Stretch Your Supplies

Hello, friends! I hope your weekend is off to a great start! Today is my 16th wedding anniversary, and I finally made the card that has been in my head for the past few months. I love stretching the use of my supplies. You see me doing that a LOT with the Spellbinders monthly clubs. But, I also like doing it with my everyday die sets. These are not avocado dies – they are actually monsters featuring the Monster Birthday Collection from  Spellbinders, which came out in January of this year. 

Note: all supplies are linked to multiple sources in the thumbnails at the end of this blog post.

My avocados started with the Dancin’ Birthday Monster Die Set. I cut the bodies from white card stock and then ink blended the basic colors, starting from lighter colors and then bringing the darker colors in from the edges. I used Distress Inks in the following colors: Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Forest Moss (for the very edges). I also used a couple new-ish colors from Pinkfresh Studio – Limoncello and Bay Leaf.

Once I had the basic colors of the avocados, I moved on to the pit. I used the tummy die from the set to cut the pit from white card stock. I then blended it with Distress inks in the following colors – Tea Dye, Wild Honey and Vintage Photo. To create the hollowed out pit area for the avocado on the left, I used the negative piece leftover from when I die cut the tummy. That way, it covered up the areas around the “pit” and I could just ink blend the pit. I just tried to add some darker shading around the outer part of that hollow area, so that it would have the dimension that it needed. This is where I really used that Bay Leaf color from Pinkfresh Studio. 

The eyes come from dies in that Dancin Birthday Monster Set, but the eyelashes for the girl come from the Dancin’ Birthday Dinosaur. I grabbed the bow die from an older set, the Special Pet Delivery die set. I made a bowtie for the boy and a hair bow for the girl. I cut the white card panel with one of the scallop dies from the Heartfelt Thanks & Scallops Die Set. I mounted that panel onto a green A2 card base with thin foam tape. Before attaching the avocados to the base with that same foam tape, I glued them onto a second monster body that I had cut from dark brown card stock. I just slightly offset the avocados onto this bottom brown layer to make it look more like the outside of the avocado. 

For the sentiment, I used a retired set from My Favorite Things called Bitty Hugs & Kisses. In order to give the sentiment a bit more interest, I used the curved banner die from the brand new Curved Everyday Sentiments from Spellbinders. This is actually a hot foil plate and die set, where you hot foil multiple sentiments at once, and then the die cuts them all out at once. I just used the die and manipulated my stamp into the shape of the curve with the help of my MISTI. I clear heat embossed the sentiment with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide. As for the retired stamp set, it’s always a bummer when sets like this get retired because it’s a good one! BUT, I think there’s an even better set that would work with this card, and that is the We Make A Great Combo stamp set, also from My Favorite Things. That set also has a “You Complete Me” sentiment, but it also has other ones that would work, including: “We Make a Great Combo,” “We’re Made for Each Other,” and “We Go Together Like”. So now I want that stamp set because this will not be the last time I make avocados from monsters!

I hope this card brings a smile to your face today! As always, I appreciate you visiting my blog. 

Wishing you all a crafty day,

Allison

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