Book Kitty - stenciling, vintage buttons, single layer

Reading under a tree is the perfect Spring or Summer day for me. Newton's taking a nap with his book. My card features Newton Nook stamps, a stencil from the May My Monthly Hero from Hero Arts, Distress inks, and vintage buttons!

Putting It Together

Yesterday I picked up my My Monthly Hero box from my order earlier this month (I have it shipped to a box in the US since I'm about 20 mins from the border). On the drive home, while thinking about the current Inky Paws challenge, I was also thinking about the lovely tree items in the May kit. Then an idea hit me with a flash, the tree stencil, the kitty with the open book, and buttons out of my vintage stash. Bingo!

I did a dry fit with the stencil and stamps and then started to look for buttons. Usually, I look for 'embellishments' when I am done with the colouring aspects of the card, but with such a solid idea in my head, I started looking for buttons at the start.

I got a large stash of vintage buttons from a neighbour who moved away last summer. There are a lot of singles, doubles, occasionally a few more identicals. With a friend, I sorted a lot of them into colour groups and keep them in a large plastic divided box.

I found four matching low-shank pink buttons that sang to me, four matching flower like buttons, and a single sparkly-pearly low-shank button that I just had to use, too.

I used Purple Tape to anchor my card base and stencil. I used the blender tool to add four Distress inks: Bundled Sage, Crushed Olive, Mowed Lawn, and Forest Moss.

When I took off the stencil, it looked so magical, I decided to add a little Perfect Pearls, perfect pearl, with a soft brush to the still slightly damp ink.

I used a dry Swiffer cloth to wipe away any of the powder that didn't cling to the ink.

For an impression of grass, I used a blender with Mowed Lawn and Crushed Olive to swipe up from the bottom of the card.

I stamped the kitty and sentiment with black. When adding the grass, I forgot where I was going to put the kitty so I had grass through his book, too. Oops.

I used Distress ink and a waterbrush to colour the kitty and book. I had to be careful with the amount of water since I didn't use a watercolour paper for the card base. I used Weathered Wood on the book to soften the green and make the pages look more page-y. I simply used Tea Dye and Worn Lipstick on the kitty for a loose quick colouring.

I then added the buttons with Glue Dots to finish the card front. I love the buttons as flowers. I'm definitely going to need to remember this idea for later.

Inside, I stamped another kitty and sentiment from the set. I stamped them along the bottom because that's where I felt the fit best. I debated colouring the inside kitty, too, but I was running out of time before bed.

Supplies

Challenges

Inky Paws: Add Buttons

AAA Cards: Inspired by Nature
Crafter's Cafe: Creatures Great and Small
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Use More than One Stamp
Happy Little Stampers Watercolour: CAS
Happy Little Stampers CAS: One Layer
Crafty Gals Corner: Anything Goes

Always Fun: Anything Goes