DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

Hello Folks! Scott here with my ten cards created using the Love From Lizi March 2020 Card Kit. Lizi is calling this kit “A Moment in Time” and it features a bunch of terrific pattern papers, cut apart sheets and an amazing pocket-watch die set.

I was so taken with the large cut apart sheets and the pattern papers, that I decided to let them inspire me through these cards instead of being a slave to the stamp set! As always, I did make my ten card bases from the five sheets of card stock included in the kit.

But, of course, I did start with the large owl stamp from the stamp set! I stamped that on some HA Pitch Black card stock using VersaMark ink and embossed it with the LFL Golden Crown embossing powder. I sprinkled some Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen on the background by flicking the pen tip on the edge of an acrylic block – that gives me a nice even layer of glitter without worrying about brush strokes!  I die-cut that panel with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Die, added a thin white mat, and glued that down to a Navy card base. I embossed the W I N D wood-veneer die cuts with matching embossing powder – the backs of these letters are not colored white as reported in my un-boxing, but it’s liner paper that removes to expose adhesive!

To complete that sentiment I turned to my Silhouette software and printed “you are the” and “beneath my wings” in the Abadi MT Condensed Light font. I trimmed down both lines using a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banner die and embossed both of them with some clear embossing powder. I used the adhesive on the back of the letters to stick them to the card front, and mounted the two banners using foam tape. For a last little touch I added some Ebony Black Nuvo Crystal Drops (LFL 8.18 kit) for a little added dimension and shine. I really like that the owl stamp is quite large and commands most of the attention on this card. Did you ever know that you’re my hero…!

I rarely make square cards, but it seemed particularly appropriate for this next design.

I love these boxing guys! They were printed with a white outline on one of the cut-apart sheets (with the “fight for yourself” sentiment) so I fussy cut them out to use on this card. I then added some soft color to them with my colored pencils. I cut one of the Off-White card bases down to a 4.25″ x 4.25″ top-folding card. The background is the 4″ x 4″ antique ceiling tile, cut from the same page as the boxers, and glued to the card front. I outlined that with the peel offs from the kit, and attached the boxers with foam tape.

I cut this sentiment stamp from the stamp set into two separate sentences, and stamped the two lines on a scrap of the Off-White card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I die cut both with the LF sentiment banner die and mounted them to the card front with more foam tape. Though it’s not a pun, this makes me laugh a lot! Certainly appropriate for a lot of couples I know! And do you get the reason it’s a square card…? A boxing ring is a square…! I think this is funny!

Other than the boxers, I think this is the only other image I colored for this kit.

I stamped the large feather stamp on some Neenah Solar White 80# card stock using Archival Acorn ink and colored it using my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, and fussy-cut it out (wasn’t as hard as it looks!). I took a tiny bit of the Nuvo Storm Cloud Shimmer Powder from the embellishment bag, and mixed it with a touch of water to spatter the front of the Grey card base. Not much shimmer there when using such a small amount..! I cut the feather pattern paper to 2″ x 5″, glued that to a thin mat of the Grey Pearlescent card stock and glued both to the card front.

The “be yourself” sentiment is from the sentiment sticker sheet, and I mounted that and the feather to the card front with foam tape. There is more to this sentiment on the inside. I decided to add “everyone else is already taken” on the inside of this card using my Silhouette Software and my piggy-back printing method and the Typewriter Hand font. This is actually an old quote from Oscar Wilde, and I thought it was a fun, lighthearted completion for the sentiment on the front. A few black sequins from our sequin mix adds a little sparkle and I really like that purple and green feather — certainly unique!

Sometimes, it’s the simplest images that catch my eye and make my imagination soar!

I’m loving this card! I took a piece of my Bee Paper 140# cold press Watercolor paper and sprinkled the Nuvo Shimmer Powder lightly all over it and then slowly started spritzing some water on it using a mini mister. I sprayed sparingly to keep everything from running together and let the powder and the water work their own magic. I let it air dry and die cut it with a large Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, and glued it to a White card base.

