I had so much fun designing this card, chock full of crazy cute dogs from the IndigoBlu Duke’s Gang stamp set<\/a><\/span> for my design team project for Topflight Stamps<\/a><\/span>! I couldn’t let Valentine’s Day pass without honoring all of our adorable and much loved fur babies!<\/p>\n

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I stamped out each dog image 2-5 times, masking dogs in the front before stamping the dogs behind them all the way around my card front, which I cut down to 5 1\/2″ x 3 7\/8″. Because I didn’t want any dog to be next to any other dog that looked exactly the same, I ended up doodling to add extra fur, extend the lengths of the bodies, or adding spots to some of the dogs to keep the dogs looking different. I probably didn’t have to worry so much about maintaining the linear differences since I was Copic coloring them in a bunch of crazy colors, but it was fun to add the extra variety anyway.<\/p>\n

<\/a>I used the following Copic colors to make the rainbow dog pack:
\nBlue dogs: B12, B16 and B18
\nPurple dogs: V12, V15, V17 and V09
\nYellow dogs: Y11 and Y15
\nOrange dogs: YR15, YR04 and YR07
\nRed dogs: R35, R37 and R39
\nBlue green dogs: BG11, BG13 and BG15
\nViolet dogs: RV02, RV04 and V04<\/p>\n

I colored the background with pale blues: B000, B00, and B01. Then to add a little depth and make the dogs pop a bit more from the background, I used Prismacolor colored pencils in Electric Blue (PC1040) and Copenhagen Blue (PC906) to add some deeper blues to the nooks and crannies of the background. I also colored some of the dogs’ spots and ears with a Sakura Black Glaze Pen<\/a><\/span> for some shine and subtle texture.<\/p>\n

This left a perfect open space for a sentiment in the middle of the card front. But rather than make a single layer card, I thought it might be more interesting heat emboss a sentiment onto a vellum strip that I could wrap around the whole card front. Fortuitously, the “You are Pawesome” scripty sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp You Are Pawesome stamp set<\/a><\/span> fit perfectly! I first prepped the vellum with the EK Success Powder Tool<\/a><\/span> then I inked up the sentiment with VersaFine Black Onyx Ink<\/a><\/span>. Then I used Recollections clear embossing powder to heat emboss and fix the sentiment in place on the vellum (ink tends to smear unless fixed like this).<\/p>\n

I secured the vellum in place by securing it on the back of the card front with tape and then popped it up on a sheet of fun foam for some added dimension.\u00a0 I found a strip of patterned paper in my scrap box that had “LOVE THIS” printed over and over and decided this would be a great way to accent the bottom of the card. To add a little shimmer, I also added a thin strip of silver glitter washi tape above this before adding the card front over top. For finishing touches and to hide where I tacked down the vellum a bit more, I added lots of sparkly silver sequins and tiny metal hearts.<\/p>\n

The following is a process video of putting together the card (this does not include the stamping and coloring):<\/p>\n