Tuesday, February 25, 2014

IN LOVE WITH IKAT (ee-kot)

On Monday and Tuesday, UPS delivered a box filled with goodies, and one of the fun products was the Eye-Catching Ikat photopolymer stamp set.  If you're like me, you've wondered about "ikat", so I did a little research.  Really . . . it was just a tiny bit of research, and I found a definition worth accepting HERE.  That explains why the images seem a little hazy and misshapen; however, it would seem that this stamp set should have been named "Eee-Kotching Ikat", which might help to pronounce it correctly.  ;-)  I'll betcha can't say it as fast now that you know how to pronounce it, huh?  I'll be 100% honest with you.  When I first laid eyes on this stamp set--on the day that it was unveiled and available for purchase--I didn't give it a two-second glance.  Actually, I was disappointed that it wasn't something useful or fun or . . . nice.  Since I'm busy truthing, I'll also admit that I have yet to find project samples that made me have to have this set.  I love photopolymer stamp sets and, after going back again and again to look at this set and wonder WHY it couldn't have been something else, I began to realize that it had the potential to be a set that I'd like.  Just look at all of the assorted images that I could use to create backgrounds or dress up a portion of a project!
And so, Eye-Catching Ikat got added to my cart, and let me just tell you that I am in L♥VE with it!  I played with it all afternoon yesterday, and it wasn't because I didn't have other new stamp sets--between Monday and Tuesday, I received SIX new sets, and this is the only one that's touched ink so far.
About my project . . . it's a gift card holder!  Notice the skinny piece of card stock sticking out from the punched semi-circle on the left, under the ribbon?  If you look closely, you can see where I used Stampin' Up!'s new Perforating Blade and, when that skinny Crisp Cantaloupe tab is pulled, the card stock gets whisked away to reveal a gift card.  How fun is that?!?!  Of course, my white card stock was stamped with ikat images using Crisp Cantaloupe and Old Olive ink, and I also stamped a few dots (from the Happy Watercolor stamp set) using Sahara Sand ink and black ink was used to stamp the sentiment, which is from A Dozen Thoughts stamp set.  The flower . . . oh, that flower is such a dream!  I used the brand new Spiral Flower die to cut a piece of glittery felt, and it was a breeze to roll into shape.  Seriously, if you have that die and haven't used it with felt before, you simply must.  With paper or card stock, you normally would roll the flowers tightly, but you don't have to do that with felt and it's sooooooo much easier to hold onto.  I'm getting ready to make another gift card holder and, yes, I'm going to give the card stock a pretty ikat design, probably using the same images because I love the look.  The photo isn't very good, but to the right is a scrap piece of card stock that I stamped with images using one color of (Crisp Cantaloupe) ink.  Can you see how fun this stamp set is?!?!  Just click HERE to shop with me and add Eye-Catching Ikat to your collection!

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