Life Is Better

Instead of creating a card today, I decided to create a "mini portrait" that could be displayed on a small easel stand.  The Life Is Better stamp set from Sparkle N Sprinkle was used to create this mini portrait.

The image was stamped onto watercolor paper and heat embossed with Black Detail embossing powder.  Distress Markers were used to add color to this little Pomeranian.  A Spellbinders Circle die cut the image and the edges were distressed with Distress Ink (Tea Dye).

The matting was dry embossed with a Sue Wilson Designs embossing folder (Eternity) and then more Distress Inks were added (Festive Berries, Tea Dye, Gathered Twigs).

The "frame" was an experiment where I cut strips of semi-glossy white cardstock and mitered the edges.  These strips were then colored with Gathered Twigs ink.  Next I ran a dot tape runner down the sides and covered the adhesive with Coffee embossing powder and heat set.  This gave me the texture I was looking for.  This adhesive wasn't really heat proof (unlike the SNS Tear-ific tapes, which can take the heat), but I kept the heat far enough away not to scorch the paper, but close enough to melt the embossing powder.

What's a formal portrait without a gold plaque?  To achieve this final part of the equation, I die cut a piece of white cardstock using a Stampendous die (Build a Pop-Up die set) and covered it with VersaMark ink.  Gold Detail embossing powder was added and heat set.  I did this step twice as I wanted it to be nice and smooth.  The "engraving" on the plaque was achieved by stamping the sentiment with VersaMark on top of the Gold Detail.  The embossing ink was covered with Coffee embossing powder and heat set.  Now my mini portrait is complete and ready for any Pomeranian loving dog owner.