The past few mornings have dawned bright and clear.  I know this because I have acquired my own resident alarm clock in the form of a brightly coloured male pheasant who has chosen to perch on the top of a large rock in one of our flower beds and crow for all he’s worth.

Some people might not be impressed with these less-than-musical wake-up calls, but when I look out the window and see the early morning sun shining on his beautifully coloured feathers I can’t help but be impressed.  His green head and neck with red around the eye, crisp white collar, and copper feathers on his back culminating in a magnificent tail, are a sight to behold.  It’s hard not to smile as he puffs out his chest and struts his stuff for all the lady pheasants to admire.

It was the sight of these bright colours that inspired me to create today’s sneak peek project using a stamp set that will be in the Stampin’ Up!  Annual Catalogue, called Painted Glass.

The images in this stamp set are perfect for those of you who are not confident with your colouring, those who want to experiment with different colour combinations, or perhaps simply want a quick and easy make.

When I sat down to design this project I knew that I wanted the focus of my gift tags to be the coloured images so I decided to make the tag bases very plain.  I took some Thick Whisper White Card cut 3″ x 6″ and scored it on the long side at 3″.  I folded the card along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder, then used a 1/8″ Circle Handheld Punch to add the hole needed for the twine.  While I wanted the tags to be plain, I didn’t want them to be boring so I used the new Detailed Trio Punch to round the right-hand corners on the folded tag.

The first tag began with a piece of Thick Whisper White Card with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink used to stamp the butterfly.  Then with Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers I coloured it in light and dark Cherry Cobbler, light and dark Calypso Coral, dark Daffodil Delight and light Rich Razzleberry.

The ‘have a beautiful birthday’ sentiment is part of the Painted Glass Stamp Set and was stamped onto Thick Whisper White Card with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.

Using my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform I cut out the sentiment with the #3 plain-edged die from the Layering Ovals Framelits (counting from the smallest up).  Cutting out the butterfly was a simple task, using the Big Shot and Magnetic Platform with the coordinating die from the new Stained Glass Thinlits.

With the die-cutting done, Stampin’ Dimensionals were used to attach the sentiment to the front of one of the tag bases.  I folded the butterfly in half (coloured side in) so I could put a line of Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) down the centre of the butterfly on the back and fixed it to the tag.  Then I set the tag aside to dry while I got on with the second tag.

The second image was coloured with Stampin’ Blends in light and dark Rich Razzleberry, light Bermuda Bay, dark Daffodil Delight, light Pumpkin Pie and dark Calypso Coral.

The circle image fits perfectly into a 2″ Circle Punch but I decided instead to simply trim the piece to 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ and then used the Detailed Trio Punch to round the four corners.  This piece now fitted perfectly onto the other gift tag base leaving a 1/4″ border around the edges.

I stamped the ‘a reason to celebrate’ sentiment onto some Thick Whisper White Card with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and cut it out like the birthday sentiment, using my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform with the #3 plain-edged die from the Layering Ovals Framelits.  The sentiment was fixed on top of the round image with more Stampin’ Dimensionals.

All that was left was the twine and I chose Blackberry Bliss for the birthday tag and Mint Macaron for the celebrate tag.  Both colours of twine come from the new Natures Twine pack (there’s also spools of Crumb Cake and Grapefruit Grove Twine included).  I threaded the twine through the holes in tags and tied each one in a simple knot.

Oh my goodness, there’s so much I love about these tags.  The simple colouring that’s enhanced by the strong black lines of the images.  The way that the crisp white background of the tags seem to draw your eye in to the coloured images.  And of course who could miss the stunning sentiments, I am officially in love with that font!

If you missed it, or saw it but want another look, you’ll find the complete Painted Glass Stamp Set along with a sympathy card in my earlier blog post Fancy fonts.

Please do come back again tomorrow for another sneak peek from the Stampin’ Up! 2018/2019 Annual Catalogue, there’s only a couple more weeks before it goes live!