The Details
Where did it come from
Simply Cards & Papercraft Issue 169
When did I get it
14th October 2017
When did I try it
12th November 2017
First quick impression
The main stamp is absolutely beautiful but would I expect anything else from Hunkydory? I’m interested in using the bauble die with Mirri card and maybe some other products and see what I can come up with. I’m not sure I will get much use from the smaller dies. As regular readers will know I prefer to use my ScanNCut to cut stamps out with. Let’s see what I can come up with shall we.
Testing the Stamps
I don’t always test the stamps as such anymore but as the featured image is a stamp it is a sort of given that I would have to test it just to use it.
To test out new stamps I always use my Tim Holtz Stamping Platform. I know there are other platforms available but when I came to the point that I knew I needed one I did a load of research into the different features of them all and decided this was the right one for me. You can read my post about it. Why did I need one? With the Fibromyalgia (not to mention a bonus gift of some Arthritis in my hands) I could no longer rely on my hands to get a clean even print with stamps. I was increasingly finding I was not getting good results, even with the Rocker Blockers which always guaranteed this before. The benefit of a stamping platform is that for whatever reason you do not get a clean impression you can simply re-ink and go again and you are guaranteed to be exactly in the same spot. Even the best eyes can be slightly off and then you risk shadowing.
I also always use Archival Ink to test stamps that come as free gifts with magazines. They are usually made from a different material to the one used by a lot of the major brands which means that if you use a dye-based ink like Memento the ink can pool on the stamp and give a really bad impression. You can see exactly what I mean in this test of a fairy stamp. Archival Ink does not pool like this and I get to really test the stamp properly.
Stamp test 1
Stamped
Stamp Test 2
Re-inked and used a brayer
Stamp Test 3
Re-inked patches and pressed hard!
Hard Work
I will not lie the stamping was hard going, I had to give my hands a rest part way through and afterwards. If I did not love the stamp so much I would have given up on it. Although the stamp was designed by Hunkydory it was not manufactured by them. The stamps they produce only need one press of the stamping platform, but as previously mentioned the craft magazines naturally have a limited budget or they would have to put the prices up! With the exception of the little heart at the top, I was happy with the final result though and I’m hoping this is allowed but I have scanned the image into my computer so that I can use it again as a digital stamp because I don’t think I can face having to restamp it.
Colouring the Image
I was initially going to use my Spectrum Noir ColourBlend pencils to colour the image but as I used them last week for the Christmas Sparkle Card I decided to use my Spectrum Noir markers instead. Once I had coloured in the image I used my silver gel pen to add a few little details to the baubles and their fastenings. Here is the coloured image, with the exception of the main bauble.
Creating the card
To create the card I did the following: I stuck the image to some silver mirror card and used my Mini Perfect Layers Tool on the 1/16th edge to create a border. The second matting layer was created by using the darkest pink colour from the image (PP4) to colour some white cardstock in a roughly square shape (just the edges not the part that would be covered) to fit around the mirror card. I attached the silver layer to the pink one using Collall All Purpose Glue and then used the Perfect Layers Tool again to cut this layer too. The main bauble was cut out of silver mirror card using my Gemini (and a Cut Tidy Folder to manage the mess) then lined up and glued down using Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue because this has such a fine nozzle. The apertured areas of the die cut were coloured with two gel pens that complimented the image. I coloured a scrap of cardstock with the PP1 Spectrum Noir Pen and die cut this using the tag die included and then coloured a scrap with the PP2 pen and die cut the bow. (So I did use the small dies after all just not to cut out the stamps) To stamp the sentiment I lined it up with the Stamping Platform and stamped it with Black Ranger Archival Ink. Then stuck the tag onto the card with the Collall All Purpose Glue. I shaped the bow a little bit using my Tonic Flower Shaping Tools before attaching it with Collall Coll Kit 3D Gel. Here is the completed card:
The Verdict on the Beautiful Baubles kit
Well, what do you think? Personally, I am really happy with the completed card and think it would work in several other colourways. This is, I think, the first time I have used my Spectrum Noir markers to colour cardstock to create complimentarily embellishments. I have usually only coloured images in. I will certainly be using this technique again though because I think it ties the card together so well. The only thing I will be marking the set down on is the quality because it was so hard to get the clean image with the stamp. If you do not have dexterity problems this will no doubt not be a problem for you. As for the kit, it has earned its place in my craft stash 🙂
Next week I will be looking at the Snowflake Penguins from Papercraft Essentials.
Until next time,
Gentle Hugs,
Susan
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