I cut out the image following the frame, and printed the sentiment on it just the same as the previous card. I took a scrap of white card stock and laid down a bunch of strips of the washi tape to make a larger frame to go behind the cut apart piece (that frame measures 3 3/8″ x 4 3/8″). I glued those together and added a thin mat of the Oyster pearlescent card stock, then mounted all three of those pieces to the card front using foam tape. Finally I added three of the chocolate sequins from the sequin mix for a bit of sparkle on the front. The sentiment is paraphrased from an old Confucius saying, and I LOVE the subtle shading on the cut apart image, and the striped washi tape frame and that great background that looks like storm clouds a-brewin’. This makes my heart happy.

Time to play with the set of pocket-watch dies in our embellishment bag…!!

I wanted to do a gold watch, so I grabbed a piece of the Gold Matte mirror card stock from the LFL January 2020 kit and die cut the main watch from that. I die cut the Oyster pearl card stock with a MMH Nesting Circle die (the circle die in the clock set is a bit small to cover the whole back of the clock face), then die-cut the date box and sweep second hand right through that oyster clock face. I trimmed off the hour hand from the tiny clock and colored that and the date frame with a little more of the Nuvo Shimmer Powder. I die-cut another background circle, the clock hands and the “18” from some plain white card stock and colored the hands and date with the shimmer powder.

I glued everything together on top of the white circle background and took a black gel pen to go over the thin rim pieces around the clock face. For the final touch on this pocket-watch, I die-cut the chain from shiny Gold mirror card stock in my stash, trimmed off the attachment ring and glued it on top of the Matte Gold die cut. PHEW! These pieces are pretty tiny! But you have got to love the results! I only wish I had a nice curved glass ‘crystal’ to cover over the top!

I cut a piece of the ‘linen’ pattern paper to 3″ x 5.5″ and printed the sentiment just like the last two cards, still using the Typewriter Hand font. I glued that panel to a Soft Cream card base and edged that with the kit peel offs. A small amount of ink blending on all the edges with a mini ink blending tool and Black Soot Oxide ink, and I attached the watch using foam tape and glued the end of the chain directly to the card front. Some of the oyster sequins from our sequin mix add more sparkle and I’m calling this one DONE! I was originally intending this as a Birthday card (my sister has a birthday April 18th) but upon completion, I realized this would make a perfect retirement card!! Isn’t a gold watch the classic retirement gift? And this sentiment is perfect for a retiree!! Anybody know someone retiring on the 18th? Very cool set of dies here – and many of the smaller dies (like the numbers!) should prove very useful for many different applications!

Being an old Monty Python fan, I have to say my favorite sentiment on all the pattern papers and cut apart sheets had to be “Always look on the bright side of life”.

I fussy cut the binoculars from the ‘ephemera’ sheet thinking they were the same size as the binoculars on the brick cut apart panel, but no… they were a little smaller. Okay! I can work with that! I cut the background from the 4×6 cut apart panels and trimmed that down to 3.75″ x 5.5″. I cut a couple of 3/8″ strips from the dark blue pattern paper and glued those to the sides of a white card base and added the pattern paper on top. I cut out the sentiment strips from the original binocular panel, and mounted them to the card front with foam tape. I did emboss the binoculars with clear embossing powder and used foam tape to attach that to the card front. A few Dirty Bronze Nuvo drops (from the LFL 12/19 kit) finishes out this optimistic card. “If life seems jolly rotten, There’s something you’ve forgotten, And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing. When you’re feeling in the dumps, Don’t be silly chumps, Just purse your lips and whistle, that’s the thing.. and… Always look on the bright side of life! Thank you, Eric Idle!

I still have a number of image stamps from our kit waiting to be used… all together now…

I stamped the leaf silhouette and the arrow stamps in a nice pattern on the sides of the Cream card base and embossed them with LFL Ivory Pearl embossing powder. I stamped the dream catcher using VersaMark ink on a piece of the Oyster pearlescent card stock, embossed that with the LFL Copper Rose embossing powder, and die cut it with a MMH Nesting Oval Infinity die. Then I used the next larger oval die to cut a mat of Black Tie Glitter card stock to go behind the dream catcher. I attached that double oval piece to the card front with foam tape.

