The Happy Room

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Today's featured card project showcases a brand new Michael Strong Stamps image from the Cloisonne Silhouette Panels collection. I stamped the image in VersaMark ink and embossed it with white embossing powder, then painted it with Distress Inks. The small hummingbirds are from the Mini Wings Collection.

The background is my version of "Faux Encaustic Wax", which is really just melted crayons on an iron, then applied to plain white cardstock. It's a wonderful adventure to play with crayons and combine colors, then swirl them around onto cardstock with an iron. I made the background first, then selected coordinating inks when I painted the Cloisonne Silhouette Panel. Each Faux Encaustic Wax project, regardless of the skill level of the crafter, produces an explosion of fantastic colors!

If you haven't tried the Michael Strong die cuts (which coordinate with several of the stamp images), I have to say that they are quite possibly the best dies I've ever worked with. They have a nifty little registration system and when you run them through a die cutter, they cut like butter!! For fun, I tried a little shadow effect behind the hummingbirds to add a little interest and dimension.

Here is how I did it:
I stamped and die cut a hummingbird on white cardstock. Then, I die cut two hummingbirds from teal cardstock. I positioned one of the teal die cuts behind the white hummingbird and raised it slightly above the white layer, and the other die cut slightly below the white layer. It made a nice outline/shadow effect behind each bird.

As a note, I attached the panel to the wax base with brads since I was concerned with tapes and adhesives resisting the wax.

I hope you've enjoyed today's project and thank you for taking the time to look at today's project.

~Kathie