Just like that, you too can make a magical card like this one with the Abracadabra stamp and die sets from My Favorite Things Stamps.

Creating Our Magical Images

To begin with, we’ll stamp out our images onto white cardstock. And, we’re going to use light brown ink because we don’t want the outlines to be too stark. Once we’ve got our stamping done, we’ll start to color using colored pencils.

The trick to this type of coloring is to only add the colors to where you think the shadows should be. I like to do all the coloring with pencils first. And then, I’ll paint over them with my water brush. To demonstrate, we’ll drop the tip of the brush down to where the pigment is. And then, once it begins to react with the water we’ll begin to draw it out over the surface of what we’re painting. As a result, we get a nice gradient of color from dark to light. Furthermore, if it gets too light, you can always layer more pigment and repeat the process once the first layer is dry.

Finally, when everything is dry we’ll cut out our images with the coordinating dies.

Setting The Magical Stage

Now, we’re going to make a stage for our little critters to perform on. The way we are going to do this is to use an arched die that will provide the draperies and floor (if you use your imagination). To do this, we’ll cut center the arch die from an A2 size (4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″) piece of cardstock that matches the card base. And then we’ll cut it out. We can set aside the piece we cut out for another project because we’re going to use the “frame”.

And then, we’ll use our card base for the background. But first, we’ll do some blending to ground our little magical critters. We’ll do this by using light beige ink and just lightly blending it across the bottom quarter of the card front using circular strokes.

Sentiments and Stars

Before I add my sentiments and attach things, I like to arrange everything just the way I want them to be. That way, I’ll know exactly where the sentiment can be best placed on the card. And in this case, we’ll also know where the little stars need to be.

Then we’ll place the card with everything on it in our misti mini.  After we do that, we’ll set our stamps in place and close the lid to pick them up. Then, to save our arrangement, we’ll use a piece of peel-n-stick to lift the critters in the positions we’ve arranged. We do this by placing the peel-n-stick over the card, sticky side down. Then we’ll lightly rub the peel-n-stick into the images. And next, we’ll lift it up and turn it over once we’re sure everything has been attached.

OK, now we’re ready to do our heat embossing. First, we’ll brush our card base front (the one we blended the stage floor on) with Cottontail  anti-static powder. We do this to make sure that the embossing powder only sticks to where we want it to.

Now, we’ll load up our stamps with Versanark watermark ink, and then we’ll close the lid and stamp our images. Next, we’ll sprinkle gold embossing powder and then give it a tap to remove all stray powder. Afterwhich, we’ll melt the powder with our heat tool until it’s smooth.

Assembling The Magical Card

The first thing to do to complete our card is to pop up the piece that we cut the arch from with some foam tape. We do this to give our card some dimension.

Now, we’ll carefully turn over the peel-n-stick sheet with our critters on it. We’ll remove them from the sheet. And then, we’ll attach them to the card. To demonstrate how we’ll do this, we’ll attach some directly to the card front with bearly art glue. Some we’ll pop up with foam tape to make them look like they are in front. And we’ll glue the little birds to the arch.

That’s it for our cute little card. Isn’t that fun?

Supplies

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• Cardstock: Card base – Taylored Expressions Blue Corn; Stamping panel – Neenah Classic Crest 80lb Solar White
• Stamp: My Favorite Things Abracadabra
• Dies: My Favorite Things Abracadabra; Scrapbook.com Essential Arches
• Ink: Distress Oxide Antique Linen; Altenew  Mocha; Watermark Ink – Versamark or Ranger Emboss It
• Water Reactive Colored Pencils: Derwent Inktense Poppy Red, Sun Yellow, Iris Blue, Ink Black, Neutral Gray, Outliner, Baked Earth, Saddle Bronze, Mustard, Willow, Sicilian Yellow
• Waterbrush: Altenew Large Watercolor Brush
• Embossing Powder: Sizzix Gold
• Stamp Positioning Tool: Misti mini
• Blending Brushes: Gina K Designs Large Blending Brushes
• Anti-static Tool: Cottontail Embossing Powder Tool
• Heat Tool: Sizzix Dual Speed Heat Tool
• Adhesives: Scrapbook.com Double-sided Adhesive Foam Sheets; Gina K Designs Connect

For More Fun Card Ideas…

Check out HOW TO MAKE A NORDIC BIRTHDAY CARD and HOW TO ROCK AN OUT OF THIS WORLD CARD.