I fussy-cut the feathers from the ‘ephemera’ sheet and split the sentiment from the sticker sheet and attached those to the card front with glue and some foam tape. Some thin strips of the Gold Moondust peel offs (in this month’s peel off pack), and a few more of the chocolate sequins from our sequin mix add even more shine to this great encouragement card. I thought it might be difficult to make that dream catcher the focal element on a card since it is pretty small, but, with the addition of the feathers and silhouette stamps, I think it commands just the right amount of attention!

I was fortunate to get the “Cogs” cut and emboss folder and wanted to see it in action…

I cut and embossed that folder using some of the Grey pearlescent card stock, and used a very thin wash of the Storm Cloud Shimmer powder to add a little more contrast to the embossing. I mounted that to a piece of the Oyster pearlescent card stock using foam tape. I die-cut the two small clocks and the add-on “fob clock” from more of the grey Pearl card stock, and used the MMH Circle infinity dies to cut backgrounds for those clocks from the Oyster Pearl card stock. I glued the backs to the fronts and mounted the clocks on top with more foam tape.

I split the “You are the best” sentiment stamp (stamp surgery!) and stamped that (along with the “ever” stamp) inside the center opening using Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder. I embossed the “DAD” wood-veneer die-cut letters with LFL Silver Dollar embossing powder and glued those down with their own adhesive. This was still missing something until I remembered that “gear” die from the LFL July 2017 kit. I die cut two of those gears from more Grey pearl card stock and glued  those flat on the inside of the opening… that’s what we needed… MORE GEARS! Everything is glued to a Grey card base, and we have a great Birthday card or even better, a Father’s Day card! VERY Steampunk! LOVE that cut and emboss folder!

One of my other favorite images in this kit has to be that anatomically correct heart…

I fussy cut the red heart from the cut apart sheet and embossed that with clear embossing powder (wet and slimy!). I die-cut the background frame from the 4×6 cut apart sheet (using a LFSRD and partial die-cutting to make the panel 5.5″ tall) and glued that to a Navy card base. I blended a touch of white pastel in the center to give us a little highlight behind the heart, and I ran some white peel offs down the two sides.

I attached the shiny heart using a mini action wobbler! YUP! This heart is still beating! You know it’s rare for me to NOT have a sentiment on the front of card, but I thought this image held it’s own (the wobbling heart helps!) and added “I can’t live without you” on the inside writing surface. I do believe that’s quite an understatement, but I think this is a terrifically fun Valentine or anniversary card for any one with a dramatic flair or a slightly morbid sense of humor!

You know how much I love my Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies, and I have always admired the Lawn Fawn interactive card dies, but have never bought any of them because I could easily make my own “reveal wheel” or “pull tab” mechanisms. BUT! they recently came out with the Magic Iris die (and add ons) that totally caught my eye and my imagination! I couldn’t resist using that magic iris on one of my cards this month!

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I used both pieces of the map pattern paper for this card – One for the top panel (Magic Iris Add-On) and one for the ‘sausages’ that make the moving part of the iris (Magic Iris Die). I used black card stock to cut all the other parts of this assembly. There are a ton of how-to videos on YouTube that show how to assemble the Magic Iris – here’s a link to the original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUP8cPbwwYU&t=0s   This die set displays some amazing engineering… I decided it would take me much too long to figure out the mechanics of this moving iris, so I just went ahead and splurged on the dies themselves!

The compass from our ‘ephemera’ cut apart page was the perfect size to fit in this iris opening… I cut it out and added a little color to the white end of the needle and glued it in place on my last Off-White card base. I die-cut a larger circle of acetate and glued that over the top of the compass. I printed this sentiment (same font as the others) on the last scraps of the Off-White card stock, die-cut those with my banner dies and attached them to the card front with foam tape. I was able to squeeze the last arrow die (on the pull-tab) from the off-white card stock as well. I mounted the whole iris assembly on the card base with foam tape and I punched a partial circle through the front edge of the card base to make it easier to grab the pull-tab.  I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! My mind is just racing with thoughts of how to incorporate this iris die into more cards..!!

