The End Of Snowman Season

My daughter happily told me that where she is in the UK it’s +13C before noon and they’re all in shorts. Here it’s barely +4C and I’ve no plans to put away my warm clothes for a while. Spring is coming though and with it will go all thoughts of winter, even in my craft studio. But not quite yet as I continue my review of retiring products. Today’s project features the retiring Snowman Season Stamp Set and coordinating (and also retiring) Snowman Builder Punch. I’m going to miss them.

Create this cute "let it snow" gift tag using the retiring Snowman Season Stamp Set and Snowman Builder Punch from Stampin' Up! #papercraftwithme

LET’S BUILD A SNOWMAN

I began my project with the simple snowman image and some Thick Basic White Card. Using Smoky Slate ink I stamped the snowman and then punched him out using the Snowman Builder Punch.

Next I found a small scrap of the retiring Cinnamon Cider Card and used the same punch to create his two twig arms. There are some twigs stamps in the set that coordinate with the punch (plus a hat and carrot nose) but I didn’t use them. Instead I reached for the retiring Cinnamon Cider Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. I didn’t really need to colour the twigs but instead just added a thin line of light ink along the bottom edges, followed by an even thinner line of the dark.

Instead of punching out the carrot nose I coloured the image with a dark Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Blends. Then I finished off by colouring over the shadows on the snowman using a light Pool Party Stampin’ Blends. With that done I used a little Multipurpose Liquid Glue to fix the twigs arms behind his back.

Before putting away the stamp set I needed two sentiments and some more Thick Basic White Card. First I cut a 2″ x 4″ strip for the tag base and stamped “To: From:” with Smoky Slate ink. Then on a 2″ wide strip I stamped “Let it snow” in the bottom right corner.

SNOW ON THE HORIZON

Now it was time to think about the background for my little scene and I found it in a surprising place, the New Horizons 6″ x 6″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. There’s one sheet that is just an abstract blue and white design that I’d originally thought of as a night sky, but it could equally be a snowy sky! So I cut a 2″ x 4″ strip and glued it to the back of the tag base. Then I shaped the top and added a hole in one go using the retiring Delightful Tag Topper Punch.

I planned to add the sentiment piece at the bottom as a snowdrift but first I needed to cut the shape using my Paper Snips. Of course, not wanting to waste the scrap I decided that could become more snow for the snowman to stand on. So I picked up the light Pool Party Stampin’ Blends again and added a little colour along the hand-cut top edges of each piece. While I was there I also added a little colour around the letters of the sentiment too.

Assembly was quick and easy using liquid glue to add the smaller snowbank to the tag base, followed by the snowman. The sentiment fitted perfectly on top and I created more interest by popping it up on Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Finally I threaded a loop of silver twine from the Simply Elegant Trim Pack through the hole at the top. I passed the cut ends through the loop and pulled tight to secure it in place. With that my Christmas / winter gift tag was complete.

I love how this project turned out and I’m especially sad that the Snowman Season Stamp Set is retiring. Hopefully the July to December Mini Catalogue will have something cute to replace it.

If you love this set as much as I do or are looking for some more ideas, check out these earlier blog posts: