Big Hug....

I made this card the other day for my brother-in-law who has been in the hospital and a care facility for several weeks.  I know days are long for him and I am trying to come up with masculine cards to cheer his days. 

I love the Hostess set Perfect Words because it has several great sentiments in the set.  I especially the "Big Hug" one.  Sometimes I sign my email messages with "Big Hugs" (before the "Smiles, Laura" of course) and I really wanted to give my BIL a long distant big hug.  So I thought of our bear in the Under the Stars set.  He looks like he is about to give someone a big bear hug. 

The card itself is Crumb Cake and I layered that with Very Vanilla.  I used various 5/8" wide strips of designer paper to make the various strips down the paper.  I notched the ends and just glued them in the center so they flare out a bit.

 In this shot, you can see how the ends of the strips are not attached but rather flare out. 

I stamped the bear in Crumb Cake and then stamped "Big Hug" over him in Soft Suede.  I sponged the edges of this piece of cardstock and affixed it with dimentionals.  And I stamped the little raccoon in the bottom right corner to fill space and to add more humor to the card.

I think my BIL really liked the card!  I hope he "felt" the hug!  Get well soon, Billy!!

Smiles (and big hugs), Laura