Although I’m still enjoying summer with my 12 year-old granddaughter I can’t help but think of Christmas. As a papercrafter it’s a bit of an occupational hazard. However my recently delivered pre-order from the Stampin’ Up! September to December 2023 Mini Catalogue remains unopened. In fact today’s simple Sunday project was made before Alyssa arrived. I’d made a card using the Courage & Faith Stamp Set and had a little extra time to play. But when I added Loose Frosted Dots to the berries on these leafy branches something magical happened.

MERRY & BRIGHT

I began this project with a 2-7/8″ x 2-7/8″ piece of Basic White Card and a Mossy Meadow ink pad. From the Courage & Faith Stamp Set I chose the two leafy branches and stamped them so I had space between them for a sentiment.

To colour the leaves I used Soft Sea Foam Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. First I completely coloured each leaf using the light marker. Then using the dark marker I coloured down the length of each leaf but only on one side of the vein.

At this point I hadn’t really decided what to do about the berries so instead I went looking for a sentiment. In the end I chose “All is merry & bright” from the Brightest Glow Stamp Set. Using Mossy Meadow ink once again, I stamped the sentiment into the space between the branches.

While I was deciding how to finish the design I used my Paper Trimmer to cut a 3″ x 6″ piece of Mossy Meadow Card. Then with the long side at the top I scored the card at 3″. After folding the card along the scored line I sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.

To turn the mini card into a gift tag I opened it up and placed it under the slot option on the Very Best Trio Punch. Then I slid the card over until the slot image on the top of the punch was just to the left of the crease. Finally when I pressed down it created a hole at the back of the folded card, near the crease at the top.

FROSTED DOTS DILEMMA

Obviously because the tag was quite dark I needed to add a lighter layer so there would be somwhere to write. For this I cut a 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″ piece of Basic White Card and glued it on the inside of the tag.

Next I cut a 6″ piece of white twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack. After threading it through the hole in the tag base I tied it in a simple knot.

That just left the decorated Basic White layer and I glued that to the front of the tag. However I still hadn’t dealt with the berries.

It was only now that I remembered the tub of Loose Frosted Dots which are part of the Online Exclusives range. The tub contains 360 domed embellishments in three different sizes; 3mm, 4mm and 5mm. In each size there are also three colours; Flirty Flamingo, Daffodil Delight and Pretty Peacock. As my design was vaguely a Christmas wreath I decided to use the Flirty Flamingo dots, and the smallest were the perfect size.

Obviously with the name ‘Loose Frosted Dots’ these embellishments have no adhesive on the back. Also having chosen the 3mm dots I decided they were a bit small to attach with Mini Glue Dots. So instead I put a tiny dot of liquid glue on each of the stamped ‘berries’. Then I waited a minute for the glue to begin to dry, that way it would still hold the embellishments but without the glue oozing out from underneath. Manipulating the dots into place was easy using the putty end of my Take Your Pick tool.

At last my gift tag was complete. However there was a surprise in store. You see when I looked at the dots from the side they seemed pink. But from above they changed colour like a magic trick! The odd thing is that there’s blue, orange, yellow and green despite the fact they they’re all sitting on green stamped berries. Curiouser and curiouser…

PRODUCT LIST

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES – As I mentioned, the Loose Frosted Dots are part of the Stampin’ Up! Online Exclusives range. All Online Exclusive products are subject to availability and may be discontinued without warning.