This card was made as a Design Team card for Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch challenge #366 (http://trystampinontuesday.blogspot.com/) with an option theme of "critter crazy"
I had seen a card by Karen Barber on Pinterest that had a Panda in a wagon, but the only Panda and wagon stamps I had weren't scaled for one another. I remembered I had seen a technique where you could cut out a shape from fun foam (kids crafting foam), and using your heat tool to shrink it,,, so I had my solution!!!
I started by stamping the panda holding a balloon from the Stampin' Up "Party Pandas" stamp set onto a thin piece of white fun foam using Stayzon Jet Black ink. I used this because I was stamping onto foam, and wasn't sure how regular water-based inks would adhere to foam. Since there is so much solid black on the panda, I did this stamping using my MISTI so I could stamp it 3 times for a solid coating.
I then hand-cut the panda using tiny paper snips. Then using my heat tool and a paper piercing tool to hold the panda down, I heated the panda alternately on the front and back to keep the curl level until it shrunk down to the size to fit my wagon stamp. As the panda shrunk, it also concentrated the black to a nice solid color on the panda.
Next, I used the wagon from the SU retired 2002 "The Wheel Thing" to stamp on Whisper White thick cardstock using "Real Red" ink. I stamped a second wagon on the same cardstock using the black Stazon ink to create the wheels I would later punch out using a 3/8" hole punch.
I hand-cut the wagon using paper snips. Then used a Black Sharpie to color the wagon handle. I then used the black wheels I had punched out from the black version of the wagon and attached them over the top of the red wheels using Mini Glue Dots.
The oval die was used to die-cut the polka dotted shape from the retired "Go Wild" Designer Series Paper Stack. I cut a rectangle larger than the oval using the pattern on the reverse side of the dotted paper. The panel was matted with Real Red cardstock.
The panda was glued to the oval using Tombow glue, and the wagon was mounted over the top of the panda using adhesive foam strips to raise it up above the panda level. A red Sharpie marker was used to color the foam balloon.
Finally, the Happy Birthday sentiment from the SU stamp set "Perfect Pairings" was stamped below the matted panel.
I liked how I was able to make the panda smaller to fit the wagon, and will definitely use the technique on future cards. Because of the hand cutting (fussy cutting), and the need to shrink the panda, I'm giving this card a difficulty rating of "4". The shrinking wasn't hard, you just had to do it a bit at a time, and keep turning the panda over to keep "cupping" to a minimum.
Date: Saturday, April 21, 2018 GMT Views: 1154
Favorited:3
Paper: SU Whisper White Thick Cardstock, Real Red, SU Go Wild DSP Stack
Paper Size: A2
Ink: SU Real Red, Stazon Black Onyx
Accessories: SU Layering Ovals Framelits Dies, 3/8" Recollections Hole Punch, Red and Black Sharpie Markers, Heat Tool, Mini Glue Dots, Tombow Multi Liquid Glue, White Fun Foam, MISTI, Paper Snips