I’ll admit to it: I’ve never flocked before. I’ve used products that have been pre-flocked and shied away from doing it myself because I thought it would be too messy … fibers everywhere. Worse than glitter. Even though the container’s contents reminded me of dryer lint, I had a need to get fuzzy.

The birthday card I was creating had a puppy getting into a cake. A plain, paper pooch would not do; I wanted some dimension, something to increase the “cute factor.” It was time to track down some white flocking powder and figure out the best way to adhere it to the paper. I thought glue would be uneven and too messy, and I didn’t have any bonding powder, so I tried my tape runner and was really impressed with the results. Less mess, no drying time and easy to do? Sold!

The experience left me feeling all warm and fuzzy toward flocking powder. I now have containers of several other colors, including black (furry bats for Halloween, perhaps), and I tracked down some bonding powder, too.

I wanted a funny, fuzzy puppy, and I had just the stamp in mind. I consider myself lucky to have a set of the exclusive Shimelle Laine-designed stamps from Two Peas in a Bucket and Hero Arts. The set is sold out, and for good reason: The phrases are not run-of-the-mill scrapbooking items. Stamps that say “yeah, thanks for that,” “you have got to be kidding me” and “fail” are a departure from the typical scrapbooking products that offer words such as “happy day” and “the best.” Shimelle wanted stamps to match those moments that aren’t so great but just as worthy of a scrapbook. (Read her blog post about the set here.)

Now, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not a scrapbooker. I just can’t commit, but I admire a lot of talented scrappers around the world. A stamp set like this is right up my alley, too. And it’s a snarky alley. I couldn’t wait to use the set, and the “WHAT?” stamp fits perfectly here. I’m not sure what I’ll use some of the stamps for, but when the moment strikes, the results will be on this blog.

Here’s how to make it:

Make a card from a 5-by-10-inch piece of white textured cardstock, and round all corners using a paper rounder. Cut a 4 3/4-inch piece of teal, talk-bubble patterned cardstock (I used “Gardner” from the Darling Dear collection by Studio Calico), round the corners and adhere it, centered, to the center of the card’s front. Cut a 4-inch-square piece of light-teal, textured cardstock, round the corners and adhere it to the center of the talk-bubble paper.

Apply adhesive and white flocking powder (such as Inkadinkado powder in linen white) to a die-cut of a puppy in a birthday cake (I used my Silhouette Portrait, “puppy in cake” by Rivka Wilkins, white, pink and silver glitter cardstock and “Darling Dots” cardstock from the Love Birds collection by Doodlebug Design Inc).

Adhere a small piece of black cardstock behind the puppy’s head for its eyes and nose, if needed, and add highlights with white gel pen (such as Sakura Gelly Roll in white).

Stamp “WHAT?” in a talk-bubble image (mine’s from the Nailed It collection designed by Shimelle Laine for Two Peas in a Bucket and Hero Arts) in black ink (I used Versafine in onyx black) onto a piece of white cardstock.

Adhere the puppy’s body, the cake die-cut and its die-cut frosting, some of the die-cut candles and the puppy’s paws to the lower portion of the light-teal piece, centered.

Cut out the talk bubble, leaving a small margin around it. Adhere it to the upper-right corner of the card.

Using dimensional adhesive, adhere the puppy’s head at an angle.

Use glue to adhere the frosting on the puppy’s head. Adhere the remaining candle.