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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sneek Peek @ Whimsy's About to be Released Monkey

Hi!
This is sneak peek week over at “Whimsy Stamps”.
I was given the new Monkey stamp to play with. It will be released for sale on June 1st, along with some others that I have not seen yet. Make sure and check out the other “Whimsy DT’s” blogs this week, to see their peeks!

I was a little nervous. I have never been involved with a companies newly released stamp before. I got to thinking about how my card will be the first time others will see the image. I wanted to make sure I did it right! Oh….the pressure! LOL! Anyhow, I painted the image a couple of different ways to see which one I liked best for the release. (I haven’t seen it in color yet either so there was nothing to sway my thinking) Of course I had to paint extra copies so I could “pop” the image for the 3D effect. The whole monkey is popped once, then his body, foot, nose, and fingers around the rope are popped again. Man was that a lot of cutting! ;) I should mention that the monkey on the stamp has no belly button or nipples (can I say nipples?) so I took some artistic liberties and added some in. You can do yours with or without.

I also had a couple of papers from my CRAZY paper stash that I could not choose between. The banana paper which of course lends itself quite nicely to the monkey image and then there was this pretty jungle leaf paper.
What do I do?... I make two cards. Then I had to figure out which “one” I wanted to use for the peek. You guessed it…I’m using BOTH!

I made smaller cards then I normally do because I thought the image needed to be in the upper left corner so I went with a 5” card for balance sake. I think if you added some tree braches and leaves that it would look awesome on a bigger size card and it could be centered more. I will try that next time!

The yellow card with the red monkey had me a little flustered at first. It just looked plain, even with the fancy leaf stitching. I didn’t want to add any more embellishments because it would cover that cute banana paper. I got brave and colored in the stitched leaves with water color. Talk about nerves…taking paint to a card that was already stitched and glued together. One slip of the bush and it would have been disaster!  After the last minute final touches I was very happy with how it turned out! Whew!



The green card with the black chimpanzee (see how versatile this stamp is?) didn’t need much embellishing either. That is the great thing about finding themed DP. It adds a lot to the card without needing too much embellishing. I wish I could tell you the name of the DP manufacturer but these were loose sheets from packs and not marked.



I am so glad that peek day is finally here! I usually post my cards as soon as I finish them. I did these just after Denise sent me the stamp...almost two weeks ago. The monkey is just so darned cute! I had do dive right in!

Thanks a whole “bunch” for “swinging” by to see what I have been “monkey’ing” around with lately! You all are “the bananas”! Sorry…I couldn’t help myself!

I would love it if you would leave a comment below and let me know which card you like best and why. Remember, you can click on the images to enlarge for better detail.

10 comments:

Deb said...

Amazing cards True, so love them, this little monkey is so adorable and he looks fantastic all popped out in 3d! Love all the stitching detail too particularly on the inside!
Have a great day, Debx

Boni Boutelle-Jones said...

Oh My True!! These are both AdorAble!! I love the 3D effect you put on your cards - they really come alive and your paper choices were right on - I would have done the same - LOL Two cards!!

~Denise Lynn~ said...

WOW True! These are fabulous! I love the way you've colored the monkey in two different ways and the details you've added to him with the coloring and 3D aspects. Fabulous detail in the stitching, both inside and out. Just AWESOME! :)

Anonymous said...

WOWZA girl!! These are really fabulous!! :) I just love the way you've cut them out and popped up each portion of the monkeys and even made them different colors!! Great work on the belly with the hair, button and nipples!! TEEHEE!! Beautiful cards as always dear!! :)

Dianne said...

True, these are adorable. I like the extra touches you painted on the monkey. You made them come to life. Love the inside too and your wonderful stitching.

Stampin Cats said...

Great cards. I like the sentiment on the green card, and love the colors of the yellow card.

Tonje said...

Oh my gosh is that monkey cuuuute! I think the yellow card is my favourite... or... no... the green one... no... uhh... they're both gorgeous. You must be tired of cutting out all those small pieces... but it turned out great though - it was well worth the effort!

Chelsea said...

Wow, that is alot of work! I love the colors and the intricate stitching. Great job!

:)Chelsea

milli said...

Your cards look great! Love how you've coloured the image, and the details are so sweet!

Hugs,
Camilla

Janice said...

Wow. The green card is definitely my favorite. Your coloring of the monkey is amazing!! So realistic looking.