by Mickie Sutcliffe
We thought it would be good to involve Guild Members in the Guild magazine, so we have set up 3 Design Teams each consisting of two Guild Members. The idea is that we will send each team a plate of Artifacts stamps to see what they can come up with. This is brilliant as we all want to get the most out of what we buy and this idea will show us just that.
Last time we started off Mickie Sutcliffe’s projects with her three beautiful cards using the Artifacts Beauty Unmounted plate, as part of our Members Design Team challenges. Here we have the second part of Mickie's projects and, once again, they are lovely and they are very inspiring for us all.
Acetate Sleeve Beauty
 We used:
- Beauty Unmounted Plate – Artifacts UM026
- Mauve Pearlescent Card
- Acetate
- Cartridge Paper
- Twinkling H2Os or other Shimmer Paint in Purple, Green and Slate blue
- Black StazOn Ink Pad
- Pearl Brad
- Double-sided Tape
- Flower Punch
Step by Step:
- Make a 130mm square card from the pearlescent card. This card has a top fold.
- Take the acetate and cut to the same width as the mauve card but about 15mm longer to form the overlap. Fold the acetate so that it completely covers the front of the card and overlaps the top. Don’t stick it down at this stage.
- Using the Twinkling H2Os paint a series of stripes on the cartridge paper, overlapping the colours. Leave to dry.
- Ink up the stamp with StazOn and stamp onto the acetate so that it is 20mm from the left-hand edge and about 10mm down from the fold. Leave to fully dry.
- Now take the painted cartridge paper and cut an oblong to fit the stamp. Apply double-sided tape to the back.
- Attach the StazOn stamped acetate to the Mauve card with a strip of double-sided tape at the back.
 - Hold the acetate flat onto the front of the mauve card so that the painted oblong can be positioned directly beneath the stamped image. Stick the oblong down.
 - Punch a flower shape from the left over painted cartridge paper and push the brad through the centre, then make a small hole in the acetate at the bottom right corner of the stamped image and affix the flower.
Beauty Box
 We used:
- Beauty Plate of Unmounted Stamps – Artifacts UM026
- A5 Sheet of Purple Metal
- Thin Purple A4 Card cut to 210mm x 210mm retain waste
- Thin Blue A4 card cut to 205mm x 205mm, retain waste
- Black StazOn Ink Pad
- Adirondack Denim Ink Pad
- Clear Embossing Powder
- Scrap of Vellum
- Basic Metal Working Tool Kit (- paper stump, regular embossing tools and a candle)
- Metal Working Mat Set (or three mouse mats, one hard, one soft, one softer)
- Pearl Sticky Backed Gem
- Bone Scorer
- PVA Glue
- Metallic Butterflies
- Dense Foam Double-sided Very Sticky Tape
Step by Step:
 - Lightly draw a pencil line from corner to corner on both pieces of the A4 thin card, to form a cross (x).
 - Take the blue card and fold the points to the centre of the cross, one by one. Crease edges carefully using bone folder.
 - Then fold one long edge to the centre and fold the opposite side to meet the first. Crease edges with bone folder.
 - Open out card and you should see a large square in the centre. Draw a line from the top left-hand corner of that square to the outside edge of the paper. Draw another line from the bottom right-hand corner of that square. Do the same on the opposite side of the large square.
 - Now cut carefully down the lines to the square BUT don't cut into the large square.
 - Fold the uncut points to the middle again and fold the long side so that it stands up.
 - Take the free ends and fold along the length of this stand up fold. Then open out so that the ends are at right angles to the stand up fold. Do this on both sides.
 - Now take a long pointed end and fold it up and over the stand up so that it holds the shape and the triangle fold at the end is in the base of the box. Do the same on the other side.
- Repeat for the base of the box using purple square. From the left over pieces of card, cut a square to fit in the bottom of each box unit.
 - Using Adirondack Denim ink stamp the Eye centrally in the piece that will be used for the inside lid of the box and emboss using the clear embossing powder.
- Using the Beauty Lies stamp and black StazOn, stamp onto the vellum scrap and leave to dry. When completely dry, tear the edges close to the words and lay at an angle across the piece of card that fits the base of the box.
