So Proud of You

A Blog Named Hero's current challenge is "Ombre." I've had the Hero Arts "Li'l Hoot" stamp set for quite some time, and have used it in other cards. But for some reason, I'd never stamped the elephants. So I decided to do that for this card. I wanted to go for an African sunset type scene, so I blended Distress inks in Barn Door, Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, and finally Mustard Seed, to create the background.

The sketch I used for this card is this one from Operation Write Home:

I flipped the sketch horizontally for my card, but otherwise stuck to it exactly.

I stamped the elephants in Ranger Archival Jet Black ink onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper, then colored them using Inktense pencils and my water brush.

I stamped the greeting, from the same Hero Arts set, onto another piece of the Mixed Media paper, also in Jet Black. The stamp I used for that is all on one line, so to get it on two lines, I masked off half of the stamp with painter's tape, inked the greeting, removed the tape, and stamped. Then, after cleaning the stamp thoroughly, I just repeated the process to stamp the rest of the greeting. I die cut and embossed the greeting piece with a Spellbinders Classic Ovals die. While the paper was still in the die, I blended Wild Honey over the middle, then removed the die and sponged a little Wild Honey lightly around the edges.

I scribbled some silhouetted tree forms onto the ombre background with a black brush tip marker, and added grasses along the bottom. I mounted the panel onto a piece of black paper, cut to 4.25x5.5". I glued down the elephants, added a few grasses at their feet, then glued on the greeting. Finally, I added googly eyes to the elephants, just for the "cute" factor, since I think this card would be perfect for a kid. I mounted the card front to an A2 card base, and that finished off the card. I will be sending this to Operation Write Home.

I'm also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.