Designer Creative Challenge – Birthday Card Stash

This week at Craftin Desert Divas we’re talking about ways to build your birthday card stash. I’m taking part in the Designer Creative Challenge, which is to make a birthday card. Visit the Craftin Desert Divas blog to see the fun and fabulous birthday cards the other participating members of the design team made.

First I sized and positioned the llama, from Oh My Llama, along with a sentiment which I created using the font Trajan Pro. I then printed them onto alcohol marker friendly paper. I’ve been having some printer issues lately, where smudges or smears appear in the areas the should be white. It happened with this image so I reprinted it to get a less smeared version. This actually ended up working in my favour though!

After printing I started on colouring the images with my Spectrum Noir Illustrator markers. I coloured the flower arrangement on both versions of the printing. I used pink the flowers, purple for the berries, teal for the smaller leaves and yellow-green for the larger ones. I then fussy cut out the arrangement from the more smeared print out – even around the tiny leaves! – and set it aside.

Next I worked on colouring the llama on the print-out that was less smeared and which I would be using as my base. I used some dark browns to colour the face and ears. I didn’t colour the fur of the llama as I knew it would be covered up.

After finishing the colouring I grabbed my Marvy Snow Pen. I gave the pen a good shake, pumped it on to a piece of scratch paper until it started flowing, then coated the entire fur area of the llama with it. I then heat set it using my embossing heat tool, which caused it to dry and bubble up, giving a fun textured appearance.

I used foam tape to adhere the fussy cut flower arrangement over the arrangement on the main panel. Adding this dimension allowed the card to maintain the look that the llama was behind the flowers. Having coloured the flowers below meant I didn’t have to fussy cut the little berries out. Plus I felt it looks better as the arrangement beneath may be slightly visible when the card is viewed at an angle.

As a final touch I went on with my white gel pen. I used it to whiten up the highlights on the eyes and add a highlight to the nose. I also used it to go over any areas where my printer had smudged ink to make it less noticeable.

I really love how this card turned out. The llama is so cute, and the texture on it is really fun. The issues with the printer were frustrating – we’re looking into replacing it as the troubleshooting we tried hasn’t helped. I did also notice when editing the photos that actually my image is off centre. I think maybe I’d accidentally moved it in the document before doing the reprinting. Need to make sure I double-check such things in future!

Using the snow pen on the llama’s fur really helps to speed up the process of making this fun birthday card. It is much faster than colouring the fur with markers. The card could be sped up further by skipping the popped up version of the flower arrangement, and only using the one that is flat on the original panel. I hope you enjoyed this birthday card, and do head over to the blog to see what ideas the other Divas have for you.

Love,

Lady Joyful

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Don’t forget to check out the Craftin Desert Divas sale!

Challenges included:

Addicted to Stamps and More – CAS

Paru’s Card Making Challenges – Birthday

The Paper Players – Celebration

The Paper Shelter – Celebrate