The Stamps of Life

VALENTINE PENGUIN

| Lisa K

I had fun with a penguin and Valentine theme today.

https://daranddiane.blogspot.com/2022/02/hearts-challenge.html
https://shoppingourstash.blogspot.com/2022/02/sos463-my-heart-beets-for-you.html https://colorfuloptions.blogspot.com/2022/02/february-2022.html

This penguin is from Gerda Steiner Designs Valentine Penguin along with the greeting. The letters are stamped from The Stamps of Life lovebugs2stamp. I embossed the bottom of the card with a folder from Stampin’Up, retired. I added the red hearts across the card with a border die from Sizzix, also retired. The small hearts were punched with the Owl Builder Punch from SU.

https://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/3070834?&cat=all&what=keywords&si=SC891

I used the above sketch in creating this card. I group the hearts and letters as one unit and the penguin a unit, so that makes the three units down the left side. It has been quite a while since I used one of the sketches and this was a joy to work with.

There are red heart on the Double D Challenge mood board, so I am adding it to that challenge. The Shopping Our Stash challenge is to use hearts or vegetables. I chose to use hearts. Another challenge was brought to my attention, Colorful Options. February’s challenge is to use the color red.

Party balloons

| Lisa K

Off to a new year with Party Balloons!

https://daranddiane.blogspot.com/2022/01/party-balloons-challenge.html
http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/2022/01/seize-birthday-229-blue-and-gray.html

A celebration is not complete without party balloons. These balloons were die cut using Lawn Fawn Party Balloons dies and an assortment of cardstock scraps. The greeting is from Lawn Fawn Wavy Sayings along with a matching die. I made a frame using The Stamps of Life Stitched Rectangles. I added a bit of twine to each balloon from my twine stash from SU Paper Pumpkin kits. A bit of sparkle was added to each balloon. The star background is from a retired MFT birthday paper pack. I know whoever receives this card will love the sparkle and enjoy the party atmosphere.

Deer, trees, and snow

| Lisa K

I created a fun card that will work for several challenges.

https://modsquadchallenge.com/animal-themed-holiday/
https://daranddiane.blogspot.com/2021/11/trees.html
http://mmmchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2021/11/162-cute-christmas.html
http://www.global-design-project.com/2021/11/global-design-project-319-theme.html

First challenge is Mod Squad with the animal themed holiday. I made this deer to have a red nose like Rudolph. This is definitely a Christmas themed card with the lights and red nose. I didn’t have a suitable Merry Christmas that would really fit, so I went with the greetings from the stamp set. This stamp set is Snow Wonderful by Your Next Stamp.

Second Challenge is Double D with trees. This evergreen tree was blended with a stencil from Newton’s Nook, called Evergreen. I cut a small portion of the trees out to use on this card.

The Third challenge is Make My Monday Challenge with Cute Christmas. I think this image with the girl and her reindeer are cute. It was fun to color.

The Fourth challenge is Global Design Project with Christmas. This card will be mailed for Christmas.

The snowflake background was created with a die from The Stamps of Life. I used and glitter cardstock placed on a blue background. Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops were added to the snowflakes, the tree, the lights, the reindeer nose, and the greeting.

This was fun card to create. I was thrilled to find several challenges to share this with. Thanks for looking and reading this long post.

Spooky house

| Lisa K

I have a Halloween card created for specific person. A young lady has gone through a terrible car accident and is in a nursing home learning to walk and balance again. She needs cheering up and loves Halloween. My goal is for this card to bring a smile to her face.

https://twooldbatshalloweenchallenge.blogspot.com/2021/09/september-anything-halloween.html

The card front has an ink blended background using Lawn Fawn blues and purple inks with a bit of Gina K Designs Black Onyx. The house is from The Stamps of Life hauntedhouse2stamp colored with alcohol markers. The ghosts and moon came from the same set. The pumpkin is from goodies4wheelbarrow. I wanted a tree and the tree I used is from Maymay Made It called Sittin’Tree. It is fussy cut out as there are no dies for the manual machine.

Spooky House inside

The inside brings fun with Paper Smooches ghoulfriends set. I love the greeting! I am sure this will bring a smile to the young lady’s face.

This card will be entered in the Two Old Bats Halloween Challenge.

