Black For Christmas?

This morning’s papercraft project was inspired by a number of different ‘crafty’ posts that I’ve seen on social media over the past few days. These all caught my eye as they used black cardstock as their base. I was immediately struck by how the decoration really popped out against the black background. So having more Basic Black Card scraps around than I’d like, I decided to use some to create a Christmas gift tag. Also among my scraps I found a die-cut floral piece and it all progressed from there.

Create this striking black gift tag using the Fond of Autumn and Christmas To Remember Stamp Sets from Stampin' Up! #papercraftwithme

LENTEN ROSE

The floral piece is from the largest image in the retiring Fond Of Autumn Stamp Set. I’d previously stamped it onto Basic White Card using Tuxedo Black ink. Then using the large four section die from the Autumn Bouquet Dies I’d cut it out. I must have used the other three sections of the die-cut image on previous projects as this floral piece that was all that remained.

So from there I coloured the image using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. First I coloured the flowers, leaves and berries using light Daffodil Delight. Then on the berries I drew a C shape near the stalk end with the dark Real Red. Changing to light Real Red I coloured in the berries leaving tiny areas of the yellow showing.

On the leaves I added some lines of dark Old Olive before going over them with light Old Olive. Once again you’ll see tiny areas of yellow peeking through.

Finally for the flowers I used dark Real Red at the end of the petals. Then I went over that with dark Flirty Flamingo, bringing the colour a little further towards the centre. Finally I added some light Firty Flamingo taking it right up to the flower centre. On the tiny circles and the very centre of the flowers I added dark Daffodil Delight before going around that central ring with light Old Olive.

This was where I had planned to stop colouring but I realised that the areas that were still white would distract from my black background. So after a little consideration I picked up a dark Balmy Blue Stampin’ Blends and coloured in all the white areas. That was so much better!

CHRISTMAS SEASON

With the focal point complete it was time to create the tag base using my Paper Trimmer. Having cut a 3″ x 6″ piece of Basic Black Card I scored it at 3″. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

To turn this mini card into a folded gift tag I opened it up and placed it under the slot of the Very Best Trio Punch. I set the card so that the crease was to the right of the centre mark on the punch and then pressed down to add the slot.

Next from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack I cut 6″ of Basic Black twine and threaded it through the slot before tying it in a simple knot. Then I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to add a 2-3/4″ x 2-3/4″ piece of Basic White Card on the inside to give me somewhere to write.

At last I was ready to finish the tag front and started by attaching the floral piece with liquid glue.

Then for the sentiment I turned to the Christmas to Remember Stamp Set. I wasn’t in the mood for heat embossing so my plan was to stamp a simple sentiment onto white card using black ink. Then I noticed the “tis the season’ sentiment with a reverse stamping effect. I knew I’d probably need to stamp it twice to get a good black background so I reached for my Stamparatus stamp positioning platform. With a magnet holding a scrap of Basic White Card in place I inked up the stamp with Tuxedo Black ink and stamped. Then I reinked the stamp and stamped again in exactly the same place. Perfect!

After giving the ink a minuted to dry properly I trimmed the excess card from around the black sentiment. Then with some mini Black Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back I layered the sentiment over the flowers and my Christmas gift tag was complete.

I think that the flowers in the Fond Of Autumn Stamp Set could very well be Lenten Roses. These are actually spring flowers, and I’ve used them to decorate a Christmas gift tag. I’ve decided that nothing is impossible when I’m crafting.

You’ll find all the projects I’ve created using the Fond of Autumn Stamp Set in these blog posts:

PRODUCT LIST

RETIRING PRODUCTS – Sadly the Fond of Autumn Stamp Set and coordinating Autumn Bouquet Dies are retiring. This means they’re both now only available while stocks last. The dies are now on sale at 20% off, as a result you’ll save a little more if you buy the stamp set and dies separately compared to the original discounted ‘bundle’.

FREE SHIPPING TOMORROW – Starting at midnight tonight MT for one day only you’ll automatically get free shipping when you order $100 CAD of any Stampin’ Up! products.