Otterly Awesome Birthday Card

A friend has a birthday coming up, so I decided (of course) to make her a card. I just got the "Otterly Awesome" stamp set & coordinating dies, as well as the "Otter Ware" stamps & dies (all from Essentials by Ellen), and couldn't wait to play with them for this card!

I began by creating my card base. I cut 2 panels of white cardstock with a Spellbinders "Grand Scalloped Ovals" die (discontinued). I scored one about 1/2" from one "side," and adhered my other die cut panel to that, applying Scor Tape & liquid glue only above the score line.

I stamped the otter from "Otterly Awesome" & starfish (from "Otter Ware") on white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then colored both images with my Prismacolor colored pencils, & cut them out with the coordinating dies. I glued the starfish in the otter's "hands," and added some clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen just to the starfish, for a bit of shimmer.

For the card front, I die cut another scalloped oval with the same die from 140 lb. watercolor paper. Because there is no birthday greeting in "Otterly Awesome," I used Lawn Fawn's "Claire's ABC's" to spell out the first part of the greeting. Since I was using 2 of the greeting stamps from "Otterly Awesome," I wanted to keep the first part of the greeting in the same casual style. So, using the otter as a guide for placement, I mounted the alphabet stamps to the door of my MISTI at angles & with a bouncing baseline. This actually was a big help, since I didn't have to be so persnickety about getting the letters lined up exactly right! :) I stamped the greeting in Versamark ink, and heat embossed with Wow White Pearl embossing powder. I also stamped the waves image from "Otter Ware" a few times and heat embossed those as well.

Inside sentiment

I ink blended an ombre effect on the background, with Mermaid Lagoon & Salty Ocean Distress inks. I applied the Mermaid Lagoon at the bottom, and then added the Salty Ocean, blending it out to almost white at the top. Finally, I used my homemade Perfect Pearls mist, flicking the solution with the nozzle of the spray bottle over my panel. I let that sit for a few seconds, then blotted the mist up with a dry cloth, to give a distressed look to the background. Then I glued the otter to the card front, & stamped the inside sentiment with Tuxedo Black ink. I did add 3 dots to the greeting on the front with a white gel pen, and 3 in front of the inside sentiment with a black pen, just to make the greeting seem continuous. All that was left to do then was adhere the card front to my card base.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge: "Furry Friends"
Simon Says Stamp's Monday Challenge: "Little Critters"
Pile It On #130: "Animal"