Penny Black Pairings, 5 of 8: Elizabeth

We love to design as a pair here in the Studio where we even share our stamps and Creative Dies!!  We hope you enjoy peeking at our pairs of projects using the same Penny Black products.  It's double the designing fun! 

Additional Penny Black Inspiration on their BLOG and FACEBOOK PAGE

One of the many things I like about Penny Black's "Happy Berries" is that it can be used all throughout the year.  In today's post I am sharing how one holiday stamp mixed with ATC Art Squares (Inchie Arts) can be designed into a gift card holder for the holidays or an everyday occasion.

For the holiday version, soft gray ATC Art Squares (Inchie Arts) lend an elegant background hue for Penny Black's "Happy Berries" stamped in Satin Red VersaFine.  

The smoothness of the Art Squares provides an excellent stamping surface and beautifully showcases the stamped ink.  The surface of the Art Squares is also durable so that accenting the berries with Crystal Stickles and micro-fine red glitter does not cause the Art Square paper to ripple.

The secret for creating the pocket is to layer the Art Squares. A soft gray ATC Art Square was layered with a dark gray ATC Art Square that was trimmed into a thin "U" frame (pictured on the left).  A second soft gray ATC Art Square was then placed on top.  Using two tones of Art Squares to create the holder gives the piece an eye-catching pinstripe along all three edges (pictured on the right).  This "sandwiching" technique also allows enough space in the holder to slide in a gift card that is temporarily mounted to cardstock.

The sentiment medallion from Penny Black's "Wonderful & Jolly" stamped in red and black accompanied by grosgrain ribbon adds a simple yet stylish accent.

Using "Happy Berries" again with white and soft gray ATC Art Squares (Inchie Arts) and changing the ink colors to soft tones of reds, oranges and purples transforms the same design into an everyday gift holder.

This time the durable surface of the Art Squares was the perfect platform for a layer of gel medium.  The subtle coating over the stamped artwork gave the piece such a lovely finish.   Once again, more Penny Black holiday images (Beauty of the Season) were transformed into an all occasion sentiment medallion. 

Detailed instructions for this project in pdf format can be viewed and printed HERE.

More Inchie Arts information and inspiration is available on their BLOG and FACEBOOK page.

More to come when Jill reveals her berry happiness!


[Supplies:  Penny Black: Happy Berries 40-342, Wonderful & Jolly 30-259, Beauty of the Season 30-254; Inchie Arts: ATC Art Squares; Imagine Crafts/Tsukineko; Onyx Black VersaFine, Satin Red VersaFine; Ranger: Glossy Accents, Crystal Stickles; Art Glitter: Ruby Red; Offray: Cranberry Grosgrain Ribbon; Other: Craft Knife, Circle Die Cut.]