 - Apply PVA to one of the butterflies and stick down on the edge of the stamped vellum so that it will secure it to the box base. Do the same with the other butterfly. Leave to dry. Now glue the relevant pieces to the inside of the lid and the inside of the bottom of the box.
 - Take the metal sheet and cut out a piece to fit the top of the box. Lightly mark the centre and ink up the stamp with black StazOn and stamp onto the metal to form a cross (+) with the bottom circular detail of the stamp overlapping each time to form a circle, or almost a circle! Then using the stamp the other way up, stamp into each corner with the circle detail in the corner.
- Now work the metal. Place metal right side up on hardest mat and using nylon tip or orange stick outline the symbols, then place metal wrong side up on softer mat and using nylon tip draw along each side of the lines made previously. Transfer metal right side up to softest mat and using paper stump work the metal so that the embossing stands proud. Apply dense foam double-sided very sticky tape to the underside not quite up to the edges and adhere to top of box.
 - From the remaining metal, cut four strips wide enough to accommodate the sides of the box lid. Stamp and emboss as before but this time, have the symbol with the circle end to the short edges. Apply really sticky double-sided foam tape and adhere to box. Stick Pearl Gem to centre circle on metal lid. Slip top of box over the bottom and that's it.
Gift Bag
 We used:
- Artifacts Beauty Plate – UM026
- Sheet of A4 White Paper
- Adirondack Denim Blue Ink Pad
- Brilliance Ink Pad - Peacock
- Blue Cord for Handles
- Double-sided Sticky Tape
- Clear Shrink Plastic
- 2 ½ inch Circle Punch
- Heat Tool
- 3 Jump Rings
- Violet Zig Metallic Writer
- Bag Template from Downloads Section
- Heat Tool
Step by Step:
- First off all to make the paper for the bag.
Stamp symbol just off centre of the A4 paper, using first generation ink, i.e. ink stamp up prior to making the impression.
This is the next step in the stamping sequence.
Step 3 in the sequence and then continue until the sheet is covered.
 - Use the Gift Bag template to cut out the bag and fold the bag, remembering to punch out holes for the carrier handles prior to sticking the sides and bottom flaps together with double-sided tape. Full instructions for this bag can be found in Jane’s book – Simply Sensational Rubber Stamping.
- Thread blue tubular cord through holes on one side of bag and knot together securely. Repeat on the other side of the bag.
- Take the shrink plastic and punch out three discs. Then using a small diameter punch, make a hole near the edge in each of the discs. Ink the Symbol stamp using only the blue end of the Peacock ink pad and stamp onto shrink plastic taking care not to slip. (If you do slip you can quickly wipe off the smudge and start again). Stamp a different design on each of the discs. Do not worry if image seems faint, it will darken as it shrinks. Using a heat tool, shrink the discs and making sure they are flat, leave to cool.
- Colour the unstamped side of the discs using the Violet Metallic Writer and leave to dry. Tie fancy fibres to one side of one handle. Decide on preferred length of each cord and tie a firm knot just above where it is to be trimmed. Then affix shrink plastic discs to cords using jump rings.
 ...and to complete Mickie's projects we have an ATC We used:
- Beauty Plate – Artifacts UM026
- Off-cuts from Blue Card
- Blue VersaFine Ink Pad
- Craft Wire
- Chalks
- Small Glass Beads + 1 Larger Coloured Bead
- Micro-beads in Blue/Yellow Mix
- Double-sided Tape
- Needle Tool
Step by Step:
- Stamp Beauty onto card and lightly colour over using chalks in colours of choice.
- Make a necklace using craft wire with small beads threaded on and with the coloured bead in the middle. Using the needle tool, make a small hole either side of Beauty's neck and thread the ends of the wire through. Twist ends together to secure.
- Make a frame round the ATC with double-sided tape and pour over the micro-beads. Put a similar size piece of card on top of the ATC and press down evenly to adhere the beads. Shake off surplus beads and your ATC is ready to swap.
Many thanks to Mickie for all her projects. I am sure you will agree that they are most inspiring!
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Japanese Lace Paper Set
I love the acetate work.
