Stampin' Up! Sharing Sweet Thoughts - SBTD 02/2018

Hello and welcome to another Stampers by the Dozen Blog Hop!  Thanks for hopping along with us.  Our theme this month was chosen by Courtenay - 'critter fun' - any current animal stamp.

When I think of 'critters' I think of bugs and insects but then, I am in the UK.  I have been told that in the US it is different so please forgive me.

Whilst out shopping last week I came across these chocolate critters.

Of course I bought them - so cute and, I knew just the stamp set I wanted to use with them.

Sharing Sweet Thoughts.  Sharing Sweet Thoughts is the 2017 - 2018 Ronald McDonald House Charities stamp set.  For every set sold, Stampin' Up! give a dontation to this fantastic charity.

Alhtough I bought the chocolates last week, I did not get chance to start my project until around 12 hours before the hop went live - eekk!

I used one of the second release Sale-a-Bration items for my background - the Basket Weave Dynamic TIEF.  You can earn this TIEF (and coordinating stamp set) free with a £90 order until the end of March.

You get an interesting geometric effect on the back of the embossed card (photo on the left) and, when I get chance, I will be having some fun inking up this folder to see what effects I can achieve ...

I stamped some images and coloured with the Stampin' Blends before cutting out with the Stitched Shape Framelits.  The red scalopped shape behind adds a pop of colour.

I did colour all the laybirds in red but then I decided to make one of them green to match the chocolate!  I stamped another ladybird onto a scrap of card and carefully cut out just the body using a mini Stampin' Dimensional to make him stand out.

To add depth and shine to the ladybirds I used the Fine-Tip Glue on the body 

which takes around 30 minutes or so to dry.

Top Tip

Outline the image first and then carefully 'flood' with glue to cover the area.  If you get a bubble pop it with a pin and lay flat to dry.

If you look closely at the bug at the bottom of this photo you will see that the gloss is not quite dry!  

I used a sentiment from a stamp set called Fruit Basket.

The inside of the card was decorated to match ...

... and the envelope too of course!

Here is the completed card and envelope.

I used one of the Cellophane Treat Bags with a simple decorated topper for the critter.  The topper measurement is 5.2cm x 10 cm, scored at 5cm.  The critter was somewhat reluctant to move to the bottom of the bag so I had to use my bone folder to push him down!

The sentiment on the tag is from a stamp set called Tabs for Everything.

This little ensemble will be winging (sorry) its way to a special friend next week as a little birthday treat!

Thanks for looking at my blog today and joining our second hop of 2018 - don't forget to leave a comment below and on other blogs as you hop around, we really like that!  We will be back next month with lots more inspiration for you.

Details of the products I used for this project can be found below.

Next on the hop is Tricia who I'm sure has something fabulous to share with you too.

Happy crafting and thanks again for hopping along!

Susan xx

If you get lost along the hop, here is a list of all participants.

Karie Beglau      
Judi Anderson 

Susan Simpson - you are here!
Tricia Butts
Lyndsay LaRae Carara 
Courtenay Heuston 
Tashana Lundy
Carly Middleton
Sharleen Luciano
Vicky Thompson
Anastasia Radloff

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