The "hole inspiration...

I have one more sample for the soon-to-be-released "Winter Eskimo" stamp set by Clear Dollar Stamps on January 1st. This card was a submission for a design team challenge to create a card with something transparent on it. So, after studying the eskimo stamp set, I thought...well, they do a lot of ice fishing, I think..so, let's make an "ice hole" out of shrinky dink stuff! That's the "hole" (LOL ; ) inspiration behind the card! Okay, now the deets:

Clear Dollar Stamps Stamp Sets Used: Winter Eskimo Stamp Set
Cardstock and Papers: Sandylion Designer Paper, Colormates Deep Terrific Teal Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock, Kraft Cardstock
Inkpads: Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise & Taken with Teal, Stazon Black, Versamark Watermark
Markers: Popcorn Pen, Bic Mark-It Teal Marker
Accessories and Embellishments: Scor-It, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Spots & Dots Embossing & Swiss Dots Folders, Nestabilities Regular & Scalloped Square Dies, SU! Large Oval Punch, , Marvy Mega Oval Punch, Tsukineko Daubers, Polyshrink, Heat Gun, Sewing Machine, Thread, Ranger White Embossing Powder, Prismacolor Pencils, Odorless Mineral Spirits, Blending Stumps, Basic Grey Twill Ribbon, Zots
Coloring Medium: "Gamsol Magic" Prismacoloring with Mineral Spirits
Special Techniques: Sponging, Dry Embossing

DIRECTIONS:
A 5"x5" card base mat was cut from Colormates Deep Terrific Teal and then embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder. Using Paper Trey White Cardstock, I cut another mat to 4.5"x4.5" and then background stamped the fishes sporadically all over it, coloring them with Prismacolor Pencils, and then blending with Mineral Spirits and Blending Stumps. When dry, I embossed the stamped, colored mat using the Cuttlebug Spots & Dots Embossing Folder. I cut a strip out of Sandylion dp to 1.75"x4.5" and glued to the stamped, embossed white mat. I over stamped the "Eskimo pattern" border down the edge of the Sandylion dp vertical strip. Using my Janome "Hello Kitty" sewing machine : ) , I stitched around all four sides on the large Colormates Deep Terrific Teal mat and the stamped, embossed/Sandylion dp combination mat.

The stamped image was stamped twice on Paper Trey White Cardstock and each were Prismacolored with Mineral Spirits and cut out and set aside. To create the background where the Eskimo girl is standing, I cut out a white square mat using Nestabilities Regular Square Die and then using Versamark Watermark ink, I inked the lower third of the background and then embossed with white embossing powder, setting with a heat gun. When dry, I sponged spottily the upper two-thirds of the background using SU! Tempting Turquoise and Taken with Teal inks. I created a scalloped mat for the background out of Colormates Deep Terrific Teal using Nestabilities Scalloped Square Die. Using a Popcorn Pen, I drew "ridges" in the snow and the using a heat gun, set the popcorn lines, which become puffy and 3D when dry.

I glued the first Eskimo card to the background mat allowing her head to "hang over" the top edge for added dimension and interest, and then popped up the second image over top the bottom Eskimo image, after added Popcorn Ink to her hat, coat cuffs and coat hem. Using polyshrink, I created an "ice hole" to highlight the fish, by cutting out an oval using a Marvy Mega Oval Punch and punching a large hole (allowing for shrinkage) for "fishing line", and then heated to shrink, using a heat gun. When dry, I hand colored "water" on the bottom of the polyshrink oval and set aside to dry. The "fishing pole" was created using a piece of brown kraft cardstock that was punches with the word window punch and then trimmed in half vertically. Then folding that in half, I colored it in olive green using Prismacolor pencils and then colored the fishing pole grip in brown, the same way. I punched a small hole through the top of the "fishing pole" to thread the fishing line through and down through the fish in the "ice hole".

The sentiment was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock using Black Stazon ink, and then sponged lightly first with SU! Tempting Turquoise and the more heavily, using SU! Taken with Teal around the oval edge. The Eskimo girl, matted girl was then popped up on American Crafts Dimensionals over top the background of the card, and then I tucked the sentiment oval (popped up, as well) under the that mat. The "fishing pole" was then anchored to the Eskimo girl's hand using a Zot dot. To embellish, I ran a strip of Basic Grey Twill Ribbon across the upper left corner of the card diagonally, tacking it to the back of the card base, and tying two bow knots to the strip. To finish the card, a 5"x10" piece of Paper Trey White Cardstock was scored in half, and then glued to the finished card base.