AUGUST NEW RELEASE – CHILLIN’ WITH MY GNOMIES

8 / 3 / 218 / 3 / 21

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:

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.)
Create a copy of this same image and flip it horizontally.
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.)
Group the two images and create an offset of them – size to your liking.
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!)
Print your page.
Run the printed image through your cutting machine, making sure that you’re only cutting the offset outline.
Once complete, fold in the middle and color.
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!

More Christmas

7 / 28 / 217 / 28 / 21

It’s Brenda, with a little more Christmas Cheer for you. These cards feature images, both digital stamps and Cutables, from the July releases in The Cat’s Pajamas store.

The first card features Ski Bunny along with the beautiful, intricate Snowflake Cutables. It started with an A2 white card blank and a die cut design paper piece. The Bunny was simply sized with Pages, printed with my inkjet printer and colored with Copic markers. The image was die cut and layered on design paper. He was popped up onto the the center of the white card base.

The snowflakes cut file were imported and sized with Silhouette Design Studio and cut from glitter paper using an electronic cutter. They were glued into place around the Bunny as shown. I absolutely love that you can create any size snowflake your heart desires. The sentiment is from the Penguin Sleigh digi. It was printed on vellum and stayed wet long enough for me to heat emboss. This was popped onto the corner of the card. Just a bit of Stickles were added here and there for a little more sparkle.

The next card is super simple, which is just what you need when you are trying to build that Christmas stash and time is at a premium, right? I just loved the beautiful script “Joy” from Santa Gnomie and thought it would look great oversized and sparkly.

This card started with an A7 card blank. I using an embossing folder to add a little texture to a white panel. “Joy” was imported into Silhouette Design Studio and sized to be 4 inches high. The electronic cutting machine cut it beautifully. It was mounted onto the base with glue and a little extra sparkle was added with sequins.

I hope you are having as much fun creating with the new cut files and digital stamps as I am. Really, the sky is the limit when it comes to possibilities.

I’ve got one more chance to remind you of the super sale that is going on for only 2 more days. Get your stamps and die cut goodies while you can over at the TCP store! Thanks so much for popping in!

Slimline Nutcracker Card Made Easy

7 / 18 / 217 / 17 / 21

I finally had an afternoon to myself to actually create something with our cute new Cutables and Digis. I love Nutcrackers and I thought that our Nutcracker Cutable would be perfect as a slimline card. That’s right. Rather than be ON a card I wanted him to BE the card.

I knew making the base of the card would be easy, and it was. I loaded the Cutable into Cricut Design Space, duplicated the bottom layer and flipped it. Then, I welded the two together and added a score line. And, rather than hand stamp a sentiment in there, (goodness knows I have many), I decided to see if I could get the same effect with a digi stamp. So, I pulled up the Nutcracker Digi stamp and placed a sentiment on the base of the stamp. I flattened the card base layer and did a print and cut.

Here’s the print part. Was I scared? Um. Maybe….

Here’s what it looked like after I ran the printed sheet through the Cricut. Perfect.

Then, it was a matter of cutting the rest of the Nutcracker for the front. I used low-tack tape to adhere the small pieces to the paper they were cut out of, so I wouldn’t lose them. Cut down the paper and ran through my sticker maker. I used my blending brushes to add color to the edges and his cheeks to give him more dimension. Next, I assembled all the parts and attached the Nutcracker to the front of the card

I think he is quite cute! And, for those that think that going digital means that I might miss getting inky, well here’s something that happened that I won’t miss.

If you want to see how I created this card, just click this link. or the picture below.

And don’t forget, we are still having our Progressive Closeout Sale. This month we are at 60% off all polymer stamps, dies, and embellishments. And that includes our already discounted bundles and clearance items.

Half Way to Christmas

7 / 12 / 217 / 13 / 21

It’s kinda scary how fast time is flying. We only have about 5 months to get those Christmas cards done and with all these fun new digis, who doesn’t want to get started now? I have 2 cards to share with you today. Both cards feature the darling Cutable, Ornamental Gnome. with sentiments from Bunny Snowglobe digi set.

In the first card the little Gnome is sitting on top of his altered Diamond Fold Cutable, surrounded by all his beautiful, sparkly ornaments! Here’s a peek at the inside –

I started by cutting the gnome, his ornaments and the diamond fold card with an electronic cutting machine. The single ornament was resized and cut several times to add a little extra embellishment.

Next was the fun part, coloring and piecing together the gnome to bring him to life. I used Copic markers to add shading . The card was folded and embellished with patterned paper as shown in the video here. I trimmed my card base a little shorter as you can see.

The circle images are die cuts from my stash and it, along with the happy little gnome and his ornies were arranged on top as shown. I used Silhouette Studio to arrange and print the sentiment and then cut them with the same circle die cut set. The holly was colored with Copic markers.

