Happy Birthday

This cute pooch from Inky Antics is using his noggin to say Happy Birthday to my nephew.  The sentiment is one of the many stamps from the Simple Sayings set by  Stampers Anonymous.

The image is colored with Copic markers and some Spica glitter pens have been added to the collar and heart.  I stamped the paws twice so I could give dimension to the paws and sign.

Around the edges of the matting, I used the distressed embossing technique.  instead of using VersaMark to go around the edges, I just inked the distressed the edges with Distress Ink (Mustard Seed) and then heat embossed with Clear embossing powder.  The dog charm is from MFT and is covered with Pebbled Copper embossing powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle.

I bit of raffia and this card is ready to go in the mail without much bulk.

Thanks

This cute puppy image is from Inky Antics and was colored with Copic markers (of course).  I stamped the image twice so I could cut out his paws and pop dot them to hold the sign of thanks (a sticker from Creative Memories).  The sign itself was cut using the smallest die from the Large Deckled Mega Rectangle set by Spellbinders.  I also cut out my image with Spellbinders Classic Squares - Small using the "out of the box" technique.  Basically, you place your die on the image and gently outline with a pencil where the die will cut.  Then you fussy cut out the portion you want to be on the outside. After that, reposition the die back onto your image, making sure the part you cut out is on the outside of the die, and cut out like normal (with a Wizard, Cuttlebug, Big Shot, etc.). 

The base of the card was a plain piece of white cardstock that I pounced on with my Distress inks until it looked the way I wanted it too (plus it's a fun stress reliever technique : )  ).  I used the EK Success Embossed Curved Edger Punch  for the bottom of the card.  I added a bit of yellow paper on the inside because I thought the white showing through on the bottom edge was too stark.

Here is a close up view of his paws holding the sign:

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hang on to You

This stamp is from Inky Antics and I used Prisma colored pencils and gamsol odorless mineral spirits (both of which can be found at your local craft store) to color in all the details. Using odorless mineral spirits can be tricky because you don't want to saturate the paper stump you use to blend in the colors; otherwise it looks greasy (and I'm sure you know how I know this...). The colors are muted greens and yellows, for the most part, because I was going for a soft look.  On the inside of the card I stamped a couple more monkeys and the saying "I think I'll hang on to you".  (This was for an anniversary card.)   For the center square, I double stamped the image, colored and cut out the monkey and pop dotted him for a 3 dimensional look.  On a separate piece of paper, I stamped the name, tore the paper all around the edges and pop dotted it for emphasis.

Girlfriend

This card has a number of elements to it.  The dark background, which was die cut using Label Three from Spellbinders, has a layer of Opalite Glacier Blue pigment ink swirled around the entire area.  You have to use Opalite on dark paper to get it's full effect.  The stamped image is from Inky Antics, which I cut out and colored with Copic markers and Marvy LaPlume markers (the stool).  A Corner Adorner (Graceful Heart) was used to accent the corners of the base card and sticker borders were used in the background.

Since I wanted to accent the cut out hearts, I attached rectangles on the inside of the card and then added to it from there.  I had a great clear sticker about friendship that I added as the finishing touch which says: Friendship is born at the moment when another person says to another "What You, too?  Thought I was the only one."  Enjoy!