Spreadin’ A Little Love

I hope you’re having a lovely Saturday!

Today I’m playing along with the CAS(E) this sketch! challenge #266.  I’ve been following a couple of challenge blogs for a few months now, but yesterday and today are the first times I’ve played along.  I’m finding challenges to be a great way to get my creative juices flowing, and to learn about color combinations and compositions that I might not otherwise have thought of.  You can check out the CAS(E) this sketch! blog to follow along.

When I saw this sketch I immediately thought of the Create A Smile Hocus Focus stamp set that I have in my stash.  It has a variety of circular starburst stamps that I thought would be perfect for this challenge.

The next thing I thought of was the Little Girl Agenda stamp set from Mama Elephant.  I just love these cute little girls, especially the ones with their arms thrown out.  They just feel so cheerful to me.

I started by stamping three little girl images onto Neenah Solar White 80# Classic Crest cardstock in Copic-friendly Hero Arts Intense Black ink.  I used several colors of Copic Sketch markers to do some very basic coloring (YG17 and YG25 for the dresses and shoes, E53 for skin, R20 for cheeks, and E35 and E37 for hair and bear).  The images are so tiny that I finished in no time.  I die cut them out and set them aside.

For the card front, I used a 4.25″ x 5.5″ piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper.  I masked the top of the card off at an angle using Post-It Tape.  Then I used a foam blending tool to add Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  I added the ink more heavily near the Post-It Tape and then blended downwards, slowly fading out towards the bottom of the card front.  If you have trouble with blending regular Distress Inks as I do, try Bristol Smooth paper.  It makes me feel like a pro!

Then I removed the mask and stamped a starburst image three times along the edge of the inked area.  I used Versafine Onyx Black ink for both the starbursts and the sentiment which is from Mama Elephant’s Everyday Greetings stamp set.

To finish, I added foam tape to the back of the little girls and adhered them to the center of the starbursts and then glued the panel to the front of an A-2 sized card base.

Thanks so much for swinging by!