You Did It! with Stampin’ Up!’s Cheerful Critters

The very talented Joanne James is hosting this week’s challenge over at The Paper Players.  Since I didn’t get to play in Joanne’s last challenge, I couldn’t pass on this one.  This week’s colour challenge [that’s right, I said colour because that’s how Joanne spells it in Britain (and I respect her right to spell it wrong)] features three 2013-2015 In Colours -Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush and Pistachio Pudding.

Here’s my card:

Cheerful Critters, From the Herd, Bravo, Stampin' Up!, Brian King, PP240

And here’s the challenge banner that inspired my project:

Tips, Tricks and Reminders

  • Colour Blocking.  I wasn’t initially sure how I’d use these three colours together.  I started by bashfully colouring in the stripes on the bear’s shirt and his balloon, not sure how I’d incorporate all three colours.  Once I got over my shyness, I boldly colour blocked the rest of the card with the three colours, using large panels of bold colours to fill the space.
  • Inking Up.  The only “ink” I used on this card is VersaMark and Stampin’ Write Markers.  I stamped the bear, balloon and sentiment with Versamark.  I sprinkled each with Black Stampin’ Emboss Powder and heat them with my Heat Tool.  That made it super-easy to colour-in with my markers.  The Memento pad doesn’t work well with the Stampin’ Write Markers, and the StazOn doesn’t work well with photopolymers.  As such, heat embossing worked really well here.
  • Cuteness Overload.  These Cheerful Critters just might be the most adorable things on Earth.  There’s just something about this bear that screams, “Celebrate!”  Even though he’s holding a sign in the original image, it was super-easy to snip around the sign to add a balloon.  In a brutal act, I chopped off his other arm when I placed him in the corner of the picture.

Stamp Sets:  Cheerful Critters, From the Herd, Bravo  Papers:  Pistachio Pudding, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Basic Black, Whisper White  Inks:  VersaMark  Accessories:  Basic Black Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Stampin’ Dimensionals

I hope you’ll pop over to The Paper Players to play along with this week’s challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

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18 Comments

  1. Adorable! I agree with you – these critters are simply the best. Love the bold and fun colors together!

  2. You did it Brian. You used the word colour 10 times. This is an adora-bear card.

  3. Cute card Brian. You said “StazOn doesn’t work well with photopolymers”. Would you please elaborate on this. Why not use stampin up’s classic black? Can’t seem to remember the details about the classic black from stampin up.

  4. Awwwww…he is so cute ! I love these In Colors and your card does them proud !

  5. Oh, I have not inked up this stamp set yet and now I love it even more. Love the card and your use of the colors.
    🙂

  6. “In a brutal act, I chopped off his other arm.” Wow, better hope animal control doesn’t read your blog.
    Seriously, ADORABLE card. The colours do work nicely and your treatment makes them shine!

  7. Aww!! so cute, love the colors and the layout is fantastic, even if to achieve it, you had to resort to chopping up his little arm.
    I also want to say that Stazon doesn’t work on Photopolymer stamps to good but, I’ve discovered that, if you ink the stamp and stamp it on scrap paper several times, this kind of “cures” the stamp, then, ink it up again and stamp it onto your panel but, once you do this, grab your Stamp-a-majig and place it next to the block, lift your stamp and, if the image is not stamped right, ink the stamp again and with the help of the Stamp-a-majig, you can stamp it in the same place. It also helps a lot if your Stazon pad is really juicy.
    Happy Monday to you.

  8. O.K. Brian – so if you chopped the little guys arm off, who cleaned up the mess? LOL This is a great card for those “oh so hard to please” preteens. The character is so cute but not “cutesy” which would be way too childish yet the way the character is drawn it’s almost like the teen doodles we see all over their notebooks. I think once they get from 11-14 to 15 it’s pretty easy to make cards they like but those few little in between years can be pretty trying. LOL

  9. I love how your brain works! Great idea to embossing to avoid using staZon on photopolymer. Not crazy about the critters, yet I love this card!

  10. I agree with Katrina, I’m not crazy about the critters either. BUT I do love this card, the bold use of the featured colors is great! You may just convert me on those critters 🙂

  11. Selina Kilpatrick

    SUPER CUTE card! I just love it!

  12. And “You Did It” with this card – so fun and really appreciate the instructions. Now that I am not using Blendies, I was coloring with my markers and noticing that the ink from the Memento was kind of smearing. Great tips for embossing.

  13. Those colours are awesome together!

  14. This is just fantastic, Brian! I love the way you pulled the colors together on the card! This little fellow is so adorable! Thank you very much for joining us at The Paper Players this week! XXX

  15. Yay – you made it Brian! And not only did you join in my colour challenge, you did it in style! I love ❤ the colour blocking and the balloon makes this ‘armless’ bear a cute critter indeed! Thanks too for humouring my British eccentricity – I never even realised that I was doing the whole colour/color thing, but what can I say – you know I’m right lol

  16. Too cute! This is one fun stamp set, Brian and you totally inspired me to ink it up. Thanks so much for joining us this week at The Paper Players! 🙂

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