At this time of year I’m reminded that lots of people are graduating and moving on to a new phase in their lives. So I decided to create a congratulations gift tag using the retiring Banners For You Stamp Set and coordinating Bunch Of Banners Framelits. It’s a fairly simple design that could easily be made in school colours for that personal touch.

REALLY SIMPLE TAG BASE

For today’s tag I thought I’d show you a really simple way to create a tag base. I decided on Soft Sea Foam Card and when I went to my scraps tin there was a piece that had been embossed. So I thought I might as well use that.

It was obviously a piece I’d created previously and this is how I would have done that…

I placed a piece of Soft Sea Foam Card into the Subtle 3D Embossing Folder. Then I put it directly onto the multipurpose platform with a single cutting pad on top, before running it forwards and backwards through the Big Shot.

So using a 2-1/4″ Circle Punch, I punched out the Soft Sea Foam piece and then some Whisper White Card. Next I folded 12″ of Whisper White Baker’s Twine and attached it to the back of one of the circles with Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). Finally I fixed the two circles together sandwiching the twine between them.

BANNERS FOR YOU

So now to the focal point of the tag, the banner.

For this I decided to enlist the help of my Stamparatus, but first I needed to cut the banner from Whisper White Card. I did this using my retiring Big Shot and the die from the retiring Bunch of Banners Framelits.

I placed the banner outline stamp onto my Stamparatus plate and inked it up with Balmy Blue ink (it could have been any colour really). Then I stamped the image onto the Small Grid Paper. This showed me exactly where the banner would stamp. Then I took the negative part of the card and placed it on the grid paper so the banner image was perfectly placed inside the hole, holding it in place with the magnets. With that done, I then placed the die-cut piece in the hole, reinked the stamp and stamped the banner. Perfect!

Next I needed the sentiment which is actually two separate stamps.

I removed the banner piece and again used the negative part of the card to help me place the sentiments. I did a test stamp just to be sure, and then replaced the banner piece in the hole. Finally I inked up the sentiments using Night of Navy ink and stamped them onto the banner.

All that was left was to attach the banner to the tag base with Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then once I’d added a few Rhinestone Basic Jewels to the base, I was finished.

PRODUCT LIST

RETIRING PRODUCTS – The Big Shot and Bunch of Banners Framelits Dies used today are retiring and now only available while stocks last. Also retiring is the Banners for You Stamp Set, although stocks of this are guaranteed until May 24th.