Anniversary - alcohol marker, easel card, stencilling

"Love is a many splendored thing." "Love will keep us together." "Love makes the world go 'round."

My lovin' couple is a long retired Kraftin' Kimmie stamp coloured with Spectrum Noir markers and embellished with another retired Kraftin' Kimmie stamp along with retired Tonic Studios dies and retired Prima Marketing paper with a not retired Kraftin' Kimmie stencil background with not retired Kraftin' Kimmie inks. It's a good thing love lasts long past retirement.

Putting It Together

It's just happenstance that most of the items I used for this card are retired. Well, other than the happenstance of getting some items cheaper when they've been retired and put into clearance *grin*

The not happenstance of this card is the relationship I share with my sweetie. We've been cohabitating for 11 years now with a few years before that in our relationship. His favourite animal is the skunk which is why I am always looking for cute skunkies to pick up. Several months ago, one of my fellow Kraftin' Kimmie aficionados was destashing some of her early Kimmies so I picked up this pair from her. The artist, Crissy Armstrong, now does images for Whimsy Stamps.

I stamped the image with Kraftin' Kimmie Wicked Black hybrid ink on Copic card. It wasn't until I went looking for the link for Linkdeli that I discovered the cardstock is retired. I had picked it up at a local scrapbooking store to try. I don't know if it's discontinued forever or only while Copic changes up their distribution. I used Spectrum Noir markers to colour up the image, noting the markers used on a scrap of cardstock. I used the Copic blender because I like it better.

After fussy cutting the image, I added touches of Spectrum Noir metallic marker to the flowers. I rather like these water-based metallic markers. They have two bullet nibs of different size and great colour and flow. I need to pick up the other set with metallic colours.

I did a dry layout of the items I decided to use in the card using a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" (A2) card panel as a size reference. I love the diamonds and dots on this lovely oval die. There are two nested dies with a separate outer edge die to cut a backing. This is the larger of the two ovals. The die set is only recently retired so it might still be available at some shops.

I stamped the base/inside sentiment on the white card using masking to do a 2 colour stamping for bluebirds of happiness with a red heart banner. I first masked off the banner on the stamp to ink up just the birds. I took off the mask to stamp then used the masking to cover the birds to ink up the banner. The key to using masking on a stamp to ink up just what you want is to remove that mask (which has ink on it) before you stamp.

I die cut the patterned paper and used Sticky Grid in my MISTI to hold it in place. I dry fit the image on the die cut to place the stamps. I used "Happy Anniversary" from the (retired) Let's Celebrate set, cutting the stacked sentiment in two pieces so I could place them side by side.

Can you spot the boo-boo I was about to make? I blame the lights... ("there are four lights!" well, actually only two, but..)

And.... I stamped. And.. I laughed when I saw what I had done. I die cut a new background, corrected (and re-aligned) the stamps. I'll use this boo-boo in a different way in the future. I might be able to cover it up with a die cutting from the inner nested die of the set.

To make the easel, I started with a strip of card stock 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" (half of an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet). I scored at 2 1/8" and 4 1/4". The card front gets attached to the first 2 1/8" section.

After scoring and folding the front, I added a light stencilling using the Happy Hearts, light pink and blue ink, and blender brushes.

I shifted the stencil between the colours for a subtle effect.

After layering the patterned paper over gold foiled cardstock, I adhered the bottom of the oval to the lower part of the card front.

I then added the skunk couple with foam mounting tape to pop them up from the background.

I trimmed the flower and banner sentiment into a strip to add to the inside/base of the card. I cut a thin strip of the gold foiled cardstock and used a trim die on it to add the dots. I added the gold strip to the sentiment strip to make a stopper for the easel to stand upright.

Closed, the oval extends past the top of the card base, but that's okay for a hand-delivered card but it would need a bigger envelope to be mailed. Both the stencilled pattern and the patterned paper are subtle but add more impact in person.

The inside of the easel has ample space for a personal sentiment (I added one with the gold metallic marker after I took the pictures).

Supplies

Challenges

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps: Easel card
Simon Says Stamp Monday: Anniversary or Wedding
Outlawz Sunday Songs and Rhymes: Shapes
Just For Fun: Use a Stencil
Crafting From the Heart: Anything Goes