SSC243 & HSS106 & A Little Tutorial

I made a pretty little monochromatic birthday card with the Stamping 411 sketch:

and using the color block technique from the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge this week:

Here’s a closeup of the color blocking:

In the P.S. I Love You set from the mini, there’s a circular heart image, and SU has very kindly popped out the center rubber, which I saved and used as a stamp!   I inked it up with Wisteria Wonder ink, stamped once on scrap paper, then stamped on Whisper White.  I did this three times, then stamped the outline floral image from Fabulous Florets.  The rest is pretty straightforward—--an embossed background embellished with some pearls, a little  lace from my stash and a shabby bow!  A lot of people have asked how I make my shabby bows, so here is my really, really easy technique:

1. I use seam binding for my ribbon, either white that I dye with reinkers, or one of the coordinating colors from SU.  I’ll start with the pre-dyed ones.
2. Cut off a liberal amount of binding; if you’re going to make some, you might as well make a stash of it!  Wet the binding; squeeze out all the water.  Crumple it up in a ball; you can twist a rubber band around it a couple times if you like (think tie-dye), pop it in the microwave for 45-second intervals until it is completely dry.  Uncrumple it after the second drying to see how it’s progressing.  It usually takes three dryings for my microwave. 
3. Unravel it and you should have a nice crumply shabby-chic wad of seam binding!  I then just make a loopy bow and tie it with another piece of binding or some floss. 
4. If you want to hand-dye your ribbon, get a little bowl or container and place a few drops of reinker ink and a couple drops of water in it.  (Wearing gloves is helpful unless you don’t mind getting your fingers stained.)  Crumple up the seam binding, swish it around in the dye until it is the color and intensity that you want.  You may need to add more ink if necessary.  I like to start light; you can always add more, but it is difficult to take the color away!
5. Continue as in step 2; I sometimes wrap the binding in a paper towel if I’ve dyed it; this just helps you get the moisture out without making any more of a mess in the microwave!
6. To adhere my shabby bow to a card, I usually resort to my handy-dandy hot glue gun.  Sometimes it’s just quicker and I know it will stay put! 

Hope that’s helpful to you!  Remember, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me, but be sure to give me an email address to which I can respond.

Little Miss Congeniality!