Every time a new release comes out from Colorado Craft Company’s Anita Jeram series, I am in awe. This time was no different. And my head was spinning with ideas when I saw all the amazing little critters — but the one stamp that stood out right away was the Conga Line! I mean, look at these cuties! How can you resist them?
Just like last time, I didn’t want to make a card. Don’t get me wrong — nothing wrong with making cards, and I’ll probably be making a ton of them with this series of stamps. But I really wanted to stretch out of my comfort zone and do something different. I’ve been doing a lot of journals, so I skipped that idea. I also considered using them in conjunction with gel plate prints but what’s new about that? And then, while walking to school with my little one last morning, inspiration struck! I needed to give that Conga Line a 3-D avatar!
I love working with the Grafix line of products, be they the Dura-lar archival polyester film or their craft plastic but the white Shrink Film was new to me, so you’ll see me feeling a bit challenged with finding the right mediums to work with. In the past, I’ve worked with colored pencils successfully on sanded shrink film, but this opaque white film didn’t take colored pencils at all. I finally settled on a combination of alcohol ink markers — if you have Copics, they’ll work great! — and POSCA acrylic markers along with some accents with Sakura glitter gel pens. I also gave them (my traditional) garments easily enough with a Sharpie retractable ultra fine tip marker.
You might have noticed that I also chose to die cut the image before coloring, something I never do! The reason? I was worried the colors might smudge when passing the shrink film through my Big Shot die cutting machine.
Of course, it’s nerve racking to bake a colored piece in the toaster oven! What if it curls up horribly? Or the colors run? Maybe the whole thing will burn! So many fearful thoughts. But I reminded myself that it’s only a piece of polystyrene. And I did it afraid! Yes, the whole thing curled up and warped…yes, one of the hats extended a bit much and the tip broke off…but that gave me another idea — use a real pompom!
Oh this is just so darling! And I know my kiddo will be over the moon when she puts these cuties on her backpack! They will definitely be the talk of the school, don’t you think? I hope you enjoyed this little fun project that filled my heart with so much warmth. I can’t wait to experiment more with the shrink film and these stamps — who knows what’s next? Magnets? Earrings? Keyring charms? Buttons? Zipper pulls? Oh the possibilities!
Giveaway!
And before I forget, no release is complete without a giveaway! So here is all the info you need and a list of all the fabulous artists who are joining me in celebrating Colorado Craft Company! To participate in the giveaway, please leave a comment here for a chance to win a stamp set of your choice. There are 19 designers participating in this blog hop, so your chances of winning are higher if you leave a comment on each designer’s blog post and Instagram account. The cutoff for entries is midnight Mountain Time, September 6. Winners will be announced on the Colorado Craft Company blog on September 8.
- Adrienne Kennedy CCC
- Angelica ConradJenn Gross
- Bibi Cameron
- Jennifer Kotas
- Daniel West
- Emily Midgett
- Jenn Shurkus
- Kassi Hulet
- Erin Thompson
- Mansi Bhatia <—you are here
- Melissa Andrew
- Donna Hitz
- Amy Young
- Amy Tsuruta
Instagramers:
Check out the entire stamp and die lineup here:
http://shrsl.com/358jq 
http://shrsl.com/358jv 
http://shrsl.com/358k0 
http://shrsl.com/358k6 
http://shrsl.com/358kd 
http://shrsl.com/358kh 
http://shrsl.com/358kl 
http://shrsl.com/358kn 
http://shrsl.com/358ko 
http://shrsl.com/358kq
And if you’re still new to this line, I highly recommend checking out some of these mini stamps and dies which are just too adorable to not have in your crafty stash!
Painting Gift Tags and Giveaway Winner
Watercoloring tiny images to create custom gift tags is such an easy way to make the presents even more special for the recipient.
Music credits
Looked Back, Saw Nothing by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://www.twinmusicom.org/song/273/looked-back-saw-nothing-kenyon
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org
Love this!!!
You are the brave one cooking in the toaster oven. It turned out cute though.
Too too cute!!
That was fabulous…the music, the coloring, the derring-do and what a lucky little backpacker!
Fantastic, amazing the ideas we come up with on our walks!
I love this creative idea! You’ve sparked such an interest, I need to try this!! Thank you for posting the tutorial to go with!
What a great idea!!! Love this! Thanks for sharing❤️
Such a cute pin!!! Love Anita Jeram stamps!
Your card makes me want to party!!!
This is such a fun idea! I love the pin you created, and that is such a cute set!
Love this idea!
Fabulous ideas! These are adorable
Amazing. I’ve learned a lot by watching your video. I love the idea of making a zipper pull for my granddaughters. What fun.
Super cute and festive! I’m sure your kiddo will be taking orders for more kids wanting dancing critters – ha! Love the Pom Pom idea. I’m always rummaging through my embellishments to make things more dimensional – that did the trick on this pin – love a happy accident! Thanks for the inspiration – Happy Crafting!
Love that you used shrink film! Made it even cuter by shrinking it down! So creative!
Just amazing, very clever. I love all things Anita Jeram especially the Conga Line, Jane x
Dear Mansi
Your creativity just blew me away You have really done justice to the products of CCC
Such a creative use of the conga line!
Too cute! Great idea to add it to the backpack! I love creating my own embellishments, and these little critters are perfectly dressed for the fun!
These guys are so cute! I LOVE how you made a pin out of them, too.
So cute!
This was wonderful…I have not used shrink film in years, I’m sure I have sheets somewhere in my craft roomT Thank you for this mazing inspiration!
Mansi Bhatia + Anita Jeram = Absolutely Darling Outcome. I especially appreciate you showing us the pin and backpack; we are always open to new ideas. Thank you.
