Stamping with dies

I took upon another challenge within the 75 Creative Challenges Week in the Moxie Fab World. The toughest one, just for my amusement. Stamping with a Homemade Stamp. Hmm.
It took many attempts and half a day, to come up with something I'm satisfied with. Before I settled down for my final choice, I tried chipboard shapes, kitchen utensils and buttons. The latter were perhaps the brightest idea, although I was fussy about the kind of ink I'm using on them. I found that in general, pigment inks with soft sponge give the most even coverage.

My choice of a home-made stamp is a cutting edge of a steel die. Provided that there's a decent ink coverage (not as easy as it seems!) on all the edges, and the impression is done with a firm and steady hand, I must admit that I'm quite taken with the results.
I used the Twiggy Tree die from Memory Box, along with Memento Nautical Blue ink.

I embellished my tree with some light green rhinestones (Kaisercraft) and finished the card with the sentiment from WPlus9 (Filigreed Frames).
This terrific layout is courtesy of the super-talented Laurie of Retro Sketches rs#46, and I thought I'd also play with one of the the long neglected colour challenges, PDCC164.

   

Hope it tickles :) See you tomorrow, I hope!