Make a Wish

I've had this Stampendous image stamped on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper that I'd die cut with the "Stitched Journaling Card" die by Lawn Fawn, for at least a few months now. Uncolored. I came across it the other day, and decided I needed to color it and make it into a card.

I used Sketch #SC556 from Splitcoaststampers.com for my design inspiration. I had stamped the image with Colorbox Putty Archival ink, intending to do some no-line watercoloring. While some lines are still visible, I would say that most of them faded into the coloring. I colored the image with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to pick up the color from the lead & blend it on the paper. When I was painting the ice cream itself, I did make sure to stop doing the chocolate color when I got to the one space where the candle flame overlaps the ice cream, so I could color the flame first. When I was done coloring the image, I used my Payne's Grey pencil & paintbrush to add some shadowing under the mice & ice cream cone, just to ground them some.

For the greeting, I used one from the same set, stamping it in Hero Arts Charcoal ink. I wanted something kind of dark so it would show up, but not black. I used 2 different patterned papers from my scrap stash for the background, adding 5 silver mini brads above & below the focal panel. Finally, I threaded a yellow button with embroidery floss that matched the Charcoal ink, and glued the button to my card front with Perfect Paper Adhesive. I also ran a little PPA along the ends of the floss, so they would stay straight. I mounted my card front to a white A2 card base, added clear Wink of Stella to the candle flames & party hats, and coated the flames with a layer of Glossy Accents. Other than the coloring, which did take probably 1-2 hours, the card came together pretty quickly.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Live Love Cards August challenge: "Birthday Cards"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday challenge: "Celebrate"