Spellbinders “Classic Mouse Love” and “Classic Mouse Happy Sentiments” January ’25 Release

Hello Folks! Scott here with another mid-month treat for you… New add-on dies, and press & foil sentiments to go along with your Simple Stories Steamboat Willie Duo die set released last year.

Of course I had to run that new Press + Foil plate through the Glimmer Hot Foil system as well and I was completely impressed with how well that plate worked with BOTH tools! That was part of the reason I was hesitant to get the new BetterPress system… I’d have to invest in more BetterPress plates. I hope all manufacturers combine these plates!

The new arms for Mickey and Minnie in this Classic Mouse Love die set was the most exciting thing to me (there were no extra arms in the Christmas release) so that’s where I started. (Trust me, I do love all the new accessories too!)

I dug into my paper scraps to create Mickey and Minnie – though I did use Pitch Black card stock from Hero Arts for all the black. I gave Mickey the new Boater (die-cut from plain Ivory card stock), and used Minnie’s hat from the original set decorated with a couple of hearts from the new set. I did use a paper punch for the polka-dots on Minnie’s dress, and I gave Mickey the rose and Minnie an (abbreviated) sucker. I thought the candy box was a bit large to put in either of the empty hands – it almost covers their whole body! I just wanted the “hand heart” to be the focus.

I die-cut that background to 5″ x 3.75″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle die and added a thin Black Mat and a thin Pearlescent Pink mat before gluing those to a 5″ x 7″ card base. With the new arms, I thought Mickey and Minnie felt a little crowded on an A2 card, and I didn’t want the sentiment to cover any part of the characters. So I glued everything to the card base a bit off to the left and added some Love From Lizi Red Mirror peel-offs (in two widths) to the right side of the card front. I die-cut two more sentiment blanks and glued them to the foiled sentiment and added that to lower right of the card front with some judiciously placed foam squares. There’s some shine on Mickey’s rose and boater bow, and on Minnie’s hat as well as the heart-shaped sucker. I love those new arms that make a perfect “hand heart” together!

There is also the Classic Mouse Love Sentiments in this new release, but I decided to go for the Classic Mouse Happy Sentiments instead because they felt a little more universal… I haven’t used a BetterPress sentiment yet!

Both Minnie and Mickey are done up in Pitch Black card stock and a pack of Gray Ombre card stock from Core’dinations that has been in my stash for quite a while. These are assembled straight from the original die set. I die-cut the heart with the largest HA Infinity Nesting Frame Heart die from some pearlescent Pink card stock and glued that to the front of an A2 White Glimmer card base. I glued the characters to the heart and added the “sucker” from the new die set cut from the same Grays as the characters. I layered up the BetterPress sentiment with two die-cut blanks and glued that in place. You see there’s not a lot of room on an A2 card for a sentiment when you feature both characters. I love the retro feeling on this valentine, and really like the perfectly tuned Mickey Mouse sentiment.

While playing around with these dies, Joel walked into the craft room and saw one of my Mickey heads floating around on my desk, and I had just die-cut the Heart Balloon from the new set when he suggested that Mickey’s head should be the balloon… AHA!

That works perfectly with this sentiment, and makes me giggle so much! Since this card was only featuring Mickey, I decided to do a Mini-Slimline card – a 6″ x 6″ square scored at 3″ and folded in half for a 3″ x 6″ card. I masked off 1/8″ around the perimeter of the card front with some masking paper and used a Pebbles Chalk palette to add the blended yellow background. With the masking removed, we have a nice white frame around the card.

I assembled Mickey as usual – again I love the fact that these dies allow for a touch of black outline as you layer their pieces to imitate the drawn lines of both characters! I die-cut the balloon string from a scrap of pearlescent pink card stock, and I die-cut the bottom bit of the Heart Balloon (including the “knot”) from more Pitch Black card stock and glued that to the bottom of Mickey’s head for its own balloon knot. I did trim off the left loop of the bow on the string and reconfigured it to go behind the “balloon”. I still wanted to see a bit of the knot, but I didn’t want to obscure too much of the face.

I glued Mickey’s body flat to the card base and added the “balloon” with foam tape for more of a floating sensation. Of course the balloon string fits right into Mickey’s hand and both ends of the string are glued down flat. I die-cut two more blanks of this foiled sentiment, glued them together and then right down to the card front. I LOVE THIS CARD! Not only is it a great visual pun, but, since Mickey is a cartoon, it’s totally plausible for him to be walking around with a balloon head! And the headless torso just makes me laugh!

Speaking of Joel… when I got the original Steamboat Willie Duo dies, he was almost as excited as I was, and he wanted to put his own spin on the Classic Mickey Mouse. Here’s a special bonus featuring Joel’s exacting, engineering mind…

We decided on 3″ squares to create this Warhol-esque Micky Mouse picture. Joel picked all the colors and assembled all the Mickey’s on his own. He was meticulous in his efforts to pose all of the Mickeys exactly the same, and carefully distributed all the colors in the backgrounds, shoes, shorts, buttons and tongues. He also created an elaborate template to make sure he got the Mickeys in the exact same spot on all the colored squares. We attached all the squares together and glued them to a 12″ square black mat. That fits perfectly in an Album frame – we chose White – and now this hangs on the wall underneath our “Sorcerer’s Apprentice Sketch’s” Limited Edition Pin Set in our dining room. High Art Indeed!!

That will wrap us up for another mid-month tangent! If you’d like to grab some of these Classic Mouse die sets from Spellbinders. please use my links listed below – I do make a small commission from whatever you purchase (at no cost to you!) and that really helps keep this page alive with some card-making inspirations coming your way.

The Original: Classic Mouse Steamboat Willie Duo

The Valentine accessories: Classic Mouse Love

Classic Mouse Press + Foil Happy Sentiments

Classic Mouse Press + Foil Love Sentiments

For all your other crafting needs: Spellbinders NEW Products

Thank you so much for sharing some time with me today… I hope you enjoyed this little mid-month diversion as I keep exploring the Classic Mouse Duo die set.! If you enjoyed this, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the post, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me at the top of the page. And don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any comments or questions. Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, basically, share this post with all your crafty friends – especially any Disney Fans! And remember… Don’t run with scissors! As always, I send You and Yours Love and Light, Happy Valentine’s Day, and Happy Crafting!!

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