And just like that the weekend is over and I didn’t quite get to everything on my to do list. But I came very close, so I’ll take that as a win. The weather hasn’t changed much and it’s going to be a very wet week. That’s the perfect excuse for doing some more reorganising indoors. Of course I’ll still spend in my craft studio, it’s where I go to relax. Yesterday I decided to add a little sunshine to my day and created this project using the Rays of Light stamp.

OFF-SET RAYS

When I sat down all I had in mind was using the Rays of Light stamp to create a background for a project. I love that the stamp design draws the eye in with the blank area slightly above and to the right of centre. While the stamp itself is rectangluar and sized to cover a card front, I wanted something a little smaller.

So before getting to the stamping I first cut some Basic White Card using the largest (#6) circle die from the Stylish Shapes Dies set. In fact I ended up cutting two of them. Then I placed a ruler across one of the circles about 3/4″ from the edge and scored across the piece using the tip of a Bone Folder. After flipping the piece over I put Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) in the small area marked by the scored line. With that done I glued the two circles together so the glued area created a hinge. Finally I added a slot to the glued section using the Very Best Trio Punch.

Now I could see where the top of the tag was I was ready to add the Rays of Light background. So with the large stamp rubber side up I tapped a Daffodil Delight ink pad over the surface. Then I carefully placed the tag on top of the stamp (scored side down) so the empty centre of the image would be off-set. To keep my hands clean I placed some scrap paper on top before rubbing over the paper with my hand. Once I was happy I hadn’t missed any spots I picked up the tag to reveal the pretty sun rays design over the front.

With that done I cut 6″ of Starry Sky 1/8″ Metallic Woven Ribbon and folded it in half. After poking the loop through the slot on the tag, I threaded the cut ends through the loop and pulled gently to secure it in place.

FOR YOU

Next I began to think about decorating the front. So going back to the Stylish Shapes Dies I took the #2 and #3 circles (counting from the smallest up). Using the larger of these dies I cut a piece of Distressed Gold 12″ x 12″ Specialty Paper. Then I glued the gold circle over the white circlular area on the gift tag.

For my sentiment I turned to the Layering Leaves Stamp Set and switched to a Starry Sky ink pad. I stamped “for you” onto a scrap of Basic White Card then cut it out using the #2 circle die.

I loved the look of the brilliant blue against the yellow and thought I needed more. So going back to the Layering Leaves Stamp Set I chose the triple rosebud image. Then using Starry Sky ink I stamped the image three times before cutting them out using the coordinating Bough Punch.

From there I arranged the punched pieces on the gold die-cut circle and fixed them in place with liquid glue. Finally, using Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals I added the sentiment to the centre of the gold circle and my cheerful tag was done.

Since completing the tag I’ve had a couple of extra thoughts… This tag would work equally well as a single large circle rather than having two pieces attached together. It depends whether you want your message to be immediately visible. However, with the two circle option that pretty Rays of Light design could be stamped on the back too. What do you think?

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