Yikes. Difficult challenge!

I've been remiss since I returned from vacation and didn't get to a few of Stampotique Designers Challenges, so I decided to remedy that situation. But boy howdy did I choose a tough one! Stampotique Designers Challenge #125 is to create a One Layer Card. Gosh. That was seriously hard for me -- almost as hard as creating something elegant. I don't do elegant. And apparently I'm one-layer impaired as well.

The problem is that I've become the total Copic ho user and Copics tend to bleed through the back of the cardstock, which makes them very bad for one layer cards, so I had to color using an alternate coloring medium. Back in the day, pre-Copic, I used to use watercolor pencils, chalk pencils, and colored pencils. But I'm woefully out of practice using most of 'em.

But I was a good doobie (not the illegal kind) and got out my Prismacolor pencils and went for it.

Here it is:

I stamped Stampotique's Nerd Cat using Jet Black Archival ink onto Strathmore 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock then colored with my Prismacolor pencils. I went to blend with Goo-Gone and discovered that the !@#$^ ink smeared. Some not-so-nice words  issued from my lips. Shocking. Totally shocking. Um not. I swear like a sailor. It's disgraceful.

But I digress. Quél surprise! So I restamped Stampotique's Nerd Cat using Jet Black Archival ink onto a new piece of Strathmore 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock and colored it yet again with Prismacolor pencils. This time, I just didn't blend with anything other than other pencils. It came out okay, but not terrific. Nerd Cat was coated with a layer of Matte Multi-Medium that would (later) act as a resist/mask.

I've previously decided that Nerd Cat is a chemist. Chemists love to scribble their weird hieroglyphics onto whatever is handy like a table cloth or paper napkins, but this time Nerd Cat is a Chemistry Professor and is teaching a class. Therefore, he had to have a blackboard. Blackboards haven't been black in ages. They were green when last I checked. These days, they probably are obsolete, replaced with some gizmo. However, my Nerd Cat professor is a throwback, so he needed a green blackboard. I drew one in, then painted it green with Hyde Park Fresco Finish paint by Paper Artsy, then heat set the paint because I was impatient and wanted it dry pronto. I also didn't want to risk the flatness on the reverse of the card front. I used my Prismacolor pencils to add the wood around the green blackboard, then stamped some chemical hieroglyphics from The Chemist set (Stamper's Anonymous) that I won! (yeehaw) from the Tim Holtz. I used white ink to make it look chalky. There was some smearage, but perfection is overrated, so I let it ride.

The green blackboard was masked and Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink was sponged over the entire card front. The excess ink was carefully wiped off of Nerd Cat using a q-tip. Fired Brick and Salty Ocean Distress inks were sponged over the Measured Layered stencil and more Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink was sponged over the Dot Fade Layered stencil. BTW, all Layered stencils are on sale right now. And they rock, so you need them.

The last step was to add several layers of Clear Gelly Glaze pen to both the frames and lenses of the eyeglasses as well as the buttons to add dimension and shine. 

I decided not to add a sentiment 'cause I don't know how I will use the card and who will receive it for what occasion. Hence, when I get to that point, I will add one, most likely to the green blackboard.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card in the following challenges.
• Stampotique Designers Challenge #125: One Layer 
• Clean and Simple Sunday Challenge #21: One Layer Wonder
• Corrosive Challenge #187: Fur or Feathers 
• Cards Galore November Challenge: Animals