Category Archives: Summer

Road Trips and Mustaschio’d Men!

Hello! It’s Christine back today with more of the May Release from The Cat’s Pajamas, and today I’m bringing you a pair of masculine designs that are great for the Summer season from the May Release.
To start off today, I’m bringing an card that is a nod to the start of Summer for me!  Each year when our kids were school-age we’d take off for our Summer Road Trip the day after school was done, usually a 16 h drive to my husband’s home town and visit family there.  We’d leave before the crack of dawn and enjoy celebrated traditions each trip like banana bread for the breakfast to listening to Adventures in Odyssey to keep us all entertained.  Still treasured memories for our family.
So, this TCP set is so nostalgic for me!  I used the new Travelin’ Man digi set, printing it on Copic XPress It paper and colouring with Copics.  Check out all his luggage!

I’ve trimmed the image out, placed it on a retired TCP frame, and then added the “road” with the new SVG Cutting File Summer Borders, and then the sentiment from the new Summer Sayings Digi.  With a cute turn arrow from a retired TCP die set.
Now I Mustache you …..
To enjoy this new Hipster set!  It is SO darn cute!  Combining it with the new Aye, Eye, I set,  I’ve created a fun CAS signboard card for the moustachiod man in your life!  I cut out all the moustaches and popped some up on the main image to give it some fun dimension.  A tiny bit of Copic colouring to add some red pop, and paired it all with the new Black and White Spring digital papers.
Here’s another peek at a bit of the dimension.  It makes for an adorable clean and graphic card!
And here is a look at all the new May Release Items I used today…
 


Bringing the Summer Sun Poolside!

While we’re just getting excited about flowers popping up from the ground…dreaming of summery sunny days at the beach or by the pool, The Cat’s Pajamas is bringing it to us in all sorts of fun ways this May!
It’s Christine here today, and I’m excited to kick off today with two new designs from the May Release.  I have to say, this release was such fun for me to play with.  Fun themes, vibrant colours, colouring, cutting files, it’s really got it all, and it totally sparked my creativity.
My first design pulls you poolside with this adorable set called Fun in the Sun.  I had a great time creating the water reflections of a pool with a stencil and Distress Oxide Ink, and then adding our favourite Kitty in her floaty on the surface of the water.
I’ve framed her up, and added the sentiment and wave to accent the design, including a few turquoise sequins.
For fun I took the bubbles from the set that I had printed and used them to create my own beach ball accent,  all it took was a few lines from my micro-liner pen and a bubble is a beach ball!
Such a fun design to create with!  I’m ready for the pool!
The next card is oceanside with our favourite bunny!  This is Life’s A Beach.
He’s protecting his tender fur from those rays, soaking the shade and RnR under his beach umbrella.  I think he’s so cute with his coconut drink!  All of the colouring is done with Copics.
To customize my scene, I’ve added some stripes to the umbrella to make it really beachy, drew in some bunny board shorts for swimming, and added soft ocean waves in the background. I placed him on a background I created with one of our new cutting files called Make Waves.
Because I knew I wanted to make a multicoloured wave background, copied and pasted three of the cutting files for this set of waves onto the 12 x 12 section for my Silhouette.
Next I added 3 sets of beachy coloured cardstock for cutting.
Then trimmed it out (my blade was a little deep so you can see there’s a bit of fraying).  But then all you need to do is piece by piece add the waves to the background so the pattern matches.  I have extra waves left over to use for other projects if I want.
I think it makes a fun way to add texture and colour, with out taking away from the design.  The sentiment is from the new Summer Sayings set, and I added pointillism dots to mimic the sand to tie in.
Here’s a peek at the newly released May items I used today!  See you next week with two more fun designs!

BASEBALL BUNNY – August New Release

Squeezing in one last August new release card tonight. (I planned to post it for Saturday but the time got away from me. Whoops!) SO, our adorable Bunny is enjoying the dog days of Summer playing some BASEBALL!

The PLAY BALL digi set allows for sizing the main image in any size that you like. I made him super big to fit on this baseball shaped card. I printed and cut Bunny, the sentiment, and the ball using Silhouette Studio software and then added a slight offset and cut out. I added paper “stitches” so that I could create the ball. It’s all colored with Copics with tiny wood stars and thick stripe-y twine to tie it up. Wood pattern on the bat added with a thin marker.

Guess which team we root for ’round here?!

AUGUST NEW RELEASE – CHILLIN’ WITH MY GNOMIES

It’s AUGUST people! Summer is flying by! I hope, in between your crafting endeavors, you’ve found time to lounge around on the beach or at the pool. That’s what I’d be doing seven days a week if I could!

