As well as the pretty flowers, I decided to buy the new Pansy Patch Stamp Set because of the sentiments. There’s the always useful “Thank you” and “Happy birthday”, plus “love you much” and “A little hello from me to you”. In addition there’s a couple of larger sentiments that are perfect for bookmarks. So with that in mind I sat down to create today’s new catalogue sneak peek project.

ABSTRACT TREES

As I was playing with the Pansy Patch Stamp Set I also found the new Tailor Made Tags Dies on my desk. This set of dies is great for tags but I wondered if I could use them to make a bookmark base. It turns out I could, with just a little technical know-how.

I began the bookmark base as I generally do with a 2″ x 5-1/2″ strip of card. Today I chose Basic White. Next I turned to the new Beauty Of The Earth 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) for a background. Knowing I wanted to stamp on the paper I chose an abstract tree design in autumn shades. This sheet has the design printed along opposite edges so that it creates a border-style pattern. Towards the middle of the sheet it becomes light enough to stamp on which was perfect. So I cut a 2″ x 5-1/2″ strip of the DSP and fixed it to the Basic White Card strip using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow).

At this point I’d usually punch the bookmark top, but instead I picked up the Tailor Made Tag Dies. From the set I chose the largest of the flat-topped dies, and the coordinating solid die with oval holes.

PARTIAL DIE-CUTTING

I set up my Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine for die-cutting as usual, with plate #1 on the bottom and #2 on top. Next I placed the assembled card/DSP strip onto the plates but leaving about 2″of it hanging off the bottom edge. The tag die came next, with the angled top close to the top of the strip. Now came the crucial part, I put the second #2 (clear) plate on top of the die but pushed it forward so that the bottom inch or so of the die was not covered. That way when when I ran the die through the machine the bottom section would not be cut.

With the top of the bookmark done I now needed to repeat the partial die-cut process on the bottom section of the strip.

So I turned the strip around and set up the plates, card and die in the same way as before. This time though I needed to line up the already cut sides of the card with the edges of the tag die. This wasn’t too difficult as I could ‘lock’ the die in place using some of the faux stitching already created. Then I put the #2 (clear) plate on top but with the shaped end of the die not covered by the plate. With that done I ran the die through the machine to complete the basic bookmark strip.

Before moving on I die-cut some Night Of Navy Card using the solid die with the oval holes. Then I glued two of the pieces to the back and front of the bookmark, lining up the hole and the flat edge. This added some nice contrast while reinforcing the hole at the same time. Now my bookmark base was ready for the final touches.

PANSY PATCH

First I chose “The little things you do make such a big difference” from the Pansy Patch Stamp Set. Then using Night Of Navy ink I stamped the sentiment in the lighter space towards the top of the bookmark.

Finally I cut three 6″ pieces of Night of Navy twine from the Well Suited Twine Combo Pack. I folded the twine in half and threaded the loops through the hole at the top of the bookmark. Then I passed the ends through the loops and pulled tight to secure the twine in in place. With that my bookmark was complete.

It’s been a while since I’ve made something using the partial die-cutting technique but it’s simpler than you think. Why not give it a try? I have more ideas for the Tailor Made Tags Dies using this technique. I’ll also try to do a short video tutorial too, so watch this space!

The Pansy Patch Stamp Set coordinates with the Pansy Dies and the Pansy Petals Designer Series Paper. I have all of these new products but love that they can be used separately as well. I showed the dies in my earlier blog post Pansy Dies for spring and summer projects. So now here’s the coordinating Pansy Patch Stamp Set used today.

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Pansy Patch Stamp Set together with the coordinating Pansy Dies (not used today) using a single ‘bundle’ item number. This meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately. I’ve included a link to the bundle in case you want to explore that option.