3D Shaping with a Snowflake set

Hello! It's Keren back just for a visit, just filling in for Jill.

 I was digging through some of my sets and found this Hero Arts stamp set which is actually titled as 'Snowflake Pattern Bold Print'

It's a pretty cool snowflake pattern, but seems so completely versatile for all year round, that I thought I'd try and create something just a little bit more dimensional with it.First of all, stamp it and colour in. I've just used alcohol markers. Then trim out each hexagon and score straight down each point so you get the shape divided into 3. Fold and then trim up one of the lines stopping at the centre.

Then simply overlap one of the triangles and glue well and you end up with dimensional pentagon. These patterns now take on an almost Art Nouveau-stained glass-Tiffany lamp vibe ;-)

I just added a little wet glue along each bottom edge and held the shape in place for a minute until I knew it had adhered.

They take on an almost Limpet quality and are perfect for a contemporary card. Add some more masculine colours (or even leave it black, white and grey) and it'll so double duty as a 'man card'.

The sentiment is from another of my current favourite sets 'Just Because' by Concord and 9th

I hope you'll try giving your flat stamps a dimensional make-over. I'm certainly looking at them all with new eyes. And before you ask, yes, this will be a challenge to get into an envelope; I'm thinking shallow decorated box! ;-)

Thanks for having me and I'll be joining you again in a few weeks

Keren xx

Buildable 3D Bouquets

Hey! How are you?

I've had this set for a little while and never really felt I've done it justice. It's called Build-able Bouquet but I've never made a bouquet with it- just some random flower stem arrangements. I was trying to decide what to create and thought I'd try and fashion a see through 'vase' kinda thing using the set plus some nested dies.

The see-through element gives the impression of a vase. I guess if I'd had more time I could have added some blue coloured vellum to show the 'water'.

You might be wondering how it's constructed.

First up, make a folded card blank and then die-cut one of these Inside & Out Stitched Rounded Rectangle dies onto it, allowing the fold of the card blank to stick up slightly above the shape, so you still have a folded card

 Next I die cut a smaller stitched rectangle into the centre of the folded blank and then backed it with acetate. Next up create a slit into the centre fold

This is how you're going to slot the flower stems into the card which then gives the stability without having to put an acetate structure behind the back of the blank.

Simply slot the taller stems in, and pretend you're actually flower arranging! Ha!

Once I was happy with the largest 6 stems, I added some PVA type glue onto the front of the stems (only a tiny amount) and then pressed the acetate front onto them. Granted, you'll get a tiny bit of glue spreading, but if you've been sparing with the glue, you should be fine, and you can hide any splodges with the extra flowers.

I did use the matching dies for the stamp set, which when using so many flowers and stems saved me a heap of time with fussy cutting!

I coloured most of the blooms using the Zig Clean color markers. The secret with blending these pens is to add water to your cardstock first and then its easy to pull out colour from the 'scribble' you make with them if you're using a water brush.

You can see the 'vase' effect and the places I've 'hidden' the glue! Always leave room to cover your mistakes ;-)

It's slim enough to fit into a DL envelope, which is something I get asked about a lot with these non-standard projects!

See you next week xx

Jewelled Flowers

Hi! Julia kindly swapped with me- so I'm afraid you've got me today!

I thought I'd have a go at creating something really rather dimensional- a flower vase of a different sort!

The card started out as the gorgeous 3D diamond shape from Waffleflower

Now this does need a little fiddling with- best advice- use some lightweight card and check out this video that helps with assembling. Don't do as I did and use a 250gsm weight card for my first attempt- you'll not love the process!

It is however absolutely gorgeous once assembled- and once you've done it once (ha!), you'll find the next one much simpler. It's like any new skill- you need a little practice to begin with!

You can see the dimension on this photo- if you die-cut two out and stick them together, you'll have a complete jewel and they'd be so cool hung off a tree at Christmas or a trendy gift tag for a present.

 To make the whole card, I used another Waffleflower set; Loved 

Just cut out the flowers after you've stamped with ink and then added detailing with Prismacolors and a gel pen.

Yes, I know. That's not going to fit a standard envelope anytime soon. If you're sending a gift through the post, then this could fit in easily and indeed, no problems if you're hand delivering it. Isn't going the extra mile sometimes what is required?!!

 Well, I hope the lovely blooms have inspired to you to go and stamp some of your own. Enjoy your weekend and see you on Tuesday as normal (or maybe not normal, as the case with me usually is ;-) )

Keren xx