Guest Post - The Mantlepiece by Veronica Pell

This week I would like to issue a warm welcome to Veronica who will be 'guesting'  for the next three weeks. For her first week she has chosen to create a wonderful vintage style card with the Santa Baby stamp set. So, it's over to you Veronica.

I thrilled to be asked to do a blog post by Glenda, as I have always loved her stamps since discovering them on C&C many years ago, back in the days when they only came on wooden blocks.

When I received my stamps to play with – Santa Baby and Holly Bells – the one image I really couldn’t see how to use was the mantelpiece – to me, it was unfinished, I wanted the rest of the fireplace! Funnily enough, it is the one I have used the most..............

My moment of inspiration came when I was using a friend’s holly wreath stencil and suddenly thought that the mantelpiece stamp would fit in the centre. I quickly stencilled it in Vintage Photo distress ink onto some spare card and took it home to play.

To me, this was a very Victorian image, which was why everything is vintage photo. I stamped the image in the centre and coloured it by dragging the colour out with a waterbrush. I sponged Scattered Straw distress ink very lightly round the image, then Vintage Photo working from the edges in towards the holly, finally adding a touch of Black Soot in the corners. Finally I matted it onto dull gold and dark brown card before adding to a white 7"x 7" card base.

This actually resembles a vintage photograph Veronica, very clever and thank you for designing is for us. I know you will want to add your comments to show your appreciation and if you want to see more inspiring creations then why not visit Vernoica's blog -Vrons Cards