Papertrey Ink January Release Countdown Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the Papertrey Ink January release countdown! Betsy has done it again with another fabulous die in the Potbellies collection! Unicorns are all the rage and these Potbellies are just too cute! She has also come out with a companion set with a lot of fun new sentiments. You can check it out over on the Papertrey Ink Blog and see the rest of the designer's creations!

The thing that I love about the new unicorn Potbellies is that you can die cut EVERYTHING in white and use markers to color in the detail pieces. The only thing that I didn't cute out of white was the horn, which was cut from some gold foil paper that was part of some Christmas packaging! I was sure glad I saved it because it was the perfect choice! Other than that, I die cut everything from white and then just custom colored each of the different pieces. Some of the flowers, ear pieces and leaves are so tiny and the thought of having to run those through my die cut machine for each individual color felt a little tedious! So, lazy for the win today! LOL! No, but really, it worked out so well!  

 I colored a few of the wings and manes with Copic markers and did some ink blending on others; I like both looks, but you could just experiment and see what you like. I ended up by making 5 in total because I was having fun with all of the different coloring techniques and color combinations. They are addicting, I tell you! I don't know if you remember my original Potbellies post , but I got carried away then as well! LOL!

Actually, the real reason that I made 5 is because the hand sanitizers at Bath and Body Works are 5 for $6! Ha ha! Aren't they so cute? They have sparkles inside and I love the cute saying on the front; Never stop dreaming! I heat embossed the sentiments in gold and then added the tummy circle using Scortape since I knew it would be holding something heavy. I adhered the sanitizers using Scortape as well. 

 I added crystal glaze to the hooves, the eyes and the inside of the ears and the center of the petaled flowers.I added some chunky glitter to the hooves of the one on the left, which happened to be my last one, and boy do I wish that I had done that on all of them...it looks super cute! I also learned some tricks with the eyes on the next series that I will be sharing below!

 Well, this is certainly a strange combination of critters, if I do say so myself! Especially since I was supposed to be making unicorns. As I was playing around with the mouth piece on my unicorn creations, I noticed that if I turned it upside down it ended up looking like a hippopotamus! I grabbed the horn to see how teeth would look, but realized it looked more like a walrus! Light bulbs going off right and left! When I was adding blush to the unicorns cheeks, it started looking like a pig, so another lightbulb! I quickly finished up my unicorns so I get started on this little trio. My daughter was out of school, so we sat and laughed and laughed; a Walicorn, a hippocorn, etc! My husband remembered the Simpson's episode where Lisa talks about a Two-nicorn! Oh my...things were getting silly around my desk!

Using the wings as the walrus's flippers seemed a stretch, but he sure ended up cute, if I do say so! He happens to be my husband's favorite and the fact that he even HAS a favorite, is something spectacular! LOL! With this set of Potbellies, I am using the new Words to Live By: Smile set that will be released on the 15th. All of these sentiments worked perfectly with these off-the-wall critters!

I did some sponging around each piece to give it some definition. I gave the walrus a dapper bow tie from the new "Even More: Worth the Wait" that I showcased yesterday. It is just perfect. I also added some super tiny buttons down the front. The 'smile' sentiment is die cut 3 times out of white cardstock and then glued together using liquid glue. I added crystal glaze over the top for some shine. The "while you still have teeth" portion is heat embossed in white....too bad it doesn't say "while you still have tusks"! LOL!

And here is Miss Potbelly pig! She was by far the easiest of the set. All pink paper, except for some colored hooves, eyes, and flowers. Her snout it simply punched out using a circle punch after I die cut the nostril holes from the mouth piece. I added sponging around her as well as all of her pieces. A few flowers finish this cutie off! As I mentioned earlier, I learned some tricks with the eyes; I colored them black using an alcohol marker, added tiny white dots and then added a drop of crystal glaze for some dimension and shine. Make sure you don't add the white right in the middle or she might looked like she's under the influence, if you know what I mean! ha ha!

And finally, the little hippo ballerina that got me started in the first place! Isn't she cute all decked out in her tutu? I made her little hooves pink to look like ballet slippers! I ended up by using the inside of the ear die cut for her sweet little teeth. I die cut two mouth pieces and just sandwiched them in between for security. I did the same thing on the hippos eyes as I did on the pig.

Each of the three critters are actual cards that can be opened. The pig and the hippo stand up, but Mr. Walrus's flippers prevent him from standing up! The tutu is simply baste stitched Tulle that is cinched up and secured in the back. Because she is added to the shaped card base, it is all hidden! I used Scortape since it was a little bulky! I was inspired to give her a tutu based off THIS card I made a few years ago. I realized that I couldn't use the same color tulle since that hippo was pink and this one is gray. It just looked a little drab, so hot pink was the next choice I had! I guess she likes to be bold!

You can see the two girls here side by side! The pig would be equally cute in a tutu, I think! If you have any questions about anything I have shown today, please leave a comment and I will happily get back to you. I know that I still have some unanswered questions from a few projects earlier in the release and I promise I am not ignoring you! I will happily answer them soon!

Well, that's all for today! I hope you've enjoyed these sweet little critters as much as I enjoyed making them! It truly is a joyful process! Join me again tomorrow for the 5th and final day of the release! Thanks for fluttering by!