So Stinkin' Cute

This was such a fun card to make!   Masculine cards can be hard so I usually fall back on making it cheeky.   A good pun always makes me happy as does coloring lately.  There's just something about breathing life into a line drawing with color and shading that I find really satisfying.  This one especially given the black.  Yay, me!

There are a few things to note on the card that made it especially fun for me.

1. The original image stamp looked more like a raccoon head on top of a skunk's body to me so I used my Exacto to perform some cosmetic surgery.  Then when I was coloring I created the white stripe down the nose.
2. I created my own background by stringing together words from the skunk set.  I love how this turned out.  Lesson learned that it's best to offset the phrases by a word or two only.
3. I also created my own dots by coloring Enamel Accents and Elmer's glue.  

• Step 1:  Grab a piece of waxed paper or parchment.  I prefer waxed paper on a clipboard for easy toting.
• Step 2:  Dab the paper with dots of Enamel Accents (shown above).  Allow to dry completely.  I take the whole lot on the clipboard and put it somewhere the cat can't reach
• Step 3: Using alcohol ink, color the dots.  I tried a combination of dropping Adirondack alcohol inks (lovely shine remains), dabbing with a cotton swab (matte but good intensity), and Spectrum Noir alcohol markers (a really juicy marker gave the best results on Enamel Accents)
• Elmer's Glue:  White glue is a good (and cheap!) option for making your own dots.  You follow the same steps as above.  The glue dots will dry flatter and remain translucent with a matte finish after you color them.  See the two smaller dots on my card.

Funny story if you made it this far:  Growing up we had a woods and went back there to muck about as children do while the parents were gathering mushrooms.  Well, when my kid sis was maybe 3 or 4, she spotted a "cat" and immediately tried to coax it to her--"here, kitty kitty".  Luckily the "cat" ambled off and my kid sis (and the rest of us) were spared a very stinky lesson.

The Details:  Sweet Stamp Shop Stinky Skunk, Waffle Flower Bowtiful ("It's your"), PTI Movers & Shakers sentiments ("birthday"), Lawn Fawn Grassy Border die, Simon Says stitched rectangle die, Hammermill Color Copy 80lb Photo White Cover Stock, Recollections white 110lb cardstock base, Hero Arts Lime Green, Memento Tuxedo Black, Spectrum Noir GG3, GG4, GG5, CG2, IG1, blender,  black Sharpie, Sakura white pigment pen

I'm entering this in Seize the Birthday Masculine, The Male Room 04-15 Create Your Own Background Paper, and Less Is More #213 This Makes Me Happy