If you are afraid of the bling... This post is not for you...

The Hero Arts Challenge http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/2008/09/01/tis-the-season-to-give/this week is for holidays. I love their DesignBlock Tree stamp and have wondered if I could somehow decorate the tree like you would do if it was out in your yard. I didn't think a gel pen would give a bright enough yellow for my Christmas lights... So.... drumroll please.... Ta Daa!

I actually used a whole pack of yellow gemstones and a half of another in decorating this tree. It was just like Christmas when you can't find a string of lights that work.. That was me digging through my gems... Then I couldn't find ornaments that I wanted so I settled on the gold ornaments. :) Okay really the birds trimmed this tree..

Well I hope you enjoyed my tree because I don't decorate our trees outside as neatly. I throw the lights up on half the tree that I can't reach and my DH goes out and tries to fix it.

I also created a second card using the same background technique and I have included it here:

Recipe: (For the backgrounds on my christmas card and my flowers card)

1. Smear green ink on a piece of Saran Wrap. I purposely tried to leave the wrinkles in the Saran Wrap. Spritz this with water until it bubbles up.
2. Spritz Lemon Zest Glimmer Mist on the Saran Wrap.
3. Wrinkle the Saran Wrap to give it an uneven coverage.
4. Place paper on the saran wrap and soak up the color.
5. Pick up the Saran Wrap and bunch it up and take a fresh piece of white cardstock and dab on the colors over the whole paper. I kept moving the saran wrap in different bunches to give it a different texture.
6. Now you have 2 backgrounds to use for different projects. I used the sponged effect for this background.
7. Ink the tree stamp with Versamark and stamp it on your green background. Heat emboss with copper embossing powder.
8. Using your Versamark Inkpad stamp the ink on the entire picture and cover with clear embossing powder. Heat emboss the entire picture.
9. Decorate your tree with your lights and ornaments.
10. I stamped the birds using Versafine Onyx Black and colored them using my watercolor pencils. I washed over them with the waterbrushes. I also versamarked them and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.
11. Pop dot the birds on and attach an ornament to birds ornament.
12. Take your tag and color the rims with a Krylon Gold Paint Pen. (I heated it up afterwards to dry it.)
13. Watercolor the background with the same green ink pad used in the background.
14. Stamp sentiment and heat emboss with copper embossing powder.

Products:

• Versamark Watermark Ink Pad
• Versafine Onyx Black Pigment Ink
• Gems - Hero Arts, Crystal Stickers
• Hero Arts DesignBlock Tree
• Amuse 5-21608B MB Holiday Bird
• Ribbon, Tag, Sentiment Unknown
• Saran Wrap
• Memento - New Sprout Dye Ink
• Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist
• Ranger Clear Embossing Powder
• Watercolor Pencils, General Kimberly