Friday, June 22, 2012

Spinning hamster

I know I've said before that I love animal stamps. Especially cutesy, cuddly, adorable animals. So when I saw a stamp set with hamsters at the Stamp Expo last month, I couldn't pass it up. I mean, how often do you find a stamp set of hamsters? Well, if you're me, only once. I used this set to make a couple of fun cards this week.

Card with the image of a hamster in a ball that spins back and forth across the card.Supplies (all Stampin' Up!® unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Hug a Hamster (Raisin Boat)
Card stock: Whisper White, Soft Suede, Basic Black
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Soft Suede, Blushing Bride
Accessories: 1-3/8" circle punch, Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, Dimensionals, large clear adhesive dots (Zots)
Other: 1/4" washer, penny

This was a fun card to make. The hamster in the ball (which is two separate images stamped over each other) is actually a spinner, so when you tip the card left and right, he rolls back and forth. Hee! Here is a quick rundown of how I made this card:

1. Cut a piece of card stock for the card front. For this card the layer is 4" x 5-1/4". Place the top edge of the card stock in the Word Window punch. Be sure to push the card stock right up to the back of the punch and about 1/2" from the side.
2. Punch once and leave the card stock in the punch. Slide the punch along the card stock and punch again. Repeat one more time, stopping about 1/2" from the other side.
3. Stamp the punched layer as desired. 
4. Stamp the image for the spinner and punch or cut it out.
5. Using an adhesive dot, adhere a penny or a washer to the middle of the back of the spinner. Pennies seem to work a bit better because they are a little heavier than the washers. But sometimes, even though they are just pennies, I hate to use them in case they just get thrown away. (I compromised by using a washer for this step and a penny for Step 8.)
6. Adhere a Dimensional or foam dot to the washer/penny. Adhere a second Dimensional/foam dot right on top of the first one.
7. Place the layered Dimensionals through the punched slit in the card stock layer so the front of the spinner and the front of the card stock layer are facing the same direction.
8. Adhere another penny or washer to the second Dimensional/foam dot. You should now have one penny/washer on each side of the card stock with two Dimensionals or foam dots in between them.
9. Use Dimensionals to adhere the punched card stock layer to the card front. You will need to use a double layer of Dimensionals to make sure there is enough space for the spinner to move.
10. Decorate the rest of the card as desired.

I forgot to take a picture of the inside of this card, but I stamped the hamster and ball again with the saying, "Have a ball!" I think this card has to make you smile at least a little.

Card with the image of a hamster in a cage with an exercise wheel. Sentiment says "Up all night, sleep all day."
Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Hug a Hamster (Raisin Boat)
Card stock: Whisper White, River Rock, Pool Party, Soft Suede
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Soft Suede, Blush Blossom, Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Pool Party, Riding Hood Red, River Rock
Accessories: Dimensionals

This is a pretty straightforward card: mostly stamping and coloring. Just a couple of details to point out: I used a marker to make the dotted border around the focal image, and I randomly stamped the sunflower seed image on the Soft Suede card stock to create a background. I love the saying on this card, but I did have a hard time choosing between this one and "I love the nightlife" -- they both made me giggle.

Thanks for stopping by!

4 comments:

Melissa Craig said...

How cute! What a great idea to make a spinner card with the hamster. Fabulous! Thanks for playing along with us at Raisin Boat. We hope to see you again.

Anonymous said...

Andrea, these cards are both so adorable! Love that spinner card. And the second one is just perfect for those night owls (or I guess I should say "night hamsters") out there, like me. :-)Thanks so much for playing in the Raisin Boat challenge and thanks for coming to see us at the Expo, too! - Kim

Linda said...

Oh my goodness this is so stinkin cute. I love how you made the spinner front and that adorable inside. This is a great set. One I don't have. I am going to have to look into it.
Thanks for joining our first challenge at Raisin Boat with your adorable card.
Linda

Scrapcat Cards by Linda

Tara said...

Congrats on winning the first Raisin Boat challenge. Well deserved- such a cute card!