You can call me friend, or you can call me "Peep"

This second card that I'm sharing today is a sneak peek for the Clear Dollar Stamp set called "Spring Critters", to be released on January 1st. I love, love this chick! And how contemporary is that sentiment? Laurie Wilson illustrated and designed this set, and she is so "hip"! She's my "hip peep!" LOL Okay, I'm beginning to sound old....time for the deets on this:

Stamp Sets Used: "Spring Critters"
Cardstock and Papers: Basic Grey Urban Prairie Designer Collection, Black Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock, Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor Paper
Inkpads: Stampin' Up! Barely Banana, Summer Sun and Baja Breeze Inks, Stazon Black
Markers: Signo Black and White Gel Pens, Marvy Multicolor Brush Markers
Accessories and Embellishments: Scor-It, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Argyle and Swiss Dots Embossing Folders, Fiskars Paper Shapers Scalloped Scissors, Regular Square and Scalloped Square Nestabilities Dies, Stampin' Up! Large and Small Oval Punches, Paper Piercing Tool, Stampin' Up! Mat Pack, Tsukineko Sponge Daubers, Basic Grey Mini Black Brads, Making Memories Black Grommet, American Crafts Dimensionals, Sewing Machine, Thread, Offray Grosgrain and Gingham Ribbon.
Coloring Medium: Marvy Brush Markers
Special Techniques: Dry Embossing, Sponging, Stacked Ribbon

DIRECTIONS:
The card base was cut to 5" wide x 10" high from Paper Trey White Cardstock, and scored in the middle and set aside. Three mats were cut to the following sizes: 4.75", 4-3/8", and 4.25". I ran the 4.75" square mat through the Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, to add texture, and likewise did the same with the 4.25" yellow square mat, using the Cuttlebug Argyle Embossing Folder and set aside. The vertical strip was made out of a 1-1/16" x 4.25" strip of coordinating Basic Grey Patterned Designer Paper, then a strip of 2" x 4.25" was cut out of Black Cardstock and then another was cut to 2-5/8"x 4.25" out of the Paper Trey White Cardstock. Using Fiskars Paper Shaper Scalloped Scissors, I hand cut along both sides of the white 2" wide vertical strip of paper, setting aside.

The image was stamped onto Strathmore Cold Press Watercolor Paper, using Stazon Black Ink. The image was colored by blending two yellows from a Marvy Brush Marker Set. The image was then die cut using the Cuttlebug and the Regular Square Nestabilities Die, sponging the edges heavily with Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze Ink. Using a Paper Piercing Tool and the Stampin' Up Mat Pack template, I paper pierced the upper left and lower right corners of the stamped image. A mat was cut using the Square Scalloped Nestabilities Die out of Black Cardstock, and another out of a turquoise coordinating Basic Grey Urban Prairie patterned paper. The three small square mats were glued together and set aside.

I glued the yellow embossed mat to the square black larger mat, to the largest patterned square mat. Using my Janome Hello Kitty Sewing Machine ; ) I stitched around the four sides of the largest patterned square mat and the yellow, embossed square mat. Then, I glued the patterned vertical strip to the black vertical strip to the white scalloped vertical strip, then glued them to the layered square mats, sewing the left and right sides of the vertical strip. I "x-doodled" each scallop of the stamped image mat, then popped up the layered image mats to the layers underneath using American Crafts Dimensionals.

The sentiment was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock using Black Stazon Ink. Using the Large Stampin' Up! Oval Punch, I cut out the sentiment and then cut a sentiment mat, using the Stampin' Up! Small oval punch on Black Cardstock. I lightly sponged around the sentiment oval using Stampin' Up! Barely Banana Ink and then again more heavily, using Stampin' Up! Summer Sun Ink. I "dot-doodled" around the sentiment black mat using a Signo White Gel Pen. Two Basic Grey Black Mini Brads were attached to the upper left corner of the card for interest. I attached the matted sentiment oval using a Making Memories Large Black Grommet, and threading Offray Stacked Ribbon through the hole and securing to the back of the card. Two bow knots were tied to the ribbon to decorate. The matted and finished card was then glued to the 5"x 10, scored Paper Trey White Card Base.