Cake Monster

Why do I always leave making cards for challenges until the end of the month? It’s not making the cards that’s the problem, it’s not even getting the photographs done — I’ve got that workflow sorted — it’s writing up the blog post to go with them. Actually, it’s more the “thinking about writing the blog post” that slows me down. I don’t know why, but it’s just one of those things that I procrastinate horribly about, even though it doesn’t actually take long to do when I finally put fingers to keyboard.

This card doesn’t look much like I thought it would when I started. I hadn’t planned on fussy cutting the monster out and I was originally going to add some background stamping. In fact, the only things that are the same are the monster and the sentiment. Let’s just say it evolved…

I normally colour critters in just a single colour, especially if I’m going to add fur texture, but I thought I’d challenge myself to see if I could create a spotted furry monster. I was going to take some process photos, but then I got absorbed in the process and completely forgot! I love the way it turned out even though it did look like a bit of a mess until it was nearly done.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned about colouring with Copic markers is to keep going (unless you’ve overloaded the cardstock, in which case let it dry and then try again)… things often look dreadful right up until they don’t.

The rest of the card was straightforward fussy cutting and die-cutting (as long as you ignore the half hour of indecision as I tried to settle on a layout). The only thing worth noting is the stars: they are from a pack of clear/silver stars and I coloured them with a dark pink Copic marker to match the monster.

[Note: the card is not dusty, the grey card is pearlised and I spritzed the black with glimmer mist, it just looks like dust in the photos…]

Challenges:

• Gerda Steiner Designs progressive challenge – August

Supplies:

• digital stamps:
  Gerda Steiner – I didn’t eat it (yet) birthday monster
• dies:
  My Favorite Things – arrow greetings
  Create A Smile – double stitched rectangles
  Creative Dies – scalloped ovals
• pens:
  Sakura Gelly Roll – white
• Copic markers:
  monster fur – R43, R39, RV13, RV25, RV29
  feet and horns – Y35, YR04
  cake – E71, R74, E77
  icing – T0, T2
• embellishments:
  Ranger glossy accents
  Irresistible pico embellisher – shimmer
  Imagine Crafts – shimmer spritz – frost
  Papermania – adhesive stars – iridescent silver and clear
• paper and card:
  Neenah solar white 216gsm
  Papermill Direct – pearlised – grey
  Papermill Direct – sandgrain – silver
  Hunkydory Adorable Scorable pearly shimmer
  black card