Alma’s sweet GNOMIE is enjoying some pink lemonade (or somethin’ – maybe a daquiri!) at the beach. I used colored pencils and gamsol on kraft cardstock for this first card. I really love that you can create a shaped card so easily using the digi images. The gnome and the sentiment are in the CHILLIN’ WITH MY GNOMIES set and I also used one of the new EVERY DAY TAGS cutables for the little sentiment tag. Quick and easy!

A short 1-2-3 on making a shaped card using the digi files:

  1. Open and size the main image in your cutting machine software. Place the image towards the right of your onscreen paper. (You need to have enough room for two of the same image side by side.)
  2. Create a copy of this same image and flip it horizontally.
  3. Move the images so that the copy is to the left of the original with a small space in between. (Enough for your fold without cutting off the edge of your main image.)
  4. Group the two images and create an offset of them – size to your liking.
  5. Now ungroup your digi images and delete the one on the left. You don’t want to print that one. (Although, you could print and have a double sided shaped card!)
  6. Print your page.
  7. Run the printed image through your cutting machine, making sure that you’re only cutting the offset outline.
  8. Once complete, fold in the middle and color.
  9. Voila! You have a shaped card!

My second card also uses the CHILLIN’ WITH MY GNOMIES set. This time I printed the little gnome much smaller so that he would fit on regular sized card front. It’s the sentiment that I made jumbo sized!  I blended some Distress Oxide inks over the sentiment image. (I print on a laser printer and when I rub over the printed image it does seem to take away some of the ink. It doesn’t bother me but you can use a thin black marker to fill in any areas that you’d like to be a darker black.)

I grabbed a palm tree from the new WARM WISHES set to add to the beachy scene. I colored the gnome and the tree with Copics and added a bit of white gel pen to brighten up his beard and to add some details. Enamel dots and hemp twine finish it off.

Don’t miss out on the last of the sale goodies…this week is THE LAST WEEK for polymer stamps, dies, embellishments, and stencils – 70% off! Happy Crafting, Gnomies!

Final Week

LICENSE TO CHILL

Another weekend in the books! Here in Maryland it’s hot again, after a glorious few days in the 70s with no humidity last week. Why not try to beat the heat with some lemonade! I love that kind that they make at the beach or at fairs – with ice and half a lemon and lemon juice…I think maybe simple syrup too but I’ve never tried it at home. Yum!

Something else that I hadn’t tried…layering vinyl! I’m still working to figure out all of the fun things that my cutting machines can do but there are videos galore and pages to follow all over IG. Can’t be that hard, right? Well it’s a tiny bit tricky but with Alma’s perfect images, your project will be a thirst quenching dream!

I bought the 6-3/4″ x 6-3/4″ chalkboards in the $$$ area at JoAnn’s a while back so that I could label some baskets. That never happened, which is a good thing now, because I had them handy for this project. And as a good little craft-a-holic, I’ve also been hoarding supplies for my new Cricut so I had a variety of vinyl colors too. It was meant to be.

I opened the LEMONADE JARS Cutable file and the License to Chill sentiment from the HANG LOOSE GNOMIE digi set into Silhouette Design Studio. I sized everything to fit the size of the chalkboard blank. Each layer is then cut separately and applied one on top of the other. A few videos showed how to include a registration shape to line up each color but I managed to mess that up and had to eyeball it all. The only really tricky part was that the straw needed to go behind the front part of the rim but in front of the back part of the rim. I solved this by making a little blade cut at the bottom and top of the rim and purposefully not rubbing the vinyl down over the rim. That way I was able to peel away the tiny unwanted part of the straw.

The fonts used in the sentiment worked perfectly into place over the jars – plenty of room at the top for the large word and the script font fit right over the solid part of the jar rims.

These digi images and cut files are so great, you download as soon as you purchase and you can start creating right away. I’d say this took me maybe an hour and a half but some of that was that my original Silhouette blade finally gave out right as I was trying to cut the last color! I had to dig around for a new blade in my kit – thankfully I had one that worked! I finished it off with jute cord and wood beads for a farmhouse look. I think it’s super cute and perfect for summertime.

Don’t forget that the progressive sale of polymer stamps and stencils and steel dies is at 50% off right now while supplies last. But stay tuned for even better deals and a special deal heading into the 4th of July weekend!

Beach Please!!