So that wraps up my 10 cards using the Love From Lizi March 2020 Card Kit. I used most of the items in this kit – all of the card stock, most of the specialty card stock, 5 sheets of the pattern paper, pieces from all three of the 12×12 cut apart sheets, I used all of the image stamps in our stamp set and the two main sentiments, some of the peel offs, and a couple of the sentiment stickers, and most of the embellishements. The only items I didn’t get to use were the wood-veneer die cut birdcages and the kraft tags. Pretty good I think!

I am extremely pleased with this batch of masculine cards! A few encouragement cards, a retirement/birthday card, a Father’s Day/birthday card, and a number of  off-beat valentine/love you cards! No real puns this month but some nicely humorous cards! Quite a variety! I was really taken by the high quality of all the pattern papers and cut-aparts in this kit as well as the great masculine themes! No pink in this batch of cards!! Okay… the purple is close, but it’s still purple!

Of course this kit has sold out already – as most of Lizi’s kits do…! If I’ve managed to pique your interest or spark your imagination, I would suggest subscribing to the LFL Card Kits so you’ll never miss out on these over-stuffed bundles of crafting joy. I do think Lizi’s kits are some of the most unique kits on the market these days, and it’s always a surprise seeing what she has in store for us each month!

On a side note… I GOT TO MEET LIZI face to face this last Friday, February 28th! Lizi was visiting NYC for a little R&R (and shopping therapy!) and we met up for coffee and cake at a little coffee shop right by the theater where I work. It was almost surreal getting to meet and chat with her – I could have bent her ear all day…! I look forward to the next time!

Another side note… Announcing the WINNERS of my 5000 Subscriber Giveaway! • CAROL-LYNNE CARNES won the £50 store credit at Love From Lizi • KRISTIE EAGLES won the My Monthly Hero August 2019 Kit • JEANNE TRUMBULL won 12 assorted sheets of Love From Lizi Peel Offs • JEANNE THOMPSON and ANGELA GRIFFIN each won a collection of 5 original cards from CardCutups. BIG THANKS to everyone who entered!

And a big Thank You to YOU for sharing your time with me here. You are MY inspiration! Let me know what card(s) you like best this month, and remember to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, share me will all of your friends, don’t run with scissors, and, as always, Happy Crafting!

 

 

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

Hello Folks! Scott here with my ten cards featuring the My Monthly Hero February 2020 Kit. Looks like it’s all about birthdays, balloons, cakes and candles this month!

Our 6″ x 8″ stamp set features a large background party stamp (with an open center) that will fill an entire A2 card front, a smaller frame stamp perfect for gift cards and a wrapped gift and a small cake. 8 birthday and party sentiments finish out this stamp set. The die set includes 9 frame cuts for the gift and the cake and for assorted elements in both frame stamps – the single and triple balloon images and a number of the flowers too. VERY interesting! We also get a large Cake Fancy Die on a cake stand with candles and decorations! The extra goodies in this kit include 3 Lacquer Pens (Yellow Icing, Pink Icing, Teal Icing) and a big bag of Rainbow Spirals & Balloon Sequins. I think most folks go through a lot birthday cards, so it’s really nice to have a dedicated kit with lots of groovy birthday card options.

For my first card, I went with a gold and white celebratory palette! I stamped the large party stamp on a Neenah Solar White 110# card base with Hero Arts Clear Embossing & Watermark ink, and embossed that with Hero Arts Gold embossing powder. I did the same with the two sentiment stamps in the center opening, and then painted in select portions of the images with Hero Arts Gold Glimmer Metallic ink (from the MMH August 2019 Kit). For a final flourish, I tied a simple gold metallic ribbon bow from my stash and glued that down in the center. That metallic ribbon is pretty stiff, so, instead of fighting with it to make it go in the direction I wanted, I let the bow do its own thing and it fit that open space perfectly! Lovely! I think gold embossing on white is very sharp, and all the parts came together beautifully for this classy birthday card!

Naturally, I’m eager to play with the large Cake Fancy Die, so let see what that’s all about!

