For today’s project I wanted to play a little more with the Framed Florets Stamp Set and coordinating dies. Painting with ink gave me a very different look to my previous experiments and I have to say I love it. I’m not a painter by any means, but it seems that the image I chose is very forgiving. Even the flower centres, where the colour bled after I painted them before the adjacent petals were properly dry, somehow seems to work. It certainly gives me ideas for a future project.

FLORETS FAUX PAS

My plan was to use the double flower image from the Framed Florets Stamp Set and pop it up on a watercoloured background. So I began by cutting a 2-1/2″ “x 2-1/2” piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper for the background layer. All the painting would be done using ink from Stampin’ Up! Classic ink pads. To do this I simply needed to squeeze the lid of the closed ink pad so that it touched the inky foam inside. Then when I opened the pad I could add water to the ink on the inside of the lid and pick it up with the Water Painter.

With this in mind I used the largest of the Water Painters to wet the surface of the cut paper. Then I brushed on some Pool Party ink to create a light wash. Once it was almost dry I went back and painted on a little more Pool Party ink.

Next I cut a 2″ x 2-1/2″ piece of Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper for the main image. Using StazOn Jet Black ink I stamped the twin flower image from the Framed Florets Stamp Set onto the dry paper. I left the ink to dry for a few minutes then I could get to work painting the colours.

I began by painting the flower petals with watery Rich Razzleberry ink. Then for the leaves I used watered down Pear Pizzazz ink. Once the paper was no longer visibly wet I went back and added more of the same colours but without adding water to the ink. This gave me much darker versions of the ink to use.

I thought of using a yellow for the flower centres but in the end decided that the watery Pear Pizzazz would work just fine. Well it would have done had I made sure the petals were properly dry. Instead the Rich Razzleberry ink mixed with the Pear Pizzazz,. So rather than make things worse I put down the brush and gave the image time to dry properly.

DESIGN DETAILS

While the flower piece was drying I turned back to the initial background piece. While I liked the wash I decided to add an ink splatter effect using a brush and some Rich Razzleberry ink. Unfortunately it turned out that the piece wasn’t as dry as I thought and so the spots blurred a little. Oh well, it wasn’t horrendous. Mind you it did prompt me to wait a little longer before continuing.

When I returned I wanted to add a stitched edge the background and so I went looking for a suitable die. In the end I found exactly what I needed in the Stylish Shapes Dies. From the selection of nesting square dies in the set I chose #4 (counting from the smallest up) and die cut the background piece.

Next, using my Paper Trimmer I cut a 2-3/4″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Rich Razzleberry Card. Then with the long side at the top I scored the card at 2-3/4″. After folding the card along the scored line I sharpened the crease with my Bone Folder. To turn it into a tag I opened up the card and placed it under the slot option of the Very Best Trio Punch. After moving the card so the crease was on the right of the centre mark I punched the slot in the back half of the tag.

On the inside of the folded card I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to fix a 2-1/4″ x 2-1/4″ piece of Very Vanilla Card. Then I threaded some Very Vanilla twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack through the slot and tied it in a simple knot.

Finally I was ready to cut out the Framed Florets image and this was easily done using the coordinating die. Then using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals I attached the die-cut piece to the stitched background.

It was only at this point I realised that the area around the stamped image was still the original off-white colour. So now it really stood out against the background, and not in a good way. Then I had idea, it was risky but I went ahead anyway. I went back to the Pool Party ink pad and Water Painter and carefully painted the remaining sections on the die-cut image. It wasn’t exactly the same depth of colour as the background but it was enough to blend in. And with that my project was complete.

I have to say I love this gift tag. In fact the little ‘mistakes’ I had to disguise seems to add character to it. What do you think?

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Framed Florets Stamp Set and coordinating Framed Florets Dies using a single “bundle” item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the same two items separately. I’ve included links for both options so you can explore these if you wish. This bundle will also appear in the January to April 2023 Mini Catalogue.

Also purchased in a discounted bundle was the Very Best Trio Punch with the Very Best Occasions Stamp Set (not used today). You’ll find the link for that bundle in the list below as well.

SEASONAL SALE STARTS TOMORROW – Don’t forget that starting tomorrow you can save up to 20% off a huge selection of stamps, dies, punches and embossing folders from the 2022/2023 Annual Catalogue. Check the list for details and get ready to place your order thorugh my online store. Discounted prices will only remain in effect until November 18th, and while stocks last.