Grab your passports!

Hello friends! Melissa here to share a really neat monochromatic card I made for card traders group. We’re just wrapping up an alphabet challenge and this is my Z card. Z is for Zebra and Zimbabwe or Zambia.

Let’s gather our supplies:

• Neenah Classic Crest Natural White
• Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink
• Safari stamps from Brutus Monroe
• Digital map I found for free on Wikipedia

I have to admit, I was having so much making this card that I forgot to take a lot of my pictures to share the process, but I’ll do my best to explain.

I found the above photograph of a map of Zimbabwe on Wikipedia. I printed it out and then cut it down to fit A2 sized card. I then decided cutting down wasn’t the look I was going for. So I tore it up. Inked it up. And then adhere to my base that I made from Neenah Classic Crest Natural White cardstock.

In the above photo, this is where I realized I forgot to take a picture. Before I adhered the map I did find a zebra stripe stencil from Brutus Monroe and added some stripes to my card base. I knew a lot of it wouldn’t show in the end but it helps with blending in rather than having the stark contrast. Once again, I tore up the paper and then inked up the edges. This is such a great look!

Now you can adhere the digital paper down to the base.

Next you want to stamp your images. Again, I forgot to take a picture, but I think this one sums it well enough. I stamped my images on to some card using the same Ground Espresso Distress Oxide ink. Using a water brush I “drug” in some color from the stamped images to start coloring the image. Then I colored in more and added some shading by putting some ink down on my glass mat. I proceeded to color all my images in this manner. The only think I did different is I brought in just a bit of Mossy Meadow to color the snake.

I personally cannot believe that I chose to put a snake on my card! Me! It’s a shocker, but it actually looks really good on this card.

Now we can assemble the card. I fussy cut the images out after coloring them. I was careful to adhere the map so that I could tuck my tree in and then secured the map. After adding the snake and zebra I was pretty happy with my card. But the more I stared at it, I felt it needed just one more thing. So I pulled out an older Tonic Studios craft kit that has the coolest luggage tag in it.

The sentiment reads: Strangers are just friends we’ve not met yet. What a lovely sentiment.

I do hope my card inspires you. Be well, friends!