Nothing’s better than? Well that depends on the situation. First thing in the morning it’s a nice hot cup of coffee for me. After a few days of rushing around, it’s the chance to have a lie-in. When my schedule has been filled with things I have to do for other people, it’s having time to myself. Most often I’ll spend that in my craft studio. It’s where I go to de-stress and exercise my creativity. So for this week’s simple Sunday blog post this stamp set seemed particularly appropriate.
TRIO PUNCH
These projects actually started out as an exploration of the Very Best Trio Punch. If you’re not familiar with this punch it’s stamped like a triangle with three different punch options. One punches a slot, the other two options shape the corners of card. I use the slot the most, but today I decided to combine that with the straight corner option.
So first I cut a 2″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Thick Basic White Card. Then I placed a corner into the punch under the picture of the straight corner printed on the top. After checking that the card was tight up against the guide on the side left and at the top I pressed straight down on the centre of the punch. This neatly cut the corner off the top of the card strip. With that done I slid the other top corner into the punch and repeated the process.
In case you missed it, here’s how I created my home-made guide for the slot option on the trio punch.
To be honest, while the angle would be great for a card layer it was a bit too much for the 2″ wide strip. So before going any further I trimmed 1/4″ off the top. Then I placed the strip under the slot option on the punch. After using my home-made guide to check it was centred I pressed onto the top of the punch again. Now I had the perfect base for my bookmarks and created a second one, just because I could.
NOTHING’S BETTER THAN – COOKIES
Next I went looking for a stamp set I haven’t used in quite a while, Nothing’s Better Than. It has some great sentiments, plus outline images that can be coloured in using separate solid stamp images. So starting simply I decided to create a cookie-themed bookmark.
Using Early Espresso ink I first stamped “because adulting is hard” in the centre of the strip. Then around that I stamped the cookie outline image, re-inking it after each image or partial image was stamped. Then I picked up the solid image to colour in my cookies.
Instead of changing to a different colour ink pad I decided to use the same Early Espresso one. However after inking up the stamp I “stamped off” onto some scrap paper to remove a little of the ink. Then when I stamped into the outline I had a lighter version of the same colour. So all I had to do was repeat this re-inking, stamping-off and stamping onto the project process until all the cookies were done.
To finish this bookmark I cut two 6″ pieces of Crumb Cake twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack. After folding the twine in half I threaded the loops through the slot. Then I threaded the cut ends through the loops and pulled gently to secure it in place. Project one was complete.
NOTHING’S BETTER THAN – COCKTAILS
“Adulting is hard” is a phrase I often hear my daughter say, especially since having twins last year. So this second one was created with her in mind. I already had the bookmark base prepared, all I had to so was decorate it.
This time from the Nothing’s Better Than Stamp Set I chose the outline of the cocktail glass. Then using Starry Sky ink I stamped it at the bottom of the card strip.
After cleaning the “because adulting is hard” sentiment stamp I stamped that above the glass using Starry Sky ink. Then above that I stamped the “Cocktails”sentiment from the set.
Unlike the cookies image, the cocktail glass has three separate stamps to colour it in and so I chose three different colours. First I stamped into the top of the umbrella using Polished Pink ink. Then I stamped into the fruit slice with Daffodil Delight ink. Finally I used Pumpkin Pie ink for the contents of the glass, but this time I first stamped off some of the ink onto scrap paper.
With that done I cut two 6″ pieces of Starry Sky 1/8″ Metallic Woven Ribbon and attached them to the top in the same way as the twine on the first bookmark.
In next to no time I had a bookmark for me and one for my daughter, because when it really comes down to it, nothing’s better than family.
For some more projects using the Nothing’s Better Than Stamp Set see these earlier blog posts:
PRODUCT LIST
COORDINATING DIES – The Love You More Than Dies (not used today) are designed to coordinate with the Nothing’s Better Than Stamp Set. However while you can still buy the stamp set and dies they are no longer available as a discounted bundle.
BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Very Best Trio Punch in a bundle with the Very Best Occasions Stamp Set (not used today). Using the single ‘bundle’ item number to order meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying these two products separately. I’ve included a link to the bundle in case you want to explore this option for yourself.
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