While I love having stamp sets that include sentiments, I also like to mix and match. Sometimes what I want to say simply isn’t there, and sometimes it is but it’s just the wrong size for my design. That’s why I like the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set with 32 sentiments for different occasions. There’s no dies for this set but I realised all the sentiments fit inside the speech bubble from the Special Day Dies. It was the perfect finish to today’s project.

CUTE CHARACTERS

I began this project with the cute raccoon image from the Special Someone Stamp Set. There’s something very expressive about this character’s eyes that keeping drawing me in.

I chose Very Vanilla as my main colour and cut two pieces of card, one 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″ and the other 4″ x 5-1/4″. Then in the bottom left corner of each piece I stamped the detailed raccoon image with Gray Granite ink. Next I inked up the coordinating solid image with Gray Granite ink. But before going any further I ‘stamped-off’ the image onto scrap paper to remove some of the ink. Then I stamped onto one of the detailed images to colour him in. Finally I reinked the solid stamp, stamped off and then stamped the colour onto the second detailed image to match the first.

Before putting away the raccoon stamps I repeated the two-step process on the front of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope.

For my card base I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Soft Suede Card. After folding the card along the scored line I sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed the larger of the two Very Vanilla layers on the inside.

At this point I remembered that there was a set of coordinating dies for the Special Someone Stamp Set called Special Day. So I took that out and put it on my desk, just in case…

SPEECH

I could have cut out the raccoon but in the end I decided to keep the card front simple. I mounted the remaining Very Vanilla layer onto a piece of Gray Granite Card with liquid glue. Then I fixed the assembled layers to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Now it was time to decide what my raccoon might be saying. While there were various sentiments in the Special Someone Stamp Set, they weren’t what I wanted. So instead I pulled out the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set for inspiration. After some thought I went with “Hope you’re feeling better” and stamped it onto a scrap of Very Vanilla Card with Soft Suede ink.

Then I remembered the Special Day Dies and one die in particular, the speech bubble. I was so pleased when I found that this die fitted the sentiment perfectly, it was obviously meant to be. So after cutting out the sentiment I fixed it to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals and my project was complete.

I love the simplicity of this card which really is all about the sentiment and the earnest expression of the raccoon delivering it. After finishing I looked at the other 31 sentiments in the Itty Bitty Greetings Stamp Set. To my delight every single one of them fits inside that speech bubble die. So now whether I stamp an image of an animal or a person, I can quite literally put words into their mouths.

PRODUCT LIST

MINI CUT & EMBOSS MACHINE – Customers will be able to buy the Mini Cut & Emboss Machine starting January 5th. All the dies in the Special Day Dies set are small enough to fit through this machine. I’ll add a link to the smaller machine once it’s available.