Hedgehugs

Hello, Crafters. 

Talk about going from one extreme to another! Yesterday's

 card was clean and simple, and today's card is quite busy! It's 

what I call a Topsy card! Like Topsy in Uncle Tom's Cabin, it just 

grew! LOL! But it's what I'd describe as a happy Springtime card.

 The trigger for this card happened yesterday when one of the 

Post It Note masks for one of the hedgehogs, fell out of a different 

stamp set that had nothing to do with Hedgehugs! I inked the 

hedgehogs first to test them on some scrap paper, which showed that 

my Early Espresso Ink Pad was in urgent need of re-inking. 

 After this had been done, the images stamped beautifully. I painted

 the mushroom stamp by hand using Real Red, Garden Green and 

Early Espresso Marker Pens, and stamped the image in the right-hand 

corner. I painted the stamp again, and put the mask on the hedgehog 

before I stamped the image towards the left hand. 

I repeated this twice more and did the left- and right-hand side 

on the Whisper White Cardstock (CS) layer for the inside of the card. 

 For the grass that the hedgehogs were standing on, I used two 

small grass stamps from the In the Trees Stamp Set (this set 

is retiring on 31.05.18), with Garden Green Ink. 

The bees are from the A Little Wild Stamp Set, and were stamped

 in Early Espresso. Next I coloured their bodies with Daffodil 

Delight Marker Pens. As I always do with bees, I painted their 

wings with Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pan.

The birds are from the Flying Home Stamp Set (this set is also

 retiring on 31.05.18), and I stamped them in Early Espresso. I 

coloured them with Crumb Cake Ink, and a Blender Pen. To soften 

the background from being a stark white, I used a Dauber with

 Soft Sky Ink. I  daubed all over the sky area I could without

 touching any of the images. 

 To put the front of the card together, I took a layer of Soft Sky CS, 

dry embossed it using the Layered Leaves Dynamic Embossing

Folder and adhered it to a layer of Garden Green CS. I punched two 

strips of more Garden Green CS, using the Decorative Ribbon Border

 Punch, and adhered one on top and one on the bottom of the image strip. 

To complete the front of the card, I added three large Rhinestones 

in the top right-hand corner, and a bow in some retired Pool Party 

Ribbon just below the grass! To complete the inside of the card I 

added a layer of Soft Sky, and then added the Whisper White Layer 

with the mushrooms I'd stamped in each of the bottom corners  

 Oh, I forgot! The sentiment is also from Hedgehugs and stamped

 in Early Espresso Ink, and I painted the flower the hedgehog is 

holding with my Real Red Marker Pen. That's about everything..........I think! 

So until tomorrow, have a blessed day, and happy crafting!

JanB.

Tutti Frutti Cards & Envelopes

Hello, Crafters.

I'm really pleased to say that the snow we woke up to yesterday, didn't come to much, although we are due for a blizzard by the end of the week! 

What better excuse is there for staying indoors and crafting! LOL!

The other day I said I was going to try to use all the products that I've bought, but are still languishing on the shelf, unopened and unloved! 

So far I've been sticking to my self-inflicted challenge pretty well, and yesterday was no different. I decided to use the Sale-a-bration (SAB) Tutti Frutti Cards & Envelopes for today's card. 

This is a real challenge for me as I do like my cards to have layers!

I also decided to use an unused stamp set,the Hedgehugs.

I have used this stamp set for a card I was working on that finished up in the bin, so I class that as still unused! LOL!

The pack of cards and envelopes come in a pack of sixteen with four cards and envelopes in each of four colors;n they are Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Lemon Lime Twist and Daffodil Delight. 

I started with our Thick Whisper White Cardstock (CS) for the images because I was planning to use the Stampin' Blends! 

Although we're recommended to stamp using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, I've seen someone successfully stamp with our Classic Inks, and then colour with the Blends.

I stamped the two Hedgehogs using Chocolate Chip Ink, and then I coloured the face, hands and feet using the Ivory Blend. 

I also went over the "V" prickles on their backs to take away the harshness of the Whisper White. 

Although the colouring looks good, there's an overall fuzziness to the hedgehogs - please see the third and fourth photographs to see what I mean - what do you think, do you agree?
 
I stayed with the Thick Whisper White CS, and stamped the hedgehogs using Chocolate Chip Ink. To colour the bodies, I decided to try our Watercolour Pencils; first using with a Blender Pen, second with an Aquapen, and third with nothing - this is the option I went with. 

To decorate around the hedgehogs I used the grass and wasps stamps from A little Wild Stamp Set. 

The grass is Tranquil Tide, and the wasps were stamped in Basic Black Archival Ink, and their bodies were coloured using Basic Black and Daffodil Yellow Marker Pens. 

I went over their wings with my Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Pen. 

I didn't want to use one of the hedgehogs twice on my card,so I decided to use the bird on the branch stamp, and using Marker Pens, I painted the leaves in Tranquil Tide, the branch in Chocolate Chip and the bird in Crumb Cake. 
 
I huffed on the stamp before stamping it down onto my cardstock, and added some Tranquil Tide grass as with the two hedgehog images. 

Using the second size square Stitched Shapes Framelits die, I cut the three images out. 

I took two long 7/8" wide strips of Pool Party CS, and decorated them tone on tone using the smaller flower stamp.

I punched six strips of Whisper White CS using the Decorative Ribbon Border Punch, and adhered them down each side of the Pool Party Strips.

I punched the ends of all three strips using the Banner Triple Punch, and adhered them to the card front using Dimensionals.

I stamped the sentiment using Chocolate Chip CS onto a piece of Whisper White CS and layered it onto a piece of Pool Party CS. 

I added four Pool Party Self-Adhesive Sequins, and added a pearl in the centre of each.

I think they would have looked better if I'd used Rhinestones!

To finish my card, I added a layer of Pool Party CS with a layer of Whisper White CS inside the card. 

Using Pool Party Ink and the same flower stamp I'd used for the strips on the front of the card, I decorated the bottom edge with five flowers! 

The envelopes that come with this set are the same colour as the cards, with the outside flap being the same design as the card.

There is also another design on the inside of the envelope, which blends in very nicely with the little bird on the branch.

I think this is one of the busiest cards I've made recently, which you know isn't my style at all. 

But it's not a bad thing to step outside our comfort zone now and again!

Thanks for joining me today. Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.