Happy Hippest Hippos

July 24, 2022

Hello & welcome to my blog,

My name is Alison & I am an independent Stampin' Up® demonstrator in Melbourne, Australia. I love creating cards & gifts for my loved ones & this blog will show you how to create something special for those you love. Today's blog is all about making a simple card or adding to it to create something a little bit more special. I hope you like what I've made!

This week I've made some lovely cards using a gorgeous stamp set that is free during Sale-A-Bration in July & August called Hippest Hippos. When you spend $90 on Stampin' Up® products you can get either the stamp set or dies FREE! If you spend $180 you can have them both. They're suitable for kids, animal lovers or big kids at heart.

All of the cards feature at least one of the Hippos from the stamp set & one of the sentiments. They were all stamped with Stazon which is best when water colouring or using alcohol inks then coloured using Stampin' Blends the die cut using the Hippo dies that co-ordinate with the stamp set. I experimented a little with the colouring to see what looked good & for some difference between each card. Let's start with the simplest of the three....

This little cutey was quick & simple to make. I used Cinnamon Cider for the first matte then a lovely piece of Hand Penned DSP for the second matte. The ballerina hippo was coloured using Gray Granite, Flirty Flamingo, Pale Papaya & Granny Apple Green blends. I also used a sponge dauber with a little Petal Pink to accentuate the nostrils. It was then diecut using a medium rectangle from the Scalloped Contours dies. I finished it off with some 2020-22 In Colour enamel dots in Cinnamon Cider.

The next card is probably my favourite of the three. It was also very simple to create using only Basic White & Basic White cardstock, some blends & matte dots. I coloured the hippos with Gray Granite & Pale Papaya for the bodies & Flirty Flamingo for the nostrils & inside the ears. The tutu & flower use Poppy Parade & the 'grass' & leave are Granny Apple Green. This was mounted on Basic Black but before I adhered it to the card I flicked some Poppy Parade onto the base. I love the splatter effect! I stamped the sentiment directly onto the base then finished the card with some Matte Black dots.

The final card took slightly longer to create. As the Hippo dies come with some sweet accessories for the hippos I wanted to incorporate some into the last card. After colouring in the hippo, leaving his tummy white instead of coloured, I die cut him along with some goggles & a breathing tube in black, a dinghy from Soft Suede then got out the Simply Marbelous DSP from a previous Sale-A-Bration & die cut some 'waves' using the curvy die from the Scalloped Contours die set. I used a piece of DSP that was slightly longer than the die & card base so that it stayed attached between each cut. To create the illusion that the water was moving I raised up some of the peaks with glue dots & others with Dimensionals. The hippo is glued down under the waves but popped up with a couple of dimensionals so he is raised out of the water. I did the same with the boat. Some Balmy Blue on a Blending Brush was used for the sky & the sentiment was stamped over that in Night of Navy. The splashes are also part of the die set.

I did make a ballerina with a 3D tutu & umbrella as well but decided to go with the swimming guy instead.

I love the variety that you can achieve with this stamp set & dies. I've seen some wonderful creations from other demonstrators & am looking forward to making more cute cards with this set.

I had so much fun creating these cards this week & I hope you enjoyed checking out my creations. I would love to see any creations you might have made using this stamp set so please feel free to pop over to my FaceBook page, craftedbyalison, & post a pic.

That's it for this week. Thanks for popping in. My next Mid Week blog on Wednesday shows you how to create using strip scraps. Next week's regular blog features another freebie from Sale-A-Bration, a note card set with Pool Party & Soft Sea Foam card bases with matching envelopes. I hope you can join me for both of these blogs.

If you would like to order any of the supplies I used today you can head over to my Stampin' Up® shop using the links below.

If you would like to purchase any of the cards I feature in my blogs they can be found in my FaceBook shop at craftedbyalison.

If you would like me to send you a catalogue then please message me via my FaceBook page, Crafted by Alison or send me an email at craftedbyalison@gmail.com.

Thanks for stopping by, til next time, take care & keep creating! XX Alison

Shop with me

Scalloped Contours dies

Basic White Thick cardstock

Basic White cardstock

Basic Black cardstock

Soft Suede cardstock

Memento ink Tuxedo Black

Stazon black ink pad

Night of Navy Classic Stampin' pad

Balmy blue Classic Stampin' pad

Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends