Monkeying around...

Hey what do you think to the jokey title? I thought as the BBC are short of comedians I'd subtly put myself forward.(um...) I have other jokes too-

'How many men does it take to buy a loo-roll?
'Don't know-it's never been done!'

Oh dear-I've dried up (I know the lingo too you know)-nightmare! I'd obviously need to practice a bit, polish up my act, maybe a few props-a stool to sit on, maybe a pint of beer-that's what comedians seem to do-used to smoke but get arrested now and that's NOT funny...um.

Anyway, back to cardmaking.

Splitcoaststampers provide the tuturials once again. This is called a 'free standing pop-up card'.

Essentially this is a really effective card in terms of 'oooh and ahh' value but it is not only beatiful; it's clever too and will fold down to put into an envelope. How good is that! Whatever next? A card that makes itself?



Both cards are virtually all Stampin Up in terms of DNA-the monkey set is called 'Monkey Business' and is a long since retired US set and I love it! There's another monkey too which is in a hanging position so you could stamp it hanging from the foliage. I struggled determining the precise height as to where the monkey needed to be as I didn't want him standing in mid air-I wanted him to look as though he was standing on the card base. I knew the tag part of the card goes down into the box base a bit but hard to be precise and I feel certain each card would slightly differ to be honest on this point. I used my PSX stamp positioner on every image on the tag and although I'm pretty close with the monkey, I feel he is a bit low in truth but considering it's the first time I've made this type of card it's not too shameful!

The cardstock is 'Barely Banana'(who's have thought it!)'Certainly Celery' and the ever gorgeous 'Chocolate Chip';and the same colour inks are used too bar the yellow which is a versacolour as I don't possess the barely banana ink. I coloured in the monkeys tummy and added depth to the bananas with the 'Cocoa'from the SU pastel set.

The background stamp on the box type base is called 'Swirls and Blossoms' and it was the best I could find that worked with the theme as I felt the base needed decoration too.

Very Vanilla taffetta ribbon and an unknown chocolate grosgrain. I used a paper reinforcement ring to keep the hole in the tag nice and neat.(Hole punched by Silent Setter) I inked the reinforcement ring let it dry and repeated about three times to ensure a deep chocolate colour. All I could think of as no eyelets in a suitable colour big enough! I'm glad I persevered with my quest to find paper reinforcement rings even though it took months to find any!




What about the monkey button on the base! How gorgeous is he? A local shop was selling off a load of buttons they won't be stocking anymore and happily I spotted this box of treasures-all sorts of kinds and this monkey was among them. Let's just say that after I left, there were no more monkeys in that shop!!!I left the button back intact and managed to thread my ribbon through it (eventually). removing the button back is useful if the button needs to sit flat on a page as it can then be attached with glue dots or similar.




This stamp set is 'Spring Garden'another favourite and about the only floral set I could find that was small enough to work on the limited space the tag allows. Great set though so no hardship to use and I think it's very effective.I used the 'Canvas' background stamp on the base on this card-it's a real classic in my view.

Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery card and ink, unknown grosgrain ribbon and blooms, finished off with a Bashful Blue button. The tag is reinforced with a Stampin Up large eyelet.