Hugs

It's been quite a while since I entered a challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids. Their current theme is "Winter Fun 4 Kids," & I thought this cute little image from "Mimi's Winter Friends" (Penny Black) fit the bill perfectly! I paired it with the "Hugs" stamp from Stampabilities. I used Operation Write Home's Sketch #166 for my design.

I stamped my image onto a piece of Canson XL Mixed Media Paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink, & clear heat embossed it. Then I watercolored it with my Inktense pencils, using a damp paintbrush to pick the color up from the pencils & apply it to the paper. I find I can get more control, and more subtle shading, with this method, rather than coloring on the paper with the pencils & wetting the color afterwards. I also added a bit of light shading under the reindeer & girl. When the image had dried, I added a coat of Glossy Accents to the reindeer's nose & highlights to the eyes with a white gel pen.

I stamped the greeting onto a scrap of white cardstock, using Hero Arts Ultra Pink ink, and punched it out with a 1" circle punch. Because the ink absorbed into the paper, it kind of "melted" into the finer lines of the lettering, so I went over the letters with a white gel pen.

For a couple of accents, I die cut 2 buttons using one of the "Vintage Buttons" from My Favorite Things. After matting my patterned papers (from my scrap stash) with a pink cardstock panel, I adhered my focal panel. I threaded both buttons with embroidery floss, and glued them & the greeting to my card front. Finally, I mounted the card front to a white A2 card base.

I'm also entering my card in Creative Knockouts' Challenge #174 "Anything Goes."