Stamp Club Lawrence: August 2013

 

There are these so-cute muslin bags in the SU! Holiday Mini catalog this year (and incidentally, they're very well made). I was delighted when my August stamp club hostess asked to do a project that entailed stamping on fabric! Since SU! no longer stocks craft ink, I needed to re-visit this technique. I made sure there were no wrinkles in the bag, then cut a piece of chipboard to slide inside in order to make sure no ink or paint transferred through to the back side. 

As you can see, the Summer Starfruit (one of the new "firm foam pads" introduced last year) worked very well. Those pads hold a LOT of ink!

I liked the way that the Gumball Green enabled me to do an overlapping effect. One of the things I love best about summer is gazing up through the canopy of green leaves and marveling at the subtle differences where they overlap, or dance gently in the breeze, or sparkle in the sunlight. But I wanted the Cherry Cobbler to "pop"! It worked fine on the small florets, but on the larger flowers it was too transparent to have the effect I was looking for, so I decided to try a recipe I had seen for acrylic paint and fabric medium. I messed with the color until I had a pretty good match, then added 1/3 fabric medium to 2/3 paint. It's quick and easy to put a thin coat of the paint onto your stamp with a sponge dauber. Just be sure to wash it off promptly before it dries in the little crevices! You can see the difference on the two larger flowers to the right of the design.

For the tag, I used the Chalk Talk set with coordinating framelit. I wanted to make the tag a bit more substantial and incorporate a natural element, so I used the cork band from a disposable hot cup that someone had conveniently left behind to make a backing. Did you know that you can cut more than 50 materials with your Big Shot?! The amazing Tombo Multi-Purpose glue worked just great to adhere these together.

Finally, I discovered that if I tied the bow right onto the cord of the bag, I could slide it up and down as I cinched the bag closed. How about that?! The tag comes with a nifty little c-shaped opening that's perfect for hanging behind a bow.

What would YOU put in this little bag if you were gifting someone with it?

Kathy