Hang in There

The challenge theme for October 10, in this year's "Hope You Can Cling To" card drive at Splitcoast Stampers, is "Tag, You're It!" Obviously, the challenge is to make a card using a tag. I thought this cute little bunny flying with his balloons, along with the greeting, were perfect for this design.

I die cut my tag from patterned blue cardstock (by Momenta) with the "Stitched Duo 3" tag die from Pretty Pink Posh. I also die cut a hole reinforcer from white cardstock using one of the dies from Mama Elephant's "Tags a Lot" set. I glued that in place on the tag, and when the glue had dried, punched through the hole with my 1/8" hole punch. I threaded several plies of white crochet thread through the hole, and knotted them. Then I set that aside while I worked on the other elements.

I stamped the bunny & balloons, from "In My Heart" by Mama Elephant, on a scrap of Strathmore Mixed Media paper. I used Versamark for the balloons, and heat embossed them with Ranger Super Fine Detail White embossing powder. For the bunny, I used Ranger Archival Watering Can ink. I colored them both with my Inktense pencils, then die cut them with the coordinating dies.

I positioned the bunny on my tag, without gluing him down, just to get an idea of where to stamp the balloon strings. (The die cuts only the balloons, not the strings.) I stamped the balloon strings directly on the tag with Hero Arts Unicorn white pigment ink. I felt the first stamping wasn't clear enough, so I double-stamped them. Thankfully, I used my MISTI, so there was no problem getting the second stamping in exactly the right position! Finally, I glued down the bunny & balloons.

I stamped a greeting from the same Mama Elephant set in Watering Can on a scrap of pale pink cardstock, and cut it into a strip. The gap to the left of the second line bothered me, so I took the small heart from Simon Says Stamp's "Sending Happy Thoughts" stamp set, and stamped it 3 times in Stampabilities Light Pink pigment ink.

For the background, I die cut a piece of pink cardstock with the largest of Lawn Fawn's "Large Stitched Rectangle" dies. I adhered my tag with foam adhesive, and adhered the greeting, placing a piece of foam tape under the left end and glue on the right side, so it would be level with the tag. I finished my card by mounting the front panel to a white A2 card base. Another card for someone to give a cancer patient at MD Anderson Cancer Center!