I’m so sorry my blog post is late today. Life and insurance rate hikes got in the way! My project was all ready to go and then the phone calls began. So without any further delay here’s a hardback notebook decorated with pretty flowers and leaves.

FIRST FROST FLOWERS

The project all started with the First Frost Stamp Set that was carried over from the Stampin’ Up! 2018 Holiday Catalogue.

On Whisper White Card I first stamped one large and two small flower images using Blushing Bride ink.

Next I wanted to stamp the thistles but in two colours. So I used the brush tip of a Pear Pizzazz Stampin’ Write Marker to colour directly onto the stem and tips on the surface of the stamp. Then I coloured the thistle head on the stamp with a Highland Heather Stampin’ Write Marker. I breathed onto the surface of the rubber to re-moisten the ink, and then stamped onto Whisper White Card. I really liked the result and repeated the process to create a second thistle.

Then I took the stamped images over to my Big Shot to cut them out using the coordinating Frost Bouquet Framelits. While I was there I also cut the berry branch from Silver Glimmer Paper.

WISHES SENTIMENT

With the flowers done I was ready to work on a ‘base’ for the decoration.

First I wiped the inside of the Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder with a Pear Pizzazz ink pad. I put a piece of Whisper White Card inside the folder and placed it directly onto my multipurpose platform. Then I added a cutting pad on top and rolled it forwards and backwards through the Big Shot. When I removed the card from the embossing folder the ink had been pressed into the embossing.

To shape the embossed piece I then used the larger of the two label dies in the First Frost Framelits.

Next I created a frame for the label by cutting out some Pear Pizzazz Card using both label dies nested together. With that done I attached the frame to the embossed piece with Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

The ‘wishes’ sentiment was cut from Highland Heather Card with a die from the new Well Written Framelits. Then using more liquid glue I fixed it diagonally onto the framed embossed piece.

LOVELY LEAVES

As I began to assemble the die-cut flowers around the framed piece I realised that I had no leaves. There is a long leafy stamp in the set, but that wasn’t really what I wanted. In the Frosted Bouquet Framelits there’s a leafy die, but when I cut it from Pear Pizzazz Card that didn’t look right either.

And then I had a brainwave…

I inked up the bottom of the large branch image using Pear Pizazz ink and stamped it onto Whisper White Card. Then I used Paper Snips to cut off the three leaves from the branch. They were perfect, exactly what I was looking for. So I stamped the leaves again so I had four leaves I could tuck in around my flowers.

Then using liquid glue I assembled the flowers and leaves on and under the label piece. Finally I fixed the whole thing to the front of a hardback notebook that I picked up recently in Walmart. Job done.

PRODUCT LIST

You won’t find the First Frost Stamp Set and coordinating Frost Bouquet Dies in the Stampin’ Up! catalogues, but they are still available. These, and all the other items carried over from the 2018 Holiday Catalogue, can be found in my online store in the Holiday Favourites section.

BUNDLE BONUS – I purchased the Well Written Framelits and coordinating Well Said Stamp Set (not used today) using a single bundle item number. This saved me 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included both options in the product list below.