The Party Continues... on the Pony Express!

Hello, hello, helloooooooo! Back again, with another birthday card as threatened, er, promised. This one was created for my friend's grandson who is turning 1 this month. I know the card is more for his mama than for him, but I kept it cute, colorful and simple anyway. After all, it will end up smooshed in a baby book or a box of mementos, right? LOL

I had fun coloring up this Party Pony image from Whipper Snapper Designs, by the same artist who created last week's Party Kitties...

Isn't he just the sweetest? =)

I colored him with my Copics, adding shimmer, shine and sparkle details with Glaze pens (hat, pressie and saddle), Stardust Stickles (hat pom) and clear Wink of Stella (saddle, pressie and sweet little posies).  The clouds, most of which got cut off/out of the image when I die cut it, were made with a combination of colorless blender, C0, and a bit of a white Souffle pen, so they have just a little texture and rise off the image.

I used a combination of dies - Spellbinders scalloped and standard circles and MFT Blueprints 15.. My papers are from the new Hip Hip Hooray pad from Doodlebug. I foresee an addiction to Doodlebug pads coming my way shortly! =D  My sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Handwritten Borders. I admit I held my breath while I stamped it! Thank goodness my stamping skills have improved. =)   I popped up my image for just a teensy bit of dimension (considering its future storage haha), and added a few epoxy stickers here and there. The final touch was the number 1 from the MFT die set By The Numbers. Cut from the same paper as the scalloped circle, it was coated in clear Wink of Stella and smothered in Glossy Accents. All I can say is "oooooooooh, shiiiiiiny!" ;)

I was going to duplicate the layout of the front on the inside of the card, but... ok, I'll be honest. I would have had to cut into the second sheets of these papers and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Yes, thank you, I AM scheduled for my first Paper Hoarders Anonymous meeting next week.

So to avoid the dreaded second sheets, I used MFT's Fishtail Flag Stax and the remaining strips, and I sacrificed a different orange sheet in the pad for the scalloped circle.

A few more epoxy dots here and there and done!

The Pony Express will be stopping at these challenges on its way to the birthday boy...

     Crafting When We Can Challenges - #82 Use Your Markers (Copics for me!)
     Fab'n'Funky Challenges - Happy Birthday
     Crafting for All Seasons - #90 Birthdays
     Addicted to Stamps and More - #122 Make Your Mark
     Tip Top Tuesday - 3 or More Papers

And tha'ts it for today!  I'll be back soon - yes, another birthday card, but soooooon, Christmas and Snow and all things winter! LOL  Til then, happy crafting! =)
Christy

SAS4K DT Card: Animal Cards for Kids - What's Up Giraffe

Happy Saturday, my crafty friends!

Time for another challenge at Send A Smile 4 Kids and this one's another fun one for creating a kid's card: Animals!  Our sponsors for this challenge are Delicious Doodles and Stamping Dragon Designs who are offering 4 digi images so we'll have TWO random winners! Twice the fun! LOL

Our sponsors once again generously offered up some images to our DT members, and as I was surfing through Stamping Dragon Designs, this slightly rude giraffe caught my eye and this is what I chose to do with him:

Hee hee Love that tongue! LOL It reminds me of a favorite moment in the movie My Friend Totoro when the little girl and boy stick their tongues out at each other. =)   I colored him with Copics... actually I colored one image but didn't like the final blend from the E40s so I went with more red browns and I was much happier with this second image. Also, the practice for getting that blend on his forehead was very useful. I'm not sure I'm going to be coloring up too many realistically-drawn images, but it was a fun challenge from what has -so far- been my usual style.

I colored the sky the same way I did this Emerald Fairies image, laying in a relatively smooth base of blue, then using the colorless blender to pick up and push the ink into cloud shapes, then highlighting a bit with C00, C0 and C1. It takes several passes, but I don't have an airbrush, which is probably my favorite look I see on other cards. And as my image was printed on an inkjet this time, I didn't want to risk a Distress Ink sky bleeding my image lines even though I'd heat set them with a Ranger heat tool. I layered my image and inked all the cardstock edges with a combination of Scattered Straw and a touch of Walnut Stain here and there, which nicely mimics the giraffe skin pattern.

I randomly cut out a tree branch from brown cardstock and used a CC Cutter, Leafy Branches, for the leaves, dabbing them with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint DI. There are some very tiny foam pieces in there to help keep the dimension. I like the effect and hope to use that again. =)

I layered a tan grosgrain ribbon over a sheer brown that tied into the background paper and added pearls, chocolate on the ribbons and champagne in the corners. Last I added my sentiment which I created in Word.

Hope you are feeling inspired to pull out an animal image of your own and get creating... there are lots of fantastic creations by my Teamies over on SAS4K so be sure to stop by!

I'm linking my card up to
Inspire Me Fridays - #68 Anything Goes
Ruby's Rainbow Challenges - #33 Cute Animals (he's not soft and cuddly, but that tongue makes him cute to me!)
Make It Monday

ATCs and Cards with Attitude - #18 Anything Goes

Have a great weekend and happy crafting!
Christy