So Very Thankful card {Paper Crafter's Library, Fancy Pants, The Stamps of Life}

Hello friends! Have you heard of Paper Crafter's Library? It's a website with an active crafty blog, featuring a weekly Trend Watch, Featured Companies, Featured Artist/Designer Spotlights, video tutorials, and lots of creative inspiration. I'm over at Paper Crafter's Library today, as their featured designer, and I'm sharing a card featuring Fancy Pants and The Stamps of Life. Would you like a sneak peek?????

Come on over and join me at Paper Crafter's Library to see the whole thing! 

xoxo

birdies4birdcages {The Stamps of Life}

I've been waiting and WAITING to share this card with you, because I just love it so much! This card features new stamps from The Stamps of Life, birdies4birdcages, which coordinates with the previously released birdcage2stamp. This also marks my very last project, designing for The Stamps of Life. I'm sure I'll share a project here and there featuring these sweet stamps, but my time designing with TSOL has ended. It's been an awesome blessing to work with Stephanie for the past five years, and I'll be excited to see all the cute new stamps she releases in the future! 

So on this card, I used some vellum, (which we may have discussed a time or two, that I'm smitten with lately!) Layering vellum BEHIND cardstock is a fun technique, and it's easy-peasy, because your adhesive can hide behind the cardstock. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! If you head on over to the TSOL gallery, you'll see lots of birdie inspiration with these new stamps! Have a beautiful day, my friends! xoxo 

birdcage2stamp {The Stamps of Life}

Hi friends! As promised, I'm back today with some cards! These both feature new stamps from The Stamps of Life, called birdcage2stamp. (The coordinating dies will be available on April 20th.) These birdies are so very cute! The outline and the solid image are separate stamps, perfect for mixing and matching. 

And the dies. . . . well, they are just beautiful! Isn't this birdcage stunning!? I die-cut the background layers from vellum to give it a subtle background, and I just love the way the colors came together. 

And here's the inside of the card, with a few more die-cut birds!

Thanks so much for coming by today! Please head over to the TSOL website to check out all the samples in the gallery, plus perhaps peruse the shop a little bit! :) Have a beautiful day! And Happy Easter!

How To Make Simple Cards with Word Dies {The Stamps of Life}

My goodness, hello friends - I've kinda been missing you! (Not kinda. . .I've definitely been missing you!) After almost a week in Phoenix, I left again two days later for our family vacation. I am not used to traveling so much, so it was a mixture of good but exhausting fun! I am absolutely a homebody. It takes a LOT of days in my house, before I start going stir-crazy. 

Despite traveling, and catching up this week, I've  been working like a crafting maniac who's fingers are on fire. The only problem. . . I can't show you anything that I've created these past two weeks. That will sort of be the nature of my new job with Fun Stampers Journey - a lot of what I create will be for catalogs, and features on the RG/FSJ websites -so you won't get to see them right away. 

But today, I have two cards that I CAN share with you. They both feature word dies from The Stamps of Life. I am obsessed - seriously OBSESSED with word dies lately. They are easy and fun, and can add such a pop of color to a card. On this first card, I used the hello die, from the Bicycle Club Die Set, (which coordinates with the bicycle2stamp set.) It has the word, and the background to layer together - such a fun way to play with colors! The scalloped border is a Sizzix die from the Word Labels set.

I guess today is as good a day as any, to tell you that after the April releases at TSOL, I will no longer be on the team there. I have been at The Stamps of Life for over five years, and it's been such fun - seriously, one of the best companies I have designed for. It's been a great team, and a great place for me to grow and create. I've met a lot of sweet, crafty people - many of you who follow my blog, found me there . . . and I hope you'll still come and visit me! But enough of that business - onward to the next card. . . this Thinking of You die was also just released, and again - it has the sentiment, plus the background layer. You can use them together, or use the sentiment on it's own. I also used the Fancy Labels Framelits dies - these have been some of my favorites of all the Framelits dies. I just love the shape!

