I’m sharing more from my productive craft session over the recent May Bank Holiday weekend.
Today’s card was a voyage of discovery in getting to know the lovely Pretty Picado release from The Greetery…
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Products featured today:
- The Greetery | Have a Spine dies
- The Greetery | Pretty Picado dies
- The Greetery | Pretty Picado Sentiments stamps and dies
- The Greetery | Pretty Picado Background stamp
- The Greetery | Shelved stamps
- The Greetery | Capsule Basics dies
- The Stamp Market | 1/16″ Quick Strips die
- More supplies linked in the supply list at the bottom of this post
So before I get into the nitty-gritty, here are the things I learned and the tips you might find useful.
This card all came about with the idea of wanting to use the Pretty Picado Background stamp as a cover design for a Have a Spine book.
What I learned is that The Greetery has slightly redesigned the book cover die in this set so that you can now easily cut the cover and centre it over whatever design you are trying to cut out. That’s great if you’ve not got this wonderful die set yet, as you’ll have an even more user-friendly product.
As I have the original set that doesn’t have a full cut line all around the cover panel, I needed a workaround.
- Tip #1: Create a jig for the Have a Spine cover (and chop off the spine section)
This meant I could position the jig cover over the symmetrical pattern of the background stamp and centre it accordingly. Then you just nestle the die around the jig piece and tape the die in place to run through your machine after removing the jig. This turned out really well I think. It took a lot of the guess work out of it and saved a lot of trial and error – and frustration!
- Tip #2: The Pretty Picado embossing folder makes a great alignment tool
My next discovery was that if you create a 5×7 panel with the Pretty Picado embossing folder, you can keep it as an alignment tool to use with the Pretty Picado dies. Basically whatever die configuration you want to use, you can puzzle the dies onto the embossed panel to tape your die configuration together before running it through your machine.
It’s then pretty easy to line up the coordinating Capsule die to cut around the cut-out section. I’m also wondering if I can use the capsule basics stencils to help position the outline dies even more accurately when using the stamped background. We’ll see!
- Tip #3: Prepping the Pretty Picado embossing folder
I recently read that 3D embossing folders might need breaking in, and you may find it difficult to run them through your machine with your usual sandwich on the first attempt. This was the case for me with this embossing folder. I ended up having to rotate my sandwich on the first go and really stagger the plates to feed the whole thing through. But on the second attempt the original sandwich feed in properly, and on the third it fed in without resistance. So if you ever struggle with a new 3D embossing folder on the first attempt, it may just need breaking in by squishing it through a few times to compress it more.
And I think that’s it for the tips relating to this card. Now on with how I made it!
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So, armed with the background stamp and other supplies, I went for one of my favourite colour combinations. If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
C9 Sea Glass card for the cover, stamped with Sage ink paired perfectly with the Pretty Picado Capsule cut from C9 Nectar with C9 Grapefruit peeking behind it.
For the sentiment, I stamped Coral Reef ink on C9 Ivory for the main sentiment, and used the same ink to stamp directly onto the Nectar panel. The For You is easy to line up if you layer it up with extra die cuts. Next position the die where you want to place the sentiment and add dots of glue through the die for the first part of the sentiment. Then nestle your die cut under the die and move it into place while holding it the other end of the die down. Once the first half is stuck down, use it to help nestle the other half in place under the die.
To complete the book, I used C9 Ivory for the pages, and C9 Tidepool for the spine. The spine is stamped with a sentiment (in Sage) and frame (in Fern) from the Shelved stamp set.
I also added the little floral details from the Pretty Picado Sentiments set in Matcha ink.
Before assembling everything on my trimmed down card base, I attached a 1/16 in. strip of C9 Grapefruit down the spine to bring everything together.
And there we go!
I’m really pleased with how this turned out, now I just need to contemplate some zingy colour combinations for my next attempt.
Until next time, happy crafting!
Supplies
Below you will find links to the supplies used to create this project. See note in sidebar about my project supply lists and the use of affiliate links at no extra cost to you. Your support is always appreciated!
 The Greetery – Pretty Picado Sentiments stamp and die kit Shop at: SHC (UK) |
 The Greetery – Pretty Picado Sentiments stamps Shop at: TG |
 The Greetery – Shelved stamps Shop at: SHC (UK) | TG |
 The Greetery – Pretty Picado Background stamp Shop at: SHC (UK) | TG |
 The Greetery – Pretty Picado dies Shop at: SHC (UK) | TG |
 The Greetery – Pretty Picado Sentiments dies Shop at: TG |
 The Greetery – Capsule Basics dies Shop at: SHC (UK) | TG |
 The Greetery – Have a Spine dies Shop at: SHC (UK) | TG |
 The Stamp Market – 1/16″ Quick Strips die Shop at: MISC |
 The Stamp Market – Coral Reef ink pad Shop at: MISC |
 The Stamp Market – Fern ink pad Shop at: MISC |
 The Stamp Market – Matcha ink pad Shop at: MISC |
 The Stamp Market – Sage ink pad Shop at: MISC |
 Concord & 9th – Assorted Core Collection cardstock Shop at: C&9 | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Concord & 9th – Assorted Neutrals Collection cardstock Shop at: C&9 | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Concord & 9th – Grapefruit cardstock Shop at: C&9 | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Concord & 9th – Ivory cardstock Shop at: C&9 | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Concord & 9th – Nectar cardstock Shop at: C&9 | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Concord & 9th – Sea Glass cardstock Shop at: C&9 | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Concord & 9th – Tidepool cardstock Shop at: C&9 | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Bearly Art – Precision Craft Glue Shop at: SB (US) | MISC | SBC |
 Lawn Fawn – Stamp Shammy Shop at: SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Mini MISTI stamping tool Shop at: SB (US) | MISC | SBC |
 MISTI stamping tool Shop at: SB (US) | MISC | SBC |
 Pinkfresh Studio – Dual-tip embellishment tool Shop at: SB (US) | SBC | SHC (UK) |
 Crafter’s Companion – Gemini machine Shop at: MISC |
 Sizzix – Big Shot machine Shop at: MISC | SBC |
 Sizzix – Sidekick machine Shop at: MISC | SBC |
 Tim Holtz – Tonic guillotine trimmer (maxi) Shop at: MISC | SBC |
 Tim Holtz – Tonic guillotine trimmer (small) Shop at: MISC | SBC |
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