Today is May 25^th and that means it’s only 7 months to Christmas. Just sayin’… But more importantly though it’s also the day when Stampin’ Up! reveals the list of products being retired from the January to June 2022 Mini Catalogue. I’m still hoping that the New Horizons suite will be reprieved and we’ll get to play with it for a while longer. But just in case it isn’t I simply had to use that gorgeous paper, along with the definitely retiring Mischievous Mice (Host) Stamp Set, one last time.

Of the two Host stamp sets in the Mini Catalogue I couldn’t resist the cute mice in this set. Sadly I left it a bit late to get it, but I’m determined to use all three images before the set retires forever. Today’s mouse is having fun with a large balloon.

SECOND OF THREE MICE

I began this project with the large image and using VersaMark ink stamped it onto a piece of Shimmery White Card. Then I sprinkled the sticky ink with black embossing powder from the Basics Stampin’ Emboss Powder collection. After tapping off the excess power I made sure the area inside of the balloon was clean before going back to the Mischievous Mice Stamp Set.

This time I chose the “Just a quick note to say” sentiment. Using VersaMark ink again I stamped the sentiment inside the balloon. Then I sprinkled the sentiment with black embossing powder and tapped off the excess. After removing some stray specks from the combined image and sentiment, I melted the rest using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

As soon as the embossing had cooled I was ready to add colour. Choosing Shimmery White Card was a very deliberate decision as it stands up to water very well. This meant I could paint the mouse and balloon using watered-down ink.

I began by pressing onto the lids of a Gray Granite and Rich Razzleberry ink pad. This allowed some of the ink to be transferred from the foam pad onto the inside of the lid. Then when I opened them up I could use the lid as a palette. I simply added a little water to the ink with a Water Painter and started painting.

Although the mouse is different colours this was achieved by adding more water to the Gray Granite ink to lighten it. The balloon came next, filled with Rich Razzleberry ink. Finally I went back to the mouse and added a tiny bit of watered-down Rich Razzleberry ink to his hands, feet, tail and ears.

SUNSET SKY

Now I needed a background from the New Horizons 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. There are so many great watercolour scenes it was really hard choose, but in the end I found the perfect sunset.

Next, from my stash of boring notebooks I found a small composition book that was labelled 3-1/4″ x 4-1/2″. In fact when I measured it the notebook was actually a little smaller than that. No matter, as I wasn’t planning to cut the paper first. Instead I put Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) over the front cover (up to the black binding). Then I slid the DSP sheet into place while lining up the top of the sheet with the top of the notebook. To trim off the excess I simply used my Paper Snips following the edge of the notebook as a guide.

Once the front cover was done I repeated the process on the back cover, lining up the top of the paper with the top of the book as before. A little more trimming and I was ready for my mouse.

I’ll be honest and say that cutting out the mouse with Paper Snips wasn’t the quickest job. However the raised embossing did make it easier to stick to the lines of the image. It even seemed to strengthen the card so I could cut along both sides of the ‘string’. Once that was complete I glued the image onto the notebook and I was done.

How cute is this! I’m over the moon with how this project turned out and it only reinforces how sad I’ll be to see the paper and stamp set retire. What do you think?

For a card project featuring the Mischievous Mice Stamp Set see my earlier blog post Mice thanks on Mother’s Day.

PRODUCT LIST

HOST STAMP SET – Mischievous Mice is one of two Host stamp sets from the January to June 2022 Mini Catalogue. Like all Host stamp sets it will be retired at the end of the catalogue period, which for this set means June 30th. Host stamp sets (and other hosts products) cannot be ordered in the regular way. They can only be ‘bought’ using Stampin’ Rewards dollars earned by placing an order of at least $200CAD, or by hosts of a party/workshop reaching the same level in orders. Stampin’ Rewards start at 10% of the total sales (before shipping and taxes). For more information visit the Host page of my online store, or see page 90 of the Mini Catalogue, or pages 178/179 of the new Annual Catalogue.