Peony Triple Layer Card

Hi Everyone,

Hope you have all had a great day and are looking forward to a fun weekend.

After making yesterday's card, Live In The Moment, my adaptation of the triple stamping, and admiring Di's clever twist on triple layering too, I had an idea for using this 12x12 sheet of beautifully patterned paper from DCWV, Vintage Collage Stack.

As you can see there's a gorgeous image of peonies in the bottom right corner of the 12x12 sheet.

It occurred to me that if I split the image into three layers I could mount them on card (Stampin' Up 12x12 smooth cardstock) in exactly the same way as is done for the triple stamping technique.

For the base I created a 6"x6" card from the black cardstock. Following Di's instructions I trimmed the patterned paper to measure 5¾" square, so that the black base would frame it. After scratching my head for a wee while, I worked out that the best, possibly the only accurate way, to cut this square to form the three layers was to measure and pencil in the cutting lines. So for the second layer I measure 1" in from the edge all round, creating a 3¾" square, and the centre is 2" in from the edge and measures 2" square. With much trepidation I cut out each square with a craft knife ... an implement I'm not keen on and rarely use. Happily, everything worked out just fine ... fingers all still intact. Once the paper was cut, it was matted on to more black card and then layered up on the front of the card. Decoration is just a couple of black dew drops in each corner.

The inside and back are decorated with trimmings from what was left of the patterned paper. 

Once worked out and measured up, this is fairly easy to do - it only takes basic arithmetic, a ruler, a craft knife, craft mat and a fair bit of courage to cut into the paper, after that it's a dawdle ... can't think why I hesitated :)

The EM treated me to the pack of paper two years ago and since then it has been tucked away in a box, loved, stroked and unused! Somehow I couldn't see how it could be used for a scrap page ... that large motif would distract from any photo(s) on the page. Using it this way does make, I think, a striking card so I may well do it again with other similarly patterned papers.

Sadly, I have to report that no snippets were used in the making of the card but I did raid my hoard of stash and used up some NBUS - still keeping to my goal to use OGooS this year :)

It's late and high time I was going to bed ... I'm surprised The Boss hasn't been in, miaowing and nagging because it's her bedtime too :)) Uh-oh! I spoke too soon ... she's just arrived! So I'll bid you all a goodnight and wish you all a wonderful weekend ahead.

Happy crafting,

Double Stamping - Inspired by Triple Stamping

Evening Folks

Hope it's been a good day for you all. Me, I've been tortured by the dental hygienist again ... if only it wasn't so necessary. But, if I want to hang on to the real thing, it's a necessary evil :( That done, it was back to the safety of my craft room for a bit of rest and recreation :)

If you've read my WOYWW post of yesterday you will have seen this card in progress. As I said, it was inspired by the triple stamping technique done by two inspiring ladies, Sarn and Di. Sadly, Sarn has deleted her brilliant tutorial on this technique but I see Di, in her post today, has developed her very own twist using heavily patterned paper - one I will certainly be trying for myself.

Basically, triple stamping relies on careful stamping over three layers of card or paper and relies on accurate cutting and layering. I've chosen to stamp over just two layers - double stamping - and created a sentiment topper of the third.

The first step was to shuffle through the snippet box. This produced a piece of leftover 12x12 polka dot patterned paper and a few snippets of white card which were trimmed into three pieces, large, medium and small ... the white card being a fraction larger than the paper to create the matting. Leaving the smallest piece for later, I then placed the medium piece over the large - and used some removable glue tape to ensure the pieces stayed where I wanted them.

The next step was to stamp the flowers and leaves randomly over the surfaces, being extra careful when stamping on the edges of the medium piece ... it's easy to miss the stamping and get it wrong here. That done, I then stamped the sentiment on the bit put by for the topper.

Once all the stamping was completed the pieces were matted with the white card to create three layers that were then layered together with dimensional foam dots - paying particular attention to lining up the base and middle layer, ensuring the flowers/leaves match up exactly. Finally, some black crystal gems were used to decorate and snippets were trimmed and adhered to the inside and back.

Materials used: a white card base; snippets of white cardstock for matting and layering; patterned paper - a leftover piece of Echo Park's Dots & Stripes, Lemon Drops Small Dots; stamps - Remountable Flower set from Claritystamp for flower and leaves and the sentiment is from Sheena's A Little Bit Scenic, Silhouette Grasses; Memento Black Ink Pad; black crystal gems for decoration.

Having concentrated on using card and patterned paper from the snippet box I will be popping over to Pixie's Snippet Playground - Week 109.

I'm not holding my breath, but it does seem that whatever was snarling up access to the Internet has been fixed. So who's a happy little blogger then :))

And, even better, there's another episode of Silent Witness this evening ... love it :)

Hope you, too, are having a lovely evening whatever you are doing.

Take care and happy crafting,

WOYWW 243

Morning Everyone,

Another Wednesday and another excuse to reveal all for Julia's What's On Your Desk. Not a clue? Hop over to the Stamping Ground to discover just how many folk are foolish brave enough to indulge our nosiness curiosity interest with a show and tell of their work areas - desks, kitchen worktops, cupboards and even, for some, floors. And today I have not one but two desks for your vicarious pleasure :) Well, that's if Blogger/Google will let me ... something is playing up again this morning!?!?!

First up, the sewing table (photo taken late Tuesday evening). Just running up a valance for the bathroom window ... at last! I've had the fabric and instructions for ages, just waiting for me to get on with making it :) As I write the EM is fixing the pole to hang it from - if he finishes the job in time, I might be able to take a pic of the finished result.

In the meantime, here's the craft desk (photo taken early this morning). Just trying out a variation on a stamping technique called triple stamping. It has been on my to-try list for months, ever since I first spotted it on Sarn's blog, Stamping for Pleasure - unfortunately despite all my efforts I have been unable to locate the link but as Di at Pixie's Crafty Workshop was similarly inspired, you can see her lovely card here.

And just in time, the finished project. There's a brilliant tutorial for the lined valance on Katie's blog, Sewplicity. It's simple to make ... it has to be for me ... and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. As you can see we've gone for bold colours ... that is, bold for us. I found the fabric at Dunelm Mill and, because we live almost within shouting distance of the coast, the seaside theme seemed just perfect.

And that is it from my desks this week and I'm looking forward to seeing what's on yours now. First though, I need a cuppa but after that I'll be back to do a bit of blog hopping.

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday no matter what you are doing.

Happy WOYWW,

PS: I'm not sure whether it is Blogger or Google that's at fault but something is snarling up the works today and it has taken almost 2 hours to complete this post!?!?!