More fun with the Top Note Die

Top Note Die idea no. 5. I don’t know if I dare admit how many ideas I’m aiming for... no, I’ll keep quiet until I know I can reach my target!

This is simply a background panel for a card... although if you look carefully you’ll see it’s so much more than that because the raised flowers are paler than the background. I borrowed this idea from Monica, another UK demonstrator; here’s how you do it:

1. First create a Top Note from cardstock of your choice – choose one that you have the ink pad to match. I used Sahara Sand.

2. Take your Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, the matching ink pad and a brayer. Sorry folks, you’ll have to dust off the brayer for this one! Now brayer all over one side of the inside of the embossing folder – make sure it’s the side with the flowers indented, not raised.

3. Sandwich your Top Note in the folder and run through the Big Shot. The result should be raised flowers which are unlinked, with a darker background. Experiment with different colours to see what other effects you can create.

Now you’ll notice that I’ve slipped in the Strength & Hope stamp set which I have just taken delivery of and am having fun playing with. It’s not proved very popular with my customers but it’s very pretty, really, and it’s for sale for a very good cause. My Strength & Hope fundraiser is being rescheduled, but in light of the reaction to the stamp set, I will be offering an alternative. However, maybe you will all be won over by then!

I inked the butterfly using the rocking and rolling technique. This means I inked it with Baja Breeze ink and then rolled the stamp around the edges on the Soft Suede ink pad to ink up the edges. I also inked just the antennae of the butterfly in Soft Suede and stamped it directly onto the Top Note, then stuck the cut-out butterfly on top. I used SNAIL in the centre of the butterfly so that it was flat to the card and Dimensionals under each wing to raise them up.

Stamps: Something to Celebrate (hostess)

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla

Paper: Elegant Soiree

Ink: Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand

Accessories: Top Note Die, Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, Modern Label Punch, Word Window Punch, Basic Pearls, Seam Binding Ribbon – Crumb Cake

All products by Stampin’ Up!®