Disclosure: I include affiliate links to the products used in my projects and make a small commission when you purchase via those links, at no extra dimes to you. Thank you.
Flock Star , from the the July 2023 Essentials by Ellen Release , makes it super fun and easy to make an interactive card. Fans of the movie “Shrek” may recognize the opening song “All Star” by Smash Mouth, which actually inspired this particular combo. I’d never heard of the band until I saw the movie. Hence, the pun “Flock Star”. (snort)
The dies feature a debossed wing design on the body of the flamingo, making it easier to determine where to stamp whatever sentiment you want to use from the stamp set, so it will be revealed when the hinged wing is pivoted up or down. There’s also an additional wing, without a hole for the brad, if you want to layer another wing over top to conceal it. Options are nice, right?!
I gold embossed the sentiments (detail gold embossing powder), but it would also look great just with black ink. I just felt the gold was a nice touch because of the glittery gold card stock I used to cut the concealing wing. It’s popped up with a little foam tape over the pivoting wing.
I think I’ll be swooning over the Monstera Stencil for all eternity—when I was designing it, I really wanted it to have a uniquely hand-drawn or hand-cut look. You don’t want to know how many renditions I went through before I was finally satisfied, LOL! I have a tendency to obsess over things like that. OCD much? In any event, I love it SOOOOO much, so I’m going to cut myself some slack over the time it took to get it “just right”.
I’ve been practicing my ink-blending; I’m always so heavy handed but I really really want to achieve that lovely, delicate effect I’ve always admired by the talented Laurie Willison and I think I’m finally getting there.
One thing I also wanted to mention is this seriously cool, new Grip Mat by Waffleflower! I’ve been using it to anchor my paper down for stenciling and stamping!!! You can read about it on their site; they’re taking pre-orders for it now, if you’re interested. You can get a smaller one that will fit your Mini MISTI, too. I swapped out the foam layer in my MISTI platform and dropped this in, with the acetate grid they’ve designed to go with; I won’t have to deal with magnets/tape again. It truly is brilliant!!!
I have more samples to share with the products I designed for the release over the coming days. For now, you can hop over to Ellen’s site and check out the whole release HERE—it is such a lovely collection!
Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to slather yourself in sunscreen when you’re enjoying the fabulous summer weather—it’s been gorgeous here!