IN A BOOK

 

This stamp set - "In a Book" from Close to My Heart - has been waiting for me to play with it.  Well, this was the week to finally do that.  I felt that the sketch at the Freshly Made Sketches challenge was perfect for my main project, although I needed to rotate it to a landscape orientation.  I then checked out the Time Out Challenges blog and found they had a reading theme, and I knew it was time!  By the way, you can click on either of the challenge names to head over to the blogs and see other creations using the same inspiration.

The main reason I bought this set was because my sons love to read - the oldest since he was a young child.  The younger one grew into it!  While the stamp set had a woman reading (you'll see that image soon), I knew that I could use the "Buddies" series of boys to create someone who looks like Jonathan as a child.  So - I started with "Ian" as a base (the hair and clothes were correct), but needed the glasses from "Joey"!  So I stamped and embossed Joey's head, then cut out only the glasses to add to Ian.  

Now I used the image of the woman from the "In a Book" set and cut out the book she was holding to read.  The problem I ran into was that Ian's arms were both straight down.  How was I going to get him to hold the book?  Well, a little "surgery" on the stamped image allowed me to rotate his arm so it was bent and could now hold the book.  

I had to stamp three sets of the bookshelf books to go across the card front, and I needed something to make them stand out a bit.  I found an edging stamp that was the right width, but I didn't like the design.  So, I switched it over and put the image side down on my stamp block and inked up the solid backing of the stamp to create my shortbread colored strip.  As I look at the card from a distance (not sure if it is visible in the photo), the books look as if they are popped up over the backing - but they are adhered straight down to the card front!  How fun that something as simple as that backdrop created a fun dimension.

I used LOTS of different markers to complete this project - but had I not had the Spectrum Noir TriBlends, it would have been a lot more!

I'm working on another card with this same stamp set - but using the woman reading as the focal point.  Here's a link to the post with that completed card.

But I did think you might like to see the card I made recently for the younger son's birthday using the "Buddies" sets.  It took three sets to create the correct Nathanael!

 

I used "Ian" for the body because that fit Nathanael's outdoor attire.  But, Nathanael has curly hair, so I had to use "Ezra" to get that.  And of course, I needed "Joey's" glasses to make it complete.  At least no surgery was required for this card!  These "Buddies" sets are pretty versatile, and really fun to see what you can create.

Just so you know, these "boys" are both in their 30's now, but it was fun to go back to those younger years and create for them.

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of blogdom!  I hope you have a great day.