I discovered Des the frog in a wonderful little shop - Nervous Wreck Designs on the Isle of Wight whilst on holiday. Later in the year, I found out that Creative_._me (on Instagram) was also making cute little jumpers too for the frogs that she had been making for the frogs she made for the shop, so I decided that Des could do with a trunk to store them in.
If you are interested, pop over to Instagram and check out Sarah & Jaynes accounts - a small business selling handmade crafts made on the Island.
I remembered that I had a small case die from one of my retired Tattered Lace die sets -There's no place like home. I also used two of the downloadable background papers, which at the time were made available as a free download.
I do love this die, it's one of those designs that you hold onto because it is handy for those random little projects.
For the card base I printed both sides onto the faux leather look design paper using my new card that I had bought with my Amazon voucher before Christmas. After some good recommendations I decided to give the Navigator Bold 200gsm card a try (150 sheets in a Ream in a royal blue wrapper). Lovely silky card and it went through my Epson ET2650 Ecotank printer - guided without any issues.
I always print on standard settings and never on best quality but that is just my personal preference, as I just find that best quality always floods too much ink and doesn't give me a crisp image and I get dark soaked backing papers too. Unfortunately, this also happened with my all-in-one HP printer too.
I did get a bit carried away die cutting the label tags too but they just looked so cute!
I also recommend John Next Doors silicone crafting mat too, not only is it nice and long, heat resistant but you can press your cardstock down to keep it in place on your mat.
Those red liner tape peel offs that migrate all over my house when I use them - stay on my mat until I throw them away and I spend less time looking on the floor for stuff that seems to stay put now!
I used red liner tape to make up the trunk but foolishly forgot to put the inserts for the trunk in first before making it up. You can see on one side, but it didn't notice much, especially when I added the centre panel into the case.
The buckles were die cut from chocolate card and I added two strips across the top the trunk for a better finish.
Two jumpers and a scarf fit into the trunk quite comfortably. I love diorama, so I enjoy making little projects like this.
And to keep my trunk closed, I just added a few small black velcro dots that I cut in half.
Des looks all set for an adventure now I think!
I made him a froggy Clock seat a few months ago ....who knows what will come next in the new year!
Enjoy the rest of the festive season and wishing you all a healthy and Happy New Year.
Happy Crafting
Challenges-
Daring Cardmakers - Happy - Diorama crafting projects are right at the top of that list when it comes to crafting. I enjoy not just making them but looking at them too!
