Tons of Love!

 I've been busily working on getting all of the Halloween decorations up in my home as well as outside! I've been sick for two weeks and if it wasn't for my sweet little kids counting on me to decorate, I can't say it would have gotten done! I am still putting the finishing touches on everything, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share a sweet little set of cards I created over the weekend.

I bought the Happy Hippos stamp set when it was first released and I FINALLY got around to inking it up! I used the coordinating Die Cuts as well.  My inspiration for this first card came from a simple notecard I saw at Papyrus while window shopping a month or so ago. It was an artists sketch of someone on a tight rope and I knew it would work nicely with some stamped images and die cuts as well. Since it is Halloween and all, I thought it would be fun to make a little costume for this sweet little hippo!

 I also used some new-to-me Die Cuts from MFT for the bold sentiment on this second card! I had so much fun putting both of these together. They are both very simple, but both use lots of fun techniques to make them feel special.

To begin, I did some ink blending using Spun Sugar distress ink onto a 4 by 5 1/4 inch piece of Bristol paper for a nice, smooth blend. I used a purple color on the second card in the same manner. They were both spritzed with a generous amount of shimmer spray for added shine. I knew that the tight rope card would be simple in design, so it is always fun to add something like shimmer spray to enhance the design without adding clutter. I chose to color this little hippo pink, since she is just as sweet as can be!

 The silver cord that I used as the tight rope is secured to the back of the white blended panel using scotch tape with just enough "give" that I could add some tension with the die cut. The foam squares on the back of the hippos foot are pressing the cord down to imitate the weight she is adding to the tight rope. I just couldn't resist adding the same effect to the balloons that I created on THIS card. I just love how it looks! Her little tutu is constructed out of a strip of white tulle and then gathered using my sewing machine. It is secured to the back of the die cut using glue dots.  A few iridescent pink sequins finish this design off as well as a silver embossed sentiment that is included in the stamp set. I felt I could use this card for many different reasons with a generic sentiment like this.

 This second design uses the same techniques as in the first. The "smile" sentiment is die cut 4 times and then glued together. Each letter is given the same treatment as the balloons and you can read about how I did it in the link I added above from a card I made back in September.

 These two hippos are colored gray for a more traditional look and I used an assortment of Prismacolor and Copic markers. I added a few of the fun accessories that are included in the stamp set to create a fun scene as well as some added interest. 

I heat embossed the "It's your day" sentiment onto a strip of pool cardstock and added it to the front using foam squares. Both card fronts are adhered to A2 card bases using lots of foam squares. Thanks for fluttering by!