Do you love cats and cat cards? If not, I suggest you move swiftly on as today all my projects feature the fabulous Love Cats stamp set from Stampin’ Up!®
While the stamp set is in the Valentines section of Stampin’ Up!®’s January-April Mini Catalogue, this set offers so much more.
I don’t make Valentines projects but this wasn’t going to put me off the best cat stamp set Stampin’ Up!® has offered for years. In fact, I have taken scissors to rubber and trimmed down the “Hi there, Valentine” stamp so it reads simply “Hi there”.
For these projects I have teamed the Love Cats stamp set with various other Stampin’ Up!® sentiment sets so I can send cards for all occasions to my cat-loving friends.
I have also used various Stampin’ Up!® Designer Series Papers because they are so versatile they can be adapted for all kinds of projects.
For instance, these two cards use a brand new paper pack called Hello, Irresistible which is being launched to Stampin’ Up!® customers tomorrow, on 1st March.
The Hello, Irresistible Designer Series Papers have beautiful floral images on the front and lovely mellow watercolour-like designs on the back, which is what I’ve used for these two projects.
The “Just for you” card uses Rain or Shine Designer Series Paper. Again the front designs may not have been appropriate, but this bright cheery yellow checked design makes a perfect backdrop and is really striking against the black.
Let’s talk about stamping these black cats for a moment. You may get lucky and stamp one perfectly straight away but this requires a perfectly inked ink pad and a firm hand. If your ink pad is anything less than perfect – and you don’t have a re-inker to hand – then I highly recommend using the Stamparatus from Stampin’ Up!®. This will enable you to stamp a cat in the same position two or three times, to produce a beautifully crisp image.
For these two birthday cards, I used the same design and different papers. The Fresh Freesia comes from the Sale-a-Bration Favored Flowers pack, while the So Saffron is from Happy Forest Friends. My point here is that any geometric design will do the job, according to your chosen colour scheme.
It’s surprisingly easy to position the cat on top of the paper strip, especially if you use the Stamparatus. You simply stamp the cat in position on your cardstock, remove it and stamp again on the grid paper beneath. Then use the grid paper to position the Designer Series Paper before stamping again on top.
I used the same method for this support card, using some Dainty Flowers Designer Series Paper from this year’s Sale-a-Bration offering (ends today!). I love how the Black and White Gingham Ribbon goes with absolutely any colour – it’s definitely a must-have addition to your ribbon stash.
This cat stamp is easy to position on your Designer Series Paper “wall” as it has a flat side to the image. I’ve used more Happy Forest Friends paper as I love the coral to pick up in the heart. As you can see I’ve created a matching envelope too, by stamping the cat on the closure flap. At the Stampin’ Up!® head office, they never like to send out an envelope “naked”!
If you are in the UK and would like to place a Stampin’ Up!® order, please visit my store and use the host code listed below as this prompts me to send you a thank you gift in the following month.
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