Altered Caffeinated Critters

By special request, I made this hysterical slimline card for MaryAnn, from The Rabbit Hole Designs. We were laughing one day and she said she’d love to see a card with the Caffeinated Bee spraying a can of Raid® bug spray at the Caffeinated Spider. I thought the idea was fantastic and filed it away in my “to make” folder. When the Sassy Birthday 2 sentiment stamps were released, there was one I knew would bring my card together perfectly. 

This card was actually very easy to make. I started by lining up the bee and spider in my Misti. I used some masking tape to mask off the coffee cups in the spider’s hands and most of the cup in the bee’s. I inked up the stamps with black ink, removed the masking tape, and stamped the images onto a slimline panel (4″ x 8½”). Because so much of the spider’s arms are touching the coffee mugs, I cleaned my stamp and inked the entire spider image again with Fadeout ink. I knew I was going to ink blend a dark sky around the images, so I could “edit out” any of the Fadeout inked areas I didn’t want in the final scene. (That’s another trick I learned in Kathy Racoosin’s coloring classes!) Then, I traced over the rest of the spider’s legs with a black Copic liner pen (0.3). I drew the can of bug spray in the bee’s hand too. 

Next, I cut out masks of the bee and spider to prep for ink blending. To get the bug spray can mask to match, I held the panel up to a light, put the memo tape masks over the images, then traced around the can, before cutting them out. Once the images were cut out, I stuck them back on top of the panel, and cut a triangle mask to cover the spray area. 

I used a makeup brush with Faded Jeans, Blueprint Sketch, and Black Soot Distress Oxide pads to ink up the background. Once I was happy with the colors, I pulled up the triangle and blended on some Stormy Sky ink. I used a heavier hand on the right of the spider, to make the spray look like it was dissipating into the background. It was a hot mess at this point, but wait until the masks come off…

My masks aren’t coated, so I removed them from the spider and bee to spritz water onto the background. (If the masks get too wet, ink can bleed through them onto the images.) After I absorbed the water with a towel, I put the masks back in place and lightly misted shimmer spray over the top. (I didn’t want to contaminate my Copic markers with shimmer when I colored the critters.) Then, I removed my masks again and let the panel dry. 

Micah said I should leave the panel with the images in black and white, but I decided to color them anyhow 😉 I used Copic markers. I freehanded the bug spray label and added a line down to the spider. Then I embossed the sentiment with white powder. I trimmed the panel down, then rounded two corners and popped it up on a navy card base. I glued on a few sequins and added sparkle to the eyelids and wings with Liquid Pixie Dust. To finish the card, I coated the eyeballs, bug spray can, and sequins with Diamond Glaze.

I love the way this card turned out! It’s funny, the scene was simple to create, and did you notice – it’s flat! I made a (mostly) one-layer card! Okay, it’s popped up off the base with foam tape, but the scene is flat and I didn’t add any die cuts on top. (If I’m being honest, I wanted to add a die cut tree silhouette on the right side of the card, but I forced myself to keep it simple, so the focus stayed on the critters.) What do you think? I can’t wait to give it to MaryAnn 🙂 Have you altered any of your stamps to create a scene like this?

Thanks for stopping by today; I’ll be back later this week with more fun cards. For more inspiration with the bee and spider, you might like this and this. Head on over to The Rabbit Hole Designs’ blog today for the sister article to this post. And be sure to keep an eye out on Instagram for pictures and stories from Creativation this week!

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