Towering Blooms

Hello, crafty friend! Today I’m popping in to share with you this little card created using new stamps and dies designed by the amazing Becca Bonneville for Catherine Pooler Designs. Let’s get started…

Step 1: Create a Jig

I wanted to make loads of different colored trees, birds, mushrooms, and flowers to work with, so I created a jig template. Leaving all of the dies intact will help me die cut and stamp much faster for bulk projects. So, for this set of dies, I only snipped out the two small flower dies which were nested inside one of the trees. I then ran each through my machine to create the templates.

Step 2: Pick a Palette

Since this stamp set has a playful folk storybook feel to me, I used this beautiful Rifle Paper embroidered journal as inspiration for a color palette.

Step 3: Line It Up

Next, I placed the jig into my stamping platform and began placing the stamps into the slots. Once they were lined up, I closed the door to pick them up. I gave them a quick test onto scratch paper to double check the placement and make any adjustments. Now all the images will stamp in the same perfect spot each time.

Step 4: Get to Stamping

If you don’t have a tacky mat for your stamping platform, you might consider using a low tack tape across the back of your jig like I did to keep pieces from gusting away as I closed and opened the door quickly.

After die cutting loads of blanks, I was then ready to stamp away placing each piece in like a puzzle and stamping over and over until I had a whole pile ready to play with.

Step 5: Create a Card Base

For the card base, I used a 2.5″x4.5″ top folded mini notecard so it would fit into a coin/seed envelope. The mat layer is trimmed to 2.25″x4.25″. I ran it through my sewing machine to create a decorative border then attached it to the card base with foam tape. (Note: I would have inked the card base at this point had I thought of it at the time. You’ll see later how I ended up adding it, but it would have been much easier to do at this point.)

Step 6: Putting it Together

The flowers were each attached with skinny strips of foam adhesive then the entire card was splattered with white and iridescent inks before adding the sentiment strip on top.

Step 7: Background Backtracking

Once the card was finished I went on to create a couple other cards and tags. After seeing the collection all together I felt this one needed a bit more color, so I taped off the mat layer and used a foam blending tool to press ink around the outside border. It looks a bit splotchy here, but it did settle out smoothly as most ink blending tends to do.

Well, there you have it! That’s the first card finished. What do you think? Have you ever made something and later went back to try to “fix” it? How did it work out?

If you’d like to see more projects, please visit my Gallery. You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube as well. Until next time… stay crafty!

– Laura Evangeline

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