Christmas Kitty & Elephant Cards

One of my new acquisitions from Bugaboo Stamps is this cute "Christmas Cat." I decided to use him on a card for Send a Smile 4 Kids. I took my design inspiration from Operation Write Home's Sketch #2.

I printed the kitty onto a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper, then colored him in with my Inktense pencils to look like our youngest, Barney. For the sky, I used a wash of Broken China Distress ink, and Pumice Stone Distress ink for the ground. I added some shimmer to his bell with a gold gel pen, and applied Marvy Uchida Liquid Applique to the hat brim & pompom. Once that had dried, I used my heat tool to puff it.

I cut a piece of patterned paper from my scrap stash to 2x5.5", and tied a length of metallic embroidery floss around it in a bow. I adhered it to a red card front panel, and added a dot of Perfect Paper Adhesive Matte to the knot on my bow, both to hold it in place and keep it from untying. Finally, I adhered my focal panel, and mounted the finished card front to a white A2 card base.

For my second card, I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #B-29 for my design. I used the "Elephant Christmas Tree," also from Bugaboo, as my focal image. I reduced the opacity of the image to 7% in Photoshop, then printed it on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. The reduced opacity virtually eliminated the outlines, allowing me to do some no-line coloring with my Inktense pencils.

After I'd colored the image, I added Liquid Applique to the cuffs on the stockings, and the brim & pompom on the elephant's hat. As with the kitty, when that had dried (I left it for several hours), I puffed it with my heat tool. I added details to some of the ornaments and the left-most stocking with a white gel pen. Then I applied clear Wink of Stella to the ornaments, and coated them in Glossy Accents. I colored the stars with a gold gel pen for a base coat of color, then added Gold Stickles on top. I also traced the "glow lines" from the star on top of the tree with my gold gel pen. I used a silver gel pen to draw the wires/ornaments on the mantle between the stockings.

I cut a strip of patterned paper from my scrap stash to .5x4.25", as indicated in the sketch. I adhered my focal panel to a piece of green cardstock, and then glued my patterned paper below it. Finally, I mounted the card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm entering both cards in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Anything Goes" challenge.