Tag: inkyandstampy

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Awesome Reindeer Gift Tag

You can find more of my Christmas Gift Tags from over the years by checking out #inkyandstampytags on Instagram, or my dedicated Pinterest board

Warning! Contents of this blog may be awesome! I loved the sentiment included in the Taylored Expressions Spoiler Alert stamp set, and knew I needed to create a tag with it.

I started by colouring and cutting out a bunch of Gerda Steiner’s mischievous reindeer on Copic X-Press it cardstock. He will sit towards the top of my tag.

Copics used: E59, E57, E55, E34, E31, R27

I used the Gina K Designs Delicate snowflake background stamp, white heat embossed and splashed with Ken Oliver Ultramarine Blue ColorBurst powder. I love the vivid, bright blue result this gives.

I’ve made other tags using this same background stamp and colour combo before, and I’ll share them below.

It is much easier to die cut all the tags first, then stamp, heat emboss and paint them, rather than trying to get as many gift tags cut from one 6″ square piece of cardstock. Mass production means you can actually stamp two tags at a time, which doesn’t take long at all.

I stamped and gold heat embossed the sentiment a bunch of times on vellum. Because I was making quite a few tags at one time, it was easier to simply stamp and heat emboss them all at once.

I simply trimmed the sentiment strips with my trimmer and the two ends are folded around to the back of the tag and secured with strong double sided adhesive tape. Any excess is carefully trimmed off. I didn’t add any extra backing to my tag, you may wish to in order to hide the vellum more completely.

The cute reindeer is trimmed down to fit, plus I cut around his arm so it hangs down over the vellum sentiment a little.

I added red glitter stickles to his nose for added shine and sparkle.

Gift Tags made in previous years using the Gerda Steiner Peeking Friends stamp set, and also the Gina K Designs Delicate Snowflakes in the background of the Snowman & Joy Tags.

This completes my awesome gift tag today. Thank you for stopping by! Below are links to the products I have used – some are affiliate links (not all) which simply means I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you when shopping. Thank you for your support – it means I can keep creating and sharing with you.

https://linkdeli.com/widget.js?id=f5e8378456858c916708

For more in-depth information about the best value supplies for your craft table, from cardstock to the handiest tools, check out my Best of the Basics series.

You can find more of my Christmas Gift Tags from over the years by checking out #inkyandstampytags on Instagram, or my dedicated Pinterest board

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Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day! Here in New Zealand, we are still in Level 3 Lockdown – meaning we can’t travel out of our region, retail shops are not open although online retailers are shipping. So today’s plan is to have cake with both mine and my husband’s mother via a Zoom meeting. Sounds fun right? Three cakes were ordered, but only one has made it to its destination so far – the couriers in New Zealand say their current workload is like Christmas on steroids!!

Anyway, back to the card my mother received in the post (sent in plenty of time for arrival prior to today!).

Close up of the rainbow sunflower – can you see the shine?
Adding colour to the die cut sunflower, this doesn’t need to be tidily done as it will be hidden by the layers.

I was inspired by Laura Bassen @laurafadora and her card made with the sunflower stem from Simon Says Stamp. I loved the rainbow idea and bought this die solely to create my own.

I cut the sunflower five times, and left the petals intact in one of them so I could colour my rainbow for the bottom layer. I used copic markers, but you could use any medium you prefer.

Three die cuts, with the petals punched out were glued on top. I used my Art Glitter glue for this as I really like the super fine tip. If I had thought ahead, I could have applied stick it adhesive to my cardstock first to make the job of sticking the delicate die cuts together easier!

I also coloured the petals with my Nuvo Glimmer pen, and then added Nuvo Crystal Glaze for extra shine.

The final die cut sunflower was added to the top for a nice clean and crisp finish.

The background is the Simon Says Stamp Festive Berries stamp, heat embossed with Hero Arts Satin Pearl embossing powder.

The sunflower panel is raised with craft foam. I used the MFT stitched rectangles on both the card front and sunflower panel to get a nice stitched border.

I added the sunflower to the front and found a suitable Happy Mother’s Day sentiment in Mama Elephant’s Mini Messages. I heat embossed in white on Hero Arts Pitch Black cardstock and carefully cut the ends to create the little banner.

If you have any questions regarding the putting together of this card, please feel free to message me – I’m only too happy to help!

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A Cheeky Birthday Wine

It’s a good friend’s birthday (Happy Birthday Jo!), and I am celebrating her with a cheeky wine – both in my glass, and on this card!

I was inspired by a cute layout from Marieke Slaats featuring a wine glass shaker, and wanted to create something along similar lines.

Supplies: (please note some affiliate links used whereby I may earn a small commission when you shop at no extra cost to you).

