Ask any experienced papercrafter whether they make mistakes and if they’re honest they’ll confirm they do. That includes me. My most common issue is rushing when I’m cutting and ending up with a piece that’s too small. Why is it that the wrongly cut piece is never too big?? I find that the busier I get, the more distracted I become, and that’s when it happens. Today is a case in point. So much on my to do list preparing for a new season and I make one of the most basic errors. I’ll tell you about that shortly…
SUMMER SEASON
Although the Stampin’ Up! August to December 2020 Mini Catalogue is out, I’m not quite ready to leave summer behind. So for today’s project I went back to the Annual Catalogue for the Beautiful Friendship Stamp Set. I was a bit late to the party with this set, but now I have it I love it. It’s a Distinktive set, so you get variation in light and shade with one simple stamping.
TIP – With Distinktive stamps I always do a test stamp onto a scrap of card first. That way I can check that the image stamps correctly. If my ink pad is too juicy the image just comes out a mess. If that’s the case I use the edge of an old storecard to gently scrape back some of the ink from the surface of my ink pad. Then I test again. Once I’m happy I’ll get on with stamping my project.
Today I began with some Thick Whisper White Card to create the flowers and leaves. I started with the triple leaf image and stamped five of them in Old Olive ink. Then I stamped the largest double flower with Highland Heather ink. Next I turned to the single open flower and stamped that twice in Highland Heather. Then to complete these flowers I stamped the stamen images in the centre using Crushed Curry ink.
Finally I took the twin bud image, but with both petals and leaves/stems I needed to be creative. The see-through photopolymer material made that pretty easy. Very carefully I pressed the petal parts of the image onto the Highland Heather ink pad. Then I pressed the stems and leaves of the image onto the Old Olive ink pad. With that done I stamped the image onto the Thick Whisper White Card. I was really happy with how it turned out so I repeated the process twice more. One didn’t stamp as well as I’d like, but I could easily cut the damaged bud off later.
That just left the sentiment and I found exactly what I needed in the same stamp set. Using Old Olive ink I stamped “A very big congratulations and best wishes to you” onto the Thick Whisper White Card. Now I was ready to begin cutting everything out.
‘TIS THE SEASON
This card would need building from the bottom up so I started by preparing the card base. Using my Paper Trimmer I cut and scored some Cherry Cobbler Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder.
For the background I chose an understated pattern from the new ‘Tis The Season 6″x 6″ Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. I cut a 3″ x 5-1/2″ strip and fixed it down the centre of the card base using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow). Along the edges of the DSP I then glued a 1/8″ x 5-1/2″ strip of Champagne Foil Sheet.
Next I used the ‘B2′ die from the Stitched Rectangles Die (counting from the smallest up) to cut out my sentiment. Then I fixed the sentiment to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
That just left the various flowers and leaves to add to complete the card front. Using Paper Snips I cut out all the flowers and leaves leaving a small white edge around each piece. It was at this point I cut off the bud that I hadn’t stamped properly. To make the arrangement I began by fixing the large double flower image onto the background with Stampin’ Dimensionals.
The leaves came next, all tucked under the edges of the double flower piece with liquid glue. I followed this by adding one of the open flowers and one of the double buds at the bottom, also using liquid glue.
To give the bouquet some added interest I turned to Stampin’ Dimensionals for the final few pieces. First I attached the remaining open flower onto the double flower image, covering the smaller flower. Then I added one of the double bud images so it overlapped the edge of the sentiment, while the end of the stalk was fixed using liquid glue. Finally, with a Stampin’ Dimensional under the petals and liquid glue at the end of the stalk, I fixed the single bud image into place.
OOPS!
All I had left to do was decorate the inside of the card and envelope with the ‘Tis The Season DSP to coordinate with finished card front.
Going back to what was left of my DSP sheet I cut a 2-1/4″ x 6″ piece. Then with liquid glue I attached it to the flap of a Whisper White Medium Envelope. Using Paper Snips I trimmed the DSP using the edge of the flap as a guide and set this aside.
Next, taking the 3/4″ x 6″ piece of DSP that was left I trimmed it down to 5-1/4″ long. I used liquid glue to fix it down the right-hand edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Whisper White Card. Then along the edge of the DSP I added a 1/8″ strip of Champagne Foil Sheet so it matched the card front. All I had to do now was glue the prepared piece to the inside of the card base.
Or so I thought.
You see it was only at this point that I realised I’d make a rookie mistake. I’d forgotten to check that the open edge of my folded card was on the right. Now after all my effort, the entire front of the card was attached upside down! Luckily that was an easy fix. I simply cut the card along the scored line. Then I made a new card base from Cherry Cobbler Card and fixed the completed card front to it with liquid glue. After checking the opening was facing the right way, of course.
Finally I glued the assembled Whisper White layer on the inside of my new card base and my project was complete.
I love how this card turned out in the end. The deep red background from the ‘Tis The Season DSP and narrow foil strips really adds a touch of luxury.
OK your turn… I’d love to know what mistakes you’ve made when papercrafting and how you hid/repaired it?
If you’d like to see more of ideas using the Beautiful Friendship Stamp Set, check out these earlier blog posts:
I laughed when I read about your card mishap! I had a similar experience. I usually make 2 cards at once and was down to the final step of attaching the second completed card panel to the base but I couldn’t find it. I searched high and low and even enlisted my husband to help locate this missing piece. Finally gave up and took the completed card over to display on my buffet and realized I had attached both card panels to the same base. Mystery solved! But I couldn’t believe it. Decided it was definitely time to take a break. Thanks for sharing regards Shirley
Thank you Shirley. I think all papercrafters have stories like these. It just goes to show no matter now experienced you are you can still have mishaps. It certainly keeps things exciting.