Having a RUFF Day?

Hey All! Hope your weekend was a good one and your week is starting off in a great way! Before I start blathering on, make sure you stop back by in the next several days, because I have some fun new projects to share as well as a fun idea I'm going to launch, and a surprise or two. Now, on to the card for today!

I love how today's card turned out, but I'm telling you, boy did it take me forever to get it right! I know that when you first look at it you're going to think "Looks like an easy card to me. . ." But I'll explain. Here is the card:



Isn't he the cutest?!? There en lies my problem! I've got a close up of him below:



This is NOT what the original stamped image is supposed to look like. I wanted the image to look more like my Giant Schnauzers, and not like what the stamp was supposed to look like (I'll explain in a minute). The set is from Inkadinkado and is adorable. The sentiment is from the same set. You will see in the photo below, some of the stamp set. You see, the dogs in the set have "designs" on them which are cute, but I did not want them on this one. Also, the dog in the stamp set didn't look anything like a Giant Schnauzer, but was close enough so I thought I could do some "snippin" and some creative stamping to achieve what I wanted. Well, I got exactly what I wanted, but boy was it time consuming! Here is what the original dog looks like in the set:



(It's the one sitting above the word "woof". As you can see, he has spots, a long tail, big ear laying down, and a collar! Talk about a surgical makeover! I cut the tail off and then into two pieces. I also cut of the original ear which was not used. As you can see from the picture above, the top half of the tail I used for his new ear, and the bottom half of the tail was turned around, and stamped on the other side of him to give him the classic Schnauzer nubby tail. I then used a brush to "paint" in the dots and create a full neck without a collar (you can't see it because it is behind the bow). I then went around his cute new body with my brush to make him look fuzzy. I tied the bow around his neck, matted him on a Nestie scalloped circle that I stippled with the same brush and ink, then paper pierced the scallops, then matted that on top of a larger black Nestie scalloped circle. I matted that on top of a piece of red cs that I had stamped those cute bones on and then embossed them with clear embossing powder. I matted that onto white card and stippled the white edge with the same brush and ink. Finally, I stamped the sentiment on white cs, embossed it with clear ep, stippled it as well, cut it out and stuck it on the card with foam squares. The dog and white circle were also attached with foam squares for depth. And there you have it! It wouldn't take me long now to recreate it, but "performing surgery" on that stamp and figuring out how to reuse the pieces was certainly a puzzle. But I think the card was worth the effort!

Thanks for stopping by! I love it when you do! And please don't be a "drive by". Leave a comment just to say hi! I love to hear from you!

Don't forget the pic of the week below! I know that I recently posted a pic of a dragonfly, but this one is a little different, and he/she actually turned and faced me as I was focusing to take its picture. This gave a whole new shot I wasn't expecting! Enjoy!

Best,

Curt O'Brien
"God help me be the person my dog thinks I am."