Ok I admit it. When I first saw the Brightest Glow Stamp Set I decided I didn’t need it. But every time I flicked through the Stampin’ Up! July to December Mini Catalogue I found myself pausing on page 30 and 31. I immediately bought and love the Lights Aglow paper, the ribbon and the festive pearls. But I finally gave in and got the Brightest Glow Stamp Set and coordinating Labels Aglow Dies. It’s designed as a “Christmas” stamp set but that wasn’t the theme of my first project.

BRIGHTEST GLOW SENTIMENTS

The Brightest Glow Stamp Set contains 12 sentiments in a variety of sizes and fonts which I love. I bought it to go with images from other sets where the sentiment was too small, or not Christmassy. Now I have this set I can really start planning my Christmas projects. So it’s funny that that the first sentiment that caught my eye was “let your heart be light”. Instead of singing the Christmas song I just envisioned a floating heart and the project took off from there.

First I needed a suitable “sky” background and I knew exactly where to look, the Sun Prints 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. I cut a piece of this subtle blue design at 2″ x 5-1/2″, along with a 2″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Night of Navy Card.

Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed the DSP and card together. Then I measured one end and marked it with a pencil at 1″. This helped me to punch a small slot using the Very Best Trio Punch and I erased the remaining pencil mark.

With the base prepared I used VersaMark ink to stamp the sentiment at the bottom of the bookmark on the DSP layer. Then I sprinkled the sticky ink with white powder from the Basic Stampin’ Emboss Powder pack. After tapping off the excess powder I removed a few stray specks. Then once I was happy I melted the rest using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

To complete the bookmark base I cut three 6″ pieces of white twine from the Bakers Twine Essentials Pack. I folded the pieces in half and poked the loops through the slot, then I threaded the cut ends through the loops and pulled gently to secure them in place,

GIVE IT A WHIRL

While the embossing was cooling it was time for me to die-cut the pieces for the rest of the design. For this I pulled out the Give It A Whirl Stamp Set. Although these dies are primarily designed to make an interactive card I love the small design elements included in the set. So I chose two of the three cloud dies and the medium-sized heart die. Then I surprised myself by cutting them out of scraps of Snowy White Velvet Sheets I had left over from a previous project.

Using liquid glue I fixed the two clouds towards the top of the bookmark extending past the edges. Then I trimmed off the excess with Paper Snips using the edge of the bookmark as a guide. Instead of wasting both off-cuts I glued the larger one onto the bookmark as well.

That just left the heart and I wanted it to really stand out. So I thought I’d see what happened if I coloured it using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. I began by using the dark Poppy Parade marker to colour around the edges of the velvet heart. Then I coloured over the whole thing with the light Poppy Parade marker. The velvet surface took the ink really well. Too well in fact. So I left it to dry for a while but still had to pat off some excess ink with kitchen paper.

Once I was sure I could handle the heart without getting inky fingers I flipped it over. Then I fixed some Linen Thread to the bottom of the heart with a spot of liquid glue. Using more liquid glue I attached the heart to the bookmark and fixed the rest of the twine in two spots as well. At last my first Brightest Glow project was complete.

I love how this bookmark turned out, especially how the heart stands out against the background. It just goes to show that a Christmas themed stamp set can have other uses. All it takes is a little imagination.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Brightest Glow Stamp Set and coordinating Labels Aglow Dies (not used today) as a “bundle”. Using the single “bundle” item number meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the same two items separately. Also bought as part of a discounted bundle was the Very Best Trio Punch (with the Very Best Occasions Stamp Set – not used today either). I’ve included links for both bundles below in case you want to explore these further.