Let's Party Animals

I'm currently making cards to send to The Birthday Party Project, which throws birthday parties for homeless children. I created this one, inspired by the photo at the current Fusion challenge, and to some extent the sketch as well.

I chose Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps' "Birthday Pals" stamp set (discontinued) first. I used the frog, turtle, party hat, & one of the greetings from this set. Of course, what is a party without banners? I used one of the stamps from an older SNSS set, "Borders and Backgrounds," (also discontinued) for those.

I wanted to make this a one-layer card, so I first stamped & cut masks for the animals & party hat. I cut a 4.25x5.5" panel of Strathmore Smooth Bristol paper for my card front, & laid out my masks to help me with placing my stamps. Since the hat is the foremost image, I needed to stamp that first. I put the panel in my MISTI, lined up the hat stamp with its mask, picked the stamp up with the MISTI door, removed the hat & frog masks, & stamped the hat in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I then masked the hat & stamped the frog in the same manner, and finally masked the frog and stamped the turtle.

I masked the hat again & stamped one of the banners with the border stamp I chose. I sketched in the line along the top with a pencil, then went over it with a waterproof pen. I cut a mask for the banner out of a full-sticky Post It note, masked that, & stamped the second banner. I drew the top line the same way as I had the first, making sure not to draw over the first banner. Finally I removed all my masks to color.

I used my Tombow markers to color my images. To create shading, I added the color along the darkest parts of each image, then spread it out with a damp paintbrush. I didn't bother shading the hat much, since it is such a small image. I colored the banners in rainbow colors, inspired by the photo in the Fusion challenge graphic.

My intent had been to follow the Fusion sketch, making the tower of animals & hat the center part. But, the more I looked at the card, the more I thought it now needed a scene. So I drew 2 parallel lines for the edge of the floor & top of some baseboard, and colored them with my markers. For the floor, since I was making it carpeted, I just scribbled color onto the paper, and spread it out more evenly with my paintbrush. For the wallpaper, I used my T-square ruler to measure & draw the stripes with a light pink marker. I then colored in the wider sections with the same marker.

I now didn't have a "logical" place to put a greeting, so I decided to make a sign for the frog to hold. I stamped the "Let's Party" in Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink onto a scrap of teal cardstock, & cut it into a small banner. I cut a 1/8" wide strip of bristol paper and colored it with a pale tan marker. I used my craft knife to cut slits around the frog's arm, and slid the bristol paper "pole" into the slits. I glued the banner sign onto the pole, and squirted a little liquid glue under the ends of the pole to keep it in place. I adhered the panel to a white card base, and that finished this card. I do love the way this came out, even if it went a little sideways from my original design idea! :)