Even though the day is almost over, I wanted to post a couple of cat things I made because October 29th is National Cat Day! :o)
I actually took photos of a bunch of other cat projects that I wanted to share, but I was low on natural light, so my other pictures turned out a little fuzzy. I'll re-photograph those and post them on Tuesday because that's a very special day for us!! :o)
These tags aren't recent projects -- I made them a while back. My hands have had a lot of blisters on them for weeks, so I haven't been able to craft as much as I'd like to lately. I've coloured some stamped images and die-cut stuff here and there, but my hands have just kind of hurt for a while, so it's trickier to craft. It's totally annoying because there are so many things I want to make! GAH! And I get pretty grumpy when I don't craft. :D
Anyhoo -- let's get to the cat tags! First up is this smiling kitty face tag...
The stamp of the cat's face is from PTI's Halloween Treats & Sweets stamp set, and his eyes are brads from Eyelet Outlet! His dapper bow tie is a chipboard sticker from Crate Paper. I coloured in his nose and added some sweet little ear hairs with a Copic marker. Humble has the sweetest ear hairs ever in life, by the way. :D
This next tag is shaped like a bread tag -- only bigger!
I used a die from the Chalk Talk Framelits set from Stampin' Up! and die-cut a super-cute journaling card from Simple Stories that I backed with cardstock for some sturdiness. I love how those cats are peering in! The wavy banner die is from We R Memory Keepers, and I used Thickers to spell out "kitty". :o)
I recently found this great blog hop for cat lovers, so I'm linking up my tags [super-close to the deadline]! I read the rules, and I was glad to see that you can link stuff you've made in the past that you haven't blogged yet. I love seeing all the cat projects people made -- gives me serious SMILE PAIN!! :D
Thanks for stopping by today! And if you're lucky enough to live with a cat, give him or her a big ol' hug for me! :o)
For today's post, I've made a set of Halloween tags featuring these super-cute dimensional monster stickers I bought...
I just think these little guys have so much personality! I mean, check out the monster with his hand on his hip. :D
Here's the video I made showing how to make 'em!
If you're reading this post in an e.mail and don't see the video, click here to go to my blog post or click here to watch on YouTube.
SUPPLIES USED
To be up front, these are affiliate links, folks! For some products, the exact version I have is no longer on Amazon, so I've linked to the version that is available.
I made these projects on Sunday and Monday and meant to post them earlier this week, but I've been kind of distracted the past couple of weeks, which is why I haven't blogged that much.
Reason for my distraction: I've renewed my interest in hand-carving my own stamps! :D This is a craft that I REALLY loved years ago -- before I started card making -- and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I brought out my lino cutter and started carving again. While I do love stamping with stamps that I've bought, I don't think there's anything quite like stamping with a hand-carved stamp. It's very rewarding, and there's something very personal about it. I highly recommend it if you haven't tried it already, and the supplies needed are not very expensive!
Okay, let's get to the projects I've been meaning to share! I made these with the September 2015 Paper Pumpkin kit, "Wickedly Sweet Treat"...
First up is this treat bag I made...
I used dies from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits set and Happy Haunting DSP to create the treat bag. I cut one of the paper bags from the kit to start my layering. I used the kit's stamp set to stamp the images and sentiment, and I fussy cut the images. I was inspired by a card shown on page 42 of the holiday catalogue -- I thought it was so cute how they used a twig as an accent, so I used one of the straws from the kit in a similar way. The raffia is from the kit, too. I used this sketch from the challenge over at The Paper Players [PP264] as my starting point, but I'm too late to link up my project!
Next up is this treat bag, complete with punny sentiment...
This is Humble's favourite of the three. :D He really seems to like the fringe-y paper bag! This project is very similar to the kit's design, but I left out the straw and didn't use the kit's stamps on the tag. I created the sentiment using the Alphabet Rotary Stamp and Washi Label Punch [I trimmed down the label]. The adorable horse sticker is from Making Memories. I added googly eyes just for fun! :D
My last project for today is this card...
For this card, I cut one of the fringe-y pieces to cover part of my card base. I used one of the journaling cards from the Seasonal Snapshot 2015 Project Life Card Collection as my main panel [love that kraft journaling cards are included in this collection!]. I thought there was a little too much space between the stamped sentiment and the flourish, so I added a Rich Razzleberry Candy Dot -- I'm not 100% sure about it, but I didn't know what else to add! :D
Here's a look at what was included in the September 2015 Paper Pumpkin kit:
The full kit makes eight treat bags and includes the stamp set and a Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Spot. While it's too late for new Paper Pumpkin subscribers to get this kit, the refill kit is in the store now [it just doesn't include the stamps and ink].
