Mosquito Rant and SSSC 21 Flopsey Card

Good Morning all!!! I didn't get my post up last night because I took the boys to the 'Movie Under the Stars' in town. It was lots of fun:) They played 'How to Train Your Dragon' which I love!! Maybe its got something to do with Gerard Butler's voice as Stoic the Viking leader;) lol!!!! We practically got eaten by mosquitos, even though we used 3 different kinds of bugspray and our homemade listerine/lemon juice spray. Hoodies done up so tight all you could see was our sweet little cherub faces poking out the drawstring holes, thick sweatpants (and warm night~ugh!), socks, shoes and blankets piled on helped keep them away...a little. The little buggars are relentless and even bit me through my pants and found a few bare knuckles....grrrrr!!!! I loathe mosquitos!
Here is my card:

I made this card using the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 21. I couldn't seem to get it all to fit right on a standard sized card, so this ones a little bigger (5 1/2x 5 1/2)...No problem! You can buy 6x6 envelopes, so I figure if there's an envelope out there that needs filling, then let's make a card to go in it!
This card actually came together pretty easy~ The square Stampin Up! punches make a world of difference...just ask my SIL Ashley who once made a card like this and cut each little square out with her paper trimmer, lol! The little bunny stamp is My Favorite Things Rainfall Flopsey and I love their bunnies...I have a little tea time one that I'm itching to ink up! I stamped Flopsey onto Neenah CS (also good for copics- you can buy it online lots of places, but I bought mine in individual 8 1/2x11 sheets at Scrapbookers Paradise) in memento tuxedo black and coloured him with Copics. I drew the pattern on his rubber boots with the copics multiliner (no smearing if you colour over the lines) and coloured them with R29 marker to match the red polka dot dp. I normally paper-piece, but the patterns were all to large scale for the little boots, so I decided to mimic one of the patterns of the dp on a smaller scale! Spellbinders dies were used to cut out my Flopsey image and the kiwi CS behind. I made my card base with real red CS ( a staple in my books;), ran the black CS through my bigshot with a swiss dots cuttlebug folder, punched out squares of bermuda bay CS and dp with the SU! punches.
The inside uses the same spellbinder die (you want to tie the front and the back together- don't throw a completely different set of shapes onto the inside of the card or there will be no flow to your design) and stamped with the cute little sentiment (the other one that came with the set was more my style, but it was long and I am not at the point yet where I am ready OR willing to cut a stamp to make it fit!!! Scary!! lol). Then I punched some black embossed CS with a SU! border punch and tied some polka dot ribbon around it..pretty simple!! With your card 'guts', keep it easy. I usually take inventory of my little heap of scraps from the card front and try to find a few pieces that will do for the inside. Don't be cutting into a new sheet of paper for the inside- That's    just crazy!!

After the card was all finished (inside and all) I added Crystal Effects to the puddle and Flopsey's boots to give some added dimension and make it look 'wet'....I rarely bust out the crystal effects, as I seem to get it jammed up, squeeze to hard and then have a big gush break loose onto my project! Therefore I recommend that you get the juices flowing onto a scrap piece of paper...take my word for this. I know. I also added some cute little raindrop stickers to his umbrella! Here's a few shots of the up close details...hopefully you can see the glossy, wet look that the crystal effects creates!

Supplies
Stamp: Rainfall Flopsey- MFT
CS: SU! (real red, basic black, bermuda bay)
Designer Paper: Papertrey Ink- Beautiful Blooms
Ink: Memento, SU! (soft sky sponged on nesties)
Ribbon: SU! Bermuda Bay
Punches: SU! 1 3/8 & 1 1/4 square punches, open scallop border
Dies: Spellbinders, cuttlebug embossing folder
Other: Copic markers and multiliner, crystal effects (SU!), raindrop stickers- Cloud 9 Design