40 Down...10 to Go...and a Crafty RAKy Giveaway

Whew!

I didn't think that I'd make it back to post the RAK GIVEAWAY

But I did!

I worked all day on the dog and cat sympathy cards that I shared in my morning blog post.

Update: 40 down...10 to go...

and then I move on to 25 other dog and cat related cards

and then...

My friend John's card request... 

will be...

complete!

(He's a Vet....so his card requests are always dog, cat and animal related)

I'll tell you about the giveaway in a sec...

but first wanted to share a little photo tour of what the day was like 

as I worked on the 50 cat & dog sympathy cards

First....

I cut all of the base cards

and stamped my info on the back of each.

I used my brandy dandy new Mini MISTI for that

and it made that boring task seem much less tedious.

By the way..

I have to say...

I love PTI card stock for card  bases.

It's very hefty.

Emphasis on VERY

Oh!...I almost forgot to tell you...

the little personalization stamp is from The Stamps of Life

75 cards ...cut....scored and stamped on the back with my vitals

Next....

I got out the Crafter's Companion Water Color paper

(my fave water color paper)

I painted ...and air dried all of the water color paper 

When they were completely dry

I cut all of the 8 1/2 x 11 water colored paper into 1/4 sheets

One for each stamped image and sentiment combo

I stamped out all 50 fronts...

It took a few re-inkings of the stamp to get a good quality image

..only because the water color paper has some nice texture.

and that means that an extra effort is required to get a good image

2 or 3 re-inkings and then re-stamping worked well and gave a crisp image

Imagine needing to do that without the MISTI?

PS..I used Staz-on ink..

I didn't want the ink to bleed when I applied some color highlight with Stampin Up markers.

*The stamp set is from Sparkle N Sprinkle
and is called: Pet Sympathy-Stamp Set 472P5 

This is the same company that order my big jars of embossing powder from

With all of the stamping done..

I started to add some color 

...highlighting some details on each image...

Not too much though

because the water color background is really the source of color for each card front.

Then...

I got out MFT Scallop dies and my Big Shot Express...

and die cut each one....

Done!

(I love the petite scallop dies..and they even have pierced edges!)

See?

Just a few hints of color

The collar and heart

The flower centers

The leaves

The dog's nose

and a teeny bit of Clear Wink of Stella on the top of each wing

(Isn't the piercing nice?)

Next....I cut ribbon for little decorative tabs that will be adhered to the top of each dog and cat card front

The purple ribbon is by Martha Stewart

The blue and green are from Stampin Up

Ribbon tabs attached....

Next....

while the Big Shot was still ready to roll..

I embossed all of the mat layers...

nothing too busy

But a little bit of texture made a nice difference.

By the way...

the mat colors were chosen to complement the colors created with the water coloring 

(the paper that the image and sentiment are stamped on)

I matched each image piece to the mat color that best complemented the water color hues. 

And then...

it was time to put everything together...

The mats were attached to the card bases using the Marsupial "Jig"layering tool

(for perfect mat positioning every time!)

The image piece is attached using low profile dimensionals

The inside of each card is blank...

so that John can write a personal note when a "patient" of his passes on...or is euthanized

and here they are...

40 down...10 to go

(I'll finish the others tomorrow)

The dogs..

The cats

and a few close-ups

Isn't the sentiment sweet? 

And now for a Crafty RAK

I have duplicates of a a few Stampin Up SAB sets...

and thought I'd share one here as a giveaway

How about this one?

With this adorable little chick.

 Entering is easy..
You'll need a USA mailing address....
(my apologies to those of you who live outside of the US)
then...

Go to the upper right of this blog page and subscribe to email updates

and

leave a comment below letting me know that you've subscribed

I'll include the giveaway in my blog post during the week...

You can enter once a day by commenting under that day's blog post

A winner will be chosen on my birthday....

Friday...March 25th

Thanks for visiting...

and remember..

if you ever need to create a large number of the same card

don't feel overwhelmed...

break it all down into smaller steps..

one step at a time

Do all of the cutting at once...

all of the stamping at once...

card cutting and scoring...all at once..

and then put the card together.

Breaking it down makes it all so easy...

You'll have your large quantity of cards done in a flash!

Michelle.