Monday, March 2, 2015

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

22 comments:

  1. Superb card and love the fun image and sentiment
    Thanks so much for sharing and taking part.
    Sarah xx
    Less is More

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  2. You make a great teacher, Toni! Thank you for all the awesome tips and tricks here! Your newly enhanced skunk made a wonderful and fun guy card!! Hugs, Darnell

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  3. LOL what a funny and stylish card Toni! Thanks for the tips too, will have to try to gt hold of some Elmers
    Thank you for joining us at Less is More
    Anne
    LIM

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  4. Great, informative post and a fun card!
    Thanks so much
    Chrissie
    "Less is More"

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  5. Ha ha,..great story!! And thanks for the enamel dots lesson too! And thank you for linking this card up to Seize the Birthday!

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  6. Your funny 'cat' story reminds me of a time when my Mum, my little brother and I were flying to Australia when we were very little. Amongst the airplane food was a salad filled with olives. I tried and tried to persuade my brother that they were cherries and that he should eat one. I nearly had him do it but they came and cleared the meals away. He was spared a very yucky taste!!! This card is fantastic and would be perfect for my husband. I really must try to make something for guys or maybe just guys who like flowers and gold!!

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  7. LOL!! This really made me laugh. Super texty background and matching image and sentiment. Love it. Thanks so much for playing along with The Male Room this week, sorry to be so late commenting!

    BTW - love the homemade enamel dots!

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  8. This is such a cute card! Thanks for the tutorial on making enamel dots too! :)

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  9. fantastic background paper, love the funny sentiment and your colouring is awesome. Brilliant masculine card. Thanks for joining us at The Male Room
    Louise xx

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  10. Super fun card - great coloring! Thanks for joining in at TMR!

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  11. Oh my gosh - this is so funny! Love it! Thanks for playing along with Seize the Birthday!

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  12. And love your card too - great colour combo and love googly eyes.

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  13. Love, love, love this Toni! So cute! Thanks for the tutorial!

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  14. Thanks for a great tutorial on making dots, I much prefer this to melting beads.

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  15. TFS this wonderful tutorial, Toni. I am definitely going to try this glue technique!

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  16. Hilarious card! Love the enamel dot tutorial! Cool - Elmers glue, hu? That stuff is actually useful for something???? Who would have known, if not for you! FABULOUS card, by the way!

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  17. Wonderful tutorial and so easy, great card too!

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  18. Such a funny and cute card and great tutorial!

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  19. Great tutorial! I have to try it! Very cute card, too! =)
    Lilian HOC DT

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Thanks so much for your comments. I really enjoy and appreciate them all!