Hey there COOL Cats!  Kerry here and I’m popping in to share a little beachy number with you today!   I hope your summer is off to a great start!  I haven’t gone to the beach yet but I plan on doing it before the summer ends…unless I’m cooped up recuperating from back surgery.  I’ll find out more soon…

How are you enjoying the new digis?  I really love the versatility of digis and for this project, I pulled some of the brand new digis that debuted recently!  To create my fun little beachy scene, I started out by using the waves digi image in the Seafaring Gnome digi set to create a little stencil so that I could use a blender brush and various Ranger Distress Oxide inks to create a fun wavy beach.  I then splattered with water to give it extra beachy oompf.  After that, I pulled the crabs and the gnome from the Hang Loose, Gnomie! digi set and colored them up with Copic markers.   After that, I grabbed the fun starfish  and Beach Please sentiment from the Penguin Summer digi set, colored the starfish and then proceeded to fussy cut all the images.  It took a long time as I cut exactly on the lines- instead of giving it some white border/buffer.  I love fussy cutting!

After cutting everything out, I added some foam squares and put them to the side so I could work on the little sand mound for the gnomie to stand on.  I cut a piece of cardstock and then used some Distress Oxides and Catherine Pooler inks to give it the sandy color I was going for.  I added some foam and popped that up on the beachy/wavy water.  I then assembled all the images…making sure to let one little crabbie hitch a ride on Mr. Gnome’s hat!  After assembling and mounting everything, I attached this panel to a piece of black cardstock to define the border and then mounted it onto a cardfront with a side fold.

And…There you have it!  A fun little beachy card to get you in the mood for a little dip!  Hope you enjoy!

There are just a few more days to take advantage of the Progressive Sale!!!  Make sure you hop over to the shop and grab what you can!  It’s becoming slim pickins!  Click on the banner below to hitch a free ride to the shop!

It’s All About Happy

 

Hello TCP friends. Nancy here. I hope you are enjoying the digital and cutables Alma has produced this June. The biggest problem for me is deciding which ones to use first!

Using Photoshop Elements, I combined the gnome and the sentiment from the Bee Happy, Bee Gnome Digi stamp, then printed onto Copic friendly cardstock. I then cut with a octagon shaped die and colored with Copic markers. I created the background by using my Silhouette machine to cut the HoneyComb Coverplate Cutables from harvest gold cardstock, then cut for a bottom border only. I then added a strip of patterned paper at the top of the honeycomb border for added color. The image piece was attached using a layer of craft foam and a few enamel dots finished it up.

Copics: Skin-E000, E00, E02, E11; Beard-C00, C1, C3; Bee Parts-Y00, Y13, Y15, N1, N3, N5, BG70, BG10; Flower-Y000, Y13 Y35, T1, T3, T5; Leaves/Stem/Grass-YG00, YG03; Shadows-BG0000, BG000, BG70

For my second card I used some old nestabilities to die cut the round card base from patterned paper and cardstock, then used a stencil and spring rain ink for the cloud filled background. I used my Silhouette machine to cut the Happy Sun from cardstock and patterned paper and the sunshades from the Vintage Beach Cutable from patterned paper. The shades were attached to the sun with foam dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped onto the clouds and I added a few holeless sequins for a bit of sparkle.

That’s it from me today but I do want to end with a reminder about the physical products on sale. Be sure to take advantage of the fantastic prices while they are still in stock.

Kick Some Grass and Smile

Hey everyone!  Angela back with a fun card featuring the digital image Kick Some Grass.

I just love these bunny characters and could not wait to make a card with this fella.    Whereas I normally am all about layers and different patterns, this card, I wanted the image and the scene to be the star of the card, so I went a bit more  simple.   I printed the image on Copic Xpress It cardstock and then cut down.

 

I cut down piece of black cardstock to 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″.  Next I cut a piece of pink plaid pattern paper I had from my stash (Mintay paper pad in my stash) and cut a strip from the other side to be in the upper part of the card.   I inked both papers with Archival Black Ink from Ranger.   I added a black strip to break up the patterns.

I colored my image with Copics:

Bunny: W1, W3, W5, RV10, R20

Grass: YG63 , BG93

Flowers: RV02, RV10, R20, Y35

I used a cloud stencil, with Distress Oxide in Tumbled Glass to create clouds around my bunny.   I didn’t do any fancy masking for this, just was lighthanded with my inking.

 

I added to a piece of light blue cardstock from my stash and added to the card.   I cut the sentiment down and added to the bottom.     I decided to add some hand drawn stitching to the sentiment and the blue layer.    I also inked the remaining layers to carry on the feel of the card.

Lastly I added some black enamel dots to both bottom corners, to add the finishing touches.    I can’t wait to give this to a friend and write a fun note in it.   Hoping that this scene makes her smile and makes you smile as well.

See you soon!

