Clear and Simple Stamps January Release Day

 

Happy 2012 Style Watchers!

Welcome to a new year of amazing product from Clear and Simple Stamps. This year, you will find tons of new and inspiring changes at CSS, and you are going to love each of them!



The first change, which you may have already noticed, is that we are now releasing new product on the 5th (rather than the first), and releases will occur bi-monthly. With this comes another fab change, an huge selection of amazing product being released. For the month's of January and February, we've got TONS...and I mean TONS of stamps, dies and embellishments to show you!



To kick off this new year and new release format, I am going to share a project using one of our newest additions to the CSS product line: Little Critters.



The Little Critter product line includes large and small stamps, coordinating sentiments and ...wait for it...an ENTIRE series of die cuts that allow you to build your own adorable critter!

We've got sweet bumble bees, sneaky raccoons, sly foxes, wise owls and so much more! I've created a trio of critter cuties that are perfect for Valentine's Day! You'll love how easy and fun it is to be creative with these new dies!



Here on my blog, you'll find a few fun tricks and tips for getting the most out of your Build-A-Critter dies!

Until Later Loverlies,
Amber

 

For my little critters, I decided that a fun Valentine's day theme was in order. The newly released Build-a-Critter dies come in three sets. 

The Owl and Kitty die collection serves as the basis for all the rest of the critters. It includes everything you'll need to make the adorable kitty and owl shapes, but it also includes the body die that you'll use to make each little critter. 

The Bat/Bee and Racoon/Fox die collections include additional add on dies that can be used to create the critter of your choice.

For today's projects, I've got a trio of critters that I think you'll love!

I chose Valentine-y colors to create each critter and added a few extra touches to each one!

For this little owl, I stamped the belly with one of the heart patterns in Hearts Plus and die cut a little heart from his belly using the tiny heart die included in the Build-A-Critter: Owl/Kitty die collection.

I grabbed my small Taglines die and added a sentiment from Little Critters and tied it on with some of our new baker's twine!

 

For my next little critter, I designed a Valentine's Day racoon using the Owl/Kitty Die Collection along with the Fox/Racoon Die Collection . I stamped his belly with another pattern from Hearts Plus

Now...do you notice those little half moons in his eye? I thought they added a nice element to the racoon and I was able to do it by simply taking a hole puncher to the die cut black circle.  For this little guy, I also used my Trendy Tags die, grey baker's twine and a sentiment from Taglines: Critters.

 

 Now for my final and favorite littler critter in this trio...the bumble bee!! I love her!!! The assembly was pretty straightforward with the exception of a few little tricks.  First, I decided to use the Shapes: Hearts dies as wings instead of the wing dies that come included with the Bat/Bee Die Collection. The result is a little Valentine's flair for this  bee.

I also added a cut out a heart from one of her stripes for a little more love and some eyelashes to her eye, which I created by simply snipping the edges of a die cut circle. A sweet tag, sentiment and yellow baker's twine finished off this cutie!

To make these critters a bit more functional, I adhered them to the front and back of our new Party Favor #3 Die.  (Note: for the back of the favor bag, I simply adhered a die cut of the body. No need to decorate both sides!)

I also scored the sides of each party favor bag, to make them easier to seal shut.

 

Then I filled em up with yummies....

 

...and sealed together the critter die cuts to close the top.

 

So that's it for my release day post! I had such fun making these little critters and I have no doubt that you will too!

Now, make sure you head over to the blogs of each member of the CSS Design Team! There is tons of inspiration waiting for you!

Laurie Willison

Laura Bassen

Dana Grothaus

Stephany Zerbe

Kim Duran

Tracy Schultz

Laura O'Donnell

Lori Tecler