Okay my friends. . . .have a beautiful rest of your week! Thanks so much for coming by, especially when I disappear for a week or two at a time! I have to totally readjust my life to working part time, even though it's from home - I have to learn to limit my distractions (i.e.: laundry, Facebook, napping,  stepping on Legos, etc etc) and find my groove. But I'll get there, and hopefully I'll get back on a blogging schedule too! Hugs, my friends! xoxo

TSOL and Sizzix products used on these projects:

On Hello card-

Bicycle Club Die Set

Word Labels

On Thinking of You-

Thinking of You die

Fancy Labels Framelits dies

The Stamps of Life Celebrate Collection patterned paper

The Stamps of Life Ocean Yardstick

Ocean Aqua Grosgrain Ribbon

Wheely Great Handmade Cards - bicycle2stamp {The Stamps of Life}

Hello crafty friends! Today I'm happy to introduce you to a clear stamp set that's just perfect for springtime handmade cards and crafts. Please meet bicycle2stamp from The Stamps of Life. 

This set includes a big bike, as well as the small little petite bike on my first card. (Isn't it adorable!? Mini bike! So fun!)

s

On the last card, I pulled out the vellum again. (I can't stop with the vellum lately!) I stamped the bikes all over the card, and I colored them with markers. Then I stamped the sentiment on vellum and attached it with a staple at the top. Staples are a great way to attach vellum (as long as it matches the style you're going for.)

I'm so glad you stopped by today! If you'd like to check out some more WHEELY great inspiration, stop by The Stamps of Life. There are design team samples and lots of fun inspiration!

Let's connect again soon! Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest where I'm sharing crafty goodness every day of the week! Don't want to miss a blog post? Click subscribe up in the sidebar!

Looking for more bicycle stamps and craft supplies? Check out a few of my other favorites: 

(this list contains affiliate links)

Bike Die Set from Impression Obsession

Like Riding a Bicycle Red Rubber Stamp

Bike Life Stamp Set from FSJ 

Something Old, Something New! {The Stamps of Life}

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends! I thought that today I'd pop in with a few oldie-but-goodie Valentine's projects from The Stamps of Life. I'd also like to offer a great big WELCOME, because we have a whole bunch of new designers joining the team. I hope you'll go and visit them, and say HELLO! 

Paige Grabau

Jodi Wilton 

Jennie Harper  

Cibele Glazer 

Mynnette Kitchen 

Kendra Sand

Vicki Dutcher 

Ceal Pritchett   

Amber Kroening   

Monica Edwards  

And while you're at it, feel free to visit the returning designers too!

Anna Wight 

Beverly Sizemore 

Emily Niehaus

Jeanne Streiff   

Judy Rozema 

Kristine Reynolds  

Vanessa Buzard  

We usually treat Valentine's Day as a family event, so the four of us are going to make cheese fondue, and chocolate fondue for dinner tonight, and just hang out! Last week we made a Valentine's box, and we've been adding little notes and Valentine's to it all week, so we'll open that out tonight and share them. My five year old, who's getting really good at writing, has had an especially fun time, because this is the first year he can WRITE his own notes!!!! It's so cute! Here's one of my favorites, that he made a few days ago:

I helped him draw the little heart at the end, but he did all the rest himself! I just love it! I hope you have a super fab weekend, whatever you're up to! Thanks so much for stopping by! xoxo

The Stamps of Life stamps on these projects:
love2diefor
hearts2diefor
youare2square

cat2stamp {The Stamps of Life}

Me and cats. . .we aren't fond of each other. I'm just not a pet person. I'm allergic to cats, which probably has something to do with my feelings about them! BUT. . .that all being said, how cute is this fluffy new cat from The Stamps of Life!? Thankfully kitty cat stamps don't make me sneeze, because I had a blast making some cards with cat2stamp!

First up, I diecut a circle from the front of my card, and adhered a panel of patterned paper inside. I stamped and diecut the cat from patterned paper. (I just love subtle patterned paper like this - those polka-dots are a fun detail on the cat! These papers are from DCWV.) I added some die cut flowers, and a sentiment to the front. Sweet and simple - it's the way I roll!

