A Cat To Die For

Back in the olden days, we had to hand cut everything that we stamped. Personal die cutting was like a glitter bomb dropped into the stamp industry. It's really hard to remember life before dies, sort of like how hard it is to remember life before the MISTI.

There's something that feeds my CAS soul when I can make a card using only dies. They are so perfectly neat, it just pops everything.

So I'm bringing you an all die card today. I used this gorgeous all-year background die to cut Key Lime cardstock. Look how crisp that is with the teeny stitching. On top of that, I just added a white circle to put this adorable Picture Book Santa Cat die on. SQUEE! It's so cute! I finished it off with this word die. The cardstocks are Key Lime, Red Hot, Black Onyx and White.

Simon Says Stamp BIG PICTURE BOOK... [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp HOLIDAY KNIT... [ SSS ] Simon Says Stamp CELEBRATE Wafer Die... [ SSS ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- Black Onyx [ GNK ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- Red Hot [ GNK ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- Key Lime [ GNK ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Sizzix BIG SHOT EXPRESS Gray and... [ SSS | CST ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | ART | BLIC | ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ]

At first I was going to put the cat on a glitter paper background, but the rest of the card was so clean and bright that it just didn't look right. Once I swapped it out for white the whole card looked harmonious.

These cuties are part of the Diecember release at Simon Says Stamp - so you and I can head over there together to see what else is new! They always amaze during Diecember.

Hope you find something fun!

Loveyameanitbye.

A Blue Fox? Yes, Please!

It's Friday y'all! Our dogwood tree turned a brilliant red this week, and so I was feeling inspired to use fall colors on my cards.

One of my fave fall combos involves blue of course - because the skies here are so clear and intense this time of year - perfect contrast to all the browns and reds and oranges.

I stamped the background image from this background stamp in Acorn ink for a warm feel.  I used the fox from this set in Acorn ink, and stamped the sentiment, which is from this teacher themed stamp set. (This set does have a coordinating die.)

I performed surgery on the sentiment, and the words were close together, so to do surgery on photopolymer stamps that are tricky, I use my magnifying lamp to make sure I'm not cutting off part of any images. My eyes aren't that great, and this lamp is a real life saver for any intricate work that I do. I love that it's adjustable and hands free so that I can just concentrate on what I'm doing.

So when I stamped the background onto this hot press paper, I smooshed Peacock Feathers and Vintage Photo Distress Inks onto my craft mat, sprayed them with water, and then just dipped the watercolor paper into the puddles until the color was the way I liked it. When that was dry, I cut it apart on a diagonal, and adhered it to a white card base, leaving room for my sentiment, which I stamped with the MISTI.

I repeated the ink smooshing with Spiced Marmalade and Carved Pumpkin inks to make a backdrop for my little blue and brown fox from this adorable stamp set and cut that out with circle infinity dies. I cut the fox with the coordinating dies - I love how narrow the border around the image is.

Like A Crafty Fox - Picket Fence Studios [ PFS ] Like A Crafty Fox Coordinating Die... [ PFS ] Love of Coffee - Picket Fence Studios [ PFS ] Good Teacher - Picket Fence Studios [ PFS ] Good Teacher Coordinating Die Set -... [ PFS ] Give Me A Break - Picket Fence Studios [ PFS ] Circle Infinity Dies (H) [ HA ] Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad... [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad... [ SSS ] Tsukineko VersaFine Clair ACORN Ink... [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad... [ SSS ] Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink Pad... [ SSS ] Stonehenge Aqua Watercolor Blocks [ BLIC ] Heavy Base Weight Card Stock- White [ GNK ] MISTI Stamping Tool [ MSW | HA | SSS | ELH | MFT | UNT ] Absorber - Synthetic Cleaning Cloth [ AMZUS ] Rotatrim Professional Series Cutter -... [ BLIC ] LightView 2in1 LED Magnifier for... [ BRG ] Mudder 10 Pack White Buffer Sanding... [ AMZUS ] Xyron ADHESIVE ERASER 23675 [ SSS | ART | AMZUS ] Essentials by Ellen Storage... [ ELH ] Teflon Bone Folder - Ellen Hutson LLC [ ELH | SSS ] Tombow MONO MULTI Liquid Glue Two... [ SSS | ART | BLIC | ELH ] Ink Off Cloth [ INK ] WOW PREMIUM EMBOSSING CRAFT MAT WV14 [ SSS ]

Her coffee themed backgrounds are amazing. Here are two of my faves:

And the one I used today.

What are you up to this weekend? I have my last stamping class of the year - can you believe it? And then I'm just editing video and prepping December's posts. November always flies by.

Hope whatever you're doing is fun!

Loveyameanitbye.