When I went to senior school basic needlework and home economics classes were compulsory for the first year. The very first thing we had to sew was an apron that we would use throughout our cooking lessons. I remember mine was gingham. I also remember those first lessons in the kitchen were very basic, with instruction on which utensils were used for what purpose. You know it’s funny what inspires my papercrafting projects. Like today’s memory compelling me to include a wooden spoon in this gift tag.

THE APRON

The project all started with that Gingham Gala 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (DSP). I can’t remember what colour my original apron was, but for my tag I chose Grapefruit Grove.

Using my Stamparatus I stamped the apron outline onto the small gingham check with Grapefruit Grove ink. Then I took it over to my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform to cut it out using the coordinating die from the Apron Builder Framelits.

For the apron strings I decided to use Whisper White Baker’s Twine, but first I needed to create some holes.

I placed the apron onto a Stampin’ Pierce Mat and used the piercing attachment on my Take Your Pick Tool to poke holes for the twine. I like that the piercing attachment is fine at the tip but gets wider so I could make the holes as large as I needed.

Once I had the holes I used a collapsible eye needle to help me thread the twine through each one. Then I tied the twine in place with simple knots.

BEST MUM EVER

The ‘best mum ever’ sentiment came next. This is actually two stamps in the Apron of Love Stamp Set.

Using the Stamparatus I first stamped the ‘…BEST…’ and ‘..EVER..’. These are actually on one stamp so it was a simple job to ink it up with Grapefruit Grove and stamp onto Whisper White Card.

Next came the ‘Mum’ part. Using the Stamparatus I was able to line it up exactly where I wanted and then stamp using Merry Merlot ink.

Then I die-cut the sentiment using one of the pocket-shaped dies from the Apron Builder Framelits.

Finally I fixed the pocket to the apron using a thin line of Multipurpose Glue (Tombow) just inside the fancy edge, leaving the top open. While it was drying I tucked a small piece of folded card in the pocket so that it would have a little ‘give’.

WOODEN SPOON & MORE

All that was left was the wooden spoon and the other utensils. I knew that this would be fiddly, but had no doubt the result would be worth the effort.

In the Apron Builder Framelits there are two rectangular dies, each with 4 different utensils. I decided to use the one that included a spoon for this project.

First I cut out the fish slice and tongs from a scrap of Silver Foil Sheet.

Then I went looking for a scrap of paper from the Wood Textures 6″ x 6″ DSP stack. I wanted the wood to have quite fine details and in a similar colour to the wooden spoons in my kitchen, and I found exactly what I needed.

So I cut out the scrap of DSP using the same die to get my wooden spoon.

One final detail remained. In my kitchen, the tongs are stainless steel with black silicone over the ends so they don’t scratch my pans. I decided I could get the same look on my mini tongs without too much effort.

So I pressed both sides of the ends of the tongs onto a VersaMark ink pad and dipped them into Black Stampin’ Emboss Powder. I tapped off the excess and melted the powder using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high). Then while the embossing was still warm I dipped, tapped off and melted again. Then I repeated this process a third time. The result was perfect.

So all that was left was for me to tuck the three tiny utensils into the pocket of the apron and my tag was complete.

Oh my goodness, this tag turned out even better than I had envisioned. If only my baking skills were up to the same standard…

PRODUCT LIST

I purchased the collapsible eye needles when I was in the UK but they are available online, or check out the sewing or beading section of your local fabric store.