One of the things I hear regularly from crafters is how hard they find making masculine or gender-neutral cards. It seems creating a card with flowers, ribbons and gems comes much more naturally to many. My issue is not designing the cards it’s more about getting materials that aren’t boring, and I’m always on the lookout for extra options. So you can imagine my delight when I saw the new Timeless Greetings Kit from Stampin’ Up! I knew right away that it would be the perfect addition to my stash.

TIMELESS BUT DIFFERENT

Although the Timeless Greetings Kit contains everything needed to create 8 cards (4 each of 2 designs) I decided to do somnething different. However I wanted to see whether I could do this without needing anything extra from my stash. So I began by looking at the instructions and pulled out all the pieces used to create their pocket watch card. Then I packed away the rest of the kit and set to work…

I began by folding the card base along the pre-scored line and sharpening the crease with my Bone Folder. Then, using my Paper Trimmer I cut a 1″ strip off the front of the card base. Next, with the folded card base on my desk I glued the cut strip to the inside of the back of the card. Now when the card is closed it essentially looks no different, the surprise comes when it’s opened.

Now I needed the background layer and I trimmed 7/8″ off the bottom. Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I fixed the larger section at an angle to the card front. I decided to use the remaining strip on the inside of the card but hidden by the larger layer. To do this I opened up the card and laid the small strip face-down on the back of the larger section where it extended past the cut card front. After putting liquid glue on the strip I closed the back of the card base onto it and pressed down. Then when I opened up the card base the strip was glued in place and perfectly positioned.

TIME TO DECORATE

Now all I needed to do was add the rest of the pieces to the front. But first some I had some stamping to do using the included photopolymer stamp set and Soft Suede ink spot.

I chose “Time to celebrate” and placed it onto the acrylic block also included in the kit. I tapped the ink spot onto the stamp surface and then stamped the sentiment onto the larger of the two sentiment strips. Then using liquid glue I mounted the sentiment onto one of the green patterned strips from the kit. After putting some Stampin’ Dimensionals on the back of the assembled sentiment I added it towards the bottom of the background layer.

Going back to the stamp set I now needed to stamp the clock hands and numbers onto the clock face piece from the kit. To get the placement just right I looked through the clear stamp and lined it up with the dot in the centre of the white card. Then I glued the circle onto the metallic silver pocket watch shape. With that done I found the ‘watch cord’ die-cut piece and using a mini glue dot from the kit I attched one end to the watch top. Now it was assembled I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to add the watch to the card front.

Finally I took three of the self-adhesive metallic embellishments and added them to the background layer. In no time at all my first alternate card from the Timeless Greetings Kit was complete.

TIMELESS GREETINGS KIT

OK I didn’t quite manage to create this alternate card without using anything from my stash. But you could. I simply have a preference for using liquid glue on my projects rather than the Mini Glue Dots included in the kit. You could also cut the pieces using scissors if you don’t have a Paper Trimmer, and use your thumbnail to sharpen the crease. What I did do though was stick to my aim of only using 1/8 of the kit so there’s still enough left to make 7 more cards. Now the questions is, more unique designs from my head, or follow the included instructions…?

To see the whole kit in action, Stampin’ Up! created this great little video.

PRODUCT LIST

Like all kits in the Stampin’ Up! Kits Collection these kits cannot be found in any catalogue. They’re available while stocks last and will be removed from the website if they sell out. There’s also a French language version of this kit if this is your preferred language. Check out all the current stamping and non-stamping kits currently available in the Kits Collection section of my online store.