Peekaboo Christmas Mouse Card with a Clever Chewed-Out Wall
Sometimes inspiration for a peekabo Christmas mouse card comes from the most unexpected places. In this case, it came from the baseboard in my hallway!
Last Christmas I put up a wall decal featuring an adorable little mouse wearing a Santa hat and peeking through a chewed-out hole in the wall. I thought he was so cute that I couldn't bring myself to take him
down when the holidays were over. So he's been keeping me company all year!
Every time I walk past him he makes me smile. And recently I started wondering if I could recreate that same look on a Christmas card using the Christmas Mice Bundle.
Well, here's what I came up with!
Creating the Chewed-Out Mouse Hole
The most important part of this peekaboo Christmas mouse card was making that little hole look as though a mischievous mouse had actually chewed his way through the wall.
I started with a Peaceful Pine card base and a wood-grain pattern from the Alpine Winter 12″ x 12″ Designer Paper. The lighter wood pattern was just what I needed to resemble a wall.
Using a circle die from the Stylish Shapes Dies, I cut an opening slightly off center. Then came the fun part!
I used my fingers to tear around the opening, creating a rough, jagged edge. No need to be neat here! In fact, the more irregular the edges the more convincing the little mouse hole looks.
I repeated the process with a smaller circle cut from Crumb Cake cardstock. A little Crumb Cake ink around the wood-grain opening and Early Espresso ink around the torn Crumb Cake edges added depth and definition.
I layered the two openings so that some of the darker, torn edges would peek through. Black cardstock behind the opening creates the illusion of a dark space inside the wall.
Foam Adhesive Strips behind the wood-grain panel helped give the opening even more dimension.
A Little Mouse with a Lot of Personality
Of course, the star of the show is that adorable mouse from the Christmas Mice Bundle! I stamped him and his Santa hat in Tuxedo Black Memento ink, then colored them with Stampin' Blends.
To make him look as though he was actually peeking out of the hole, I trimmed away the lower portion of his body and cut out his little paws separately.
With Stampin' Dimensionals behind him, I tucked him into the opening and positioned his paws along the torn edge. Doesn't he look like he's just popped out to say hello?
A length of Real Red Stitched Ribbon and a matching bow added a little Christmas cheer along the left side.
Finally, I stamped the sentiment from the Christmas Mice stamp set in Real Red ink and cut it out with a banner die from Stylish Shapes. I tucked one end beneath the ribbon to finish everything off.
Finding Cardmaking Inspiration Everywhere
One of the things I love most about paper crafting is that inspiration can come from almost anywhere. Who would have thought that a little wall decal in my hallway would inspire a peekaboo Christmas mouse card?
I especially enjoyed creating the torn-paper opening. It's such a simple technique, but it adds so much character to the finished card, don't you think? And there's something rather satisfying about deliberately tearing your paper instead of trying to make everything perfectly straight! If you have the Christmas Mice Bundle, this is a fun way to give one of those adorable little characters a home of his own.
Now I'm curious: Have you ever been inspired to make a card by something completely unrelated to paper crafting? Maybe a piece of home decor, a favorite outfit, or even something you spotted while shopping?
I'd love to hear where you find your inspiration!
It looks like these mice got out and are on a cookie mission!
