Peaceful Scenic Card

My mom told me last night that a good friend's wife had had a major stroke. She asked me to make a "thinking of you" card for her to give to both of them. I used Hero Arts' "Color Layering Christmas Tree" stamp set & coordinating die to help me create this peaceful scene on my card.

I began by cutting a piece of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper to 4.25x5.5". I used a Lawn Fawn "Stitched Hillside Borders" die to cut it into 2 pieces. I cut another piece of bristol to 5.5" long, and die cut the top edge with another "Stitched Hillside Borders" die. I inked the top piece of the background with Stormy Sky, Salty Ocean, & a bit of Faded Jeans Distress inks. Then I used the base layer of the tree stamp & Hero Arts Soft Leaf ink to stamp 2 trees on one side of the "sky" portion and a third tree on the other side. I wanted a hazy appearance, to make the trees look like they are in the distance.

For the hills, I used Shabby Shutters, Crushed Olive, & Peeled Paint Distress inks to create a gradient of shades from light in the "distance" to darker in the foreground.

I stamped a total of 4 trees, using 3 of the layering stamps and Hero Arts Soft Leaf, Altenew Forest Glades, & Hero Arts Forever Green inks. I stamped the trunks with Stampabilities Khaki Green (which is really more brown) ink. Then I die cut the trees with the coordinating die.

I felt the scene needed something more, so I used Hero Arts Soft Granite ink to stamp 3 groupings of birds with Art Impressions "Migrating Birds" stamp. I adhered my sky portion to my A2 card base, and adhered the larger hill piece below it. To camouflage the white outline on the trees, I made a light pencil mark on either side of each tree, where it crossed the horizon. Then I inked around the edges above those lines with Salty Ocean & below with Shabby Shutters. Finally, I erased my tick marks, & glued my trees in place. I adhered the foreground hill with foam tape, and added my final tree, gluing it directly to the popped up hill & adding foam tape behind the upper part so it would be level.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

A Blog Named Hero: "New to Me" (the tree stamp set is new)
a2z Scrapbooking: "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Spread Your Wings"
613 Avenue Create: "Anything Goes"
Die Cut Divas: "Sentiment-Free"