Mermaid

Today's card was one of those put together VERY quickly.  I was going to a birthday party for my grand-niece and suddenly realized I hadn't made a card for her!  

Her party was mermaid-themed, and I knew I didn't have any mermaids in my stash.  SO, I went hunting on the internet until I found something that would work.  I printed it onto glossy card stock (unfortunately my printer ran out of magenta ink part way through, but got far enough that it worked - I just had to color her lips), and then die-cut the focal using a Spellbinder's die.  I used the die as a stencil to color in around the edges with a Sharpie.

I cut out two more shapes using the same die set.  On one I stamped a message; on the other I stamped the greeting (from two different HOTP stamp sets - "Birthday Greetings" and "Birthday Cheer") - addint the same "Sharpie" embellishments.  

For the card itself I found some pearl patterned card stock and created a two-piece step card (technique described here). I used the same dimensions that Lee did - one piece that was 8" x 6" and scored at 3", 6" and 7" - a second piece that was 8" x 3" and scored at 4".  I had at first thought I would make a center step card, but when I decided on the message I realized a side step would work better.   The two-piece structure allowed me to make that change with minimal effort.