For some reason, I decided that paper piecing was the way to go with this first cake card! First, I die-cut the whole cake from a spare David Tutera glitter card base, the cake stand from some silver card stock in my stash, and then die-cut the cake three times from the Silver, Sea Glass and Twilight glitter card stock from our MMH October 2018 Kit. I fussy-cut all the icing decorations (and the candles) from the glitter card stock and glued those on top of the white glitter cake – those were fairly simple to cut out, aside from the little swirls on the bottom (am I CRAZY?). I did take a light gray alcohol marker to add a little definition to the tops of the cake layers, and cut a thin sliver of the Sea Glass glitter card stock to define the bottom of the top layer.

I fussy-cut the candles from the Silver card stock, glued them in place, and added some of the Yellow Icing lacquer pen to the flames. I die-cut the background from some light yellow Lawn Fawn Gotta Have Gingham pattern paper with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Die and glued that to a thin mat cut from the Twilight glitter card stock. I stamped the sentiment with HA Clear Embossing & Watermark ink and embossed that with HA Silver embossing powder. I glued the background to a matching David Tutera glitter card base, and mounted the cake with foam tape. This card was admittedly a little fussy, but I love all the glitter and shine – and I really like that sentiment as well!

You know me… I have to take a stab at coloring that large background frame stamp!

This is stamped on Neenah Solar White 80# card stock with Gina K. Jet Black Amalgam ink and colored with my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I did add a little yellow gel pen to the balloons for some shine – I thought they needed a little more pop (pun intended)! Now, I was going to stamp the small cake in the bottom of the center opening, but decided to make it a little shaker window instead. I die-cut the cake in the proper position on the colored panel and stamped the cake stamp on a piece of heat-resistant acetate with StazOn Jet Black ink and embossed that with some clear embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment using Vermillion Archival ink and clear embossed that for more shine and a little dimension.

I glued the acetate behind the window, and covered the back of that panel with foam tape – only doubling it up around the cake itself to allow the shaker bits some freedom of movement. I separated the rainbow spirals from our sequin pack and loaded them behind the cake before attaching the front panel to a white card base. I like the softer colors on this card – makes the cake pop a little more, and am reminded that a small shaker element can have just as much of an impact as a large one! Celebrate!

I don’t do this often, but I simply couldn’t resist this great image from the kit packaging.

I die cut the balloons with a LFSRD, glued that to a purple mat from my stash, and glued those down to a pale yellow card base. I stamped the sentiment using Deep Purple Archival ink and clear embossed that to avoid any smearing! I couldn’t leave this card without a little bit of a pun, so I turned to my Silhouette software (remember that software is FREE!) and printed the “party till you Pop!” sentiment on the inside writing surface. This is printed in purple using the Ballpark Weiner font. This is a fun and very appropriate pun, and this card could be used for a number of occasions – not just for birthdays. Makes me smile!

Now let’s play with that smaller frame stamp – the kit description said this stamp was perfect for a gift card, so I took them at their word!

I cut a piece of dark blue dotted card stock from my stash to 4″ x 6.5″ and scored that at 2.75″ and 5.5″ so I could fold and glue it into a little gift-card holder. I stamped the frame stamp on the front using HA embossing ink and embossed that with the HA gold embossing powder. I took a white colored pencil and added a little color to some of the images – surprisingly, that highlighted the dots as well… Cool! I stamped and embossed the sentiment in white and added the “Celebrate” sentiment on the inside bottom flap using gold again. I punched out a 1″ circle of the same blue card stock, scored it in the middle, stamped and embossed the “open” on the top half and glued that to the back of the holder.

I matted that on a piece of gold card stock from my stash with a couple pieces of this sparkly burlap ribbon peeking out from the sides. Everything is glued down to a David Tutera shimmer card base. I did think the addition of the “It’s your day ” sentiment finished up this card nicely, and again we have a card that works for assorted celebrations – graduations for instance – and not just as a birthday card! You’ll never go wrong with blue and gold!

