Happy new year everyone!  I missed sending out a few Christmas cards last month, but will make up for it by sending out New Year’s cards!!  Although Chinese New Year (and the Year of the Monkey) isn’t until February 8, I decided to make a lucky monkey card anyway…

I looked through all of my stamps for a monkey image and decided to use the one from Simon Says Stamp’s Baby Party Animals.  I stamped the monkey in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored in the image with COPIC Sketch Markers.  I have the coordinating Baby Party Animals dies, but the cut lines of the dies are a little off and actually cut into the monkey image; after two failed attempts of die cutting I finally broke down and cut out the monkey by hand leaving a small white border around the image.

Next, I blended Festive Berries and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks onto Neenah Solar White cardstock.  I let the panel air dry for a bit, then cut out two tags using the Paper Smooches Gift Tags 2 dies.  (I thought the resulting tags reminded me of lai see — the good luck envelopes given out during Chinese New Year!)  I stamped the sentiment on the smaller tag in Versamark ink and heat embossed it with Ranger Gold Super Fine Detail embossing powder.  I looped gold tinsel cord through both tags and finished the tags off with a small bow.

I used the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle die to cut a panel from black cardstock, then splattered Tsukineko Shimmer Spritz in Gold over the panel.  While I waited for this panel to air dry, I used the My Favorite Things High Rise Numbers to cut out numbers from DCWV gold foil cardstock.

I adhered all of the card elements to the black splatter panel using Tombow Mono Multi Glue.  (I also added a small DIY glue dot under the smaller tag to hold it in place.)  Finally, I glued the black panel to a side-fold A2 black cardstock base.

I am submitting this card to the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge (Party!) and Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (Something New).

Thanks for stopping by!!

Other supplies: Play Shop Paper 65 lb black cardstock, COPIC Sketch Markers (E31, E33, E57, E59, 0), Gold Tinsel Cord