Thanks for stopping by -- hope you have a crafty weekend! :o)
Here today to share a gift packaging project featuring an adorable penguin from the upcoming holiday catalogue...
That sweet penguin just makes me smile. :o) I love making gift packaging projects and have been spending a lot of my crafting time on them lately. They're so much fun to put together! And they give me an excuse to use more ribbon and trim. :D
Here's a closer look at the tag I made...
The penguin, little bow tie and candy cane are all from Snow Place [I love the retro look of these illustrations!]:
Snow Place Photopolymer Stamp Set from Stampin' Up! [available Sept. 1st]
The coordinating dies will make holiday crafting that much easier [and you get so many dies in the set, too!]:
Snow Friends Framelits Dies from Stampin' Up! [available Sept. 1st]
The stamps and dies will be available separately, but you'll also be able to get them together in a bundle for 15% savings! There are actually a lot of bundles in the holiday catalogue, so you can get your hands on some fun supplies at a discount.
I used the Softly Falling Textured Impressions Embossing Folder again, and I also brought out the new Basic Black Archival Stampin' Pad [works great!]. Both will be available Sept. 1st. The cute box is a Takeout Box.
Crafting Tips & Notes:
Since you don't have to worry about fitting this into an envelope, go nuts with the Dimensionals to make your tag extra fun! I don't think I fully captured how much dimension the tag has -- the Lost Lagoon circle, snowy hill and penguin are all attached with Dimensionals. The lower half of the penguin is attached to the snowy hill with one layer of Dimensionals, and the upper half of him is attached to the Lost Lagoon circle with two layers of Dimensionals -- so he really stands out! :D
To create the belly band around the box, I cut a 2-1/2" wide strip from a Real Red sheet out of the Brights Designer Series Paper Stack. That gave me a 2-1/2" x 12" strip of paper, which was not long enough to wrap all the way around the Takeout Box, so I cut a 3-1/2" piece to join the ends together and keep the bottom of the box lookin' nice:
Supplies I Used:
Snow Place Photopolymer Stamp Set [available Sept. 1st]
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:
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!
Here today to share these mini projects I put together using some fun stuff I received from Kelly! I used paper from the Snow Day 6x6 paper pad and stamps from the Monster Mash and Critters in the Arctic stamp sets to make these little guys...
:o)
In yesterday's post, I showed part of a piece of paper from Snow Day -- that sheet has cute images that you can cut apart to make some fun tags. I used small tag dies to die-cut 3 of the designs. I wanted to decorate them with characters, but the characters needed to be small enough to fit on the tags. The little monsters from Monster Mash were just the right size, so I thought, "Why not have monsters on holiday projects?" :D To give two of the monsters their winter look, I used the little hat image from Critters in the Arctic! I stamped the hats first, then masked them off before stamping the monsters. Then there was a little fussy cutting and the ol' foam tape. Simple and fun to make! :o)
Oh! When I coloured in the monsters' mouths, I left a little uncoloured to give them teeth. You may have noticed that I gave the little guy on the left a little gap in his teeth. :o) Hee hee.
On another note, I have to say that I *love* chunky twine on miniature gift boxes. :D
Hello folks, Haven't been around in a while, eh? I'm not very good at this blogging thing. The day after my last post, I got to visit my canine pal Diesel. He was going through a very difficult time in his life, so it meant a lot to get to visit him and spend the day with him at the park and at his home. I made this tag for his gift...
:o) His gift? Two blankets from the baby section of the store [baby blankets are extra-extra-soft].
It made me happy just to see how happy Diesel was at the park. It was as though his illness just lifted away for a time. Combined, we took over 400 pictures of him! :o) I wanted to make a mini album for them, but it turned into two because I picked more photos than one album could fit. I loved all of them! I don't feel right about sharing their personal photos here, so I'll just share this one so you can get an idea of what one of the albums was like...
:o) I love making mini albums nice and chunky and full of journaling cards and pockets. The second album was just as chunky -- probably a little more.
I also made this card that I gave to them on a following visit...
:o) I love animal stamps that have enough open space to allow you to colour them to look like certain pets. Most of the time, when I'm colouring a cat stamp, I'll colour him to look like Humble. :o) Here, I tried to watercolour the dog to look like Diesel.
It was very sad having to say goodbye...I didn't have the chance to know Diesel for a long time, but the time that I did get to know him was and is very special to me. Miss you already, sweet little guy, and I wish I could see you running in the park again. There's a lot of love for you on this side of the bridge.
