April Mailbag Make -- Poppy Wreath plus 3 Notecards!

In New Zealand and Australia we celebrate ANZAC Day on April 25th every year to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep our countries safe. ANZAC is the acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and was created in WWI.

A symbol of this remembrance day is a red poppy known as Flanders' Poppy, which was the first plant to re-emerge from the churned up soil of soldiers' graves during the First World War. Most people wear a cloth poppy on their shirt on ANZAC day, and during the week leading up to the ceremonies, as a sign of respect for those who have fought in wars.

I decided to create a wreath of poppies using the Poppy Moments dies with the intention of laying it at my local war memorial or putting on my front door. I thought maybe others would like to create poppy wreaths as well so I have made my design into a Mailbag Make. This is a perfect project to be doing at home with the kids or if you are not able to get out to craft classes. I have made each poppy a little bit different using a variety of techniques with the ink and glue.

The Poppy Wreath Mailbag Make includes everything you need to get crafting straight out of the mailbag! You will receive several die cut poppy and leaf elements as well as a Fine Tip Glue Pen, a bottle of Real Red Ink Refill and a sponge dauber. You will also get a link to a private instructional video showing you how to put everything together including tips and techniques using the ink refill.

Have a look at this 'sneak peak' video for more information and details on how to order.

I hope you like my project and find a way to celebrate ANZAC day on April 25th!

#Poppies #FlandersPoppy #AnzacDay #Wreath #RemembranceDay #KeepCalmAndCraft #ComputerAndCraftDesigns #StampinUp #creativetherapy #StayHome #MailbagMake 

Stampin' Spots Come To The Rescue!

I was creating some cards with my Stamparatus for a customer order and the coloured ink pads I needed to use were very 'juicy' which is a common problem with new pads and sometimes due to humidity.

I tried to make the card a few times with light pressure and scraping the ink to one side of the pad, but I still got too much ink on the photopolymer stamp and thus smeared the image. The only other solution I knew of was to scrape off the excess ink or dab the ink pad onto paper which I don't like to do as it wastes the ink.

Then I remembered I had some Stampin' Spots which are perfect for use on the Stamparatus as you don't get ink all over the plates when you ink up your stamps. Fortunately I had some un-inked Stampin' Spots so I dabbed them on top of the 'juicy' parts on my ink pads. This served two purposes -- it removed the excess ink from the pad and created an inked Stampin' Spot which was perfect for use with the Stamparatus.

In the end I was able to create several identical cards quickly and easily, plus I removed some of the excess ink from my full-size pads. This was definitely a win-win!

#ComputerAndCraftDesigns #StampinUp #creativetherapy #PaperCraftIdeas #HandmadeGifts #HandmadeCard