CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - March New Release - Day 1

Hi everybody, I'm so excited you've stopped by because its going to be an exciting week!! We have a New Release at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps and today is Day 1. Over the next seven days we have so many new, amazing products to share with you. And over on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog there will also be a giveaway, along with lots of inspiration from the 'Girl Fridays'. So let's get started! 

Today we are introducing the new Huggable Critters Fri-dies. This is an incredible set where you have all the dies to create a Bunny, Bear, Cat and Puppy. All the details for the set are on the CFS Blog.

I got a little carried away with my 'critter' and show that you can also create other animals:

This is probably the most artistic card I've ever made in my life!! I'm terrible at drawing and it took so much gumption to start doing the tiger stripes because I was so worried they would look stupid. Its not perfect but everyone tells me he looks like a tiger and he makes me smile, so I'm very happy!!

To start off I searched Google for images of tigers, getting close up photos of their faces, paws and chest area. I saw straight away that their ears aren't pointed like a cat so I die-cut two extra paws for them. I then die-cut the body and the facial features, all from white CS. 

Using the photos as a guide, I used a finger sponge dauber and Distress Ink 'Spiced Marmalade' to colour the paws, making it lighter towards the claws which I drew on with black gel pen. For the ears I put the orange around the edges and more towards the bottom. The inside of the ears are black and white with hairs, so I rubbed the side of a black pencil in that area. I also used the black pencil around the top part of the ear edges too.

For the body I started using the Distress Ink from the forehead down, creating the bridge of the nose but leaving the nose and mouth area white, as well as the eyes. The chest is usually quite white so I carried the orange down the sides of the body only. Using a black and brown Altenew Artist Markers I coloured the eye die-cuts black and the middle parts brown. I also coloured the mouth black and made the nose pink. 

I glued on the mouth and nose part, going underneath the nose with black gel pen and glued on the eyes. I used the black pencil to add some black dots where the whiskers would be. Using the photos as reference again, I started at the top of the head, making random stripes with the black pencil, making sure the lines were jagged and not perfectly straight. I carried them on down the side of the face and put a lot across the chest.

I glued the ears behind the head and the paws to the body. I then die-cut a 'Coffee Cup Fri-die' from black and white CS. I coloured the white 'coffee liquid' part brown and inlaid it before gluing to the paws. I then glued the whiskers in place, added foam behind the tiger and adhered to the card front, cutting off the extra at the bottom.

All I had to do then was die-cut the 'coffee' (from the same 'Coffee Cup Fri-dies') 3x from black CS, glued them together and then to the card front. The sentiment (from ''Coffee Talk' ) which I thought went so perfectly with a 'tiger', was heat embossed in white on a strip of black CS and popped on foam tape. So much going on with this card there is no need for any sequins AT ALL!

Wow, I don't think I've ever written out such long instructions for a card before. Hopefully it makes sense and gives you an idea on how to create your own critters with these new dies. The possibilities are endless!!

All of the New Release products are available in the CFS Shop RIGHT NOW, so if your off to do some shopping don't forget to use my special code to save yourself 15% on your purchase!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you back here tomorrow with another new product and some inspiration for how to use them!!

Take care
Shona