About a month ago I did a how-to video showing how I make my galaxy backgrounds using Brusho Pigment powder… that galaxy has been sitting on my desk since then…

I thought this was the perfect opportunity to use that galaxy background! I stamped the balloons (wiping off the string ties) and the cake using VersaFine Onyx Black ink on some Neenah 80# card stock and colored them with my colored pencils before using the included dies to cut them out. I did do a partial die-cut on the balloons (and cut one from the back side) so I could extend their strings a little longer. I also did a little fussy-cutting with my craft knife between the strings – fussy, but I think it adds to the dimension! I die-cut the galaxy with a LFSRD and attached that to a thin white mat before gluing those down to a HA Pitch Black card base. Of course this card doesn’t mean much without a sentiment, so I turned to my Silhouette software again to print this sentiment on the inside writing surface using the Noteworthy font. A great birthday sentiment for any space nerd or sci-fi fan on your list! Of course it was pointed out to me that in space, the balloons would deflate and the candles wouldn’t be lit, but c’mon! It’s just a birthday card! I do love the colors and the awesome sense of movement on this card!

Let’s try that big cake die again but let’s try coloring it this time…!

I dry embossed this die on some Bee 140# cold press watercolor paper and painted it using the colors from my Zig markers. After it was totally dry, I completed the die-cut and added the sequin pieces and a little Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the flames for a lot more bling. I die-cut a piece of Neenah 80# card stock with a LFSRD and blended some HA Lemon Drop reactive ink over the entire surface. When that was dry, I sprinkled some water droplets across the surface and blotted them away with a paper towel. I stamped and clear embossed the sentiment with the Deep Purple Archival ink and glued the background down to a purple card base from my stash. The cake is attached to the card front with some foam tape, and few more balloon sequins and some Yellow Icing lacquer dots finish off this card nicely! Those sequin pieces are HUGELY reflective and are a fun decorative compliment for this watercolored cake.

I still haven’t used the gift stamp from our stamp set, and I had an idea on how I could use it to illustrate one of the sentiments from the stamp set…

I repeatedly stamped this gift box on some Neenah 80# Solar White card stock using Gina K Amalgam ink and my Tim Holz stamp platform.

I thought I was being clever, but was faced with a bit of a puzzle after stamping. I didn’t realize that the space between the boxes would be the same width as the ribbons on the boxes. It was a little hard to tell where the boxes began and where they ended! Undeterred, I grabbed my alcohol markers and began coloring all these gifts. Here’s a shot of the markers I used on this card. I die-cut the panel with a LFSRD, and glued that to a thin mat cut from my Black Tie Glitter card stock. I love the multi-color glitter on this card stock and thought it went especially well with this colorful card! I stamped and clear embossed the sentiment (perfect!) with Onyx Black ink and glued the finished panel to a red card base. I did go ahead and delineate this card as a birthday card by stamping the “happy birthday” sentiment on the inside writing surface. LOVE this card. The coloring of the gifts helps define the packages, but it doesn’t completely camouflage the ‘puzzle’ aspect of this repeating pattern. Tons of fun indeed!

I have now used every stamp in this stamp set! (woo-hoo!) Now, this is an extremely unique stamp set – despite some of the frame cut dies that cut images out of the background frames, we basically only have four stamp images in this set. Is there more?

I’m a big advocate of performing stamp surgery to your photopolymer stamps to stretch their usefulness. I cut away the balloons and confetti portions of the small frame stamp and spread them out to stamp the front of this card. That really expands the options you have with that stamp – I really like this larger frame arrangement – it’s similar to the big frame stamp but a little simpler and not quite so busy. It really draws your focus right in to that cake. This is all stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink on Bristol smooth card stock and colored with my Zig markers.

Using my Silhouette software, the Marker Felt font, and my piggy-back printing method, I printed this pun-y sentiment directly on the card front. This one makes me laugh out loud! I glued the front panel to a thin red glitter mat and then down to my white card base. A few dots from our lacquer pens and some confetti added with my Sakura Stardust glitter pen add some more embellishment and I did go ahead and stamp the “happy birthday” sentiment on the inside of this card. I love this pun! This one is definitely MY KIND OF CARD!

I wanted to take one more stab at that fancy cake die to wrap up these 10 cards…

I die-cut the cake one more time from some Neenah 80# card stock, trimmed off the pedestal, and colored the cake with my colored pencils. Since I was coloring very lightly and adding layer after layer of color, It soon became apparent that the die cut impressions would stay white unless I dug in really hard to try and color them. I really liked the automatic “highlights” that gave me, so I tried to preserve them as much as possible. I die cut the candles from a piece of pattern paper and glued those on the top. I wanted this cake to have some ‘fondant’ shine, so I embossed the whole piece with clear embossing powder… mmmmmmmm… milk-chocolatey!

