March Pink Cat Studio Challenge hosted by ME

It is my time to host a challenge for Pink Cat Studio. This challenge is a little different then the earlier challenges by the Design Team since it is hosted on the Pink Cat Studio blog. Here are the details:

The Either / Or / Or And Challenge

The challenge means you have to make two choices:

1. What kind of card are you going to make:

There are two happy occasions to celebrate at Pink Cat Studio this month. The first one you already know... we've gotten ourselves a little one!! The second is that Pink Cat Studio celebrates its fourth year this month!! I thought both of these occasions would deserve a card but which one to use for my challenge.

YOU DECIDE!! Create EITHER a birthday card OR a card to celebrate a new baby

2. Either layer your image and/or use stitches:

I thought it would be nice to let you use a technique I like to use myself. The two things that I use frequently on my cards are the layering of an image and stitches. You can use one of these techniques or both, that's up to you, as long as one of them is used.

With the layering of an image I mean stamping your image several time and cutting out little parts to pop up on your image. You can do this with all kinds of materials like pop up glue, foam cubes or pop up glue dots. It's really making 3D cards with your stamps. On the bottum of this post I have posted extra pictures of the making of my card for this challenge to show you how I layer my images.

I think stitches on your card should speak for themselves. You can use a machine or by hand, you can do straight lines or you can embroider, just use REAL stitches please. If you decide to stitch by hand (as I always do) my advice is to first make little holes with a piercer

YOU DECIDE!! Use 3D layers in your stamped image AND/OR use stitches

Date the challenge ends:

Monday, April 20th, 5 pm EST

Requirements:

A Pink Cat Studio stamp must be used as the main stamp on the card. It is okay to use stamps from other companies as well.

To be eligible for the prize you must leave a comment on the Pink Cat Studio blog in the contest post. In your comment provide a link to your card. Your card can either be displayed on your blog or in an online gallery. You may enter only 1 project for this challenge.If you have questions about this challenge, please post them as a comment on the Pink Cat Studio blog in the contest post.

Prize:

This contest will be judged by the design team. Since this is my challenge, I will select my 3 favorite cards and then the DT will vote for a winner. On April 22nd, the winner will be announced on the PCS blog. The winner will receive a grab bag of Pink Cat Studio stamps. Some cards from the challenge may be displayed on the PCS blog.

And here is my card for this challenge:

Of course I had to use one of the stamps of one of the new Sweet Pea sets. I just love this cute enchanted Sweet Pea. Remember the new sets can be found HERE. And since Melissa has set the deadline very far away you could order these stamps for yourself and use them for the challenge as well.

As promissed here are my pictures of the layering of the image:

First I stamp the image several times and colour different parts that I want to cut out and pop up. Then I cut everything out. Next....

I take a black marker and colour the edges of the paper. I hope the picture above is clear about what the difference is between coloured and uncoloured edges. The flowerleaves on the left are coloured and the once on the right are not. It takes a bit of time but believe me, when you layer the image this does make a big difference.

Here are the different cut out pieces.

And here I have mounted them together, this shot shows the layers and the next shot...

Shows the image from above, mounted and ready to be used on my card.

Hope some of you will find these pictures helpfull :). Can't wait to see what you do with my challenge!! Have fun!!

xxx

Mariska