Gift Tags with Don't Forget to Write

I've been playing with my Don't Forget to Write Kit (only available now through pre-order through May 16, 7 am ET) and made a few more gift tags featuring the floral bouquet stamps from the kit.  For these, I stamped the actual bouquet rather than using a pre-printed one that came with the kit.  It's great to be able to customize the individual colors although it takes me a while to figure out the 7 different coordinating ink color for each individual layer.

Before I go on to that, I wanted to talk a little bit about ink pads.  I've had Stampin' Up! Ink Pads for a number of years.  I replaced them all about 4 or 5 years ago when they came out with the new high density foam pads rather than the previous style of felt pads.  Chocolate Chip was a no longer available color so it is not the new style.  Over the course of the last few months, I've gotten several (30) of the smaller ink cubes in Distress Inks and also several (28) in Papertrey Ink Perfect Match Cubes.  Papertrey Ink Perfect Match Ink Cubes are $2.00 each making it very affordable to try out a color and I got the Distress Ink Cubes in 2 different batches when they were on sale at Joann's for $2.09. I've also picked up a few colors from Simon Says Stamp.  I have a handful of colors in the Simon Says Stamp branded inks plus some other specialty inks like Intense Black, White, Silver and Gold pigment inks, Versamark, & Versafine Onyx Black.  The quality of any/all of these is excellent but I find myself reaching for the small ink cubes unless there is a color I don't have in that size.  Even though the Simon branded inks are not as large as the SU! inks I have, I still notice that I am reaching for the small ink cubes.  Part of this is the way that I choose to stamp which is by taking the ink to the stamp rather than the stamp to the ink.  I can better see what I am getting for ink coverage doing it this way and with the MISTI, that's the only way you can do it. I am also finding that the larger ink pads are not as easy to use with the MISTI as the smaller pads.  The larger pads seem to just make a mess all over the MISTI door.  I'm definitely not saying that one is better than the other, but if the smaller ink cubes are something you've been considering, this information is only for your consideration no matter what brand you choose. Everyone has to find what works for them.  Now on to my project which uses all Ink Cubes rather than Ink Pads (a.k.a. I think I'm a convert to cubes, *wink*).

I started by cutting the scalloped card die from Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue Cardstock which happens to be an exact match to Papertrey Ink's Hawaiian Shores Cardstock and Ink. I'm trying to finish up what I have left of the Audrey Blue so I don't get the two paper packs mixed up. This was a half sheet left from a previous project.  I also cut a frame from the Don't Forget to Write Kit out of Stamper's Select White.

Using the stamps from the kit, I stamped the corner flourishes and then the decorative stripe on the inside of the frame using Hawaiian Shores Ink.  I set that aside to dry while I started stamping the bouquet.  My first layer of color for the stems and leaves was New Leaf.  Next came the large flowers in the center of the bouquet which are stamped in Plum Pudding.  The next step was for the darker parts of the Bleeding Heats and smaller flowers using Tropical Teal.  Then came the second layer for the Bleeding Hearts in Hawaiian Shores.  The second layer of the leaves was added using Mint Julep, the flower centers using Royal Velvet and the small little buds in Amethyst Allure.

It definitely takes time, patience and practice to get everything lined up correctly. I stamped a few of these at a time using the negative as my place holder and just went carefully about lining them up. "Practice helps a lot" would be a bit of an understatement.  However, I started off knowing this and planned for it in advance by cutting extras which is why I was able to do a few at a time.  I allowed one die cut for checking the alignment and the rest to actually stamp on. The bouquet is a single die cut piece with multiple layers of stamping involved. While it is multiple layers, it is not a layering stamp set in the traditional sense although the large flowers, the Bleeding Hearts and leaves all use two different color layers.

I assembled everything together on the scalloped card base and then ran ribbon through the openings in the frame die cut at the top to make a gift tag. The sentiment is cut from some dark amethyst shimmer paper that I already had and came from the Color Pop Butterflies Mini Kit which was also designed by Betsy Veldman.


I love these colors and I love the sweet tags, bookmarks or notecards that I can create using multiple sets/items together.

Thanks so much for spending a little time at my blog to see what I've been up to.  I will be entering this project over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog with their theme of flowers this week.  I have several projects on the agenda for this week so please stop back by!