Hello there friends! It’s 1st December so that means that DieCember is upon us! As many of you will know, December is the month that Simon Says Stamp celebrates all things die related! And I have two projects to share with you today, using the beautiful Simple Stem die. You can also check out the whole release here.
First up, I thought I would go a bit glitzy. It’s been a while since I have used glimmer paste and I thought it would be lovely to have some sparkle behind the stem.
To start off, I took a Taylored Expressons Oval Masking Stencil and taped it down over a panel of Neenah 80lb cardstock using Frog Tape. From the top down, I blended Candied Apple, Abandoned Coral, Wild Honey and Dried Marigold Distress Inks down to the bottom. As I wanted quite a heavy saturation for the colour, I used a mini ink blending tool today. They tend to work a bit quicker than brushes if you want to get a lot of ink down onto your panel.
I temporarily removed the oval masking stencil to clean it and then taped it back down again before adding the SSS Waves Stencil over the top. I’ve had this stencil in my stash for AGES and not used it, but I thought it would work well and give some additional interest to the background. So, it was taped down and then I applied Tonic Nuvo Glimmer Paste Moonstone using a palette knife. I spread it from right to left rather than from the top down because I didn’t want any seeping of paste underneath. Usually for an intricate stencil I would add Pixie Spray to adhere it down, but this time I took a risk and didn’t! Fortunately it worked out.
I removed all the stencils and cleaned them and set the panel to dry overnight. You don’t need to leave it that long, but I had to go and make dinner! The following morning, I trimmed the panel down a little with a Hero Arts Rectangle Infinity die and adhered two of the Simple Stem die cuts using Multi Medium Matte. The sentiment is from Beautiful Flowers and was stamped using Versamark Ink onto SSS Black cardstock. I applied Hero Arts White Detail Embossing Powder and heat set. This was popped up with foam tape and a few Iridescent Jewels from Lucy’s Cards were added for embellishment. I popped some foam sheet behind the panel and added it to a top folding Neenah 110lb card base.
For my second card, I decided to go stripey. It’s been a while since I have used coloured cardstock stripes on a card but I thought it would work well behind the die.
For this card, I started off by cutting a bunch of blue and green strips of card from leftover cardstock – such a great way to use up random bits of card. Each strip is 1/4″ wide and so they should fit perfectly on a 5.5″ strip of paper. I then added DST to the strip of printer paper and started adding the blue and green strips. You’d think it would be easy wouldn’t you but TWICE this did not work well for me! You need to make sure you adhere the strips PERFECTLY straight against each other; any slightly off strip will become obvious to the eye. And getting the first strip down correctly is very important! If this is even a 16th of an inch off, your whole stripey panel will look wonky! You also need to work from top down, or bottom up. Do not work from the top and bottom at the same time and hope that when you get to the middle your 1/4″ cardstock strip will fit perfectly. It should in theory, but as some of the strips may be a teeny tiny tiny bit less than 1/4″, or more than 1/4″ you will end up with a tiny gap in the middle! A lesson learned.
Finally I got all my strips placed down perfectly and I trimmed the panel to 2 1/8th” wide. This was adhered flat onto a top folding card base using DST. I die cut the Simple Stem from Neenah 110lb and then adhered it onto the striped panel using Multi Medium Matte and making sure to leave some parts free of adhesive so that they could be lifted. The sentiment is from SSS Tiny Words and was stamped using Versamark Ink. I added white embossing powder and heat set before trimming it with a SSS Sentiment Label die. This was popped onto the card card with foam tape.
I added a few Ice Crystal sequins from Lucy’s Cards and that finished the card. I do love how it turned out in the end but it wasn’t as quick to make as I had hoped haha!
I hope you have got some inspiration from my two cards. Don’t forget to check out the whole release as I am sure it will be fabulous! Have a wonderful day and thank you as always for stopping by. Happy crafting!
Michelle Short says
WOW! These are stunning, Lisa! I would have never thought to use a waves stencil with a floral die cut but it works so well! That paste on top of the ink blending is stunning! Love how fresh the florals look on top in white. Your second card does not look easy at all! I have tried doing strips with cardstock before and you are right, even just a tiny bit off and it doesn’t look right, yours is perfect and I love the colours combination. So beautiful! xx