Here he is, all ready to celebrate!

The second card also features the Gnome albeit a younger version with that red hair. This time he is on a slimline card fronted with the new Woodgrain Coverplate. I just love coverplates, and this one is genius! It cuts beautifully with an electronic machine and it comes in 3 differed sizes.

Woodgrain CoverplatesTo create this card, I started with the electronic cutting. I wanted the gnome to be a presence on this 8 1/2″ card, so he is 5″ tall (oh the wonder of digital cut files!). The coverplate and base were cut from kraft cardstock and the coverplate was distressed with walnut stain ink and glued to the base. The gnome was assembled and adhered on top. Copic markers were again used to add shading. The sentiment is from Bunny Snowglobe, printed on kraft cardstock and hand cut to create a little holiday sign. The sign was hung with baker’s twine.

Two more cards to add to my stash and hopefully a little inspiration for you.

Before I wish you a great day, I want to remind you there are still some great stamps and dies left in the store now at an incredible 60% off. New digis and a super sale, you can’t beat that!

Take care!

Gnoel

7 / 5 / 217 / 5 / 21

Hey everyone! Angela back, with a fun card featuring Gnoel, one of the July digital stamps. I printed the version that has both the gnome but also the sentiment and cut down to a rectangle. Next I printed the gnome with the ornament and cut with my scan n cut.

Once cut colored with copics-

Skin- E00, E11, E21, R20

Hair and Mustache: W1, W3, W5

Hat: RV29, RV69, R35, R37, N1, N3, N5

Ornament: G05, G17, G28, YG09

Shoes: T1, T3, T5

Next I cut a pieces of cardstock down for a slimline card. I inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Next I cut pattern papers from the Simple Stories Simple Vintage Christmas to make my various layers. I inked all papers with the same walnut stain ink.

I used foam tape to pop the Gnome up on the card and add some dimension. I then added some enamel dots to the corners to add the finishing touches to the card.

I hope you enjoyed my card- and don’t forget the sale going on- 60% off stamps, dies, stencils and embellishments.

See you soon!

Pull Out Those Wishlists!

7 / 1 / 217 / 1 / 21

It’s the perfect time to get those items off your wishlist. For the whole month of July all our Polymer Stamps, Dies, Stencils and Embellies are 60% off.

Want a Digital Stamp or Cutable? No problem, for 4 Days Only, get 25% off all Digital Downloads. It’s a win win.

SHOP NOW

Best Day Ever!!

6 / 30 / 216 / 27 / 21

Hey all!! Happy Thursday! Cristena here with you today to show you a card I made showcasing the beautiful Best Day Ever Clear Stamp Set! I love thisstamp set so much. I ended up using this card for my husband.

I wanted the background to match her little dress. Drawing the flowers on her dress was a lot of fun! Then I had to color the background to make it all match.

The sentiment is also from the set. I hand-cut the little flag after I stamped it on the cardstock.

I really love these little characters from this stamp set. I will need to color the Vespa next!

The Copic colors I used are:
Skin: E00, 04, 11, 21, R20, 30
Reds: R29, 17, 05
Greens: YG21, 23, 25
Jeans: B91, 93, 95, 97, 99
Blonde Hair: E41, 42, 43
Black Hair: C4, 5, 6, 7, 8
White Gel Pen

Until next time friends!
Inky hugs,
Cristena

Be a Superhero

6 / 28 / 216 / 28 / 21

Happy Tuesday everyone! Angela back with a fun card featuring another fun digital stamp – Superhero.

With the 4th of July coming up this next weekend I wanted to do a Red, White and Blue theme.

I printed my image on Copic Xpress It cardstock and colored with Copic Markers:

Bunny: N1, N3, N5, R20

Eye Mask, Cape and Shirt: R46, R35, R17, B18

White Gel Pen

I cut my cardbase to fit on a standard A2 cardbase using Blue cardstock. Next I cut a layer of pattern paper (from my stash from CTMH) and inked the pattern paper with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide- Chipped Sapphire. I cut 2 strips in red and inked them with the same Chipped Sapphire Oxide.

Next I cut a circle with white cardstock to mount my Super Hero Bunny on and inked with the same Distress Oxide Ink.

Next I used foam tape to pop up my bunny with. I cut the sentiment strip, and then handcut the banner end. I also inked the sentiment and then used foam tape to pop up and adhere to the card. Lastly, I used some enamel dots in White and Blue and some Stars in Red to carry on the Red, White and Blue theme.

Who would you give a card to and let them know they are your Superhero? For me it would be my Mom. I would love to hear yours!

WHAT UP, SUMMER GNOMIES!

6 / 15 / 216 / 14 / 21

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!