On Christmas Day I made one final card of the season for my blog post that day. It was a project featuring the robin and a sentiment from the now retired Happy Holly-Days Stamp Set. The background was a sneak peek using some of the New Horizons 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (DSP). If you saw that blog post today’s hedgehog gift tag project might seem a little familiar, but there’s a good reason for that.. You see it uses the original background I made for that card, and then ruined.

UNHAPPY CRAFTER

I’d stamped my sentiment and stupidly didn’t close the Tuxedo Black ink pad. Then when I finished the card I stood it up at the back of my craft area and began to clear up. As I was removing stamps from blocks and cleaning them the card fell, onto the open ink pad. I picked it up but as I turned it over I saw black ink across the background and too much to hide under embellishments. There was nothing for it but to start again.

The making was quicker this time as I’d already designed the card and had all the measurements written down. I also managed to save the card base and robin so all I had to recreate was the background layers and sentiment. After posting the card on my blog I returned to my work area and looked at the remains of the ruined card. I was so cross with myself, mostly because I’d wasted a piece of the amazing New Horizons paper. Somehow I couldn’t bring myself to discard the background, so I carefully removed the sentiment and threw it away. Then I placed the damaged background into the package with the rest of the DSP and forgot about it.

THE KINDEST CUT

This morning I was thinking about the narrow strips of DSP I had left over from several other projects created for the IDEAS Tutorial Bundle. I thought they’d probably work well as a background on a tag, so out came the New Horizons DSP again. While going through the scraps I came across the damaged piece, still mounted on a layer of Old Olive Card. In a flash I knew what to do…

Using my Paper Trimmer I cut off the left edge of the Old Olive Card, then I cut a 2″ strip off the left side of the remaining layers. Using the Detailed Trio Punch I added an oval hole at the top of the strip and I had a tag base. I cut 6″ of Very Vanilla twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack and tied the ends together. After threading the loop through the hole in the tag, I passed the tied ends through the loop and pulled to secure it.

Next I picked out the One Happy Family Stamp Set and the “Happy birthday’ sentiment. Using Soft Suede ink I stamped it onto a 1/2″ x 2-1/4” strip of Thick Very Vanilla Card. Then I attached the sentiment towards the top of the tag using Stampin’ Dimensionals.

All I needed now was a little accent piece to finish it off.

HEDGEHOG BUILDER PUNCH

The crimped 1″ strip of Kraft Paper that I’d put onto the original background reminded me of a fence. So I had in mind adding an animal image of some kind. In the end I couldn’t resist the larger hedgehog from the Happy Hedgehogs Stamp Set.

Using Soft Suede ink I stamped the hedgehog onto some Thick Very Vanilla Card. Then I stamped him again but onto some Crumb Cake Card. I could have cut them out with Paper Snips, but turned instead to the coordinating Hedgehog Builder Punch.

I began by punching out the complete hedgehog from the Thick Very Vanilla Card. However with the image on the Crumb Cake Card I used the section for just the hedgehog’s spines. These two pieces are designed to be layered but I wanted to tweak the top piece first…

I began by putting the Crumb Cake piece face down onto a Stampin’ Pierce Mat. Then I put the larger scoring stylus attachment in my Take Your Pick Tool and began to rub it in small circles over the back of the punched piece. As I worked I could see that the card fibres were stretching so that from the front it would have a domed effect. Once I was happy I flipped the piece over and then went around the edge of the shape with the stylus so I’d have a place to put my glue.

NOW STUFF THE HEDGEHOG!

Now came the fiddly part. I put a thin line of Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) just around the top part of the punched piece. Then I fixed it into place on top of the Very Vanilla hedgehog. I pressed the edges together and gave it a couple of minutes to dry thoroughly. Next I stuffed a small piece of cotton wool through the open edge, using the Take Your Pick tool to help me. With the cotton wool now supporting the spines I put a little liquid glue along the open edge and pressed the pieces together.

As before, I held the edges together and gave them a couple of minutes to dry so the cotton wool wouldn’t burst out. Then with a couple of Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back I added the finished hedgehog to the front of the tag and I was done.

I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have been able to repurpose at least some of that damaged background. What’s more I now have an idea for using the rest of it, black ink and all. So while you enjoy the rest of your day I’m back to my craft studio to start work. Watch out for that project in a few days.

If you missed the card this background was originally made for you’ll find it in my blog post Christmas blessings to you and yours.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Happy Hedgehogs Stamp Set and coordinating Hedgehog Builder Punch using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included both options in my product list in case you want to compare them.