This morning I read a Facebook post from a well-known local artist Joy Laking, where she revealed that even though she’s been a painter for 45 years she still struggles sometimes with inspiration, as well as fear and anxiety as she works on a project.  This was an eye-opener to me.  I know Joy and she always comes across as so confident in what she does, but her words will be comforting to other artists and crafters and it’s OK to struggle during the creative process.  It’s a great insight and I’ve shared it on my Facebook page so you can read it too.

So as I sat down to create today’s project it was with just a vague idea to create a fancy gift tag.  I found a set of dies that I could use for the base of the tag and feeling lazy I grabbed the stamp set that coordinates with it.  Then it was just a case of stamping and die-cutting various pieces until I was happy with the colour scheme and arrangement.

I started the project at my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform, cutting out the large doily shape from a piece of Silver Foil Sheet with a die from the Beautiful Layers Thinlits.  I cut a piece of Vellum Cardstock using the #5 plain-edged die from the Layering Circles Framelits (counting from the smallest up), and finally two pieces of Whisper White Card using the #4 plain-edged circle die.

Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I attached one of the white circles to the centre on the back of the die-cut doily, while in the centre on the front I fixed the vellum circle.

Then I went looking for a suitable sentiment and found virtually what I was looking for in the Beautiful Promenade Stamp Set.  The sentiment actually says “I’m here for you, friend”, so I made sure the stamp was squeaky clean using my Simply Shammy, and then used the brush tip of a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker directly onto the surface of the stamp to ink up just the words “for you”.  I stamped the partial sentiment onto the remaining Whisper White circle and then fixed that on top of the vellum circle so that it lined up with the white circle on the back of the tag.

Going back to the Beautiful Promenade Stamp Set I pulled out the large flower and inked it up with Highland Heather ink and I used the brush tip of my Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker to colour the stamens on the stamp surface before stamping the image onto some Whisper White Card.  Next came the lines on the flower petals, with the stamp inked up using Highland Heather ink then ‘stamped off’ onto scrap paper before stamping inside the flower outline.  This was an easy job as the Beautiful Promenade Stamp Set is photopolymer and completely see-through.

The leaves come from the same stamp set and were stamped in Granny Apple Green ink onto Granny Apple Green Card.

With all the stamping now complete I returned to my Big Shot and Magnetic Platform and cut out the flower and two sets of leaves using the coordinating dies from the Beautiful Layers Thinlits.  I attached the die-cut leaves to the front of the gift tag with liquid glue and then added the flower with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

All that was left was to add a few iridescent sequins from the Metallic Sequin Assortment with Mini Glue Dots, and tie a length of Whisper White Solid Baker’s Twine through one of the holes in the doily and I was done.

Oh how much simpler it seems when I edit out the parts where I stamp in different colours on different coloured card, and stamp the sentiment several times but find the stamp wasn’t completely clean and left a ghost image that couldn’t be disguised.  Still I’m really happy with the end result and hope you like it too.

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Beautiful Promenade Stamp Set and coordinating Beautiful Layers Thinlits Dies using the special bundle item number and in doing so saved 10% off the cost of buying the two items separately.  You’ll find links to both options in the list below.

By the way, the Beautiful Layers Thinlits is the set that includes a die that cuts a liner to fit the medium envelopes sold by Stampin’ Up!  You’ll find en example of this in my blog post Tropical escape.

BONUS DAYS

All through August for every $60 CAD spent in a single order, you’ll receive an e-voucher for $6 that you can spend in September.  If you decide to buy the Beautiful Promenade Bundle, you only need to add another 75c to your order to qualify, so make sure you don’t miss out.

Product List