It may be August, but there was a definite nip in the air this morning and it won’t be long before we see the first signs of autumn. So that means we’re likely to notice our resident squirrels and chipmunks as they begin to stock their larders. During last winter we had a couple of squirrels visit our front deck each morning for a few nuts and raisins that we put out for them. I wonder if they’ll expect the same breakfast service this year?

Today’s new product sneak peek is the Nuts About Squirrels Stamp Set. My regular readers will know that I have a thing for cute animal stamp sets and I couldn’t resist this one. With some patterned paper from my stash, it didn’t take me long to create today’s simple Sunday project.

AUTUMN LEAVES

When I began to think about my card I knew I wanted to give it an autumn feel. So I went straight to the Beauty Of The Earth 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) for this leafy tree pattern. Looking on the back of the DSP pack for the colours used, I then chose the colour palette for my project.

I started by using my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Early Espresso Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create my card base.

Next I needed to cut the DSP and I began with a 3-7/8″ x 5-1/8″ piece. Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I mounted the DSP onto a 4″ x 5-1/4″ layer of Cajun Craze Card. Then I wrapped some Linen Thread three times around the layers and secured it on the back with Tear & Tape Adhesive. Finally, using Stampin’ Dimensionals I attached the layers to the front of my card base.

Next I cut a 3/4″ x 4″ strip of the DSP and glued that down the edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ layer of Basic White Card. Then I added a 1/8″ x 4″ strip of Early Espresso Card up against the edge of the DSP before fixing the assembled piece inside the card base.

My last piece of DSP was cut to 2-1/4″ x 6″ and glued to the flap of a Basic White Medium Envelope. Then I trimmed off the excess paper with Paper Snips using the edge of the flap as a guide.

Now all I needed was to create the focal panel for the card front.

TWO-STEP STAMPING

I began by cutting a 2-3/8″ x 3-1/8″ piece of Basic White Card. Then in the top left corner I stamped the “Nuts about you!” sentiment using Early Espresso ink.

From the two squirrels in the stamp set I decided that the one holding the acorn was most appropriate. So I stamped the outline image into the space on the Basic White layer.

To colour in the squirrel I used the coordinating solid image from the Nuts About Squirrels Stamp Set. This time after inking up the stamp with Early Espresso ink I stamped off onto some scrap paper. This removed some of the ink so that when I stamped into the outline image the colour was lighter. Lining up the image was easy as I could look through the see-through photopolymer stamp at the darker outline below.

Going back to the stamp set I just needed two more small stamp images, the acorn and the acorn cup. Lining the images up with the squirrel outline image I stamped the acorn using Cajun Craze ink. Then I coloured the acorn cup by stamping it in Early Espresso.

Now the stamping was complete I mounted the panel onto a 2-1/2″ x 3-1/4″ piece of Cajun Craze Card. Then using Stampin’ Dimensionals I added the panel to the card base and I was done.

I knew when I bought the Beauty Of The Earth DSP that it would be great for projects all year round. Little did I know that several months later there’d be cute squirrels to brighten up my autumn projects too.

NUTS ABOUT SQUIRRELS

You don’t have long to wait to get your hands on the Nuts About Squirrels Stamp Set. It goes on sale to customers on Tuesday (August 3rd) when the new Mini Catalogue goes live. In the meantime here’s a look at the complete stamp set.

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