Sep 18 2007
Flourishes Angel
This little angel from Flourishes’ O Christmas Tree is meant to be a tree topper, I believe, but she looks sweet all on her own, too. She reminds me of my own angel that decorates my dining room table every year at Christmastime. Little vignettes like this about the house bring Christmas to every corner and add such a homey feel.
There are two stamps in the main image, the angel and the package. All the individual stamps in this set allow endless variety for Christmas cards. I masked the angel and overstamped the package. All the coloring and shading is done with my Stampin’ Up! markers. The grounding, however, is done with Stampin’ Pastels, Stampin’ Up!’s name for soft chalks. I traced over her halo with a clear glitter pen for some Heavenly sparkle.
The sentiment is from the set, too, and the little ornament that I embossed with gold tinsel EP and hung from the ribbon is one of many that can be used to decorate the tree. For this card I used the tree boughs to pattern the card base. The red panel is Stampin’ Up!’s Dotted background and the plaid is nearly ancient — one of my first designer papers from before they even called it anything so elegant as designer paper. It’s been in my scrap drawer for years.
More details:
Stamps: Flourishes O Christmas Tree, Stampin’ Up! Dotted background
Paper: Handsome Hunter, Real Red, Whisper White, designer paper (unknown)
Ink: Handsome Hunter, Close to Cocoa, Real Red, Versamark, markers
Accessories: Ribbon, gold cord, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape, 1 3/8″ and 1 1/4″ circle punches, Stampin’ Pastels
A little note about clear stamps: I’ve never met a clear stamp yet that didn’t benefit from a brisk rub with an eraser before its maiden inking. I like to mount several stamps on one of my larger blocks and condition them all at once. After they’ve been rubbed I blow off the eraser crumbs and give them a scrub before I peel them off and put them away.
The black mat in the photo is a piece of 3 mm craft foam that I place my paper on before stamping. Both the eraser conditioning and the cusion make a world of difference in the quality of the image when using clear stamps. I know this isn’t new information for many of you but, gosh, we do forget how much we’ve learned along the way and how new this craft is to others. I hope this helps someone who’s found themselves disillusioned with their clear stamps and has been wondering what in the heck is so great about them. To tell you the truth, I only recently learned this, myself.
I’d like to finish up with something simple and sunny that I made with Flourishes Fantasy Floral Garden and some Wild Asparagus designer paper. The 4 1/4″ square card is a size I like when I want quick and sweet. I enjoy the square format on a card that fits in a regular envelope and doesn’t require extra postage. The dots on the flower are done with a glitter pen.
Stamps: Fantasy Floral Garden
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White, Wild Asparagus DP
Ink: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa, markers: Certainly Celery & Apricot Appeal
Accessories: Eyelets, ribbon, slot punch, Fiskars scallop scissors, Sakura clear glitter pen, Scotch brand dimensional mounting tape
Thanks for hanging in there with me today through this long post! I’d better get started on my next project. I’ve got several birthdays coming up and you know how time flies. See you again soon!
Thank you for the advice on using clear stamps! I think that may be just the ticket for all my new “sticky” stamps!!
Thanks for the info about the clear stamps. It is great to be reminded! I have been forgetting to put a cushion under the stamps, and have not been happy with my results lately. Thanks again!
I love both of your cards today! The colors of your Angel card are so rich and perfect for Christmas. That little angel is so cute, and colored perfectly!
Your Floral card is so fresh, and beautiful!! I love the patterned paper and special touches! Gorgeous!
Great tips on the clear stamps as well!
I love these!! That little angel is the cutest!!
I love the Wild Asparagus paper. Can you tell me where I can purchase some? Thanks!!!
Thank you for the information on clear stamps. I purchased some last year to make a calendar and never ended up using them because I did not know the secret to it. Now I can go ahead and use them. Love your blog, keep up the beautiful work! Val
Your little heart charm is the perfect touch.
This card is charming
Absolutely gorgeous cards! And thanks on the tip,i’m sure it does make a big diff. !!
Thanks for the advice, Leslie. I had no idea an eraser would help with the clear stamps. Interesting. Great cards too! I especially love that little angel!
Appreciate the tip about the eraser; maybe I’ll go back to play with the clear stamps I purchased. love your creations. The companies that have you on their design teams are very fortunate!
Oh, Leslie, both of these are just gorgeous!!! I love your rich and traditional Christmas colors with that angel and present — I am always amazed how you can take such tiny little stamps and make such a huge statement in a card — you are the one who taught me (thru example) to enjoy small stamps!!! I’ll bet you never knew that — LOL!!! And I LOVE your sunny and happy Bloom card — fun flowers to play with!!! And thanks for the reminder about conditioning the stamps — I am guilty of NOT doing that, even though I did learn it somewhere along the line!!!
You’ve worked your magic again with these Flourishes stamps! Your angel card is a showpiece for pulling together lots of elements to create a truly delightful card. Love that touch with the plaid paper!
I also like the 4 1/4 square format, and yours is so pretty and sweet, with that wonderful touch of sparkle.
As for your advice on clear stamps, I can’t read the first part. It’s hidden behind the photo, no matter which screen option I use. Very frustrating. So I gather that you first rub them with the eraser and then clean with a stamp cleaner? Linda
Beautiful Xmas card !
Wow - more wonderful creations!! Thanks for showing what these sets can do..
Thanks Les, I learn so much from you. You are just a born teacher. I am so lucky!
These cards are so beautiful. Thanks for the tips on clear stamps!!!
YOur cards are absolutely beautiful. Great tips, going to try the eraser one tomorrow, I have just received some new clear stamps so great timing!
These cards are beautiful! Thanks for the great tips!
Very pretty card. Thanks for the tip on conditioning your clear stmaps, I must do as you did and do all one in one session using a large acrylic block to get heaps done at a time. I am into mass doing of things so this idea is just up my alley!! Don’t have time to do otherwise. I keep forgetting to use my foam mat so thanks for the reminder there too.
Gorgeous cards, Leslie. I love that little Christmas vignette with the darling little angel, and this sunny little flower card is so sweet!!
These are such sweet cards! Thanks for the eraser tip!
~Angie
Love all of your BG’s that highlight your sweet angel. TFS and sharing your tutorial….
This card is so happy & delightful! Love that stamp!
~Tex
Love this card!! What a great tip on clear stamps!! Something I never knew!!
What a great tip! I will have to go and condition my clear stamps as well! Thank you so much for this information!
[…] to get quality images from clear stamps. I like to condition my stamps as described in my post here. The stamp I used on this card was conditioned in this manner — rubbed with an eraser and […]
[…] are all familiar with conditioning our clear stamps (see this post by Leslie Miller), but all too often we don’t condition our rubber stamps, as most often they just don’t […]