NC Demos March Blog Hop - Cute Critters

Welcome to our NC Demos March Blog Hop! I am so happy you decided to check us out. We have a record number of demonstrators participating this month, so there are lots to check out. You may have hopped here from Trish Todd’s blog, and I know her project was just amazing!

I’m so thrilled that this month’s theme is Cute Critters. We have quite a selection of stamps sets pertaining to critters, so it was a little difficult for me to narrow down the card I wanted to submit. We recently added several adorable sets in the current Occasions Catalog, so I decided to choose one of them.

The stamp set is called Happy Tails and I used the coordinating Dog Builder Punch. Isn’t it just too cute?? You can stamp the dog just as it is, or you can add large or small spots. And of course, there is the prerequisite dog house along with some other accessories. The sentiments are cute too!

The front of the card is fairly simple. I stamped the dog using the smaller spots, stamped the collar and punched it out. Then I stamped the dog house in black and used Real Red for the primary color. Next, I stamped several grass images using a stamp from the High Tide set. I used a sponge dauber and Garden Green Ink to add some depth to the grassy area, I added Dimensionals to the dog and placed him next to the dog house. Then I took a scrap of Crumb Cake cardstock and stamped and cut out the bone and placed it over the door for decoration. And last but not least, I stamped the sentiment, hand-cut it into 2 pieces and then layered with Real Red and Basic Black.
I had a specific idea of what I wanted to do with the inside of this card. I attempted to do a pop-up card of sorts. It’s kind of hard to see it from the photos. But, the dog houses do pop out when you open the card. I guess I’m going to have to figure out how to add videos to my blog posts so I can show things like this!

For the dog house strip, I used the Stamparatus to evenly stamp 4 houses, Then I fussy cut around the peaks of the houses and left about 1/4″ of cardstock on each side to use for adhering the strip to the inside of the card. I then scored between each house and about 1/4″ from each end to allow for the flaps.. The strip was then folded like an accordion and I placed tear tape on each end. I practiced my positioning so that the card would close without any of the folded strip peeking out, but it also needed to pop out when the card was opened. Once I was satisfied with the positioning, I removed the tear tape backing and pressed each end to make sure the strip was secure. I finished the inside with 2 panels of Whisper White and used the Detailed Trio Punch to add a little pop. I definitely would like to practice this a little more, but for my first attempt, I was pleased with how it turned out. Supplies for this card are listed below.

I hope you enjoyed my Cute Critter. If you love Happy Tails as much as I do, you can order the bundle HERE. Since this set was introduced in the current Occasions catalog, we don’t know yet if it will carry over to the next Annual Catalog so get it now while you still can! (Savings Tip: Did you know that when we offer a stamp set with a coordinating punch or set of dies, you can save 10% when you purchase them as a bundle?)

Now please continue on to see what the rest of this talented group selected as their Cute Critters. I know you won’t be disappointed…! Sue Stapp is the next stamper on the list