In this second photo, you can see the inside of the card. I added a few more diecut flowers, plus another sentiment. 

On the next card, I added some of the cute accessories with my kitty. For some reason, I just think that kitty dish is adorable. And the coordinating dies make pulling a card together so quickly! (I'm happy I didn't have to trim around all that fluffy fur!)

This last one is my favorite though. . . .I had this new twine from Close To My Heart, and with the spool patterned paper in the background, I just love it! I just played around with the twine until it looked tangled up around the cat, and then I added dots of glue to secure it. This patterned paper is from Carta Bella's Sew Lovely collection.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'll be back on Wednesday. . .with something FUN! (Oh wait - I'm always fun. Silly me! haha!) Have a gorgeous week, my friends! xoxo

Handwritten Love Die & Shadow {The Stamps of Life}

Valentine's Day is coming! I may have mentioned that I am not so great at sending out Valentine cards. I'm generally not so great at making them either. Glitter and fluff are not really my thing. I often have to remind myself that Valentines don't have to be fluffy and dipped in glitter. So today, I'd like to share some NON fluffy and NON glittery Valentines. The colors are pretty bold, and pretty PINK - these are probably cards for your girlfriends, and not for a man, (and particularly not for my ten year old boy. He'd probably run away making vomiting sounds if he even looked at these!) 

These cards all feature the new Handwritten Love Die & Shadow from The Stamps of Life. It's two dies, that can be used together, as seen below (the striped pattern is the shadow, and then orange part is . . .yes, you guessed it - the word.) The word can also be used on it's on, as seen on the above card. 

On the card above I used the brushstroke2stamp set and I inked the brushstroke in a few different colors of pigment ink. Then once it was dry, I diecut the sentiment from it, and adhered the panel to a white card base, so what you're seeing is the negative space from the sentiment. (If you try this, be sure to keep track of the little inside pieces of the letters - you'll need to adhere those to the card once its assembled!)

Then, on this next card, I used the love sentiment that I diecut from that last card - so you can see just barely the brushstroke texture on the sentiment. I paired it with the hearts2cut set and combined some ink colors together to match the sentiment. 

Last but not least, this is probably as clean and simple as I can do. . . .white card base. Pink strip. Diecut sentiment from white. Adhere. Done. Need to create 100 Valentines? This is the card for you. (But seriously. . .that would still be insane!)

You can find the Handwritten Love Die & Shadow in the TSOL store today! Thanks so much for coming by. . .now get started on those Valentines! xoxo

Thank you So Much (featuring ribbonbanner2stamp from The Stamps of Life}

Hello friends! Happy Friday! Seriously - shouldn't it be like, October? I'm trying desperately not to let the days fly by - and yet the ARE. I thought I'd share a little thank you card today. Somehow I don't think I shared it when this fun stamp set, ribbonbanner2stamp was released at The Stamps of Life.  The set includes this banner, plus a variety of sentiments to fit inside. I paired it with the Mini Flower dies, which are so fun to use as embellishments and accents.

The patterned papers I used are from Lily Bee. Lily Bee closed a while back, but I have hoarded the remaining paper I had - it's such a fun combination of funky, shabby, chic. And well. . .you know. . .aqua.

I'm so thankful for all the visitors I've been having lately, on my little blog. Between the farewell hop for Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking, and all the crafty company releases and blog hops, it's been busy around here, and I LOVE it! Thanks so much for coming by! Remember, if you'd like to follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, my links are right up there in the sidebar! Have a great day!

hearts2cut {The Stamps of Life}

Hello friends! There are some sweet new stamps and dies released at The Stamps of Life this week! Today I'd love to share hearts2cut with you. There are stamps and coordinating dies and they'll just be perfect for all kinds of occasions. First up, how about a holiday card with these sweet hearts? I paired the heart with a sentiment from the lights4Christmas set plus Stephanie's Sizzix Tags Framelits set.

