My regular readers will know that I love to get more from my crafting budget. Whether that’s by organising and actually using my scraps, or by combining stamp sets in new ways. Today my project uses minimal supplies with a simple gray colour palette. However for the bookmark base I chose one of the Tailor Made Tags Dies and extended it using a simple technique. It’s another great way to get maximum value from products you already have… or perhaps make investing in a particular set of dies more attractive.

BOOKMARK BASE

This project all started with a 2-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Thick Very Vanilla Card. From the Tailor Made Tags Dies I took the largest of the flat-topped dies and placed the top of the die at the top of the card strip. Then I ran the die through my Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine feeding the top of the die in first. However, once all but the last 1″ of the die had gone between the rollers I stopped and reversed the die out again. So now had a partially die-cut piece with the top of the tag/bookmark cut.

To extend the die-cut piece I moved the die down and used the faux stitching to help me ‘lock’ the die in place. Then I ran the die through the machine again but this time feeding the bottom end of the die in first. As before I stopped about 1″ before the whole die went through the rollers and reversed the piece out of the machine. Now I had a much longer piece complete with fancy top, hole and faux stitching.

It was only after I was finished that I thought you might prefer to see the process. So I went back and filmed this short video to show you.

With the bookmark base done all I needed to do was decorate it.

GRAY COTTAGE ROSE

I really wanted to keep this simple and so chose the largest image from the Cottage Rose Stamp Set. Using Basic Gray ink I stamped the flowers at the bottom of the bookmark base. Then I stamped the “It’s going to be fab” sentiment above it.

Colouring was quick and easy too, using just the light Gray Granite Stampin’ Blends alcohol marker to add a little shading on the petals and leaves.

Keeping with the gray colour scheme I cut 8″ of Gray Granite 1/4″ Shimmer Ribbon. After threading it through the hole in the bookmark, I finished off by tying the ribbon in a knot and my project was complete.

I have to say that I love the simple elegance that gray brings to a project. This is definitely a case of ‘less is more’ don’t you think?

For another project using just gray tones see my previous blog post Simple shades of gray.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Cottage Rose Stamp Set in a bundle with the coordinating Cottage Flowers Dies. Buying the two products using the single ‘bundle’ item number meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying them separately. You’ll see I’ve included a link to the bundle in case you want to explore that option.