Sunday, 22 March 2026

A woodland Christmas

The current challenge at Christmas Kickstart has us coming Out of the Woods. As soon as I saw the theme I knew I wanted to christen this stamp set and in particular this handsome stag. When I then saw We Love Stamping has a wildlife theme I knew it was meant to be.

This is very nearly a one layer card, just the sentiment strip is separate. I stamped and masked the stag, used a circle mask and stamped the pine bough and berry sprig then inked over with some Bundled Sage Distress ink. I remember seeing somebody (not sure if it was a member of the Katzelkraft DT) use the pine and berry stamps to make a sort of designer paper. It looked lovely so I took the same sort of approach here. I stamped in red and then went over the stems with a dark brown fineliner, intensified the berry colour with a Copic and added tiny white paint pen highlights. 

I then swapped to a circle stencil and added some blue around the stag. Everything is coloured with a mixture of Copics and pencils. I used a copper gel pen to doodle and give the circle some definition and also used it along the edges of the sentiment strip.

Stamps:
Out of the Wild (Katzelkraft, no longer with us)
Vintage Christmas Expressions (Cornish Heritage Farms, no longer with us)

Paper:
Bristol board

Ink:
Versafine by Tsukineko (Onyx Black)
Tim Holtz Distress ink by Ranger (Tumbled Glass, Bundled Sage)
Adirondack by Ranger (Red Pepper)
Brilliance by Tsukineko (Pearlescent Ivy)

Other:
Coloured pencils
Copic markers
Spica glitter pen (green)
Copper gel pen
White paint pen (Posca)
Black fineliner

Here are the challenges if anyone would like to play along too!


 

 

6 comments:

brenda said...

He certainly is a handsome fellow and sits so nicely focally with the foliage and berries stamped to create a frame.

Lovely to see you at We Love Stamping, perfect for our theme, thank you.

B x

Linda W. (ScrappinBari) said...

Wow, Joanne - love, love, love this majestic stag surrounded by pines & berries!! Such a beautiful handmade pattern you've created around the oval featuring the stag!!

TeresaC said...

Joanne, so lovely to see your Christmas Kick-start Out of the Woods theme card. I especially appreciate all the detail you included about how you made this with masking, stamping and inking. Your beautifully colored bough and berry sprigs make the perfect setting for your handsome stag who looks quite regal.

EmmaT said...

Majestic stag and design, very clever use of stamping and masking you create the background. Thank you for joining our wildlife theme at We Love Stamping this month x

Dotty Jo said...

What a majestic guy! Completely stunning work, Joanne. Your colouring is fabulous. Love everything about this! Thanks for joining Wendy and me at The Christmas kickstart challenge, Jo x

Wendy R. said...

Well that is stag geringly handsome, those antlers are stealing the whole show. The wreath and berries frame it beautifully and give such rich festive vibes. Proper showstopper. Thank you for joining the Christmas Kickstart challenge.