I die-cut a piece of Neenah 80# card stock with a LFSRD and used my blending brushes, a Stampendous Flourishes metal stencil and HA reactive inks in Lemon Drop, Creamsicle, and Fruit Punch to blend the stencil on the background. I’m glad I found this old stencil in my stash – I don’t believe it’s available anymore – it makes a perfect ‘party’ background.   For a final touch I spritzed the background with some Sheer Shimmer Spray to add a light touch of glitter.

It must have been that “cake my day” pun that made me think of this other ‘tough-guy’ quote that I printed on a scrap of white card stock (Marker Felt font again) then matted to a scrap of kraft card stock. I glued the background to a kraft card base and added the cake and sentiment with foam tape. I did add another birthday sentiment on the inside using a Love From Lizi die from more kraft card stock. This sentiment tickles me a lot, and I just might like this cake treatment the best – or maybe it’s chocolate that I like the best!

That completes my 10 Cards 1 Kit collection featuring the My Monthly Hero February 2020 Kit. More options are possible with this kit than I originally thought!

A wide assortment of cards this month – eight birthday cards and a couple usable for other occasions as well! I did use every stamp in this set but I didn’t use every die… I may have been a little die-cut-flowered out after last month’s kit! This is certainly a perfect kit for making birthday cards and I’m sure it will get a lot of use over the years!

Like January’s kit, this one sold out extremely quickly as well! If you don’t want to miss out on any of these wildly popular kits, I’d suggest doing a 6-month subscription which allows you to skip a month if you don’t like the offering. Nonetheless, when you do go shopping at Hero Arts, please use my links! I always appreciate the support!

Thank you so much for sharing your time with me here! Please share this post with any interested parties you may know, Like me, List me, Pin me, Post me, and remember, Don’t count the years… just make the years count!  Happy Crafting!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). Thank you!

Hello Folks! Scott here un-boxing the new Love From Lizi March 2020 Card Kit. This is the “A Moment in Time” kit featuring a palette of masculine colors and unique images.

There are a few flowers images in this kit, but this feels very masculine to me! Hardly any pink whatsoever! This kit has lots of wood images and textures, maps, clocks and the whole kit feels rather vintage.

To starts with, we get five sheets of 8.5″ x 11″ card stocks in a soft Gray, Alcohol marker-friendly White, soft Cream, Off-White and Navy. Those are complimented with two specialty sheets of pearlescent card stock in Gray and Oyster (the two left sheets). I most always create my 10 card bases using the plain card stock, and save the pearlescent sheets for decoration and die-cutting.

This month our kit comes in a large 12″x 12″ box which usually means we get some over-sized cut-apart sheets perfect for scrap-book lovers. We get three big sheets this month!

Our first 12×12  sheet is full of images featuring Owls, compasses, a globe, binoculars, some flowers and assorted frames. This is basically a sheet of uncut ephemera – filled  mostly with fairly simple shapes that shouldn’t bee too hard to cut out!

Of course our 12×12 sheets are double sided. This is the back of the image sheet with a nice wood plank pattern and some subtle greenery images on top.

Our second sheet features six 4″ x 6″ cut-apart panels – easily trimmed down to fit a card front and/or provide a stylish framing element.

This is the back of that second sheet featuring a soft sort-of distressed linen texture.

The third 12×12 sheet features more cut-apart panels – eight 3″ x 4″ and three 4″ x 4″ panels – perfect for those who like to make square cards! I think that heart panel on the lower left is as close to pink as we get in this kit!

 

The back of that sheet is a large parquet pattern – almost quilt-like – done up in all sorts of wood patterns colors and tones… really perfect for a scrapbook page!

That brings us to our pattern paper this month! We get 12 sheets of 6″ x 6″ pattern papers that are double-sided – we get six different sheets twice – so you don’t have to make a choice between which side to use! The top row shows one side, and the bottom row is the reverse. The last two sheets on the right are smaller versions of our cut-apart sheets.

