Humblechan : Hot Diggity Dog Pillow Box and a New Crafting Chapter

Hey, folks!

Hope you've been having a nice summer! I've been up to something new recently -- I signed up to be an independent Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I thought about joining several months ago but didn't go through with it because I was a bit scared and didn't think I could do it. I'm not the most confident person! But trying is better than not, so I decided to just go for it and see what happens. :o)

One of the challenges I have is that I'm only able to sell to folks within Canada, but most of the blog visitors I have here are from the US and overseas. I think it'll take some time before I gain a customer, but in the meantime, I'll be having me some crafty good times because I really do enjoy a lot of Stampin' Up! products -- I started ordering their stuff about 6 years ago [very early on in my card making!].

I've been so excited to get some new supplies over the past couple of weeks -- I'm talking *jazz hands* excited! This is how I've been feeling lately...

:D I wanted to make something fun and festive because it's been such a blast playing with these supplies! I used a few things that I've had for quite a while and mixed in some new things I got and some really new things that I was able to pre-order from the upcoming holiday catalogue.

The star of the show is definitely that adorable dog, who is included in a stamp set I bought last year:

Hot Diggity Dog Clear-Mount Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!
Hot Diggity Dog Wood-Mount Stamp Set from Stampin' Up!

The pillow box was made using this awesome die set from the upcoming holiday catalogue [I could not wait to get this die set!]:

Square Pillow Box Thinlits Dies from Stampin' Up! [available Sept. 1st]

That super-fun Real Red Pompom Trim is also from the holiday catalogue, and so is the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. That's a 6" x 6" folder that looks like falling snow, but I've used it to give the pillow box a festive 'confetti' look! :o) The patterned paper that the dog is sitting on is actually a journaling card from the Hello December 2015 Project Life Card Collection [available Sept. 1st] that I die-cut with one of the Banners Framelits.

Crafting Tips & Notes:

You'll need to die-cut two of the pillow box pieces to create one box. Use an extra-strong adhesive to attach the two pillow box pieces together so that your box holds together well. Here I've tried the new Tear & Tape Adhesive, which has a very good hold.
A nice and sharp pair of scissors will make fussy cutting the dog easier [I used Paper Snips].
Stampin' Write Markers are so fun to use! Here I've used them to colour in the dog's ear and to selectively ink the sentiment stamp and the dog's collar.
Something I really like about Stampin' Up! products is that they make colour coordination really simple. You can get cardstock, ink, markers, ribbon, embellishments and patterned paper that all match. Makes crafting easier because you don't have to search for things that go well together!