When a “Piece of Cake” turns into a labor of love, get out your tools!

Happy Tuesday!  You know what Tuesday means:   New stuff on sale from Stampin’ Up!  Click here to check out this weeks deals.

This past week, a good friend was having a birthday.   I wanted a special card for her.  What I thought would be a piece of cake (get it?!), turned into a labor of love.  But I do love my friend so I was determined to make this work.

Here is the finished card:

That is right–she even got a matching envelope liner.   Here is the thing about this card~  There is hardly any stamping on it.  Easy, right?  Here is a close up of the detail.

 

That is right!   It is all done with a punch.   I am not a fan of cutting!  If Stampin’ Up! had a matching punch for each stamp set they sold, I would buy them all!  Now those little candles need little flames.  And the punch does it all!

 

I decided that my little flames needed sparkle of some sort.  And I tried a lot of blingy things–gold foil paper, silver foil paper, gold glimmer paper, Champagne glimmer paper, silver glimmer paper, Dazzling Details of various colors, you name it!  The winner:  Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper!   After punching out (and keeping track of ) the little flames, I needed to attach them.  This is where the  labor of love comes in!   But–my father always taught me, you can do nearly anything if you have the right tools.  Sometimes, however, you need to “build” your own “right” tool.  And this is a staple in my craft room–the “Tiny Picker Upper”!

Tiny Picker Upper

Here is how you can make your own Tiny Picker Upper:  Get a skewer (unused!).  Add a tiny glob of Tombo Multi Purpose glue and let it sit overnight.  It will eventually “dry” to a tacky little ball of stickiness at the end of your skewer.  There you have it–your own Tiny Picker Upper!  It will look gross so no one will steal it but it will be one of your best friends in your craft room! Trust me!

I used the Tiny Picker Upper to pick up the little flames and used a dot of that same magic adhesive (Tombo , “green glue”) at the end of the candles to attach it.  Voila!  Truth is , my friend is not 7….but that is all the candles I had patience for!

Supplies:

Stamp set : NONE!

Paper:  Whisper White, Smokey Slate, Bermuda Bay, Pistachio Pudding, Tangelo Twist, Strawberry Slush, Confetti Celebration, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper.

Other:  Cupcake Builder Punch, Tombo Multipurpose Glue, Tangelo Twist Ribbon, Big Shot, Envelope Liner Framelits