Think Big

I made this card combining Mercy’s latest sketch challenge and Julee’s Ready, Set, Stamp challenge to use Verve’s Up, Up & Away stamp set. It would be perfect to congratulate a new graduate on their fabulous achievement.

I started by stamping the set’s cloud and round balloon images on a circle panel. I dressed up the cloud with some sparkly glitter and paper pieced the balloon with some sparkly striped paper. The sky background is sponged in with a bit of blue ink—Chloe the cutie puppy was asleep at my feet while I was working on the card, otherwise I would have pulled out my air compressor and Copic markers for the background. No way was I waking a soundly sleeping puppy!

I paired the image with a combination of patterned papers from DCWV’s Citrus Matstack in greens, blues, and oranges. It’s a fresh, summery combination. The sentiment is stamped in black on one of the patterned panels. It’s kind of lost in the pattern, but I was out of time (meaning Chloe had woken up) once I’d stamped it, so it stayed. Instead of using a scalloped strip as an embellishment, I wrapped a piece of grosgrain ribbon around the panel underneath the image and secured it with a piece of twine and a button as a fun twist.

I meant to write a little puppy kindergarten update after yesterday's class, but forgot. We're halfway through the class and I'm realizing that Chloe the cutie puppy is a real training challenge. During the class, everyone took a turn at putting their puppy on a very long lead, letting them walk in the opposite direction, then calling them back and having them return. Chloe totally and completely bombed this task. First, she lay down and wrapped herself in the lead and was totally tangled up, showing no interest in walking. Once I disengaged her paws and teeth from the lead, she was off--and didn't want to come back. Everyone else's dog responded when called, but not mine. She was happy to wander off through the place. She is one strong-willed little bugger! The trainer has realized that she's pretty high energy and tried to reassure me that some dogs are just very high energy (like mine) and that you don't want to break their spirit (which I don't want to do), but I want her to be well-behaved. I bought my own long lead at the end of class and plan to practice with her during the week in the grassy area behind my house. Hopefully, we'll see an improvement soon . . .

Materials Used:
Up, Up & Away and Great Expectations stamp sets (Verve Stamps); white cardstock (Xerox), Tuxedo Black ink (Memento); markers (Copic); Spring Moss cardstock, Spring Moss grosgrain ribbon, Orange Zest button, twine (Papertrey Ink); Bashful Blue Classic ink, Pumpkin Pie and Tempting Turquoise cardstock, Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin’ Up!); Citrus Matstack designer paper (DCWV); circle and scalloped circle dies (Nestabilities); foam tape