Cling-Mount Stamp Set [151362] $30.00	Birch Cling Stamp [149256] $22.00	Birch Wood-Mount Stamp [149259] $27.00
Buffalo Check Cling-Mount Stamp Set [151372] $22.00	Buffalo Check Wood-Mount Stamp Set [147797] $27.00	Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [102482] $12.00	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100730] $13.25	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [147114] $10.25
Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [147111] $10.25	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [147090] $10.25	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad [147104] $10.25	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers [147158] $40.00	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [147094] $10.25
Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [147084] $10.25	Lovely Lipstick 1/8" (3.2 Mm) Grosgrain Ribbon [146952] $8.25	Detailed Deer Dies [147915] $46.00	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [110755] $5.50	Snail Adhesive [104332] $9.50
Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108] $5.50

Farewell to Lovely As A Tree Part 2

The next card I wanted to show you using the iconic **Lovely As A Tree is a Christmas card. I've used this stamp set so often for holiday greeting cards because the pine tree is so perfect. Here I've created a more rustic looking easel card:

I combined **Lovely As A Tree with the also retiring **Wood Textures Designer Series Paper and the Buffalo Check stamp set for the background and the Shimmery White Embossing Paste for the look you see here.

**These products will be retiring and no longer available in the 2019 - 2020 Annual Catalogue starting June 4, 2019.

Take a closer look.

• The card base is Early Espresso and it is cut at 4 1/4" x 11" and scored at 2 3/4" and 5 1/2". That creates the Easel fold. Then the card front of Real Red stamped in Early Espresso ink using the Buffalo Check background stamp is glued on but glue is only placed on the lower       2 1/4" of the card front so you don't get anything sticky on the top part that isn't glued down to allow the card to bend into the easel shape.
• The pine tree image from **Lovely As A Tree is inked up with Shaded Spruce and Soft Suede Stampin' Write Markers and stamped on a piece of Very Vanilla cardstock, along with the sentiment from Itty Bitty Greetings in Real Red ink. After being sure the ink is dry, some Shimmery White Embossing Paste is added to the tree and ground in the image and allowed to dry. This Very Vanilla  panel is glued to its backing of **Wood Texture DSP and some Braided Linen trim added, before the whole thing is glued onto the card front.

• On the inside, the sentiment is from the Rooted in Nature stamp set that I once thought might be the replacement set for **Lovely as a Tree. It's stamped in Early Espresso ink. The button is an image from **Lovely As A Tree, inked up with Shaded Spruce and Soft Suede Stampin' Write Markers, on Very Vanilla. It's punched out with the 1" Circle Punch and backed with the smallest Stitched Shapes circle die cut in Real Red. This button is mounted using Stampin' Dimensionals so it will catch  the edge of the upper flap of the card and hold it up in the bent position.

**These products will be retiring and no longer available in the 2019 - 2020 Annual Catalogue starting June 4, 2019.

Here are some more past creations using **Lovely As A Tree (Click on the caption for the link to the original post):

A lovely winterscape

A Fall Peekaboo card

A Valentine with the old oak tree

                            

                            A Rustic Birthday Card

A Split Panel Sympathy Card

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

**Lovely As A Tree Clear-Mount Stamp Set [127793] $27.00	**Lovely As A Tree Wood-Mount Stamp Set [128655] $38.00	Rooted In Nature Clear-Mount Stamp Set [146482] $57.00	Rooted In Nature Wood-Mount Bundle [148352] $115.00	Itty Bitty Greetings Clear-Mount Stamp Set [146667] $49.00
Itty Bitty Greetings Wood-Mount Stamp Set [146664] $65.00	Buffalo Check Wood-Mount Stamp Set [147797] $27.00	Buffalo Check Clear-Mount Stamp Set [147794] $20.00	**Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack [144177] $15.00	Early Espresso 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [119686] $11.50
Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [102482] $11.50	Very Vanilla 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101650] $13.25	3/16" (1 Cm) Braided Linen Trim [147808] $9.50	Rhinestone Basic Jewels [144220] $6.75	Real Red Dark Stampin' Blends [147934] $6.00
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [147114] $10.25	Regals Stampin' Write Markers [147155] $40.00	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers [147158] $40.00	Shimmery White Embossing Paste [145645] $12.25	Palette Knives [142808] $6.75
Silicone Craft Sheet [127853] $8.25	1" Circle Punch [119868] $18.00	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies [148551] $48.00	Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies [145372] $41.00	**Big Shot [143263] $150.00
Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.50	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $5.50

**These products will be retiring and no longer available in the 2019 - 2020 Annual Catalogue starting June 4, 2019.