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by Beth Hammond 
Guild Member Beth Hammond joined our Design Teams and here is her first project... ...I wanted to use the stamps in different ways with different colour schemes and techniques, but decided to link them together with a theme. The stamp of the eye gave me the idea of an eye peering through a keyhole, which led to the theme Secrets. My projects are therefore Love Letters, a Valentine's card with a secret message, Hidden Treasures, a jewellery box, and a final card Girl Talk.
Love Letters
We used:
- Artifacts Beauty Unmounted Plate UM026
- A5 Card Blank
- Patterned Paper (mine was from an old Christmas themed 6” paper stack)
- Thick White Paper
- White and Black Cardstock
- ColorBox Fluid Chalk Paintbox - Nightfall
- Walnut Distress Ink Pad
- VersaMark Pad
- Clear Embossing Powder
- Paper Flowers
- Pearl Brad
- Coloured String or Ribbon
- Stamp Cleaner
- Heat Tool
- Glue
- Foam Pads
- Envelope Template or Punch
- Double-sided Tape
Step by Step:
- Stamp the Girl's Face onto white cardstock using VersaMark. Emboss with clear powder.
- When cool, apply a selection of pink and brown ColorBox inks with the paler ones at the centre ranging to the darker ones at the edges. Once the ink is dry you can clean it up by wiping over the embossed image with a little stamp cleaner to remove the excess.
- Re-ink the stamp with the walnut ink and stamp over the embossed image to enhance the details, then set with a heat tool. The Distress Ink is slow drying so will pool a little on the embossed surface. You could achieve a slightly different effect with a fast drying ink. Cut out the stamped image in a rectangular panel and edge with walnut ink. Mat onto black cardstock.
 - Colour the paper flowers with the ColorBox inks to match the panel. Attach a larger one at the bottom right corner of the panel with a pearl brad and a small one to the top left with a dab of glue.
- Cover the top two thirds of the card blank with the deep red paper and the bottom third with the pink flower paper, cutting the top edge with a wavy cutter and overlapping it on top of the red paper. Attach the stamped panel with foam pads.
- Cut out an envelope template from the thick white paper. There are punches you can use for this, or make your own template. Line with an offcut of the pink patterned paper, fold in the bottom and sides, and fix with a little glue.
 - Cut a rectangle of card to fit inside the envelope and write your message on it. I then punched a hole in the top and attached some coloured string to aid removing the message once the envelope is attached to the card. If you wanted a really secret message, you could write a mini letter and seal it in the envelope, rather than leaving it open. Attach the envelope to the bottom left corner of the stamped panel using double-sided tape.
Girl Talk
We used:
- Artifacts Beauty Unmounted Plate UM026
- White and Pink Glitter
- White Cardstock
- Square Pink Card Blank
- Frosted Shrink Plastic
- Off-cut of Acetate
- Le Plume Pens in yellows and pinks
- Adirondack Paint Dabbers - Peach Bellini and Mountain Rose
- Stick-on Pearls
- Ribbon
- Circle Punch
- Templates - Butterfly, Tag and Ovals
- Pink Sakura Soufflé Pen
- Butterfly Sequins in Pink and Silver
- Spritz Bottle and Water
- Piece of Bubble Wrap
- Foam Pads
- Heat Tool
Step by Step:
- Colour the girl stamp in patches with the brush markers and spritz lightly with water before stamping onto white cardstock. Dry with a heat tool.
 - Cut around the girl in an oval shape. Back onto a slightly larger oval cut from white cardstock and cover the exposed edges with white glitter.
 - Stamp the eye onto white cardstock in the same way, add a dot of white glitter in the highlight of the eye, then cut out.
 - Draw the tag shape onto the shrink plastic and cut out. Edge with a brush marker and smudge. Use the fine end of the brush markers to write words ‘whisper’, ‘secret’", ‘giggle’, ‘conspire’ etc. These will appear very small when the tag is shrunk! Punch a hole at the end of the tag using a small circle punch (a hole from an eyelet punch or Crop-A-Dile will be too small). Shrink with a heat tool. When cool, use the Paint Dabbers to give an opaque layer of Peach Bellini to the back of the tag, then edge with Mountain Rose. Tie a pink ribbon through the hole.
- On a scrap piece of acetate, colour patches with the brush markers and spritz with water. Then press a square of thin white card onto it, allowing the colours to blend into each other. Dry the card with a heat tool and use the template to cut out a butterfly shape. Using the brush markers to ink up parts of the Alchemy Symbol stamps, add a symmetrical pattern to the butterfly. Edge with pink glitter and add stick on pearls.
- Edge the card blank with Peach Bellini and then use bubble wrap to stamp a background in peach and Mountain Rose. Arrange the elements and stick to the card, raising the butterfly's wings slightly with foam pads.
- Use the soufflé pen to write ‘Every girl has her secrets’ in one corner and add the butterfly sequins around this.
Hidden Treasures
 We used:
- Artifacts Beauty Unmounted Plate UM026
- Acetate
- Black Cardstock
- White Cardstock
- Black Jewellery Box Blank (about 12 x 16cm)
- Hazelnut Adirondack Paint Dabber
- Sakura Soufflé Pens in Pink and Blue
- Black Pen
- Gold and Clear Embossing Powder
- Black Brilliance Ink Pad
- Walnut Distress Ink Pad
- Nordic Ice Opalite Ink Pad
- Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Gold
- Gold Glitter Glue
- Heat Tool
- Craft Knife
- Old Credit Card
Step by Step:
- On a scrap of white card, stamp the eye in black ink. Carefully colour in with the soufflé pens and cut out with a craft knife.
- Cut out equal sized rectangles (about 5 x 7cm), two from black card and one from acetate. From one piece of black card, cut out a keyhole shape.
 - Ink the card in gold Alcohol Ink. Use a black pen to draw a border and add the impression of a screw at each corner. Stick the acetate to the back of this.
- On the other black card, stamp a few rows of ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’ in Nordic Ice.
- Stick the eye at the top where the round part of the keyhole will be, then fix the keyhole and acetate over the top.
- Cut a rectangle of white card just smaller than the lid of the box. Cover this with the Hazelnut Paint Dabber. Using the edge of an old credit card, create the wood grain by dipping it in the walnut ink and running it in straight lines up and down the card.
 - Stamp the Alchemy Symbols in black down the left hand side and emboss with clear powder.
 - Stamp the crown in the bottom right and emboss in gold. Attach the keyhole to the top right. Fix the whole panel to the lid of the box.
 - Around the base of the box, repeatedly stamp ‘A thing of beauty...’ and emboss in gold. Add dots of gold glitter glue in between.
The Finished Pieces
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Japanese Lace Paper Set
