Hello crafters! A very big hello. We are meeting for the first time and I can’t tell you excited I am to introduce myself as a new member of the Design Team for Pretty Paper Studio. My name is Khushboo, a blogger at Mumzy Notebook, but first and foremost a mother to my 3 year old daughter. Seeing that we both like getting crafty and messy, I will be sharing with you some easy and beautiful ‘Mom and Child’ crafts each month.
For the month of September, the theme that has been set is ‘Stamptember’. It’s in celebration of the 8 new beautiful stamps that have been released by Pretty Paper Studio. They range from Florals, Travel icons, Festive prints and Calligraphy. They are only available at Pretty Paper Studio and are priced at AED 75 (excluding VAT). I was sent the Uppercase Brush Lettering alphabet stamps to work with and I can’t wait for you to see what I have designed along with my daughter.
Let’s begin
I wanted to create home décor frames that I could put up in my daughter’s room. Frames that were personalised, gender neutral in colour and meaningful. While her walls are decorated with her childhood photos, butterfly stickers and even her name spelt out using colourful wooden blocks, I felt it could be enhanced further by including words. Words that she could grow up reading and associate with. Strong words that define her colourful personality. Out of all the words I would love to describe my daughter, I had to choose only three, and they were: Brave, Kind and Smart.
I chose the Prima Marketing Relic & Artifacts Wooden Tray set, which are 3 different sized square frames in one pack. For the background, I wanted three different colours with a 3-D effect. Now, my daughter already knows her shapes and currently we are practising some scissor skills. I thought what better than incorporate them both into the craft. Therefore, I cut out long strips of cardstock, in three different colours and marked 1.5 cm squares on them. With my daughter’s safety scissors, we cut out many squares, some more perfect than the others. But that’s okay.
Using clear glue, together we pasted these three coloured squares diagonally, in an order of sequence, on a separate coloured card stock. This cardstock was measured to fit exactly inside the three frames. Using glue, the background was pasted to the frames. The end result were frames with a tri-coloured mosaic background with earthy tones.
On to Stamping
Now to work with the Pretty Paper Studio stamps. I ordered the clear Acrylic Stamping Block to work with the stamps. Initially, I tried putting all the letters of my chosen word on the acrylic stamping block together, however, I noticed some irregular spacing between the letters. Therefore, I thought it would be best to work with each alphabet individually. I experimented with the different colours of the Tim Holtz Distress Mini Ink stamp pads, even trying a rainbow word. However, in the end I decided to use the ‘Lucky Clover’ Tim Holtz Distress Ink stamp pad, to match the earthy tones of the mosaic background.
One alphabet at a time, I built the words: Brave, Kind and Smart, on white Tim Holtz Distress Speciality Stamping Paper. I was able to apply the ink straight away by dabbing the stamp pad on the clear alphabet stamps. Once the ink dried, I cut out the stamping paper in a desired shape. Lastly, I outlined the cut out stamping paper with an ordinary black marker.
Using the dark brown Darice Hemp Cord, I wrapped two opposite corners of the frames a few times and stuck it down at the back using transparent cello tape.
I glued the cut out stamp words to the mosaic background. For a final 3D touch, I decided to use the Pink Fresh Enamel Dot stickers, once again matching with the colour theme of the frames. Along with some guidance, I asked my daughter to stick it around the stamped words. And there you have it, three decorative frames, that my daughter and I had fun creating together.
Thank you for reading
I hope you enjoyed reading through this photo tutorial as much I enjoyed making it. And now that you are feeling inspired to use these wonderful clear Calligraphy stamps, along with the other equally wonderful ones from the PPS range, be sure to share your pictures on social media using #ppsuae #prettypaperstudio #madewithpps and don’t forget to tag @ppsuae and @mumzynotebook.
Happy crafting!
