The Details
Where did it come from
Simply Cards & Papercraft Issue 168
When did I get it
23rd September 2017
When did I try it
6th October 2017
First quick impression
I have some stamps that create similar silhouette style scenes but no dies (that I can remember!) I am interested to see how these dies may work with my Inkylicious and Cardio stamps, will the sizes work together. I guess it’s time to jump in and get crafting and see what I come up with.
Testing the Dies
The first thing I have to comment on that made me really happy is that the dies popped cleanly off with none of the dreaded sticky mess to deal with like I had in last weeks Christmas Wishes drama. Fantastic I can get straight on with crafting rather than cleaning! So, to begin with, I cut them out with Linda’s 250 GSM card stock (Creative Craft Creations from Create and Craft) using my Gemini as per usual (if you want to know why I use the Gemini specifically check out this post about it) and here is how it turned out.
Initial Die Verdict
The first thing I noticed is that the three dies are different lengths. Maybe I am a bit of a lazy crafter but as you are in all likeliness going to use more than one in a project it would have been a nice touch if they had been the same length rather than needing to faff around measuring them… maybe it’s just me though? What do you think? In terms of the cutting, the dies have all cut cleanly. I’m not sure whether it is to do with the power of my Gemini but there was an embossing effect added too, in some places like around the roof of the cottage this is really effective but in other places like the door it doesn’t look as nice. Three of the four trees also have creases at the top of the trunks which means you have to be careful. OK, I was curious to know if it was the Gemini so decided to run a couple of the dies through my Spellbinders Sapphire to compare:
Well, the results are more or less identical which I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, I’m glad to know my powerful Gemini is not over pressing things, on the other hand, it would have been nice to have a cleaner cut from the die. Anyhow, let’s crack on and see what I can do with these dies.
Playing with Ink
The first things I did was to play with some Black Soot Distress Ink, this style of crafting is one of my least practised. I have made a card before which I was happy with the results of at the time, you may remember I shared it last Christmas Time. But considering all the silhouette stamps I have it is rare I use them because I am not very confident with inky backgrounds, I am more likely to use a digital one. As you can see above I distress inked one and then did the second one with residual ink on the back to create a mirror image which I think is really effective. Although at first, I was a little stuck with how to develop this into a card, once I had a look through my stencil draw I became inspired. So this is what I did:
Creating the Card
I began with a 7″ x 7″ Card Blank (Cardcraft UK) and cut a piece of Linda’s card to 16.5 cm x 16.5 cm. From the Hunkydory For the Love of Masks Range, I chose the Christmas Cuties and taped this down on the inner edges to the piece of cardstock with my Purple Low Tack Tape (also from Hunkydory). Using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and an Applicator Tool I went all around the edges of the stencil to the edge of the cardstock to create a frame. On top of this in the lower left corner, I taped on the ST Hanging Lantern Stencil from Imagination Crafts (one of my Crafting Live Doncaster purchases) and went over just the bottom element with Japanese Jade Alchemy Wax followed by Diamond Sparkle Medium. I am not going to lie this was a painful process, partly I think because I have hardly ever used stencils with mediums other than the Distress Ink so with all the concentration I was very tense. When I am more experienced and less tense hopefully it will be a less crampy job for my fingers! Once I had whipped the stencil off and left it to dry (The Sparkle Medium says half an hour for cardstock but I left if over an hour as I broke for lunch after all that tension). I attached the cardstock to the front of the card blank with Collall All Purpose Glue. I decided I wanted a little bit of dimension with the focal image so I used my Tonic Flower Forming Tool Set to add a little bit of shape to the back of the image and then fastened it with Collall Coll Kit 3D Decoupage Gel. For the sentiment, I used my Hunkydory For the Love of Stamps Christmas Insert Collection and created a topper on another piece of cardstock. Finally, I cut out the topper with my trusty ScanNCut and fastened it down in a nice jaunty angle with some Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue. I prefer this to Collall for smaller elements although I have ordered some Hunkydory Sticky Mitts Precision Craft Glue so I look forward to seeing what this is like. Here is the completed card:
The Verdict on the Scenic Winter Stamps
Well, making this card has encouraged me to do more inky projects. Miraculously I managed to keep my hands fairly clean which is one of the reasons I often shy away from this crafting style. Sheena Douglass, I salute you for your love of messy crafts and happiness to have messy hands! I am pretty happy with the completed card and hope you like what I have done with it too. With regard to the whole purpose of this series of blog posts though, my big organisation and decluttering project. How do these dies measure up? I think although the dies are a really good quality I would prefer to work with stamps to do similar projects to this and if I wanted to do more of a paper cutting project I would be more likely to use my ScanNCut then I could create the cuts at exactly the sizes I wanted to. So I have decided not to keep them. I would love to see what you have created with yours if you have them though!
Until next time,
Gentle Hugs,
Susan
By
