Haven't I Seen You Somewhere Before?

That whimsical, fun monkey is back from Clear Dollar Stamps and this little guy will be released on November 1st. The monkey is included in a cute set called "Surprise Monkey".

In an effort to make a "guy birthday card", I whipped out my favorite monkey and decided to make my own "flap card". A challenge for sure, but nevertheless, a barrel full of (excuse the pun), monkeys!!

Dimensions: 4.25"x12.75" Card opens from diamond flap
Stamps: Clear Dollar Stamps "Monkey Surprise" Stamp Set
Techniques: Basic Stamping, Sponging, Faux Stitching, Paper Piercing, Prismacoloring with Mineral SpiritsPaper: Basic Grey Archaic Collection Designer Paper, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Ink: Stampin Up! Mellow Moss and Old Olive Inks, Adirondack Caramel & Pitch Black Inks
Tools: Nestabilities Regular Square Dies, Stampin Up! Large Oval Punch, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch, Tsukineko Sponge Daubers, Primsacolor Pencils, Mineral Spirits, Blending Stump
Embellishments: JoAnn's Antique Copper Decorative Brad, JoAnn's Brown Square Brads, Wright's Simply Creative Tassle

Instructions: I have no clue how the measurements of this card came about...but they sort of evolved. This card has a vertical orientation, and opens under the diamond shaped mat flap...you could even lift with the tassle. The upper flap opens first, then the lower flap, which is the bottom of the front of the card, opens up. To create this card shape, you need to cut a piece of cardstock 4.5" wide by 11" high. There are three folds to this flap card: fold at 4.5" from the bottom, from there score at 4.5" and then that should leave a 2" top flap. I cut the spotted Basic Grey designer paper to fill the bottom front card which measures 4.5" high by 4.25" wide. The coordinating designer paper was cut to 4.25" wide by 2" high. Those were glued down in place. I cut a coordinating sold brown strip of paper to mimic a border along the bottom of the top flap. The two "diamond" mats were made using Nestabilities regular square dies and my Cuttlebug.

The monkey image was stamped on the white cardstock mat using Adirondack Pitch Black Ink and colored with Prismacolor Pencils and blended with Odorless Mineral Spirts and a stump. I dot doodled around the 4 edges of the "diamond" using a Marvy Brown Felt-Tip Marker. The outer "diamond" mat was cut using coordinating green Basic Grey designer paper. I heavily sponged the 4 "diamond" edges with Adirondack Caramel Ink. I paper pierced along the same edges using the Stampin Up! Mat Pack and a piercing tool. Taking the same brown Marvy marker I "colored" each hole and then drew a line from hole to hole to create Faux Stitching.

The sentiment was stamped onto white cardstock using Adirondack Pitch Black Ink and then lightly sponged around the edges with Stampin Up! Mellow Moss Ink first, and then on the very edge itself using Stampin Up! Old Olive Ink. I glued the "diamond" double mat to the top flap of the card, at it's center points, attaching the oval sentiment to the lower right "diamond" edge. I embellished with a JoAnn's Antique Copper colored Square Decorative Brad that I turned sideways for a diamond effect, threading the Wright's Ecru colored Tassle through the brad hole and anchoring it to the underside before attaching the brad through the hole.

To finish this card, I cut a piece of white cardstock 4.25"x11" to line the card, but the lower part of the "diamond" mat and attached oval were still "raw" on the underside. So, I cut another square mat matching the size of the larger square "diamond" mat using the same Nestabilities square die and cut another large oval using the Stampin Up! Large Oval punch out of white cardstock each. I glued the diamond white mat to the underside of the front diamond mat, after glueing the oval white mat to the underside of the oval front mat. Once those two shapes were lined, I attached the 4.25"x11" white cardstock lining to the rest of the card. This lining is rather thick, so I use plastic coated paper clips to hold layers together while drying...usually in an hour or two, they are dry.