Last Friday was my much-anticipated Best Birds workshop, in which we played with the brand new Best Birds bundle and the Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper stack.
This was the main project, designed by my friend Kelly for the occasion, although this particular one was recreated by me so that we could have two samples on the go, one for each crafty table.
It’s a time-consuming project, but not particularly difficult. It helps that the mini birdhouses (from Poundland, I’ll let you guess the price) are already Mint Macaron, although they were also available in grey.
What wasn’t great was having to do all that die-cutting! Six twigs per birdhouse, plus others for other projects was quite time-consuming; in the end I did them so that people could get on with their projects.
Top tip 1: Photopolymer stamps are extremely flexible, which can be an advantage as it gives you options to play with the images. However, when you are die-cutting the image, it’s important to place the stamp on the block in the correct manner, or the die won’t fit around it neatly. We overcame this by laying the stamp on top of the die, then pressing the block onto it.
Top tip 2: There is a die for the little flower but, when you’re cutting nine for one project, plus extras for additional projects, it’s actually quicker to fussy-cut them!
Top tip 3: To get the circle die-cut out of the front piece of cardstock in exactly the right place, we held the piece over the birdhouse, stamped side down, and rubbed firmly around the edge of the hole, rather like brass-rubbing. This gave a faint impression of the circle, which could then be outlined with a pencil to provide a guide for die placement.
Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com
Last Friday was my much-anticipated Best Birds workshop, in which we played with the brand new Best Birds bundle and the Serene Scenery Designer Series Paper stack.
This was the main project, designed by my friend Kelly for the occasion, although this particular one was recreated by me so that we could have two samples on the go, one for each crafty table.
It’s a time-consuming project, but not particularly difficult. It helps that the mini birdhouses (from Poundland, I’ll let you guess the price) are already Mint Macaron, although they were also available in grey.
What wasn’t great was having to do all that die-cutting! Six twigs per birdhouse, plus others for other projects was quite time-consuming; in the end I did them so that people could get on with their projects.
Top tip 1: Photopolymer stamps are extremely flexible, which can be an advantage as it gives you options to play with the images. However, when you are die-cutting the image, it’s important to place the stamp on the block in the correct manner, or the die won’t fit around it neatly. We overcame this by laying the stamp on top of the die, then pressing the block onto it.
Top tip 2: There is a die for the little flower but, when you’re cutting nine for one project, plus extras for additional projects, it’s actually quicker to fussy-cut them!
Top tip 3: To get the circle die-cut out of the front piece of cardstock in exactly the right place, we held the piece over the birdhouse, stamped side down, and rubbed firmly around the edge of the hole, rather like brass-rubbing. This gave a faint impression of the circle, which could then be outlined with a pencil to provide a guide for die placement.
Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com
Wow! So cool! What a fabulous bird house!
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