Happy hamster birthday

Last weekend I had a fabulous, crafty three days with my friend Lisa. I mostly focused on making Christmas cards, and ended up with 35 completed (five cards of each of seven designs). I'd hoped to make more than that, but I got stuck on a couple of the designs. So I have a slew of Christmas cards to share with you in future posts, but today I want to show you a fun birthday card I made last week.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Hug a Hamster (Raisin Boat)
Paper: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Whisper White card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Early Espresso, Soft Suede
Accessories: Corner rounder, Cappuccino Assortment baker's twine (Hemptique), Mono Multi liquid glue, Dimensionals

Look at those chubby hamster cheeks! I love this quirky stamp set and thought it would be perfect for my cousin's seventh birthday.

This card is 5" x 7", and I'll admit I struggled to figure out how to create a focal image that didn't seem too small for the card. After some trial and error, I ended up with the hamster sitting on a pile of sunflower seeds that trailed off to the right edge of the card stock.

To add some dimension to the focal layer, I stamped the hamster twice on Soft Suede card stock. I cut out the whole first image and just the paws from the second. Then I used small pieces of Dimensionals to adhere the paws onto the main image.

I added more dimension with the sunflower seeds. I stamped some of the seeds directly on the focal layer, and I stamped others on scratch card stock, cut them out and adhered them to the card with Dimensionals.

I really liked the way the front of the card turned out, so I wanted the inside to be cute, too. I stamped the sentiment "Have a ball!" and then added a hamster running in an exercise ball. I positioned the hamster in the lower right corner and then hand-drew a loopy dashed line to create the impression that he's rolling away. Perfect!



Thanks for stopping by!