To wrap up World Card Making Day 2017 (which I have celebrated for a whole week – LOL), I decided to ink up the odd little meditating monkey from the Katzelkraft Jungle Animals stamp set<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0To capture him in his full meditative glory, I decided to give him a decorative aura or halo using an old Just Rite Stamps Doilies & Laces stamp set.<\/p>\n

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I first stamped out the monkey using VersaFine Onyx Black Ink<\/a><\/span> onto Strathmore Bristol Paper<\/a><\/span>. Then I stamped him out onto a post-it note and fussy cut that out to make a quick mask. Placing the post-it monkey on top of the VersaFine monkey, I next made my own background aura\/halo by inking up a decorative doily stamp with the following Tim Holtz Distress Markers Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China<\/a><\/span> and Blueprint Sketch<\/a><\/span>. Although the Broken China turned a little green mixing with the Spiced Marmalade, I was able to bring in the light blue again by adding a round of dots around the doily. Actually, I added Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Brok<\/a>en China dots all around the doily to give a feeling of radiating shimmer. I also softened the stamped lines and added points to the doily a bit by blending out the ink with a Fine Pentel Waterbrush<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

For the monkey, I used Antique Linen<\/a><\/span> for the face and belly and Vintage Photo<\/a><\/span> for the rest of the body. For the headdress and feather earring, I used more Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and Festive Berries<\/a><\/span>. Lastly, to ground the monkey, I used Hickory Smoke<\/a><\/span> to create the essence of a floor.<\/p>\n

I used the largest of the My Favorite Things Stitched Rectangles STAX Die Set<\/a><\/span> to cut out this card front and then matted it on dark blue cardstock and a thin matting of yellow copy paper before adhering it to a white card base. For the inside liner, I used more yellow copy paper to stamp out a sentiment that I hope will let the recipient (who is attempting something scary, innovative and challenging) know I’m thinking of them. It’s from the Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Life’s Possibilities Stamp Set<\/a><\/span> and reads, “to be all that is possible, we must attempt the impossible. to be all that we can be we must dream of being more.” I hope this silly monkey card will bring a smile to the recipient’s face and be an encouragement to him as he tries to find a totally new solution to something (definitely not found on Google – lol).<\/p>\n

The following is a watercoloring process video of creating this card:<\/p>\n