From The Heart Stamps Monthly Challenge

Hello Friends! It's time for my card share for the From The Heart Stamps Monthly Challenge. This is a monthly challenge where everyone is a winner. All we do is create a card with the digital stamp of the month and then the following month, we receive a new digital stamp for FREE! It's a win win! And as soon as you're finished here, please buzz over to From The Heart Stamps, because there are some super cute digis over there and you just have to see them for yourself!

Okay...this month, we were given the Cozy Kittens set. Sooooo very cute. Two adorable, cuddly kitties and FOUR sentiments, including I Love You which can be used on many other projects. AND, don't forget, I got this for FREE, just by participating in the challenge last month. This set is also for sale in the online shop.

And here is the card I created...

I printed the images onto Bristol, using the 'fast draft' setting. Then, as I always do, I went over the image with a kneaded eraser. I do this because the eraser lifts off excess ink without smearing or leaving shavings or residue behind. Then, I gave the image a blast with my heat tool. Here is a picture of a kneaded eraser. It can be 'kneaded' into whatever shape you like and once it gets dirty, just keep kneading it and it self cleans. These are really nice, a throwback to my college days when I was in design class. I purchased mine from Hobby Lobby, but I am sure they can be found in any art supply store.

Baaaack to the card...Bristol is not watercolor paper, so I used a damp brush to  move the color around. My technique of choice with the Zigs is a bit different than the one I use with Distress markers. With the Zigs, I lay down color where I want the darkest areas(shading) to be and then, using a damp brush, I start painting in the white area of the image and pull color into it. This way I can make sure I keep my shading and that it gradually gets lighter. After all of the watercoloring was finished, I popped the image back into the circle die and lightly dusted the edges with Tumbled Glass Distress ink.

I added sparkly accents using a Clear Stardust glitter pen and I put a touch of Crystal Effects on their little noses. Then I scattered a few die cut hearts around, went over them with a Clear Wink of Stella and gave them a coat of Glossy Accents, which turned out to be a HUGE mistake, because it changed the color of the card stock and made it darker. I die cut the hearts from the same color card stock that I used on the front of the card and just look at the difference! And that is why I rarely use Glossy Accents! Ugh! I'm going to toss it in the garbage. Crystal Effects does not change the color of things.

I finished the inside of the card, too. Really very simple, but always makes for a nice presentation. This sentiment is also included in the digi set.

You can see here that I did the same thing with the hearts. They actually look black on my monitor. I can assure you, they are not black...more of a deep burgundy with lots of sparkle.

And that is that! Thank you for stopping by! I appreciate the visit!

Blessings~


supplies~
digital stamp: Cozy Kittens(From The Heart Stamps) 
card stock: Bashful Blue, Cherry Cobbler(Stampin' Up!)
patterned paper: Love Me 6x6 paper pad(My Minds Eye)
specialty paper: Bristol Smooth(Strathmore)
ink: Tumbled Glass Distress(Ranger)
dies: Stitched Rectangle, Stitched Circle(Simon Says Stamp)  Hearts(Lawn Fawn)  Stitched Journaling Card(Lawn Fawn)
coloring medium: Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens(Kuretake)
bling: Clear Stardust glitter pen(Sakura)
other: Crystal Effects(Stampin' Up!)  ribbon(Offray)