The Details
Where did it come from
Creative Stamping Issue 48
When did I get it
11th September 2017
When did I try it
18th September 2017
First quick impression
The Lilli of the Valley Away in a Manger stamp in the corner was vaguely familiar and there are some other lovely stamps, especially the window scene. My creative juices started to flow with this set. I always like to come up with my own ideas for using products and don’t look at the magazine until after then because let’s face it, how easy is it to see someone else’s creations and base yours on theirs. Once I’ve done the blog post though I dive in there and take all the inspiration on offer. Let’s do this then.
The Ink off
I have recently been playing around with different ink pads for my stamping projects as you can see in my previous post. Once again I was playing around with the different ink pads to see what would work best. Here are the results:I began with the Nuvo pad in image one because at that point I hadn’t decided whether I would be using Alcohol markers or watercolours for the project. As you can see the image is just about there but feint it actually looks better on screen than it does on paper. For the second one, I went with Ranger Archival Ink and predictably it nailed it (if only I could buy an individual mini that was easier for me to handle…) The third one was done with Memento which is better than I think it would have been if I hadn’t already primed the stamp by using the Archival Ink and finally I did one in Brilliance which was beautifully crisp but still a bit too juicy so slightly more over black than I would have liked. So again the Archival is the winner. The fifth image stamped with Archival ink is the original stamp I had with the same image as you can see it is a bit smaller than the one included with this set. Although this stamp is made with the good quality material it was quite hard to get an impression as the first time I stamped it the centre was completely missing. This was after two or three re inkings. I guess even photopolymer that has been looked after in an album can have a shelf life. (I’m not going to tell you how long it took me to find this stamp… my big organisation project is much needed!
Inspiration for the Card
For the project I had in mind, it was actually the Window scene I chose to use. I had printed this background out with Craft Artist from one of the Daisytrail kits for another project and it wasn’t quite right, but I had a feeling it would be perfect for this card.
A Total Trauma
but before I could get stamping I had a total trauma, to steal a favourite word from a friend of mind:What was this stamp fastened on with? Superglue? Let’s put this in perspective I have Fibromyalgia so it is not a case of not knowing my own strength as, to be honest, I don’t have very much at all. I have often found the backing acetate can become curled or kinked when you peel off the stamp but I have never had it rip to shreds. I’ll confess I’m gutted because I am a bit of a perfectionist and storing the stamp on this ripped up sheet is going to bother me every time I see it…
The Completed Card
I first of all stamped the window scene with the Black Archival Ink and decided I wanted to have a watercolour effect so I coloured it with Spectrum Aqua markers (with a couple of touches of Spectrum Sparkle). I started with a waterbrush, to begin with, but swapped for a traditional (Royal Crafters Choice) brush and my little collapsable water bucket, it’s purple what more can I say… I don’t know if it is sold anymore but you can get the same one in pink from Amazon: I have to say that I am very much a crafter and not an artist but I was really pleased with the finished result. Hold on in there (or scroll ahead to the completed card if you are impatient 🙂 ) Using my craft knife I cut out space within the window and lined up the background to the best place then attached this to the back with sticky foam pads to give dimension, trimming away the excess from the background image. I chose a piece of 6″ x 6″ Green Core’dinations and matted this with some Gold Mirror Card using my 1/16″ Perfect Layers Tool. The Core’dinations had an overlay of Vellum, this came for a pack of Anita’s Classic Christmas Vellums (I bought this donkey’s years ago). When it came to creating the sentiment I had a happy accident. I was going to use the Black Archival Ink on Gold Mirror Card but when I put the stamp in the Stamping Platform to line it up I still had some VersaMark on it from an earlier test. The VersaMark left an impression that looked great so I reinked it to get better coverage and then set it with Clear Embossing Powder, Nuvo if you are interested (I love their pretty bottles). Using one of the Todo Decorative Ovals Dies I had to hand I cut this with my Gemini. I have to say I am really pleased with how this turned out it looks really classy. I used some sticky foam pads (Poundland basics, lower quality than Hunkydory or Affixit but they do the job) to fasten the sentiment to the vellum and some Collall All Purpose Glue to fasten Window Scene. Finally, I used some Collall All Purpose Glue on the back of the Vellum where it would be hidden by the toppers and stuck this down on the Green Core’dinations. This is one of the projects I am prouder of, what do you think?
The Verdict
I will be adding these stamps to my organised and reduced collection they have certainly made the cut, even though I have marked the quality down because of the ripped acetate. If anyone at Creative Stamping happens to read this can I be cheeky and ask for a new Acetate cover sheet (or even a digital file to print on my own acetate) because this is going to bother me every time I see it – Thank you in hopefulness 🙂 Now I’ve finished my project I have dived into the magazine and I have to say I will be creating my own take on both projects on page 12 and I am bowled over by the card on page 28 it is simply stunning.
Sunday’s post is going to feature a labour of love in the Craft Section for the next Magazine Free Gift check back on Wednesday when I am featuring something that is used all year round but more than ever in December…
Until next time,
Gentle Hugs,
Susan
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