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!®

Vintage elegance

I’m running so behind with blog projects! I have loads made but not photographed yet, or photographed and not written up. So, in an attempt to catch up, here’s one of the projects we made at the Vintage Vogue class.

It’s a blatant CASE (Copy And Share Everything) of a much more beautiful card made by Stampin’ Up!® Demonstrator Joanne. She’s a big fan of flowers, as you’ll see if you visit her blog! Her card was a little too complicated for a class where we were making three projects, though, so I simplified it a little.

First we stamped the two flowers from Vintage Vogue on Very Vanilla cardstock, using Soft Suede ink and the combined techniques of stamping off and rocking and rolling. Sounds complicated? Not really, it just means we inked the stamps in Soft Suede and then stamped them on scrap paper to remove some of the ink before rolling just the edges of the stamp back on the ink pad to make the edges darker.

After cutting them out, we then applied Frost White shimmer paint onto the flowers using a sponge dauber. Frost White is translucent, so the Suede still shows through but the flower now has a lovely, shimmery effect.

We punched a hole in the centre of the flowers using the large hole punch on the Crop-A-Dile™  - you need a pretty big hole when using these gorgeous rhinestone brads because of their shape.

Stamps: Vintage Vogue

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede

Ink: Soft Suede

Accessories: Frost White shimmer paint, clear rhinestone brads, sponge dauber, Soft Suede polka dot ribbon

All products by Stampin' Up!®

Cottage Wall Mini Album

Here’s a really fun and easy-to-make mini album, which starts with a single sheet of 12x12. I’ve used the rather fabulous Cottage Wall papers, which are only available while stocks last – they won’t be in the new catalogue in October because they feature Orchid Opulence, which is one of the retiring colours.

For the flowers on the front and back, I used the Rock and Roll technique, which is very simple. You ink your stamp and then, using a darker ink pad, roll the edges of the rubber stamp on the ink pad. It is described in your techniques booklet, and also here on the Stampin' Up!® website. 

I’ve also used Rich Razzleberry cardstock, which – and I cannot stress this enough – is gorgeous. In fact, there are lots of lovely new products featured here but you can see that from the recipe at the bottom of this post. Meanwhile, here is how to make this rather exciting album.

1. Take a sheet of 12x12 cardstock and score vertically, down the centre, at 6”.
2. Score horizontally at 4” intervals, ie at 4” and 8” from the top.
3. You will now have six panels. With the sheet laid out so that the six panels are landscape, cut along the top right scoreline, to the centre. Repeat with the bottom left scoreline.
4. Now to fold the album: take the bottom left panel and fold it over to the right.
5. The bottom panel is now double-thickness. Fold this up.
6. The bottom right panel is now triple-thickness. Fold this over to the left.
7. Fold this quadruple thickness panel up.
8. Now close.

It really is much, much easier to do than to read about it, so take a sheet of 12x12 and have a go! You could also make a smaller one from A4 – just score down the middle as before, and make your horizontal scorelines/cuts at thirds.

Tip: Before you start decorating your album, number the pages and mark which way is up with a pencil. This will make life a lot easier.

I've put arrows on the pictures to show you how to open the album – basically the same process but in reverse. The faces have been blurred to protect the innocent (and the not so innocent!). They are just some very informal shots from the wedding – how fortuitous that the men and boys were wearing Orchid Opulence ties!

Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Tiny Tags, Totally Tabs

Cardstock: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White

Paper: Cottage Wall

Ink: Old Olive, Orchid Opulence, Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: Eyelet Border Punch, Word Window Punch, Round Tab Punch, Silver brad, Polka Dot ribbon – Rich Razzleberry

All products by Stampin' Up!®

Let's rock and roll!

Another project from the One of a Kind class, this time a card using the Rock and Roll technique.

For this you need two co-ordinating ink pads and a solid image stamp. First ink your stamp using the lighter ink pad – in this case, More Mustard. Then “roll” your stamp around its edges on the darker ink pad (Chocolate Chip used here). Then stamp it on your project for a two-tone image.

Stamps: One of a Kind
Cardstock: More Mustard, Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Ink: More Mustard, Taken with Teal, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Scallop Edge punch, ½” circle punch, twill tape, paper piercer, mat pack

All products by Stampin' Up! ®