Big Shot Letterpress Plates How-To Video

I don't have a new project to share with you today, but I thought you would enjoy a Stampin' Up! How-To video. I haven't posted one of these for awhile. This one features Stampin' Up!'s wonderful new Letterpress Plates that are featured in the Holiday Mini on p. 42.

It's My Favorite Reindeer - Dasher!

I love the look of this Dasher stamp (p. 20). I just love his antlers, don't you? I stamped the snowflakes from the Level One Hostess set, Northern Hearts (p. 4 in the Holiday Mini), onto the Cherry Cobbler card using VersaMark ink. I ran the Always Artichoke card stock through the Big Shot using the Petals-A-Plenty Impressions Folder (p. 214). I then attached a strip of Early Espresso satin ribbon (p. 191) across the top. Then, I attached it to the bottom of the card.

I made the strip on the tag by punching the bottom edge of the Always Artichoke piece with the Scallop Trim Border punch (p. 200). I then added the Cherry Cobbler strip and then the Victoria Crochet Trim (p. 190). I attached it to the bottom part of a piece of Very Vanilla card stock. I threaded a piece of Linen Thread (p. 190) into the Deck the Halls Big Designer Button (p. 17 in the Mini), and tied it in a knot. The button is attached to the strip with 2 Mini Glue Dots.

I inked Dasher with an Early Espresso ink pad and then removed the ink from the parts of the antlers that I wanted red using a Blender Pen. Once I got the ink off, I inked these parts with a Cherry Cobbler marker. Then, I stamped him above the card stock strip.

The "Merry Christmas" from the Christmas Greetings set (p. 44) is one long stamp. I wanted the Merry to be above Christmas, so I inked "Christmas" with the Cherry Cobbler marker and stamped it on a scrap of Very Vanilla. I cleaned the stamp, inked "Merry" with the marker and stamped it above "Christmas" using the Stamp-a-ma-jig (p. 198). I then punched it out with the 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval L Punch (p. 202), layered onto an Always Artichoke oval punched out with the Scallop Oval XL punch (p. 200).

Have you ever tried to make a tag from a piece of card stock without a punch? It's so hard to get both corners even, isn't it? Here's a trick I learned a long time ago. The picture above shows you what I did. I first cut the top, left corner off. I then took the cut-off triangle, flipped it over, attached it to the top, right corner, and cut it off. I colored the edges of the triangle just so you could see it better in the picture.

I wanted to have a layer under the tag, and thought I'd see if doing the same thing to the corners would work. It did. The Early Espresso piece is an 1/8" larger both ways (width and height) I then attached the same cut-off triangle from the vanilla tag and attached it to each corner of the Early Espresso piece. You can see how in the above and bottom picture. Super easy!

I then attached the tag to the card, slanting it a bit. I added the Antique Brad (p. 187) after putting the tag on the card. I attached the oval greeting on with two Stampin' Dimensionals.

Stamps: Dasher, Christmas Greetings, & Northern Hearts (Level One Hostess set in Mini)

Ink: Early Espresso and Cherry Cobbler Classic ink pads; Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Write Marker; VersaMark ink pad

Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, & Very Vanilla card stock

Accessories: Blender Pen, Deck the Halls Big Designer Buttons (Mini), Linen Thread, Scallop Trim Border Punch, 1-3/4" x 7/8" Oval L Punch, Scallop Oval XL Punch, Antique Brads, Big Shot Die-Cut Machine, Petals-A-Plenty Impressions Folder, Early Espresso 5/8" Satin Ribbon, Victoria Crochet Trim, Stampin' Dimensionals, & Mini Glue Dots.

I Finally Got to Stamp!

Here is the card I told you about yesterday. I've been wanting to use the stamp, Christmas Postcard (p. 41 in the Holiday Mini), ever since I got it, but just haven't had the time. It's such a beautiful Christmas stamp. The background of my card is a corner of one of the sheets of paper in the Deck the Halls DSP (p. 41) in the Holiday Mini. I then layered it onto Cherry Cobbler card stock. I put a 3" piece of Cherry Cobbler ribbon on the bottom right corner, and attached the ends to the back of the Cherry Cobbler CS/DSP layer. I then took a 12" piece of the same ribbon and tied it onto the small strip of ribbon, tying it into a bow. It's hard to tie a piece of ribbon around a corner with just one piece of ribbon, and doing it in two strips like this is a lot easier. It also takes less ribbon. After the bow is on, I attached the whole piece to the Soft Suede card.

I stamped the Christmas Postcard stamp with Jet Black Stazon ink and water colored the images (except for the letters) with Classic ink pads and an aqua painter. I got the gold shimmer on the letters by painting them with Gold Lame Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink (p. 195). I really like the effect. It really brings out the vintage-look of the stamp. I also sponged Soft Suede ink around the stamped image to go along with the vintage-look. I then layered this piece with Early Espresso card stock and then onto Cherry Cobbler card stock. I then tilted the image, and attached it to the center of the card with Stampin' Dimensionals. I really like this card a lot. I like it so much that I might put it on a shelf in my living room as a Christmas decoration instead of using it as a card.

The picture on the right is a close-up of the shiny letters. You can click on the picture to see a larger image.

Stamps: Christmas Postcard (mini)

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede, River Rock, More Mustard, & Blushing Bride Classic ink pad; Jet Black Stazon ink pad

Paper: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, & Confetti White card stock; Deck the Halls DSP (mini)

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler 1/2" Seam Binding (mini), Aqua Painter, Gold Lame Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink; Stamping Sponges, & Stampin' Dimensionals.