Rich and I went to the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo in Akron, Ohio, and the Stamplistic booth had a terrific make and take….I had to give it a try. You can do this same technique with a Mandala, as an fyi.
Starting with four identical stamped images on different colors of cardstock, you’ll need to cut the design out. The first image you’ll cut out the full image, then the next, you’ll cut out portions of the image, then next you cut even more of the design, and finally, the center is all you’ll leave behind. If you’ve cut too much off the edges of the image, take a black Sharpie (or any black marker) and go around the outside of the image to make sure the black lines are all visible. Put foam squares under the layers and attach them to each other..they used black foam squares and showed how they appear as a shadow vs white ones, that you can definitely see between the layers…Once all four pieces are attached, you’ll use a glue pen, (I used a Quickie glue pen..link http://tinyurl.com/yaovexyb) You’ll use the glue pen for any section of the design that you’d like to have glitter on..The Quickie glue pen goes on blue and dries clear, so you’ll wait for it to dry before adding glitter. They sell a glitter brush called a Sparkle Sweeper, here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/y9yyvqbc (I found it to be too big for me.)
They also sell a tool to pick up small embellishments called a Crystal Katana and here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/ydhejh56   I’m going to be doing a comparison of a bunch of embellishment pickers in the near future, so you might want to wait for that before buying a tool for this.
I used Glossy Accents to adhere the crystals…They use Swarovski crystals and here’s the link to theirs. http://tinyurl.com/ybdqjeqe
The stamp I used for the make n’ take is called the Echo Mini and here’s the link to it: http://tinyurl.com/y7vr8ghh
After I got home, I decided to turn my make n’ take into a card and used a blue mirrored card stock from Crafter’s Companion that I bought on HSN.com.  I used an embossing folder called Batik Floral from Cuttlebug and Anna Griffin and ran it through the Vagabond. I cut some black fun foam to go between my layers and used wet glue to adhere the black foam to the back of the embossed blue layer. I wanted to use ribbon on my card, but didn’t have the right color green to match, so I took a green ribbon, and the right color green Spectrum Noir alcohol marker, and colored the ribbon to match the bottom layer of the make ‘n take…It’s a great way to make your ribbon stash go a lot further…
One of my crystals had fallen off the make n’ take, so I had to improvise…I took a crystal from a set I’d bought from Aliexpress that was clear, and colored that with an alcohol marker. Here’s a link to the crystals.. http://tinyurl.com/y92slanu
I added the green ribbon near the bottom of the embossed image, and glued it to the back of the foam, and added a knot to the front…I used a sentiment from Inky Antics called Simple Sentiments for the inside of the card. I used Gina K’s black amalgam ink for the sentiment. Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/ycjf6eaf
My initial take on the amalgam ink is that it’s very juicy and you need to be very gentle while inking, otherwise you over-ink…Otherwise, I liked the ink.
The new tape runner I am using is from Amazon and it’s from Plus corporation, here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/yby36suc The initial runner is almost $8, but I bought 10 refills for $17.99 and here’s the link to them: http://tinyurl.com/yavksfwj I decided that buying eleven total tape runners for $26 wasn’t a bad deal.
I got some ink on the bottom of the card, so used my Tombow sand eraser to take it off…You can find these in most craft stores, and here’s a link to them. http://tinyurl.com/ybbtw8t3.  I used the stamp I had made at Stampanda for the back of the card.

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