Another Day...Another (Pink) Elephant

I don't think that I've created 2 elephant cards during my decades of card making

and now...

I've made 2...in 2 days!

Actually...I know for certain that I have only created one other elephant card....

and that was eons ago.

I combined images form 3 different stamp sets to create this card...

Main image: Stampin Up ~ Love you Lots 

Sentiment: Stampin Up ~ Thoughtful Banners

Heart: Concord and 9th ~ Love You. Mean It.

I used my big gorgeous full set of Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils to color this image

(LOVE  LOVE LOVE Polychromos)

Background color was added by picking up ink for ink pads... with Clarity Stencil brushes.

The scalloped rectangle was created with an MFT die.

I chose some dotted prints for the paper layers...

and created a base mat layer with deep purple metallic card stock.

The sentiment tag was created by combining 3 stamps from the Thoughtful Banners stamp set...

and then hand cutting the sentiment banner and brushing color onto it.

The background color around the image was created with the stench brushes and ink pads. 

I used the die as a stencil for the inking to create nice clean edges.

The image layer was positioned with fun foam...for some added dimension.

Smaller dimensionals were used when positioning the sentiment banner.

I guess that I have broken my own personal record...

2 elephant cards in 2 days...

(as compared to 1 card during decades of time) 

Someone...call Guinness!!

I've been enjoying creating some playful cards...

I usually lean toward creating floral cards...

so my stamp choices for this years Valentine cards have been a nice change of pace for me.

Thanks for visiting today...

wishing you a wonderful day!

Michelle.

A Little Stenciling, a Little Stamping, a Little Coloring, and a Ton of Love

It's been ages since I have stenciled anything on a card...

mainly because I never liked any of the stenciling brushes that I've owned.

But...having Clarity Stencil brushes and loving them as much as I do

reminded me that I had some nice new stencils that have never been used.

So...

I decided to incorporate some stenciling with a Valentine card that I wanted to make.

and...as I had anticipated...

the Clarity brushes were perfect for the job!

I created the heart background with the brushes and a few ink pads...

The stamp set is Love You Tons by Lawn Fawn

(I chose not to use the coordinating dies to cut out the elephants, for this card)

I really enjoyed creating the heart background....

Not only because I love using the Clarity brushes...

but all because I was able to customize the colors 

and apply the color exactly as I needed it to be to get the color result that I wanted.
The elephants were colored with Spectrum Noir (Alcohol) markers

I also used the rectangle die as a stencil to ink a background around the stamped images.

The sentiment banner was hand cut...and a little bit of ink was applied to it with the brushes.

Both the banner and the image piece were positioned with fun foam (image layer) 

and dimensionals (the banner) for some lift.

The base layer mat is a beautiful shade of grass green metallic card stock

This was a fun card to create...so I created a few

The stamp set is adorable...

and I'm glad that I included some stenciling...

(Now I want to stencil all of my cards!)

Thanks for visiting...

have a wonderful day my crafty friends!

Michelle.