A Christmas Mouse

This is one of a wide variety of Christmas cards I made for this year. I usually only make one or two of the same card, because I get bored making the same thing over and over. Though sometimes I will use the same image many times and just change the layout of the card. I didn't get these two stamps to use together, but had them sitting on my desk and thought the mouse would look cute in the mitten and I do like him in there. : ) The stamps are both from JRL Design Company. These are the only stamps have from this company. I looked for the company online and only found used stamps for sale from them. But several sites mentioned that JRL Design company is related to D.O.T.S., which is now CTMH. An interesting bit of history. : ) The mitten and mouse are both colored with Prismacolor pencils and oms. I highlighted the white areas on the mitten with a white gel pen. The little squares in the corners are cut with a punch and have large white brads embellishing them.


I've had several people ask me about coloring with the Prismacolor pencils and oms (odorless mineral spirits). You don't have to use Prismacolor pencils, but they do work the best. If you have another brand of colored pencils, experiemt with them and see if they will work. They do have to be colored pencils, not watercolor pencils. I purchased my Prismacolor pencils at Amazon.com and they were a terrific buy. The odorless mineral spirits can be bought at the hardware store under the brand name Gamsol. You need blending stumps, which are inexpensive to purchase in the art section of a large craft store like Michaels. It's imporatant that you stamp your image with a permanent ink like StazOn, so it won't run. You also need a good quality smooth white cardstock. Here is a link to a great video that will walk you through the technique: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4912926818455764703


Have a wonderful day!!!


Inky hugs!
Shelly