...November release day 3 Vintage Christmas Background

ED - This competition is now closed!

Good morning! Welcome to day 3 of our previews for tomorrow's release.

The DT ladies who are previewing with me today are:

Bonnie Sharp

Belinda Change Langner

Sarah Martina Parker

Tosha Leyendekker

Anya Schrier

Kelly Schirmer

Sandie Dunne

Clare Buswell

Becca Feeken

Julia Aston

Jennifer Holmes

Laurie Schmidlin

Pop over and see what they've been up to if you haven't already. The gals are previewing the Half pint Heroes addittions set, Cabin Plaid and a fun little tiny set, Sheriff.

This morning I wanted to give folks the low down on the new Backgrounder stamps. We're releasing 3 new backgrounders tomorrow and I have been very excited by how well they work. I must admit there was a time when I had concerns about producing large stamps - these babies measure 4.5 by 5.75 inches and are designed to cover the front of a card in one go. No more lining up.

We will have:

Vintage Christmas Backgrounder
Cabin Plaid Backgrounder
Yonder Star Backgrounder

All 3 stamps are a massive 4.5 by 5.75 inches in size which is nearly the size of one of our larger sets, and they are priced £12.00 each.

I made up this little Tea Cracker - I'm intending these for my Christmas table, but they would suit any occasion, just decorate them to match your theme. The cut files for this will be available for free during the release! I used the new Backgrounder - Vintage Christmas Background. My Tea cup is actually a little coffee cup and is smaller than a standard size tea cup, these little crackers are very dinky!

What I love about this background stamp is that it is based on the original pattern design that I made for the Very Vintage Christmas sets - a whole new wave of possibilities for that set opens with this background stamp also! The pattern also appears in the original Vintage Ornaments set (due back in stock very soon).

Above you can see the decorative holly shape from Very Vintage Christmas and how it looks so co-ordinated with the cracker! The 'Noel' sentiment is from the new set Compliments of the Season Two - also releasing tomorrow. If you have good eyes you can also see the pale diamond shape stamped behind the Noel, another co-ordinating stamp from Very Vintage Christmas. I am itching to create lots of matchy matchy goodies with these two sets!!

Previously we have always provided backgrounder sets as strips that could be lined up to produce larger areas of pattern, but I have to say I can see the merit in these larger stamps now that I have used them. In future we will most likely offer a mix of both.

For today's project, here's what I started with. The stamp - you can see it above, still on it's backing sheet, I have not felt the need to purchase large blocks for them as I think I have found the perfect way to use them - courtesy of technique Queen Lynn Mercurio. Lynn first suggested to me the idea of using a brayer. I didn't have one so I purchased a small one and haven't looked back. You don't need one, I have inked these stamps up with pads just the same, but I do think I get particularly good results with the brayer.

The brayer makes it really easy to ink up the stamp evenly and avoids the situation where areas of the stamp get clogged up with excess ink - and  this is important in our next step.

Once the stamp is covered in ink, I laid the template for my small Tea Cracker down on top of the stamp - couldn't be simpler. In the pic below left you can see how I laid a sheet of scratch paper over the top so that I could smooth the whole thing down without getting ink all over my fingers. Take care to smooth all over the cardstock at this point. The backgrounder stamp makes mass production of these Tea Crackers very fast.

 On the right once I peel back the template it is completely stamped, no need to line anything up! fabby!

I flip over the template and gently make the folds, you want the little thin areas between the diamonds to fold upwards on the blank side as shown in the pic.

then I take a pen or pencil, or even a wooden spoon handle and roll the cracker around it - this makes for a nice smoothly rounded cracker.

After taping the edge with strong tape I can insert a joke, or some small sweets, and decorate.

I chose to brush my cracker with Brushed Corduroy distress ink, I wanted to bring out all the corners and add a little definition, can't seem to make a move without distress ink lately...or ever....

I tied up the ends of my cracker with some gold lame ribbon that I had sort of inked up with a red copic, this worked great, I still got the gold shimmer, but with lovely red edges to match my cracker!!! I'll be back later on with more and some interesting news on the shipping front!!!

 Hope it tickles!

OOh and since you have read all the way down to the bottom of the post, might I interest you in a giveaway? Leave a comment here telling me what you think of our new backgrounders and you will  be elegible for our draw. Tomorrow night, at 6:30 before the release i will draw a winner to receive ALL THREE Backgrounder stamps!!!