Angela

WHAT UP, SUMMER GNOMIES!

Oh how I love these GNOMIES! I can’t express enough how much I’m digging the digi thing. I really didn’t know if it would be for me but it’s soooo freeing! I can print in whatever size suits my project AND the Silhouette cuts everything out for me. Super easy, coming from an Xacto knife queen, which is a big time saver.

The HANG LOOSE GNOMIE set features our favorite gnome once again. I think Alma should make him doing ALL OF THE STUFF…you name it! I colored him up with Copics and gave him a madras hat…he’s preppy cool. His colorful floatie and oh-so-adorable crabs are squeeeeee worthy for sure.

Ranger Distress Oxide inks blended into my background cardstock and clouds created with the TCP cloud stencil make a bright beautiful sea. . I download the scalloped rectangle for my base from the Silhouette store – just like any nested set of dies – ONLY DIGITAL – printing the sentiment and cutting the background piece from the printer then the cutting machine. Tiny white gel pen dots distinguish the water’s edge. Saw it somewhere and had to try it too!

My second card uses the SEAFARING GNOME set. Ack! It’s just soooo CUTE! And the STAY SALTY MY FRIEND sentiment is spot on and so fun! Again, printed my background rectangle with the waves and the sentiment then cut on the machine. Blended Distress Oxide inks for the sea. Since my base and images were on Kraft cardstock, I used the white gel pen to color the sails and a few other details. It really makes them POP!

I really do hope that you give digi a try, if you haven’t already done so. Not only is it freeing for the cardmaker, it allows Alma come up with MORE new stuff…AND QUICKLY! What will her creative brain give us next…I can’t wait!

Don’t forget that during the month of June, the remaining polymer stamps, dies, stencils and embellishments at The Cat’s Pajamas are now 50% OFF. Big deals!

50% off

Soaring into June with New Release Goodies and 50% off!

Hello out there!  I’m Christine and I’m popping in for some pretty soaring digital stamp sets for you from The Cat’s Pajamas for June!  One of the themes this month is flight and you’ll find fabulous images and cut-files to play with showcased by the designers in June.  I’m kicking off the release with 5 cute cards.

 It’s also a new month, so that means the TCP Progressive Sale is up to 50% off now! 

First up is this adorable bunny in balloon called Sky’s the Limit. this cutie was actually a mid-month release, but I love the image so much I had to throw it in today as well.  I began by colouring the bunny with Copics in these fun shades of coral and periwinkle blue.  I added a few defining details to the image with Prismacolor Pencils and trimmed it out.

I created a coordinating background with Watercolour to really give you the feel of a beautiful sunset ride.  A couple of TCP Stitched Clouds  and the sentiment is from TCP’s stamp set Scatter Joy.  

Next up we’re flying a kite!

It’s Up, Up and Away!  This little dude is getting swept away by some great gusts today, but he doesn’t seem too bothered by it.  I’ve coloured up the penguin with Cupopics and found some great kite themed paper in my stash to accent the design die cut with TCP’s Four Seasons Duo Die to get that pretty deckled edge.

I also found an old kite die in my stash, so I used it to create a kite accent with a little baker’s twine bow to match.  A drawn black outline of the kite accent, and around the card tie it all together and almost give it a comic book feel.

Now we’ll buzz on over to the third design.

Bee Happy, Bee Gnomie showcases a fun Gnome in Bee attire, but it also has a lot of other great images, including this fun sentiment and the little sunflower sprays.  I created the background with the digital images of the flowers by randomly adding them to the background.  It’s like your own custom background paper.  I also added the little flower to the sentiment, and popped another one up.    Colouring is done with Copics.  

A cheerful golden yellow bow ties it together.

Ever gone parachuting? I don’t think I could jump out of a plane, but our favourite Bunny is back with an opened chute, and it looks like he’ll make it to earth safely with this fun set Oh Chute!  I coloured him up with Copic markers and die cut the image.  I paired him with some blue patterned paper and added the TCP Cloud Border CutUps Die as an accent.

Perfect for any occasion you might have forgotten.

Last but not least, I have a design for anyone who’s SUPER in your life.

This set is called Superhero!  It’s a great set to customize for many loved ones, Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter and Friend are all included in the set.  I’ve highlighted the sentiment and my favourite super-bunny.  I picked some fun shades in turquoise and yellow, colouring with Copics, and accented the design with some TCP 3 x 3 paper stars.

A little touch of enamel dots and it’s complete.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour through the TCP June Release and all the flight themed designs!

Here’s a peek at all the NEW RELEASE items I showcased today.  And don’t forget about the Going Digital Progressive Sale at 50%!