recently i joined twitter and while i'm still figuring it out and learning, i was excited to see an email today that mft tweeted about their wednesday sketch challenge. it's been one of my goals to take part in some of these challenges and i decided that today was the day!
last week we had to take one of our puppers, harley to the vet for a ruptured and infected anal gland [gross, i know] - but we are so grateful that our vet team was able to squeeze her in as quickly as they did, especially with all the distancing protocols in place. i thought i'd make them a thank you, from harley of course! the sketch challenge seemed like the perfect idea.
this is the sketch that was presented and ideally they'd like the maker to use their products. luckily for me, i happen to have a small army of supplies from them! so here is the card i created:
i die-cut a stitched rectangle and used a stencil to create the background by blending distress ink over the white cardstock. then i inked the edges a little to blend the color - i always like the way that this looks! because i'm me [and slightly ocd] i used the same stencil to ink the flap on the envelope so it would match.
freaking adorable, right? the front is plain so i'll be able to write their address with no problem.
back to the card details. i stamped and die-cut the chihuahua looking pup and then colored it in with prismacolor markers to resemble harley. those huge ears are right on point! using a white gel pen, i added the little line of white fur that trickles down her nose. just for reference, here's a close up and then a photo of what harley girl looks like:
such a happy doggo - and definitely smiling after the vet and techs fixed her up!
i raised the pup off of the stenciled background with mini foam dots for dimension. behind the die-cut is another new die-cut, "all the encouragement" speech bubble. instead of using one of the stamps that coordinates, i found a different mft stamp and repeatedly stamped the thank you message. i used a pinkfresh studio ink because i just love the color! it also perfectly coordinated with the patterned paper that i used to create the strips in the background.
a trick i learned a long time ago is to cut and trim your die-cut pieces when necessary, especially if they aren't long enough for what you have in mind. i cut out three strips from the stitch, sent, strips set using patterned cardstock from two mft paper pads. i trimmed them and assembled them so they'd hang out from either side of the main panel. i purposely staggered them a bit on the left side.
the stitched panel is raised off of the card base with foam tape, because you know i'm addicted to that. i really like the way the strips have faux-stitching on the right hand side and the way that it coordinates with the edge of the rectangular panel.
looking at it now, i think i should have used a slightly smaller rectangle to allow more of the background space to show through, but i still love the way it turned out. i think that the doctors, nurses and receptionists will enjoy it too. i often wonder how often they receive heartfelt thank yous?
i'm so happy that i tried to follow this sketch and i'll be linking this card up on the mft blog in case you want to check out some other incredible examples!
i hope you've had a wonderful weekend and that this upcoming week is good to you!
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products used:
cardstock - papertrey ink
patterned paper: summertime polka dots, plaid patterns, merry & bright - mft
die-cuts: stitch, sent, strips, stitched rectangles, all the encouragement, canine companions - mft
stamps: spotlight sentiments, canine companions - mft
stencil: staggered paw prints - mft
ink: versafine, pinkfresh studios, brushed corduroy distress ink
adhesive: scotch, scotch foam tape
envelope: gina k