Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Love Bandit

Yes, I'm sharing a Valentine's Day card today. This is the card I made for My Man this year. A dear friend shared some good advice with me. She said on man cards, no ribbon, few embellishments and no bling. I took that advice to heart and created this card.



I couldn't just give him a plain card, though, so I added a few details. I stamped my tree on Old Olive card stock twice. I cut one out and adhered it to the trunk, the other, I cut out just a small section and adhered it to the tree with dimensionals. I created the faux grass by making small cuts with my paper snips, sponging on green ink,and then roughing the "blades" up with my fingers. The little love bandit was stamped on scrap paper, colored with Copics and put on the grass with a dimensional. You see I used one of the Stampin' Up! 'Hugs' again. LOVE those little guys! And, I created the cloud background again more on that in a bit. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush collection. I chose that pattern because the leaves on there reminded me of the raccoon. The Kraft card stock is from PTI and I used Chocolate ink from CTMH to sponge around the card. All other supplies are from Stampin' Up!

Lets talk about those clouds. I received several e-mails asking how I create my clouds. So I will share what works for me. I used to use a piece of card stock cut with scalloped scissors. But now I use this...



Real technical tool, right? I can't take credit for it, it came with an online card class I took last year. And it's just card stock that has a random cloud pattern drawn on it. I cut it out and then use it as a template to create the clouds. I move the template slightly, making sure to leave some white space and then using one of the inks pictured, I swipe a wedge of sponge over it and gently swirl it onto my project. Very important here, is to remember to start sponging on the template and move slowly onto your project, otherwise you'll get a strong concentration of color in one spot and that may not be the look you desire. I photographed all of the various inks one could use to make the clouds. Any blue will do, no specific brand. Once the template gets too soiled with ink, I throw it away and make another one. Easy peasy!

I'm glad you chose to visit with me today! I hope your day is great one! Until next time...


Blessings~

8 comments:

Sparkplug17 said...

Such a darling card!

Alanna said...

Barb, this is so cute. I love all the details and thanks for showing us how you did the clouds.

Kim Burmeister said...

I love, love, love your LOVE BANDIT card. Thanks for sharing the cloud technique. I wondered how you made those too. They look awesome!

I forgot to mention before I like your new banner and that butterfly is so cute! I want to catch it.

Kathi Carlson said...

Oh, so cute! LOVE all the dimension - a true Work of HeART!

Sarah said...

I adore this...That little Raccoon is just the best. I love your tree, the grass and the clouds. I too was going to ask about the clouds...I thought it was DP...Great job Barb!

Jeanne said...

Wonderful card for your Man, Barb! I'm sure he loved it. Thanks for sharing all the details in it, especially how you did your clouds! They are fabulous!

Loving that butterfly flitting around your blog. Like Kim, I want to "catch" it! It definitely makes me smile. *Ü*

stampmonkey said...

This is sooooo cute, Barb! And it's a great Man card!! Your Bandit is darling, as are the grassy hills, and dimensional tree, and your clouds are wonderful (thanks so much for sharing your secrets for that!) --all-around FUN card and I'm sure he loved it! ;)

Risa said...

Wow....your card is amazing Barb! The detailing is fabulous!!! Thanks for sharing your technique for making your amazing clouds. I gotta try this!
hugs
Risa:)