With lots of us feeling the pinch financially it’s really important to make sure you get value for money. When it comes to craft supplies I know that will happen when I buy Stampin’ Up! products. I’ve given up trying to save a few bucks by buying elsewhere, just to get substandard tools and materials. However to get the most from what I do buy I try to look at things differently. That’s how I ended up with this cute baby gift tag using the Give It A Whirl Dies.

CLOUDY SKY

My project actually began when I decided I had to use some more of the retiring Symbols Of Fortune Specialty Designer Series Paper (DSP). This pack has lots of amazing patterns but I’ve been particularly smitten with the cloudy design. That means there’s only scraps left and rather than waste it I thought a 3-1/4″ x 3-1/4″ piece was perfect for a gift tag.

Bizarrely I started by marking the centre of one edge with a pencil and lining it up with the small hole on the Label Me Fancy Punch. From there I cut out the piece using the largest plain-edge die from the Layering Circles set.

Next I took the largest of the scalloped-edge dies from the same set and cut out some Mint Macaron Card. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I mounted the DSP onto the card. Of course that meant I’d filled in the hole, so I placed the layered piece back into the punch. I could easily see the hole already punched in the paper, and simply punched again to add the hole to the card beneath.

From there I threaded 6″ of silver cord from the Simply Elegant Trim pack through the hole and tied it in a simple knot.

NO WHIRL HERE

All I needed now was a sentiment and I chose “Welcome little one” from the Celebrating You Stamp Set. However as I was about to stamp I started to think about how I would cut it out. I could have fussy-cut around the words, but wasn’t in the mood for that. So I looked at the Layering Circles Dies, but the one that fit the sentiment would cover too much of the cloudy background. And then it hit me, the Give It A Whirl Dies had some cloud shapes! In fact there are three of them, and hopefully one would work.

Unfortunately the dies are solid which meant it would be a challenge to stamp first and then die-cut without potentially chopping off some of the sentiment. So instead I found a scrap of Thick Basic White Card and just die-cut it first.

Then I was able to line up the stamp over the cloud piece and stamp it using Evening Evergreen ink.

From there I put a Pearl Basic Jewel onto the sentiment piece before adding it to the tag with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals. Then, with a few more pearls added to the background layer, my baby tag was complete.

I love how this project turned out and am especially pleased to find another use for one of the smaller shapes from the Give It A Whirl Dies. As well as three clouds, this set has four hearts, two clusters of stars, and so much more. In fact I think I need to leave it on my desk to find even more uses for this versatile 21 piece set. Watch this space!

PRODUCT LIST

RETIRING PRODUCT – The Symbols of Fortune DSP is retiring and now only available while stocks last. What’s more it’s now half price! You’ll find this paper and all the other retiring products that are still available in the Last Chance section of my online store.