Circus Seal

| Lisa K

Taking inspiration from buddy Gayle and one of her challenges, I went to my stamp room and began finding stamps, a stencil and dies that worked for the Circus Themed challenge at The Sisterhood of Crafters.

http://thesisterhoodofcrafters.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-greatest-show-on-earth.html

To find the help I needed, I searched Pinterest for Circus. A seal photo popped up in my search and I knew I had a stamp set purchased around 2013 from Gina K Designs, illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger called Jumping for Joy and it contains a seal, the ball, and the jumping platform as well as other animals. I stamped and then masked the seal, then placed the jumping platform and ball around the seal. Next obstacle was to create a background that looked like a circus. I spotted a stencil that was laying nearby and realized it would make the perfect tent like background. I chose to use a red Copic marker for tracing the lines. This stencil is from Spellbinders and Fun Stampers Journey called Sunny Day Stencil. I realized my tent needed something like curtains or banners. I had a banner close by that had not been colored or die cut, so I colored and cut it with the die, then proceeded to cut two more. I popped a set up for dimension. I made a ticket from The Stamps of Life ticket2stamp which I own dies for, so cutting was easy. Then came the stars. I often use a die from Lawn Fawn to cut small stars and this time I took a scrap piece of cardstock and colored it with the blue Copic marker that was used on the banner and the ball center. Finally everything looks like a circus. I added a lot of sparkle to make the stars and banner shine.

Thanks for reading my process. I enjoyed creating this and using so many items just sitting in my craft room begging to be used.

Crushing on Cardstock Day 4 backgrounds

| Lisa K

I have been using Day 4 background ideas for a few cards.

Happy Birthday

For this card I used a My Favorite Things background stamp, a die from The Stamps of Life, and the butterfly using my Spellbinders Hot Foil machine.

Floral Hi

I used a SU 3D embossing folder on this card along with a stamp set from Unity Stamps. The die is from The Stamps of Life.

I enjoyed the different kinds of backgrounds created by Keisha Charles on Day 4. This is a small look at the kind she created.

Inlaid Floral Hello

| Lisa K

This card will be in two places. It uses only dies, so it will be used for the August Challenge Your Stash card with Split Coast Stampers. I used the idea from Online Card Classes Crushing on Cardstock.

Inlaid Floral Hello

I have used inlaid die cutting on cards before, but not to this extent. I used the Fun Flower Slimline Panel Die from The Stamps of Life along with cardstock from TSOL. I think the blue is Sky, yellow is Banana, and the red is Strawberry, all from the Cardstock Set 2. The white came from a stash of scraps, but I am sure it is Spectrum Noir Ultra Smooth White. The hello is a die from Gina K Designs. In the class in each lesson, it seems they are stacking the die for dimension, so mine is stacked with 2 layers of Strawberry CS and one layer of white. The last time I used inlaid die cutting, it was for a small butterfly, so this was a first for me. I have never used this floral die and gave the inlaid a try. Well, I lost one of the red pieces as it never cut, so I ended up with a white piece. I forgot to look for a matching marker to color the piece, so it is white. I like the card as it is colorful. I am sure the person who will receive this will not notice the bloom I lost.

Sympathy

| Lisa K

Everybody needs a sympathy card on hand and they can be difficult to create when needed. I made one for the Mod Squad Challenge to keep on hand.

https://modsquadchallenge.com/with-sympathy/

I found this idea on Pinterest. I added more water than the one I found and use different inks and a different sentiment, but the rest is the same. The stamp sets used are High Tide by Stampin Up and sign4words by The Stamps of Life. I used Lawn Fawn inks for the water, birds and greeting, and Memento ink for the sky. The gems are from Hobby Lobby.

Hapbee Birthday 2 You

| Lisa K

With inspiration from buddy Gayle, I pulled out several bee stamps and ideas began flowing. My card is a bit different for me, as I rarely create cards using several company stamp sets and/or dies.

http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.com/2021/07/pp550-clean-and-simple-challenge-from.html

I started with Paper Smooches stamps. The bee came from Courteous Cuties and the greeting “hapbee birthday” came from More Courteous Cuties. I decided to stamp the bee near the top, so I cut the greeting apart and placed it around the bee. I saw an idea where the hexagon was cut with a number 2 on it, so I used my hexagon dies from The Stamps of Life along with the stamp set minihexagons4backgrounds, where I heat embossed it with white embossing powder. The number 2 is from graduation2celebrate and matching dies, also The Stamps of Life. The word “you” is alphabet stamps from Hero Arts. I felt the card front needed something else, so I began with the stitched rectangle die from The Stamps of Life, but that wasn’t enough as it still looked too plain. Out came the Cuttlebug Hexagon embossing folder. I like the embossing as it looks like a bee hive.

This will also be added to the MISTI challenge at Split Coast Stampers. This month’s challenge is to use numbers and/or alphabet.

I like how the card came out. It was fun creating.