Llama Get Well Card by Sarah

Know someone who’s having to take some time out to get well? Guaranteed their recovery will be that bit better if you put an interactive llama card in their hands! Think paper dolls with the little tabs on their clothes so you can mix and match outfits.

Process

1. Stamp the cactus in a repeat pattern of offset rows on your card blank.
2. Diecut the frame from the Arrow Mat Die and raise up on the card front on foam tape at an angle. Top tip: don’t drop it! Mine accidentally stuck with more of the corners hanging off the edges than I’d intended. I cut them off after the photos to make it fit in the envelope (and it looks fine, you can always get past mistakes!).
3. Stamp and diecut the sentiment and attach to the frame with double-sided tape.
4. Stamp, diecut and colour the llama. I used light choppy pencil strokes of two pale greys and a pale brown to give it a fuzzy long-haired look on its body, mostly grey shading on its feet and nose and mostly pale brown inside its ears.

Adding Accessories

1. Time to craft your llama’s accessories! Stamp, diecut (place the rug die with the top edge cutting over a fold) and colour – I used pink, orange and turquoise pencils on the sombrero and rug to bring a pop of colour to the front of the card when the llama’s sporting them. Same for the blend of pinks on the flower. The sunglasses I put a streak of two different greys down each lens on the diagonal, like they’re reflecting the sun, and coloured the rest in black.
2. You need a way to attach each of the accessories so the llama can wear them. I tried out a few different options. Simplest is the rug. That was cut over the fold so that you can sit it over the llama’s back. I cut a bit off the flap at the back to make it fit with where the llama ended up positioned, so that it doesn’t bump into the frame’s foam tape before it’s sitting snuggly like a saddle. For the flower, I tied a loop in a bit of thread loosely around the widest part of the ear so it can be slid on and off then taped that loop to the back of the flower for it to hang on. The sombrero has a slot cut in it with a craft knife so the ear can poke through it to hold the hat on. The sunglasses have a strip of card stuck to the back that’s around the width of the bit that bridges the nose and long enough to leave a little tab sticking out each side of the glasses – fold those round to the back.

Completing The Accessories

1. Put each accessory in turn onto your llama, flip it over and mark in pencil on the back the area that it needs clear to get it on and off – where the back flap of the rug sits, the tabs on the glasses bend round to, and how far down the ear the flower thread and hat slot go. Also mark where the frame sits when the llama is positioned how you want it. Stick the llama down using double-sided tape where it will be sitting over the frame, and foam tape everywhere else (avoiding the areas you marked out for the accessories).
2. As a finishing touch, rustle up a mini envelope to store the accessories when they’re not in use. Just diecut a tag shape from vellum, fold the bottom up to where it begins to taper in to make the pocket of the envelope and wrap a strip of washi tape round each side, then fold the top down as the flap. Simple! I cannot take credit for the mini envelope idea (I will dig out who inspired me and namedrop them on instagram!) but I know I’ll be using it a lot 🙂

WANT TO FIND THESE SUPPLIES

Honey Bee Stamp No Probllama Stamp and Coordinating Dies

Catherine Pooler Designs Life of the Party Ink in Aquatini

Ranger Non Stick Craft Sheet

RangerArchival Ink Pad

Neenah Solar White Card

Strathmore Bristol vellum paper

Washi tape

Tim Holtz Stamping Platform

Avery Elle Arrow Mat Die Elle-ments

Scor double-sided tape

3M Scotch Foam tape

Thread

Craft knife

Tag die