It was very sparkly and frosty this morning driving to work, a bit like a hoare frost or a morning in Narnia. Most of it was due to the severe cold we’re currently experiencing in Michigan as it’s only 2F outside with a windchill of -11F, and if I do the maths for the lovely UK folks, that’s an actual temperature of -18C and a windchill of -24C. A bit nippy no matter how you look at it!
Sparkle is also the name of the Penny Black stamp I’ve used here to create another Clean and Simple card. I’ve had it a little while but this was the first time I inked it up, and although I love it I was also very disappointed with it too. I lined it up for stamping based on the image on the front of the block, dead straight and accurate, and then when I embossed it I thought it looked crooked, so I turned the stamp over and sure enough, the rubber is definitely crooked compared to the image on the front of the stamp! I hadn’t spotted that and I’m mega disappointed, don’t expect bad quality control like that from a company of Penny Black’s standing. So, how to rectify it? I’ve heard of loads of people un-mounting wood stamps and turning them into clings, so there must be an easy way to get the stamp off the block without damaging it, but can I simply then reposition it? Will it stick to the block again? I poked about a bit on the web and found a couple of sites that said to gently microwave the stamp until it softened and then it was really easy to peel off!! Not sure I like this idea, anyone tried it?
But, on to the slightly crooked card! Very simply done by cutting out a Nesties Label Eight and using the off cut part as a frame to some blue ink, and then embossing the stamp over it in gold and finishing off with a few little gems and a Stampendous sentiment.
I like this look. If I can get the stamp to stamp correctly this would be a very easy card to replicate, it would look great in different ink colours and different colours of embossing on the stamp too. Might have to bear this one in mind for those stressed out December days!
Card Recipe:
- Card blank from Michaels
- Stamps: Penny Black Sparkle ~ Stampendous Reindeer Swirls
- Ink: Versafine Black ~ Memento Aegean Blue ~ TH Stormy Sky ~ Versamark
- Embellies: Gold EP from JoAnn ~ Red Gems from Michaels
- Tools: Cuttlebug ~ Nesties Label Eight
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Challenges:
Winter Wonderland – Reach For The Stars
Penny Black Flickr Group – Winter White (leave white space)