International Sloth Day - Happy (belated) Birthday | ft. Lawn Fawn Stamps and Interactive Dies

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share a card (and video) for an interactive, masculine and SUPER cute belated birthday card, featuring Lawn Fawn's "Double Slider Surprise" die set, "Hang in There" and "Critters in the Jungle" stamp sets, all in honour of International Sloth Day. That's a thing. You can Google it.

So I had a completely different card in mind when I woke up this morning, and not gonna lie - it took a bit for me to get that one out of my head, or at least off to the side, so I could create this one. Sloth Day only happens once a year, and I'll not miss it. They are, after all, my most favouritest of animals.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

In the video you'll see the list of Copics that I used to create this card, I also discuss why this die set gives me the most trouble out of all the interactive sets I have. As well, in the interests of full disclosure, I do go off on a pretty long tangent about the value we put on our work, and why it is important that we continue to do what we love BECAUSE we love it, not to make everyone else happy. Oh, and you'll also see me make a bit of a masking error and how I fixed it. This video is loaded with stuff today; I didn't even list them all!

I really wanted the sloth to be the star of the show, not counting the interactive element, as that generally steals the show. We all love a little interaction in our cards!

I kept the colouring super simple on all of the elements, all of which are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock.

So while we're chatting about mistakes (in the video) I also didn't really put the card together the way I wanted. The pull up panel goes waaaay further than I wanted because I didn't use the stopper mechanism - and they provide it for a reason. Sooo maybe next time. Whoops!

I hope you like today's card (and video) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

International Sloth Day | ft. Lawn Fawn "Hang in There"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

One of the endless questions I get as a mother of a five year old, is "What's your favourite animal?" or colour, or shape, or letter, or number; the list goes on and on. Anyone with kids will tell you that the barrage of questions never stops. It's true. Their little minds are growing so fast and they seem to pull the information in like a sponge. For me, I get the same questions over and over as though maybe I wasn't telling the truth the whole time. Who knows?

For the record, my favourite colour is coral, my favorite shape is an oval, my favourite letter is a "g", my favourite number is 32 and my favourite animal is a sloth.

I recently read about fossils of a new giant sloth species that were found and this thing was the size of an elephant. An elephant. Think about that for a moment. A friggin' elephant.

Yesterday, was international Sloth day, sadly today's card is a day late, but better late than never. And really, is the sloth going to complain about it being slow?

To begin, I cut the scalloped layer using MFT Blueprints die-namics #27 out of some heavyweight green cardstock. I then trimmed down a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock to fit within the stitched area of the scalloped piece.

Using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, I stamped the sloth image from Lawn Fawn's "Hang in There" set and added the little leaf cluster three times. I created masks for all of the images and used the negative space from a circle die cut to sponge Cracked Pistachio Distress ink around the image. I then used the positive of the circle to mask that off, and sponged Twisted Citron around the rest of the panel.

I used a bamboo background stamp from Hero Arts in the MISTI with the same Distress inks to get the jungle impression.

I removed all the masks and coloured the image in with Copic markers. I then adhered my panels together and mounted them to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you enjoyed today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss out on any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Freshly Made Sketches

Challenge #309

Crafting with an Attitude

Challenge #32

Gnome Day, It's a Thing | ft. Lawn Fawn

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Have you noticed that every week seems to be national-something-or-other week, and every month is national-support-this-cause month, and it can get really really heavy. Don't get me wrong, there are tons of causes and they all need the exposure, but sadly it gets to a point where I just scroll past it because it's always national-save-the-extinct-animals day.

So, while I was scrolling what national day it was, it turns out that June 21st is Garden Gnome Day. And while I missed the day completely, I couldn't let it pass me by. Every other day gets re-posted through the year so why not one that will at least make people smile?

I crated this card for my sister in law who is one of the most wonderful people I know, not only is she beautiful and kind, she's a hard working mom of two and an amazing wife to my awesome brother in law. So this was for her, to belatedly celebrate a day that celebrates something she loves. Gnomes!

To begin, I stamped the gnome from Lawn Fawn's "Gnome Sweet Gnome" on a scrap of Strathmore Bristol Smooth Cardstock using CTMH's Archival ink. This paper has a vellum finish that makes it awesome for the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, but it does take a little longer for any stamping to dry. So I set that aside.

I then used my two largest stitched square dies to cut a few frames. From one of those pieces I used the very inside to stamp the mushrooms and the flower from Lawn Fawn's "Gleeful Gardens". My idea here was to create a raised frame with a little garden picture inside, but with the gnome on the outside, like it was coming to life; or (if that's too terrifying to think about--because you never know) to have the gnome showing off a picture of his garden.

I coloured all my images in with the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. For the gnome, I started light, pulled the colour out with my waterbrush, let that partially dry, then added more colour to get a watercolour look. For the mushrooms I didn't use any water, I just blended the colours straight from the pen. For the soft blue of the background, I traced around the images, and then pulled the colour out with water to create the halo.

Once everything was dry, I stamped the greeting using the same archival ink. I adhered the stitched square piece down first, where I wanted it to be on the card front. I then used my Tombow Mono glue to build up the frame around it. Finally, I used the same liquid adhesive on the back of gnome where he would be resting on the frame and some foam tape for where he hung off. This creates some support so when it is mailed it won't warp or bend and look sad.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge #231