With Christmas just ten days away hopefully most people are nearly done with their seasonal crafting and looking ahead. So today I decided to create a Valentine or wedding gift tag. My original plan was to continue to showcase products that are retiring and now only available while stocks last. But somewhere along the way a couple of new products crept into my hands. So today you get to see a new ribbon and a new ink blending tool that will be available from January 5th.

FANCY TAG BASE

I started my project simply enough with a 2″ x 4-1/4″ piece of Shimmery White Card. Next I chose the Mint Macaron and gold foil design from the retiring Gilded Autumn Designer Series Paper Pack. I cut an identical sized strip and then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed the DSP to the Whisper White piece.

To shape the top and add a ribbon slot I then punched one end of the layered card with the Fancy Tag Topper Punch.

And that’s when I began looking for some ribbon and discovered I’d run out of the 3/8″ Gold Metallic Edge Ribbon! I had a few other options but I’d set my heart on gold, and then my eyes wandered to my latest order. I’d only pre-ordered one of the ribbons from the January to June 2021 Mini Catalogue, but it was gold. It’s called Fine Art Ribbon, is 3/8″ wide with a gold metallic thread woven through. It was perfect. So I threaded some of the ribbon through the tag and secured on each side with a Mini Glue Dot.

For my sentiment I chose “Always & Forever” from the Forever Blossoms Stamp Set. First, using VersaMark ink I stamped the sentiment onto some Shimmery White Card. Then I sprinkled the sticky ink with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder and tapped off the excess. Next, after removing some stray specks, I melted the rest with my Heat Tool set on 2 (high). Finally I punched out the sentiment using the Label Me Fancy Punch and attached it to the tag with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

MAGNOLIA BLENDING

Now I had to find a pretty image to decorate the tag and after some consideration chose the Good Morning Magnolia Stamp Set.

The smaller flower was perfect for what I had in mind and so using the same process as before I embossed two of the flowers onto Shimmery White Card. This time instead of punching, I cut the flowers out using the coordinating die from the Magnolia Memory Dies.

Initially I’d thought I’d leave the flowers uncoloured but when I laid them on the tag it didn’t really excite me. So instead I decided to add some colour to them. Usually that would mean painting the ink which would take time to dry before I could continue. Or I could use Stampin’ Sponges which would be quicker. However I’ve noticed that sponging can occasionally dull the surface of heat embossing which I didn’t want. So instead I delved into my pre-order box for a new colouring tool from Stampin’ Up!, Blending Brushes.

These Blending Brushes will be available in a pack of 3 and I will definitely be buying more. They’re really comfortable to hold and the brushes have thousands of super soft filaments. This was my first attempt at using them so I simply tapped one lightly onto a Rococo Rose ink pad and then rubbed it over one of my flowers. Blending the ink was so easy and I love how it allows the colour to fade.

After colouring the petals of the flowers I changed to a new brush and Garden Green ink. Then I added the ink to the leaves and stalks of my images. With that done I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to attach the two flowers above and below the sentiment on the tag. Finally my project was done.

While I love the tag, I adore these new Blending Brushes. Watch out for more about these towards the end of this month.

PRODUCT LIST

NEW PRODUCTS – The gold Fine Art Ribbon and Blending Brushes will not be available for customers to purchase until January 5th. I’ll add links to these items as soon as I am able on that day. If you don’t want to wait you could join Stampin’ Up! and include these and other items from the new Mini Catalogue in your starter kit. For more information see my Join Stampin’ Up! page where I answer the most commonly asked questions.