Polka Dot Pets Greetings Cards

Posted on 26th March 2024 by Samantha Burrow
Filed under Card Making Ideas

April is National Pet Month, a special time to celebrate our furry, feathery, and scaly friends who make our lives so much brighter. Imagine your home without the warm welcome from your dog or the soft purr of your cat. It would be a lot less colourful, that’s why this month, we’re reminded to appreciate every jump and cuddle our pets give us.

In this blog, we’re taking inspiration from this month of pet celebrations by showing you how to incorporate them into your crafting!

Fun Ways to Celebrate National Pet Month with Your Furry Friend

We all love pets, they make us smile and fill our lives with joy. That’s what this April is all about. We have this whole month to show how much we love our furry buddies. But what’s the best way to celebrate it? From crafting special keepsakes to spending quality time together, there are plenty of ways to deepen the bond with your pet. Here are some simple and heartwarming ideas to get you started:

• Craft a Homemade Toy: Use leftover materials like fabric, yarn, or paper to create a fun toy for your pet. It’s a great way to add a personal touch to their playtime.
• Take a Walk in Nature Together: Explore a new trail or park with your dog. It’s a refreshing way to enjoy each other’s company and the beauty of nature.
• Host a Pet Playdate: Invite friends with pets over for a playdate. It’s a fun way for your pets to socialise and for you to share in the joy of pet ownership with others.
• Create a Pet Photo Album: Spend time taking or collecting photos of your pet. Putting them into an album or crafting a digital slideshow can be a fun project.
• Visit a Pet Café or Event: Check for pet-friendly events or cafés in your area. It’s a unique way to celebrate with fellow pet lovers.
• Learn a New Trick Together: Teaching your pet a new trick is not only a great mental exercise for them but also a fantastic way for you to bond.
• Make a Donation: Celebrate by giving back. Donate in your pet's name to a local pet shelter or animal charity.

Celebrating Our Pets: National Pet Month Fun

If, for some reason, your pet doesn’t want to engage, you can celebrate on your own or with your friends! What about making a cute polka dot pet greeting card? It’s a fun way to show off your love for pets and your artistic side, too. You can keep it as a fun memory or give it to a friend who owns a pet. All you need to do is visit your favourite paper supplier and start crafting! Let’s show you how to create them.

Make Your Own Pet Card: A Simple Guide

What you will need:

1. Cricut Design Space: free software
2. Square cardstock: Papermill Direct Extra Large Square Card Blank in White Card Linen
3. Glue or Double-sided tape
4. 3D foam pads

Open Cricut Design Space and start by inserting two square shapes from the shapes panel. Adjust the colour and size of the square to suit your chosen design. In this blog, we used a Papermill Direct Extra Large Square Card Blank in White Card Linen, so we resized squares to 5.55” sq (black square) and 5.35” sq white square.

Insert a score line, resize to 5.5” and change the function from score to draw in the Edit Panel. Select your chosen Cricut Pen and colour; we’ve used a Cricut Marker 1.0 in Black. Rotate the line 90', align central on the horizontal, approximately 4” down from the top of the white square. If you are creating a different size card, use your own judgement to place the line. You will use this line as a background to line up your polka dot pet.

Add text and type your sentiment. Choose a suitable font with a writing function. We have used Awesome Font (size 42, letter spacing 2.0) and Cricut Fine Point 0.4 in Black. Align the text central on the horizontal and roughly central between the line and the bottom of the square. Select the white square with the line and text and click Attach in the Action Panel.

Click images and search for image ID #M16F55A58; this is the Peeking Dog from the Peek-a-Boo Animals image set. If you click on the three dots [•••] to the top right of the image, you can “View Image Set” to see the other pets available. Pick your favourite image(s) and add to the canvas.

We’re going to use the Peeking Dog image to show how using the contour tool can create different layers to a simple image, enabling you to add different colours.

For this dog, we chose three colour layers, so to do this, you need to create two more duplicates of the dog image. Select all three and align them centrally to each other. From the Layer Panel, select each image and change the colour; we’ve chosen black as the base colour, brown, and then white.

From the Layers Panel, select the black dog image. Click Contour in the Action Panel and remove all the internal lines until you have a completely solid dog silhouette.

Repeat this process for the brown dog image. This time, remove the outer line first and then any parts of the dog’s features you don’t want in brown. We’ve chosen brown around his eyes. You can mix this up and have one brown patch on a white dog or brown paws.

Repeat this process for the white dog image; again, remove the outer line first and then any parts of the dog’s features you don’t want in white.

Now select the three images together, and in the Action Panel, click Group. This will help keep your design together when moving it around the screen or adjusting the size. You may need to adjust the size of your pet to fit your white card size.

You can repeat the contour process for any of the Peek-a-Boo Pets cut images. You can also use this tool for a lot of other images in the design space, creating endless possibilities with your creativity!

When you’re happy with your design and layout, click Make It to move to the cutting stage. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the cut.

Using glue or double-sided tape art and craft supplies website, stick the larger square card to the front of your card base and then stick the smaller sentiments square to the front of that.

Assemble the pieces of the pet image and stick them together on the solid black silhouette card. Using 3D foam pads, stick your Polka Dot Pet to the front of the card, using the thick black line as a guide, a sort of table for your pet to peek-a-boo over.

If you liked this craft, be sure to check out our blog for more handy guides and fun project ideas. We love sharing creative sparks and are here to answer any questions you might have about crafting or our paper craft supplies. So, don't hesitate to reach out - we're always ready to help make your crafting journey a delight.

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