Peeking into the Woods...

Good Morning! Today, I am sharing a brand new set by Clear Dollar Stamps, being released on April 1st, called "Woodland Critters". You're going to love this adorable set, and it contains several new "critters" with coordinating sentiments and the possibilities are endless for this set! I have been inspired by our new CDS Team Designer, Shawne Arnold's knack for creating cards with super dimension and that catapulted me to create this dimensionals "Woodland Critter" card, using the Deer stamp. I enjoyed creating the layers and dimension to convey a whimsical and "magical" flavor to the card and have written the instructions for the card below. For more ordering information and more details about this 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: My Mind's Eye "Bloom & Grow" Coordinating Designer Papers, Colormates Dark Outdoorsy Olive Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Inkpads: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue & Baja Breeze Inks
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers: E02 Fruit Pink, E25 Caribe Cocoa, E27 Africano, E31 Brick Beige, E34 Orientale, C3, C5, C7 Cool Grays, Signo White Gel Pen
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular & Scalloped Oval Dies, Fiskars "Grass" Texture Plate, Sewing Machine, Thread, Stampin' Up! Mat Pack, Paper Piercing Tool, EK Success Corner Rounder Punch, Karen Foster Click-It Hole Punch Kit, Tsukineko Sponge Daubers, Cloud Template, Adhesives, Scotch Pop-Up Foam Squares, All Night Media Mini Pop Dots, Making Memories Decorative "Button" Brads, We R Memory Keepers Xtra Large Eyelet, Walmart Heart Charm, Offray Satin Ribbon, Orange Jewelry Twine
Coloring Medium: Copic Coloring & Blending
Special Techniques: Basic Stamping, Machine Stitching, Paper Tole, Dry Embossing, Sponging

INSTRUCTIONS:
A 5"x 10" card base was cut from Paper Trey White Cardstock and set aside. Three square mats were cut to size: orange card front to 5" wide x 5" high, teal floral mat to 4-3/8" wide x 4-3/8" high, and the interior multicolor floral mat to 4" wide x 4" high. Using the same orange coordinating designer paper, I cut a strip by hand using an Xacto knife and straight edge to 4" wide x 1: high. Using an EK Success Corner Rounder Punch, I clipped all 4 corners of the three mats, as well as the card base. I glued the 3 square mats together, and then glued the orange horizontal strip across the bottom third of the card front. Using my Janome Hello Kitty Sewing Machine ; ) I machine stitched around all 4 sides of the 3 square mats, as well as across the orange horizontal strip, along the top and bottom.

To create the sentiment tag, I cut a piece of Paper Trey White Cardtock to 1.75" wide x 3/8" high, then stamped the sentiment using Memento Tuxedo Black Ink. I sponged the edge of the sentiment tag using a Tsukineko Sponge Dauber and Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze Ink. Using a Stampin' Up! Mat Pack and a Paper Piercing Tool, I paper pierced around the 4 sides of the sentiment tag. I embellished the sentiment tag using Making Memories Decorative Orange "Button Brads".

The main stamped image was created in the following steps. I stamped the deer twice onto Paper Trey White Cardstock and colored both using Copic Sketch Markers and blending the colors. I cut out one of the stamped, colored deer and the other deer I cut out using the Nestabilites Regular Oval Die. After cutting out the die, I hand cut the 3-layered grassy area out of Colormates Dark Outdoorsy Olive Cardstock, and then embossed them using a Fiskars "Grass" Texture Plate, and then to add a little focus to the dimension of the embossing, I sponged "Stampin' Up! Old Olive ink lightly over the three layers of cut out grass. Using the same Nestabilities Regular Oval Die I cut the 3 grass embossed pieces to fit the bottom of the stamped, colored deer image. Using Scotch Pop-Up Foam Squares, I layered the 3 grass embossed pieces in place on the stamped image oval. Using a Tsukineko Spong Dauber and a Cloud Template (homemade), I sponged clouds above the grassy area of the stamped image oval using Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue Ink. The cut out and colored other deer image was then adhered overtop the other deer using the same Scotch Pop-Up Foam Squares. These foam squares really add a lot of height to the dimension, and the beauty of these, is that they fold flat when mailing, and then pop right back up when the card is opened! I cut a teal mat for the stamped image oval using more coordinating My Mind's Eye "Bloom & Grow" designer paper and the Nestabilities Scalloped Oval Die. I adhered the popped up deer oval to the scalloped mat, and then to the card front. Using the same foam squares, I added the sentiment tag overtop the lower right edge of the stamped, popped-up deer image. The card was finished off by glueing the card front to the 5"x 10" white cardstock card base.