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STAMPtember is Simon Says Stamp’s annual celebration of stamping, featuring exclusive collaborations with some of our favourite companies throughout September. Today it’s Lawn Fawn’s turn, and I’m so excited to share the card I created with the brand-new A Mole Lot of Cake stamp set!
And there really is a mole lot packed into this set! It comes with so many adorable images for creating fun little scenes, and I managed to squeeze almost all of them onto my card. A Mole Lot of Cake is a Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember exclusive and is only available while supplies last.
A Mole Lot of Cake is available as the stamp set on its own, with coordinating dies, or as a complete bundle with coordinating dies and colouring stencils. All three options are available exclusively from Simon Says Stamp while supplies last.
Project Gallery
I always enjoy adding those little finishing touches that make a project unique. Take a closer look and discover all the details that bring it to life.
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About This Project
With so many adorable images in A Mole Lot of Cake, I couldn’t resist turning my card into one big birthday party! I combined the new set with A Mole Lot of Flowers, A Birdie Told Me, All the Speech Bubbles and Simply Celebrate More Critters to create a scene filled with moles, presents, cake, party hats and lots of tiny details.
But there’s more to this card than you can see at first glance. I created a simple handmade pull-tab mechanism that hides three more party guests behind the grassy hill. Pulling the tab at the top of the card makes all three moles pop up at the same time, each holding their own little speech bubble to complete the message: “Holy moley, it’s your birthday!”
The “It’s Your Birthday” sentiment is actually a single stamp, but I wanted each word to appear in its own speech bubble. I simply masked off the parts I didn’t need while stamping each word individually, then added the speech bubbles around them. This allowed each of the three moles to reveal one part of the message as they pop up.
For the scene, I used several layers of grassy hills cut from yellow Spiffy Speckles paper. For the background, I chose the colourful dotted paper from the Rainbow Ever After Collection Pack, but covered it with a layer of vellum to soften the pattern and keep it from competing with all the little images in the foreground. The little pops of aqua, pink and yellow throughout the scene tie everything together while still letting those wonderfully muddy moles take centre stage.
I also added a few finishing touches with Prisma Glitter, Chunky Glitter and Glossy Accents to give some of the tiny party details a little extra sparkle and dimension.
Tips & Tricks
Creating the Pull-Tab Mechanism
The mechanism behind this card is actually quite simple and can easily be adapted to different images and scenes. I used the pull tab and guide pieces from Let’s Toast Pull Tab Add-On, but created the moving part for the three moles myself.
I started by cutting a small slot into the front panel, just wide enough for the pull tab to move through freely. I fed the pull tab through the slot from the back, leaving the upper section behind the panel and the lower section on the front.
To make all three moles move together, I cut a strip of sturdy cardstock slightly narrower than the card front and attached it horizontally to the lower section of the pull tab. The strip needs to be wide enough to hold all three moles, while leaving enough room along both sides of the card for the foam tape that supports the grassy foreground. I attached the strip only to the lower part of the pull tab so that it can travel upwards past the slot when the tab is pulled.
I then positioned the three moles across this strip at roughly equal distances. Pulling the tab now moves the entire strip upwards, making all three moles appear at the same time.
The placement of the moving strip is worth testing before adhering everything permanently. I first determined its lowest position with the pull tab pushed all the way down, making sure there was still enough room underneath the mechanism to add foam tape along the bottom of the panel. Once that position was set, I could determine the height of the grassy foreground: it needed to be tall enough to completely hide the moles and the moving strip in their lowered position. I then tested the mechanism with the tab pulled up to make sure the moles would rise far enough above their little molehills without revealing the cardstock strip underneath them.
Once I was happy with the movement, I attached the grassy foreground with foam tape, keeping the adhesive well away from the moving parts. I adapted the Grassy Pasture Backdrop: Portrait to create the exact height I needed to conceal the mechanism – more on that below. I placed the molehills behind the grass exactly where each mole emerges, which helps disguise the mechanism and makes it look as though they are really popping out of the ground.
On the back of the front panel, I added the guide piece included in Let’s Toast Pull Tab Add-On. This works like a little sleeve around the pull tab and keeps it travelling in a straight line instead of shifting from side to side. In my construction, the horizontal cardstock strip also determines how far the mechanism can travel when it reaches the slot. You could certainly add a separate stopper instead – the important thing is simply to test the mechanism in both positions before closing up the card.
Tip: Don’t worry about finding exact measurements straight away. Build the mechanism around your finished scene instead: decide where you want the images to sit when hidden and when fully revealed, test the movement, and only then secure everything permanently. This makes the same basic mechanism easy to adapt to different cards and images.
Adapting the Grassy Pasture Backdrop
The Grassy Pasture Backdrop: Portrait normally creates a complete A2-sized panel, with partial cut lines forming the different layers of grass. Since I needed my grassy foreground to be a very specific height to completely conceal the pull-tab mechanism, I adapted the die-cut rather than using it as one complete panel.
I simply extended the existing partial cut lines to separate the individual grassy sections, then overlapped and arranged them until the foreground reached the height I needed. This allowed me to keep the original grassy edges created by the die while adjusting the overall layout to fit my interactive mechanism.
This is also a useful way to get a little more versatility out of backdrop dies: the individual sections don’t necessarily have to stay in their original positions. Separating, overlapping or rearranging them lets you adapt the backdrop to the scene you’re creating.
Supplies
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
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Stamps (plus coordinating dies)
Stamps (plus coordinating dies)
- STAMPtember exclusive – limited edition and only available at Simon Says Stamp while supplies last.
- A Birdie Told Me + A Birdie Told Me Lawn Cuts
- A Mole Lot of Flowers + A Mole Lot of Flowers Lawn Cuts
- All the Speech Bubbles + All the Speech Bubbles Lawn Cuts
- Simply Celebrate More Critters
Dies
Other
- Spiffy Speckles Collection Pack
- Rainbow Ever After Collection Pack
- Prisma Glitter
- Chunky Glitter
- Ranger Glossy Accents
Let’s Make Something Cute!
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