A Study

I'd like to welcome another follower to my blog family.  He is actually a member of my family!!  Hi Dad  ;)   Everyone, this is my Dad.  He's the one who has been baking bread for all their friends.  See my third post to learn more.  My mom follows my blog too, but she gets it by email.  :D

Today's photo is just a little study I did.  I want to use this stamp on some Christmas cards, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it yet.  I tried stamping the wreath up-side-down and altering the bow.  I liked the alteration, but the clear glitz gel turned a bright green on the New England Ivy paper, so I will leave that off next time.

I first stamped the bird's breast in Crème Brûlée, then rolled it very carefully in Cranberry.  I liked that effect.  I was mimicking a photo from the Idea Book.  I'm not sure how theirs was done.  Then I added the clear glitz just for fun.  I think it's maybe OK on the bird.  I also tried it on one of the flowers, but it was horrible, so I wiped it off.

The main effect I was trying out this evening was the tiny cutout flowers.  I built them up with two layers.  I think it was worth the extra cutting, although my right thumb got a bit sore.  ;)  Oh well, such is the price we pay!!

The reason I'm blogging about this is so that people who are new to stamping, etc., realize that what you see on blogs is often not a first attempt (OK, sometimes it is, and I make better ones later...)  But often, I have tried a bunch of things that just haven't worked out.  For example, yesterday, I was going to make a Christmas card with a cardinal and a nest full of eggs - part way through a little voice in my head said, "Wait!!  Don't birds usually lay their eggs in Spring? Just because there are eggs on this sheet of stamps doesn't mean that they meant for you to use them with the branch of holly leaves and berries!!!"  So, I altered my card to just a cardinal on a branch, and used my eggs in the nest to start a page for a technique notebook.  Efficient of me, eh?  And you never would have known if I hadn't told you.

Just don't get too frustrated when things aren't going smoothly.  You would be surprised how many wrong cuts I make, how many poor images I stamp and how many times I just sit and wonder where I thought I was headed with this project. Somehow though, it usually comes together in the end.  Keep on Stamping!!!