If you are ready to kick winter out the door and bring in some warmer weather...then this is the best Artisan blog hop EVER! We have lots of projects to ignite your spring fever. How do I know? Well, today we are sharing the projects which were featured last Friday on the Stampin' Up! Facebook page. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE flowers, so I think this month's box is over-the-top incredible. My project is a remake of the banner from the Celebration Basics Kit (#133007). This kit has great "bones". In other words, it is just perfect the way it is, but with a little imagination and some additional products it can be customized to fit your personal needs. So let's get started and I will give you more details on how I made this banner.
The kit includes the letters to make a "C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-I-O-N" banner. That is great, but I wondered what other words I could come up with. I settled on the word "CREATE", but if you wanted a smaller banner you could make one that says "ART". If you have an electronic cutter, the word possibilities are endless, but I decided to stick with the letters in the kit. I wanted the white letters to stand out against the white doilies so I covered them in gold glitter. After they completely dried, I sprayed them with hairspray to help prevent the glitter from flaking off. Aerosol hairspray seems to work best but don't waste your expensive hairspray...in this case the cheap stuff is just fine. Using glitter is a little messy, so if you prefer, you could always trace the letters onto the back of some gold glimmer paper and then cut them out by hand.
Now let's take a look at the banner pieces themselves. I really didn't want the pre-printed line around the edge so I turned it over and stamped on the back.
Step 1: Use the Hardwood stamp and Crumb Cake ink to create the background. (Stamp the bottom portion first, mask it off and stamp the top portion.) Give it time to dry completely and then use an Embossing Buddy over it. Stamp the flowers from So Very Grateful in VersaMark ink and heat emboss them with Early Espresso embossing powder. Then use a small paint brush and some household bleach to carefully lighten the inside of each stamped bouquet. Once everything dries, then move on to the next step.
Step 2: Outline each flower bouquet with a Crumb Cake Stampin' Write Marker. You will discover that coloring on the kraft banner pieces with the markers is much easier than regular card stock.
Step 3: Color the leaves with a Pistachio Pudding Stampin' Write Marker. Go over portions of the leaves again with the same marker to add some shading.
Step 4: Color the smaller flowers with a Crisp Cantaloupe marker and then add some shading to the flower centers with a Calypso Coral marker. (The trick here is to work on one section at a time.)
Step 5: Finally, color the largest flower with a Calpyso Coral Stampin' Write Marker and then add some shading with a Tangerine Tango marker. I also sponged Early Espresso ink around all the edges.
Here's a closer look at one of the finished pieces.
Next, I strung all the pieces together with the string from the kit and left about one inch between each section.
I bleached an entire spool of Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon with a mixture of bleach and hot water (1:1 ratio). It only took 5-10 minutes for it to turn bright white. Then I thoroughly rinsed it and toweled off most of the water. Then I crumpled it and let it dry. (You can accelerate the process with a hairdryer if necessary, just be sure to "scrunch" it as you go to give it a shabby look.) I cut various widths of paper ribbons using the dsp from the coordinating Calypso Coral Celebration Add-on Kit. (The gold pieces were 3/4" wide and then other two pieces are 1" and 1-1/4".) I stapled the paper ribbons together and clipped them to the string with a mini clothes pin. I added extra stability by using a hot glue gun. Next I added some the bows made with the bleached ribbon and linen thread and attached them with hot glue. I added buttons to the center of each bow but then I ended up covering them with stamped flowers from Petite Petals and Secret Garden. Here is a closer look.
I used larger flowers on the ends.
Here is one more look at the finished piece.
I hope you have enjoyed today's project. Now be sure to hop on over to see what Erica Cerwin and the rest of the design team have created.
Here is a list of supplies for this project.
Stamps
133050 (wood-mount) or 133053 (clear-mount): So Very Grateful Stamp Set
133152 (wood-mount) or 133155 (clear-mount): Petite Petals Stamp Set
133032 (wood-mount) or 133035 (clear-mount): Hardwood Background Stamp
131940 (wood-mount) or 129144 (clear-mount): Secret Garden Stamp Set
Ink
126983: Calypso Coral Classic Stampin’ Pad
126975: Crumb Cake Classic Stampin’ Pad
126974: Early Espresso Cake Classic Stampin’ Pad
131180: Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin’ Pad
102283: VersaMark Pad
120967: Crumb Cake Stampin’ Write Marker
131259: Brights Collection Stampin’ Write Markers (Tangerine Tango)
131263: Subtles Collection Stampin’ Write Markers (Calypso Coral)
131260: 2013-2015 In Colors Stampin’ Write Markers (Pistacho Pudding and Crisp Cantaloupe)
Paper
101650: Whisper White Cardstock
Accessories & Tools
130031: Neutrals Designer Buttons
133007: Celebration Basics Kit
133431: Calypso Coral Celebration Basics Add-On Kit
128980: Early Espresso Stampin’ Emboss Powder
132205: Gold & Silver Stampin’ Glitter
129399: Tea Lace Paper Doilies
119247: Pearls Basic Jewels
120999: Very Vanilla 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon
104199: Linen Thread
133320: Mini Metallic Clothespins
103083: Embossing Buddy
129053: Heat Tool
104430: Stampin’ Dimensionals
103683: Glue Dots
110755: Multipurpose Liquid Glue
133322: Petite Petals Punch
113439: Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine
129372: Secret Garden Framelits Dies
Household bleach
Paint brush
Hot melt glue gun
