My Little Yellow Cottage

I am always amazed each time Clear Dollar Stamps comes out with yet another, whimsical, darling "Critter" stamp set. And this month is no exception. On April 1st, "Woodland Critters" will be available for purchase and it is as cute as cute can be. Several "critters" are included in the set: a fox, a raccoon and a deer along with some sweet sentiments. This particular sample of "Woodland Critters" was created for Laurie Wilson's Design Team Color Challenge: to use Black and White, with just a touch of a third color. I chose red, as it always pops against black an white. I had so much fun coloring the cutie pie raccoon and even more fun playing with all the black, white and red elements on this card. I'm sure that you will love "Woodland Critters" and it will be a great addition to your Clear Dollar Stamps "Critter Collection". For ordering information and more details about the stamp set, click here. And, don't miss seeing my fellow team designer's work on "Woodland Critters": Candy Fosta, Monique Hawrelluk, Kim Teasdale, Tori Wild. & Laurie Wilson.

Stamp Sets Used: Clear Dollar Stamps "Woodland Critters"
Cardstock & Papers: S.E.I. "Black Orchid" Designer Paper, Making Memories Black & White Polka Dotted Scrapbook Paper, Colormates Dark Berry Red, Generic Black Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Inkpads: Memento Tuxedo Black
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers: RV23 Pure Pink, BG000 Pale Aqua, C1, C3, C5 Cool Grays, 100 Black and Signo Red Gel Pen
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular & Scalloped Round Dies, EK Success Photo Corner Punch, Stampin' Up! Small and Large Oval Punches, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch, Adhesives, Zots, Scotch Pop Up Foam Squares, Sewing Machine, Thread, JoAnn's White and Black Square Brads, Making Memories White Mini Round Brad, Basic Grey Ambrosia Red Mini Round Brad, We R Memory Keepers Large Black Grommet, We R Memory Keepers Red Photo Anchor and Matching Mini Round Brad, "Bobbin" Red Varigated Ribbon.
Coloring Medium: Copic Coloring & Blending
Special Techniques: Basic Stamping, Machine Stitching, Paper Tole

INSTRUCTIONS:
A 5"x 10" card base was cut from Paper Trey White Cardstock and set aside. the card front was created using this method: A separate piece of Paper Trey White Cardstock was cut to 5"x5" and set aside. A piece of Sei "Black Orchid" Designer Paper was cut to 3-1/8"wide x3-1/8" high, and a piece of Making Memories Black & White Polka Dotted Scrapbook Paper was cut to 3-1/28" wide x 1-1/8" high, and a piece of Colormates Dark Bery Red was cut to 1-1/8" square. These three panels were then glued in place over top the 5" square white card front. I created the upper left White Photo Corner out of Paper Trey White Cardstock and the EK Success Photo Corner Punch, and then made the lower right Black Photo Corner with the same punch. Using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, I stamped the raccoon tracks vertically up the right white panel side, and highlighted with a Copic Sketch Marker, BG000 Pale Aqua. Using my Janome 3/4 Hello Kitty Sewing Machine, I stitched around each panel as well as the 4 sides of the card front using straight stitching and zig-zag stitching, and alternating black and white thread for contrast.

The sentiment was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I punched the stamped sentiment out using the Stampin' Up! Small Oval Punch, and then punched a mat for it out of Colormates Dark Berry Red with the Stampin' Up! Large Oval Punch. The sentiment was glued to the card front in place, and punching a hole with my Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, I placed a Large Black We R Memory Keepers Grommet to the left of the matted sentiment. I thread a piece of "Bobbin" Varigated Ribbon through the grommet hole running it around the back of the card, and then looping the end over and securing with a Making Memories White Mini Round Brad.

The raccoon was stamped onto Paper Trey White Cardstock twice and colored and blended with Copic Sketch Markers..One of the stamped raccoons was die cut using a Cuttlebug and the Nestabilities Regular Round Die, and the second stamped raccoon was handcut out for layering. The red image mat was made with the Cuttlebug and the Nestabilities Regular Round Die and the white scalloped image mat was made with the Nestabilities Scalloped Round Die. Using a Signo Red Gel Pen, I dot-doodled around each scallop point of the scalloped white image mat. Using Scotch Pop Up Foam Squares, I popped up the cut out raccoon overtop the die cut raccoon. Then I glued the the raccoon image mat to the red and the white corresponding image mats.

To add balance to the card, I embellished with the JoAnn's Black Square Brad and the Basic Grey Ambrosia Red Mini Round Brads on top of the punched White Photo Corner, and then added a JoAnn's White Square Brad to the bottom right Red Square mat. To keep the eye flowing from the upper right White Photo Corner to the image and then down to the sentiment, I added a We R Memory Keepers Red Photo Anchor and Matching Mini Round Brad pointing to the sentiment, which leads the eye down to the right lower corner to the Black Photo Corner.

The card was finished off by gluging the card front to the 5"x 10" white cardstock card base.