Monkeys Sending Smiles

I have been participating in Online Card Classes' "Stretch Your Stamps 2" class. This past Saturday was a bonus day of lessons, covering stamps that beg to be colored. One of the cards was by Stephanie Klauck. This is my CASE version of her card.

I used stamps from the same Mama Elephant set as Stephanie, though I substituted the monkey for the bunny she used. She demonstrated a technique called "mirror stamping." Basically, you use a second stamp that's slightly larger than the image you want to stamp. You position it face-down on an acrylic block, then stamp your image on the back side of that. Before the ink dries, you can stamp it onto your piece of paper or cardstock. While the impression is not as clear as stamping directly on the paper with the stamp, it gives you an image, and you can go over the lines with a marker to define them better.

I stamped both monkeys on white cardstock, using the mirror stamping technique for the second monkey. Then I colored them with colored pencils, using Gamsol on a paper stump to blend the colors out. I also added some black gel pen to the eyes, just to give them a little subtle shine. I did the same stamping & coloring with the balloons, minus the mirror stamping. Finally, I fussy cut the monkeys and balloons.

For my sky panel, I blended Tumbled Glass Distress ink over a piece of white cardstock. I die cut several clouds using the smaller 2 dies from this set. After positioning the die cut clouds on the inked cardstock, I glued them down one at a time, letting some hang over the edge. I trimmed the overhanging cloud parts, and set that aside.

I cut a piece of vellum slightly smaller than the blue inked panel. I stamped the balloons in Versamark, and heat embossed them using Ranger Super Fine Detail white embossing powder, mostly so the balloon strings would be visible without having white cardstock behind them. I glued one of the monkeys directly onto the vellum, so it looks like he is holding on to the balloons. I positioned my greeting stamp, making sure it was straight and centered before stamping it in Versamark and embossing it with American Crafts Zing! blue embossing powder.

Close-up of monkeys

Close-up of balloons

Stitching detail

I die cut 3 more clouds, and glued them to the vellum piece. Finally, I stitched the vellum to the sky panel. I adhered the fussy-cut balloons with foam adhesive over where I'd heat embossed them, and used the same foam tape to pop up the second monkey next to the first. I glued the entire panel to an A2 size, top-folding card base. Finally, to add a bit of sparkle, I went over the balloons with a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush marker. It doesn't show up well in the photos, but it adds just a subtle touch of shimmer.

I'm entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Make It Sparkle" challenge.