Fall Mouse

I've been working on Halloween cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids, and decided to take a break and make just a general "fall" card. I found this cute image of the mouse and pumpkin in a Hampton Art stamp set (name unknown), and wanted to try no-line coloring with it. I haven't really done much with that technique, but saw it recently in a YouTube video, and decided to give it another go! I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #206 for my design:

I began by stamping the image on a piece of Strathmore Bristol paper with Antique Linen Distress ink. This gave me a faint image, which would blend in with my colors while still giving me an outline to follow. I then colored that in with my Zig Clean Color markers. I added a bit of green grass under the pumpkin and mouse, just to help ground them, then die cut it with a Spellbinders "Standard Circles SM" die.

For the greeting panel, I stamped the "FALL" (from a different Hampton Art set) repeatedly on a piece of yellow cardstock, using Versamark ink. Then I heat embossed that with Recollections Clear Detail embossing powder. I was glad to have my MISTI tool, as that made lining up the words sooo much easier!

I used the "Geometric Rings" Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss a piece of green cardstock for the background. I decided to leave off the "middle" background layer, so I made my embossed panel 4x5.25". I matted that with a piece of kraft cardstock cut to the standard A2 size of 4.25x5.5".

I matted the greeting panel with another piece of green cardstock. Again, I left out the middle layer. To give the appearance of another layer, and help the green mat stand out more from the background, I inked around the edges with Forest Moss Distress ink.

Finally it was time to assemble the card. I'd die cut another circle from kraft cardstock with a larger "Standard Circles SM" die. I layered that behind the greeting, and glued my focal piece on top of that. Finally, I adhered all that to my background panel, and mounted the completed card front to a white A2 card base.