Sampler

My sisters are very supportive of me and my stamping habit so for big sister's birthday I wanted to make something 3D using my stamps.  During one of my stints on Pinterest I saw something called a Sampler by Diana Gibbs and thought this might be just the thing.  

You can view Diana's version here  and Cecile Ortiz's original inspiration here.

Neither of them give much information about sizes and details, and you may just have to brush up on your French to read Cecile's blog, but sometimes all you need is the idea.  

I used my trusty square dies and a friend's scalloped square dies and then just went through all my stamp sets for appropriate images for each square.  A few are direct copies of Diana and Cecile, lots of stamps are borrowed, a few stamps are mine and most are from Stampin' Up sets. 

 All of the squares are sponged with Crumb Cake on Vanilla cardstock, some with backgrounds and all have parts of the square with something popped up on them.  In the end I had to call in some technical assistance to have the typewriter and sewing machine scanned from the catalogue cause I couldn't find anyone with these sets.  

Once the panels were all made up I stuck them down on a sheet of DSP that had grid lines on it to make it easier to line up.  Then I had the family searching the shops for frames.  We found a few different sorts but I came back to this one.  

Then there was the trouble to post it off.  I went to a local post office and asked for advice on how to send it to Queensland, but the helpful (NOT) assistant informed me that as it was glass she didn't know.  So I asked again the best way to post it and was pointed towards the boxes and padded bags.  Yes I did see them but what would be best to use, that was my question.  In the end I couldn't find a box big enough with packing so it came back home and hubbie found me a courier to deliver it.  Arrived next day with no damage. And my sister loves it.  Phew!

I had so much fun making this that I am working on a couple more for family members, and one for myself too.  I will make sure that I hand deliver these ones.