Today’s the day to get free shipping on your Stampin’ Up! order. Reaching the minimum $100CAD requirement wasn’t hard for me as I have an extensive wish-list. Recently I’ve started keeping track of the things I wish I had when designing a project. For instance while making this sweet elephant gift tag I wanted more ribbon and twine to choose from. So while it was on my mind I pulled out the catalogues and added some to my order. Now I just have to wait patiently for them to arrive.

SWEET BABY ELEPHANT

Anyone who follows my blog will know that I love cute animal images and they really don’t come much cuter than this elephant. In fact this little guy is probably my favourite image from the Elephant Parade Stamp Set.

Today I began by stamping the elephant image onto a scrap of Thick Very Vanilla Card using Tuxedo Black ink. Then I stamped the triple leaf image and “sweet little one” sentiment onto the card.

Next I did some quick colouring using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. For the elephant image I started with light and dark Gray Granite, before adding Ivory inside his ears. Then on the leaves I used light and dark Shaded Spruce.

Cutting out the elephant and leaves was a cinch using the coordinating dies from the Elephant Dies set and my Mini Cut & Emboss Machine. For the sentiment I simply cut it out free-hand using Paper Snips.

CUSTOM TAG BASE

With that done I turned my attention to the tag base and for that I chose one of the larger shapes from the Seasonal Labels Dies. Then to add the ribbon slot I picked out a tiny die from the same set designed for that very purpose. I simply used both dies together, so I could cut the shape and hole with one pass through my machine.

The tag is actually two pieces, one cut from Thick Very Vanilla Card and the other from a Blushing Bride sheet from the Brushstroke 12″ x 12″ Specialty Paper. This amazing paper has three sheets in the pack, one each of Blushing Bride, Night of Navy and Soft Succulent. It has a gorgeous sheen and subtle brushstroke texture that adds a very special touch to any project, even a small gift tag.

Once the tag pieces were cut I fixed them together using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). Then I glued on the die-cut elephant before adding the leaves and sentiment with Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals.

To finish I cut a piece of Gray Granite 1/4″ Shimmer Ribbon and threaded it through the slot in the tag. Then I tied some Very Vanilla twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack in a bow around the ribbon and my project was complete.

I love how this gift tag turned out, especially the effect of the Brushstroke Specialty Paper. You’ll definitely be seeing more of that in future projects. I’d love to know what you think of this paper, so please me a comment below and share your thoughts.

Meanwhile for more cute elephants check out these previous blog posts:

• Elephant fever
• A Paper Pumpkin Thing: Celebrating In Color
• Celebrate later
• Elephant Parade happy day

FREE SHIPPING TODAY!

In the meantime as I mentioned earlier, Stampin’ Up! is offering free shipping on every order over $100CDN (before taxes). There’s no special code to add, simply fill your basket with goodies and the shipping will be adjusted automatically during the checkout process. All products from the current catalogues, Clearance Rack, Last Chance List, online only Kits Collection AND Paper Pumpkin Pre-Paid codes qualify. Just remember that this offer ends at 11.50pm Mountain Time tonight (2.50am Atlantic tomorrow).

Oh and in case you were wondering… Yes you can still take advantage of the BOGO promotion on kits, as well as any bundle savings shown in the catalogues.

In addition, everyone who places an order through my online store today will also receive a bumper 85 page Tutorial PDF. This amazing resource contains 46 projects designed by me and 14 other Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators from around the globe. Just make sure you allow Stampin’ Up! to share your contact details so I can e-mail it to you.

Now the only question is, do you place your order as planned and pocket the savings? Or do you figure you were going to spend $x anyway and top up to that value with more product? I wonder if you can guess what I did???

PRODUCT LIST

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Elephant Parade Stamp Set in a bundle with the coordinating Elephant Dies (I still dislike like that name!). Placing my order using the single “bundle” item number saved me 10% off the cost of buying the two products separately. I’ve included links for both options below in case you want to compare them.