Next up, a birthday card. On this card I used another of Stephanie's Sizzix dies. This one along with the sentiment stamp and banner, is from the Banners 2 Framelits set. This is one of those versatile sets that I use over and over again.

And lastly, I used just the dies to create a fun heart collage. This could be a Valentine card, but it would be appropriate any time of the year. That's one reason hearts are so versatile! Perfect for almost any occasion!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Head on over to The Stamps of Life website to see all of the new products being released today, as well as lots of inspiration in the gallery! xoxo

brushstrokes2stamp {The Stamps of Life}

I'm happy to introduce you to brushstrokes2stamp, from The Stamps of Life. 

I had a blast creating backgrounds, sentiments, and designs with this stamp set! 

On this card, I paired brushstrokes2stamp along with new tag dies, that Stephanie Barnard created for Sizzix.  (affiliate link) I'm a sucker for tag dies. They have so many uses, and I love putting them on cards or using them for journaling blocks (plus, well. . .using them as tags.) I stamped the brushstroke in three colors of pigment ink to create this fun effect. Then I died the ribbon to match. I used color-ready ribbon from Close To My Heart, and I just got it slightly wet and then brushed ink onto it. It spread and blended and turned out really fun!

On this card I tapped my stamps into some diluted ink, to create a watercolor effect, and then added a few splotches with a brush. Super simple, but kind of fun, right?

On this last card I overlapped the brushstrokes to create a background and then just stamped my sentiment right on top. I'm just realizing I need to reproduce this card about 20 times, because how EASY is that, and it's the perfect card to mass-produce. I think it will be fun to play with different color combinations too. I know what I'm working on tonight! :)

tictactoe2play{The Stamps of Life}

Tictactoe2play is the newest stamp set from The Stamps of Life.  How CLEVER is this!? Seriously, tic tac toe!? This set of stamps, and the coordinating dies are cute for cards, plus other gifts and creations. I have a few projects to share with you today! Ready? 

Here's a quick tip for adding twine to a card. I wanted the twine to cut across my card at an angle. I used a hole punch and cut out a half-circle, which creates a notch for the twine to rest in. That way it won't slide around. 

On the next card, I stamped my images and sentiments with white pigment ink, on chalkboard paper. It's a quick easy way to create a chalkboard look! 

I hate it when I forget to photograph something important (or cute.) On this last card, I die cut the tic tac toe board from chipboard to give it some nice dimension. On the inside of the card (but not photographed) is a cute little clear envelope that holds the tic tac toe pieces, so that the card can be used as a game board! Fun for a child's birthday card, isn't it?

And last but not least, I created a tic tac toe game pad. I trimmed copy paper and stamped the boards. I added a piece of patterned paper on top, and a slightly larger piece of card stock on the bottom. I folded the top over and stapled it. (The tic tac toe title hides the staples.) I added die cut shapes to the front, and some twine. My kids had fun using up this notepad all at one time!

So here's the deal with the stamps and dies at The Stamps of Life. You can purchase any of the products in the shop at any time, but TSOL also has two great club options as well. You can get the full scoop here on their website. If you love the idea of stamps (and dies) showing up in your mailbox every month, then you might love the club membership! I have to say - the prices are quite reasonable, and the product is TOP NOTCH! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Stop on by the TSOL gallery for lots more tic tac toe inspiration!

weddings and babies, oh my! {The Stamps of Life}

Hello, my friends! Today I thought I'd share a few cards with you, if thats ok. (After all, it's kinda what I do around here.) :) Both of today's cards feature The Stamps of Life, by Stephanie Barnard. I've been working with Stephanie and The Stamps of Life since just after they opened. I had just had a baby, and adding a design team to my life sounded ridiculous. . . .but I couldn't resist. And I'm so glad I didn't! My love for TSOL just keeps growing, so today I have two cards to show you.

The first, features the wedding2celebrate stamp set. I used white pigment ink and stamped on chalkboard paper (I'm pretty sure it's from Echo Park's Capture This Black and White.) The circle pattern paper is Teresa Collins Something Wonderful.