Oh, my goodness. This takes me back a LOONNNGGG way to Shrinky Dinks. Wow! Your project is inspiring. I love Anita’s designs so much and your ingenuity and skill are just off the charts!!! Love this! TFS….
Lori S in PA
How cute! Love the Pom Pom!
Super cute and adorable….and a pin, too.
These Stamps are so adorable!
What a fantastic creative way to use that conga line. I love the pin.
So creative! Thanks for sharing.
Mansi, Thank you for your unique take on these stamps and dies. I would never have thought of using my shrink art plastic for this and it works beautifully. Mind blown.
I used to play with shrinky dinks when my kids were little and they loved it. I never would have thought to stamp with it though. It can be temperamental. Yours turned out lovely. I may have to see if I still have some laying around.
These little mice look great on the backpack! Terrific idea!
Shrinky dinks! Now my mind is reeling with all hte possibilities! So great!
Oh my goodness, this takes me back to my early crafty ventures. What fun and a perfect image to dynk around with (as my mom would call the shrinky dynks). Fun fun fun
I LOVE all of Anitas stuff. Of course I’ve already bought some of the new sets. Can’t wait till it arrives. So, so,so cute. I am going broke, but loving it. This cracked me up. Putting clothes on them & then Shrunk them. I am going to try it on one or more of them. I love shrinking them. Like little stain glass. I have done this b4 for embellishments.
Great save to add the pompom! The pin your created is just adorable!
Such a wonderful project! I just love it!!!
Girl, that is the cutest thing EVER!
I want one now! So cute!
What a wonderful creation! I love this fun conga line image and using it on a pin is super fun!! Thanks so much for the great inspiration! Stay safe! 🙂
What a clever idea!
Lol! I have got to try this.
I am amazed by your creativity! Enjoyed looking through your entire blog!
What a great idea! I never thought about using shrink paper for this. My daughter has made jewelry out of it but we never thought about stamping. This is a game changer. And the stamps are so whimsical
Super cute idea! Thanks for sharing the process.
How fun! What a fabulous project! I used to make pins years ago from shrink plastic.
Love happy accidents that lead to wonderful items. Great idea for a pin – love it! Love the new release of adorable critters, too!
What a fabulous idea! And a great result! That conga line is my favorite, too!
Love what you’ve done with this set!
So creative, and a really fun way to use these stamps! I even have some shrink plastic somewhere around here!
The mini stamps are some of the cutest stamps out there. Anita has outdone herself again!
Wow! I never think of shrink plastic! I guess I need to dig it out. So cute!
Terrific ideas for stretching the use if these great stamps! You inspire us to look at our stamps to use them in a variety of ways!
OH MY… you certainly got creative. I haven’t used shrink plastic in years. There’s nothing you can’t create with it and, especially around Christmas Time making ornaments. I just love your little pin too. Thank you for sharing and please stay safe.
So creative and fun. I love your colouring
What a fabulous idea to use these adorable stamps on shrink plastic ! I usually used my heat gun to shrink my plastic so that it can curls the ways it wants but at the end becomes flat again (to help, when still hot, I put an acrylic bloc to flatten it more). Totally in love of this idea and the real pompon is the perfect final touch ! Thanks so much for sharing and the wonderful inspiration.
So wonderful!
So, so cute!!
Loving this conga line pin! Thank you for sharing.
Wow. That is ultimately the best creative idea I’ve ever seen on a blog post for a stamp set. Fantastic idea.
wow what a great way of creating a cute shrinky dink piece for backpacks/ magnets etc very creative
Love the Conga Line image. Such a happy design!
What a clever idea to use shrink plastic. Great project!
The kissing kitties would be a fun one to
shrink. Love the idea. thanks for sharing
Often forget some of these techniques.
txmlhl(at)yahoo(dot)com
Eeek! We love using shrink film in our house and my girls would love to have something like this to hang from their backpacks. Thanks for sharing your fun and creative take!
Clever and unique idea! I loved Shrinky Dinks when I was younger…that may be before your time 😛
Absolutely love your ideas of making these images more dimensional . Your work is very inspiring! Thanks for sharing I plan to return and explore more of you art!
Shrinks dinks are a super idea! I haven’t done this in a while. Thanks for the fun reminder.
Love the Congo line birthday pin….love it.
What a great idea. You are so creative. Thanks for sharing.
Valerija xx
How creative you are! I am casting about for Christmas gift ideas, and then I watched your tutorial! Inspiration! Genius!
So cute–love this idea.
So adorable! Thanks for sharing.
wow, absolutely stunning!
Good to “meet” you here Mansi 🙂 Great to see a unique application of this adorable stamp!!! You child will be the envy of their classmates when they see this sweet congo line! Thanks for inspiring me 🙂
I make shrinky dink crafts with Stan sets tooooo! This is brilliant! And it was nice you dressed them up, most of the time I just give them fur with different colors so basically leaving them naked! 😂 Now I need to think of giving my critters some clothes!
What incredible cute Mansi! Love this and I know for sure your kiddo was very happy with it.
I can so imagine that it was nerve-wrackin to put it in the oven. I turned out great!
Thank you so much for sharing, for the short how to videos, stay safe and have a wonderful day.
I have just gotten in to Mixed media and making journals this year. I am enjoying it and I have started looking for stamps at our local craft store. The selection seems limited and it doesn’t help that I don’t know exactly what I am looking for. I made a few stamps from foam and have been using them. They are fun to play with.
Thank you for your newsletter and blog.
Take care.
this is delightful…love how you “save” the project and made it even cuter if that is possible by adding a pom pom
Such a fun stamp! Your colors makes me happy and I wish I could join the conga line! 😁