Hello, crafty friend! Today I am kicking off a mini series of project tutorials featuring a fun new set of stamps & dies called “Party Animals” designed by the sweet & talented Becca Bonneville for Catherine Pooler Designs. Let’s get started with the first one…
Step 1: Stamp & Cut
As usual with sets like these, I start by creating a jig template, so I can stamp & cut loads of images rapidly. Dies usually come fused together, and like most people, I used to snip them all apart. My preference these days is to leave as many as I can intact, so I can use the jig stamping method.
For this die set, only two dies were nested inside of others, so I snipped them out before running the fused die through my cutting machine with this piece of green cardstock. A piece of thin scrap paper was placed into my stamping platform followed by the jig. I couldn’t find my sticky grid mat, so I used a bit of tape to keep it in place.
Next, I placed each stamp into the die cut openings as centered as I could and closed the platform lid to pick it up. After all the stamps were secured to the lid, I used a light colored ink to stamp them all onto the scratch paper below. If any images weren’t quite centered, I adjusted and stamped again in a darker color. Once the stamps were all set where I liked them, my jig was ready to go!
At this point I was able to die cut a boat load in lots of colors, place the cut pieces into their slots like a puzzle, and stamp over and over getting perfect placement every time with little to no effort in just a couple minutes.
Step 2: Ink Blending
Next, I took an A2 (4.25″x5.5″) card base and ink blended with a rainbow of inks. (Colors are listed in supply list below.) Using a swirling circular motion, I overlapped each color until I made it all the way around the border. Before moving on, a bit of splatter was added with white pigment ink as well as a bit of sparkly ink to give a confetti effect.
Step 3: Mat Layer & Sentiment
I die cut a mat layer using the Scallops & Dots die set & stamped a sentiment in black from the Party Animals stamp set. I thought it needed a little extra something, so I took the two party hat images from the same stamp set and stamped them in a light grey around the border and flicked on a bit more splatter ensuring I avoided the sentiment as not to accidentally cause any bleeding.
Step 4: Finishing Touches
The mat layer was secured to the base with a panel of foam adhesive, and the flamingo was added with foam strips cut to size. Finally, bits of iridescent sequins were added to further enhance the party confetti look I was going for.
That’s it! What do you think of this one? This is a great card recipe to repeat with any of the images in this stamp set and any ink color combination. I hope you’ll give it a try, and let me know how it turns 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. Be sure to come back soon for the next one, or subscribe for automatic email updates. Until next time… stay crafty!
– Laura Evangeline
Project Supplies