I white heat embossed the background stamp – this is just a small stamp, which doesn’t actually cover the entire card front, but perfect for a party backdrop. For information and instructions on how to Heat Emboss, click here.

I then masked off the bottom fifth of the card front using Post-It notes, and inked above them using Distress Inks and a Tim Holtz mini inking tool with foam, covering the heat embossing we’ve done in the previous step with ink. I used the Vintage Photo at the bottom, Wild Honey in the middle and Fossilized Amber towards the top, going dark to light. Buff the embossed image with a rag or cloth to remove excess ink from the confetti, this makes the embossing look nice and crisp.

The wine glass die set makes it very easy to create a quick shaker with the matching pouches. My Favorite Things have a great variety of pouch shapes to suit various dies they have in their collection.

You can see the confetti sitting in the pouch

I cut the wine glass twice, and heat embossed one of them a couple of times using Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. I glued them together, and glued the shaped pouch in the middle.

I placed a little pile of confetti carefully on the card in the area I wanted to place my glass, and carefully glued the glass down with liquid adhesive – the confetti can now be shaken about in the pouch.

For shaker cards and windows, you can use tiny punched shapes, glitter, beads, buttons, sequins or microbeads in the shaker pouch – whatever you happen to have on hand.

A close up of the little fox and the birthday sentiment.

I stamped with Gina K ink, coloured and cut the cute critters from the Stacey Yacula Sending Sweet Celebrations stamp set – the fox carrying a gift, the cake and the banner, which I cut down to fit the top corner of the card. I popped them on the front of the card and used foam tape for dimension.

I was flicking through my sentiments, and stumbled across the Taylored Expressions Big Grump – he has some brilliantly snarky sentiments, and this one fits perfectly with the theme of the card.

I stamped the sentiment along the bottom uninked area with Versafine Black Onyx ink. This is a pigment ink, and I like to use clear embossing powder to set it. Once the embossing powder is heated and melted, it gives a glossy black printed finish to the sentiment. I have had much better success using this ink and clear embossing powder technique than with black embossing powder directly – I always manage to get dots of black embossing powder everywhere which is disappointing at this stage of the card making process!

Now for the shiny finishing parts!

Nuvo Crystal Glaze
Shimmer Spray – available in Gold, Silver, Sparkle and Shimmer
Radiant Amplify – a liquid that fluffs and puffs when heated with a heat gun

I added sparkle to the card using Tsukineko shimmer spray, and shine to the cake and banner with Nuvo Crystal Glaze.

The party hat has a little fuzzy pom pom on top created with Tsukineko Radiant Neon Amplify – you put the liquid where you want it, and use your heat gun to make it fluff right up – such a FUN little detail, and perfect for pom poms, clouds, fluffy hats and scarves, bunny tails, beer foam, I could go on……

I like to use a piece of white kids craft foam between my card base and card front, for flat, smooth and even dimension. It’s far cheaper and more effective than screeds of foam tape! I buy mine from Lincraft online, and I have sometimes found it at Emporium type shops too.

That completes the card! Thank you for reading this far – I’d love to know if you give this a go too.

If you have any questions regarding the putting together of this card, please feel free to message me – I’m only too happy to help!

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The Best of the Basics – COLOUR

Sometimes, all you need is a little splash of colour!

It’s taken weeks! This is quite a large subject, and if you are unsure of where to start, it can be rather overwhelming. There is so much to cover when it comes to adding colour to projects and I have created a COLOUR page in my The Best of the Basics Series. This is an overview of the different inks, markers and tools available to Kiwi crafters. Where I can, I have included links to where you can find these products to purchase, and also find colouring classes and tutorials online for more in-depth information.

There are many different ways to add colour to your projects and I have listed many of the ways I like to use colour in my craft room – there are still many more techniques for me to explore!

Copic Markers
Distress Inks
ColorBurst watercolour powders

There are new products being introduced all the time. Distress Inks have been around for a number of years, and over the past 24 months, Tim has released his Distress Oxide range. I love both ink lines and use them in just about every project I tackle. I have just started collecting the Oxide sprays and intend to try them out in an upcoming session of background creations.

Nuvo Shimmer Powders are new this year too, and complement the Ken Oliver ColorBursts brilliantly. I can’t help myself when it comes to shimmery, glittery things and they were an immediate addition to my craft room. Many cards I made this year featured these powders – I imagine there will be many more!

There is just one more subject I want to include in my Best of the Basics Series – that is Handy Tools. So keep an eye out – I have tried many ‘handy’ tools in my craft room over the years, and I intend to share with you what I have found to be worth the $$.

Merry Christmas to you, and thank you for your visit! Have a safe and happy holiday break.