Single fun!

Stampin' Up! has done it again!  They've released a new set of single stamps that will be available until January 31st, 2014.  What is so special about these single stamps?  They're holiday stamps, which is awesome because one can never have too many of those.  But even better, one of those single stamps lets everyone make a 3-D star without "doing the math".

Remember my posts back in December 2012?  I devoted three of them to making 3-D stars but, because we didn't have a stamp or die to make one, I depended on my protractor and figuring out all the angles, right up to an eight-armed star.  You might want to see the first one which shows how to make the five-armed star.  That's the one which we're going to do today, without having to do a stitch of math.

Introducing item #134813, the Christmas Star.

Pretty, isn't it?  The design is so elegant.  Because it's a solid stamp with only the flourishes and "starburst" lines left uninked, you can make the star any colour you wish.  I decided to stamp mine using Island Indigo.
After all, that's one of the colours in our beautiful Winter Frost Specialty Designer Series Paper.

Yes, you will have to cut it out using your paper snips.  I've left a tiny border of white around the star just to tie in the interior flourishes and lines.  You can see that the star is quite a significant size.  From arm point to arm point, it measures 4 3/8".  Of course it will appear slightly smaller once it is puffed up into a 3-D object, but even then it will measure 4 1/8".

The next step, after cutting the star out, is to use your scoring stylus and run it along the lines, from the point to the indent.  You can use a ruler for this step if you're afraid you'll have wonky lines otherwise.  I put my Silicone Craft Sheet underneath to allow the stylus to leave a generous indent in the paper.

Once you have the score lines, it's easy-peasy.  Just like my tutorial in December's post, you simply make mountains with the long score line from point to centre and valleys with the short score lines from indent to centre.  And there you have it:  a gorgeous 3-D Christmas Star.

If you came to my Open House then you will have made one of these stars just for fun as a "warm-up" before we got to work on the make-n-takes.

What can you do with the star?  Let your imagination be your guide.  You've seen what I did back in December, beginning with the first star.  This time I made a second identical star and then put some dimensionals in strategic spots.

Then I matched them up carefully and they adhered together to make a wonderful double-sided star.  Can't you just imagine a few of these hanging from your tree?

I'm going to play with these and see how they look dressed up with some Dazzling Details.