This next card features The Stamps of Life set called morechalksayings2stamp. There are two of these chalk sayings stamp sets so far, and I just adore them both. Chalkboard art continues to be really trendy, and the coordinating banner dies are a lot of fun too! (You can find the original chalksayings2stamp  on the TSOL website as well.)

I just gave this card to a sweet friend of mine who is about to give birth to her second child. I thought it was perfect, because those final days are so exciting, nerve-racking, beautiful, and stressful - all rolled into one! This patterned paper is also from the Something Wonderful collection. . . .fun fact? Teresa Collins herself, handed me this paper pack, when I was in Utah for the Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazine editorial board meetings. We visited the building that My Mind's Eye, Teresa Collins, and Hazel & Ruby share. (I'll admit. . . I was a little star-struck!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope you're able to enjoy every moment of this beautiful day!

If you love these chalk sayings stamps, check out my post featuring chalksayings2stamp.
For more wedding inspiration, check out my post featuring wedding2celebrate

This post contains affiliate links to scrapbook.com. 

Introducing snowman2build {The Stamps of Life}

It's October! I have come to realize something about October. 

I love it more than December.

Is that wrong? :)

October is all about anticipation - anticipation of cooler weather (because here in Florida, we're still waiting,) anticipation of all the fun fall and winter activities, holidays, and events. Certainly, there are fun things to do in the spring and summer. . . but not like THIS time of year. Pumpkins. Fall festivals. Cool weather. Scarves. Pumpkin lattes. Pumpkin bread. Pumpkin butter. Applesauce. Pumpkin pie. Hmm, I seem to have gotten carried away on the pumpkiny delicious aspect of fall. 

At any rate, I love it, so I am SUPER happy that it's HERE. Now I'll desperately try to hold on to each fun and fabulous day of it. 

Speaking of anticipating winter. . . .there are some fun WINTERY new stamps that were just released at The Stamps of Life. Say hello to my snowy friend, snowman2build. This stamp set and dies are really fun to mix and match and personalize your own snowman. Would you like to see what I created? 

 I have to head out to get my mister man from school, so I better cut this short! (I'm confident that he won't consider "Sorry honey, I was writing a blog post" a valid reason for picking him up late!) Have a fabulous day, and be sure to scoot by The Stamps of Life gallery to see the design team's creations using snowman2build! Thanks for stopping by! xoxo

ornaments4Christmas {The Stamps of Life}

Hello friends! No matter the season, it seems I always have a Christmas card to share. By now though, it's becoming reasonable to start thinking about them. Can you believe Costco already has a whole aisle of Christmas decor and supplies?! Seriously - it's right next to the Halloween costumes. {Insert eye roll here.} It used to appear on store shelves the day after Halloween. . . but now, apparently September is appropriate. But I digress - 

ornaments4Christmas and moreornaments4Christmas are two new stamp sets from The Stamps of Life. I loved making fun Christmas ornaments with this stamp set, and its coordinating dies. I especially love die cutting the little ornament hanger from metallic cardstock. It looks so snazzy! 

I love the way the bold colors came together on this For You card. Colors make or break a Christmas card, in my opinion!

I chose some more fun colors for this next card. I cut the ornament from felt so that in theory, you could make this card, and the ornament could be removable, and placed on the recipient's tree! Fun, huh!? 

And last but not least - on this card I used a kraft and gold color combination. I like the contrast between the rustic and the glitzy look on this. It's just sort of unexpected. To add a finishing touch, I added some little clear dots with Tsukineko's new Irresistibles Pico Embellisher. I used the clear one, which I think is my favorite, but it comes in an array of colors too. You can draw or doodle with it, and the clear adds just a fun subtle touch. You can also get this same effect with a dimensional glaze, like Close To My Heart's Liquid Glass. 

There are lots of fabulous cards in the TSOL gallery for ornaments4Christmas - stop by and see them! Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great weekend! xoxo