Card Challenge #1 - Go Bananas!
So I've been making crafts for a long time but just started card making last year. Today, I just realized that there is such a thing as weekly card challenges. Three weeks ago I stumbled on to a blog hop that had fabulous prizes for entering a card based on a theme. I didn't win anything but it was still fun to think about a theme, create something based on it and then get positive feedback from a bunch of crafters through social media. How did I not realize sooner things like exist? Sometimes I need a swift kick the behind to do things and I think this type of challenge could be a good thing for me, so I'm going to try to create and post the challenges I enter, starting today. I'm entering these two cards into the Simon Says Stamp Monday and Wednesday challenges for this coming week.
I don't know if I'm just tired because my son decided the only way he'd fall asleep is if I slept on his bedroom floor with him at 4am but these new monkey stamps I bought from Your Next Stamp made me laugh and chant "Go Bananas! It's your birthday!" all afternoon. (That's probably because those are two of the sentiments but that's beside the point! :))
Supplies Used:
Monkey Fun Stamp Set by Your Next Stamp
Arteza Real Brush Pens
Arteza Water Brush
Strathmore Watercolor paper
Bazzil cardstock
Cricut Cuttlebug
Versafine Onyx Black Ink
Art Glitter Glue
Assorted Jewels
Lucky Clover Distress Oxide Ink
Clear Wink of Stella
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Jelly Roll white pen
Yellow button
Card #1: Hang In There
This card has the hanging monkey stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink on Strathmore paper and colored in with Arteza Real Brush markers.
My husband bought me the 48 pack of Arteza markers for Christmas and I have loved playing with them for the past couple of weeks. I'm still learning the best way to not have bleed and still be able to shade but I've enjoyed the strokes and feel of the tips.
After the colors dried I stuck the watercolor paper through my Cuttlebug so that where would be less warping of the paper. Then I cut out the pool colored paper by Bazzil to an A2 sized front of 4.25"x5.5" and the green paper to 4"x5.25".
Next, I glued the blue and green papers to my side folding A2 card base with my Art Glitter Glue. (This stuff is amazing if you're looking for a liquid glue. It's very strong, dries matte and dries amazingly fast! I've bought mine at maymaymadeit.com.)
For the watercolor paper, I decided to adhere it at an angle in order to play up the whimsy factor. Lastly, I attached little green and blue jewels just give it a little shine.
Card #2: Go Bananas
The Go Bananas card is a little outside of my comfort zone. I'm usually all about stamping and don't use a lot of patterned paper but when I saw this monkey I just felt like he needed some fun plaid around him.
I stamped the monkey on more Strathmore watercolor paper sized 4.25x5.5. Again, I colored the monkey with my Arteza real brush pens. Then I cut the plaid paper to 4.25x5.5 and used one of my circle dies to cut out a circle just larger than the monkey. I glued the watercolor paper to the plaid paper and then glued them both to a top folding A2 card base.
Next, I stamped the "Go Bananas!" and banana stamps with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto some yellow cardstock cut to 1.25"x4.25". Once dried, I glued it to the bottom inside of my card base. Inside the card, I stamped the "It's your birthday!" sentiment. Then I cut off 1.125 inches off of the bottom of the card front to reveal the "Go bananas!"
To embellish the card, I drew stitch marks around the circle and colored in the top of the banana with my white Jelly Roll pen and used my Real Brush pens to draw in half of the "Go Bananas" in brown.
I wanted to use the banana leaf stamp from the set but I didn't have a good green card stock so I took my Distress Oxide inkpad on cardstock to create the color I was looking for. Once it was dry, I stamped the banana leaves with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and fussy cut them out. I used my Wink of Stella brush to add some sparkle to the banana leaves and Go Bananas. I then popped the banana leaves up on some double sided foam tape and placed a yellow button in between them.
I hope you enjoy these cards as much as I enjoyed making them! Come join me again when I create another design!