Sweet Poppy Stencils "Ivy Flourish" Christmas Card

My order of the new Christmas "Botanicals" stamps arrived from Sweet Poppy Stencils, so I wasted no time in trying one of the new stamps out. 

I used Versafine Clair "Shady Lane" green ink to stamp the "Ivy Flourish" stamp, colouring it with four shades of Derwent Inktense pencils, applied with a brush.  I used Lime Green, Spring Green, Light Olive and Leaf green.  I then created a slight shadow for the lower leaves by going around the bottom edges of the leaves with a 2B pencil.  I then used a metallic gold gel pen for the veins of the leaves.

I lay the Sweet Poppy "Grid Plate" over the top.  Using a blending brush with "Old Paper" Distress Ink I created a quiet background for the ivy.

I didn't have any suitable Sweet Poppy sentiments, so I used one from a Simon Says Stamp set called "Tiny Words - Christmas", stamped in Versafine Clair "Shady Lane" green ink.