The “Moment in Time” 4″ x 6″ stamp set features a large flying owl and detailed feather, along with a smaller “dream-catcher” stamp, a couple of arrows and a feather silhouette. The sentiments are a mix and match set with “Your are the best” and assorted nouns to complete that – “Boyfriend”, “Partner”, “Husband”, “Friend”, “Dad”, and “Brother”. Additional fragments include “To my”, “ever”, “…” and a complete sentiment that says, “I love you just as you are”. This stamp set is is obviously VERY masculine! #boysclub!

We also get a sheet of sentiment sticker strips. These have become quite popular over the last couple of years, and we get both black and white sentiments with some small pops of color done in a very ‘distressed typewriter’ font along with some big bold caps. This sheet also features the months of the year and days of the week, and those would work perfectly in a planner.

The Brown Mirror Straight is our featured peel off sheet this month – another new design to add to your ever growing stash of peel offs!

And that brings us to our ever-popular, ever-exciting Embellishment Bag!

Left to right: Two Kraft tags with white twine in a small and large size, a sample pack of the “Moment in Time” sequin mix, four wood-veneer die-cut birdcages, a roll of diagonal-stripe washi tape, a bottle of Nuvo Shimmer Powder in Storm Cloud (very similar to the Brusho Pigment powders but with a little shimmer added!). Finally, we have a big pack of wood-veneer die-cut Alphas (I’ll spread those out to see just what we get), AND a totally groovy die set featuring 24 (count ’em, 24!) pocket watch dies.

We get the quite large pocket watch, additional face and background dies, four different sets of clock hands, a little square ‘window’ die with a set of small numerals (1-0) that could be used for the “date” window on your clock face, and 2 mini-clock faces that could be used for a “sweep-second clock” or a “world-time clock” on the your clock face as well. This is an extremely cool set of dies, and I can’t wait to start playing with these!

Here’s that pack of wooden Alphas spread out – looks like we get three whole alphabets and three ampersands! These are plain wood on one side and white on the other – so you can choose which side to use on the reversible letters. That won’t work on the letters that are NOT reversible, but the white layer seems to peel off fairly easily if you so desire.

Lots of Add-Ons and new releases this month as well! I got a few add-ons this month!

The “Moment in Time” peel off pack includes a sheet of Rose Gold Straight, Gold Moondust Pin, Ice Blue Sway, and Copper Mirror Straight peel offs. Specially selected to go along with this kit. Here’s a new one – a Cut and Emboss folder (“Cogs”) featuring clocks and gears and an assortment of cut-out (white) sections. The center die-cut can be removed and replaced depending on whether you want to cut that portion out or leave it in… I find that VERY interesting and quite unique! (so did lots of other folks – this folder has sold out already!) For a final treat, I got the Mini Fob Watch die – so cute!

I did want to mention that Lizi has released the “Happy Days” A4 stamp set featured in last month’s kit, so if you missed out on the kit, you can get that gigantic stamp set all on its own.

That completes my un-boxing of the Love From Lizi March 2020 Card Kit. After so many flowers and so much pink over the last few months, I am really looking forward to playing with this kit! Lizi says her stock of this kit is extremely limited, so if you want to join in on the fun, I would recommend grabbing one of these asap! If you do go shopping at Love From Lizi please use my links:

Love From Lizi: http://shrsl.com/1yyuw

Love From Lizi March 2020 Card Kit: http://shrsl.com/24o81

“A Moment in Time” Peel Off Bundle: http://shrsl.com/24o8v

Mini Fob Watch Die:  http://shrsl.com/24o90

“Happy Days” A4 Stamp Set:  http://shrsl.com/24o80

Thank you so much for joining me here today! Be sure to grab your kit before they sell out! Please share this post with anyone who might be interested, and remember, don’t run with scissors, and, as always, Happy Crafting!

 

Hello Folks! Happy Valentine’s Day! Scott here with a quick process video to announce a big GIVEAWAY celebrating 5000 subscribers at CardCutups on YouTube.

A BIG THANK YOU to Love From Lizi and Hero Arts for their generous support. We have five terrific prizes to be won with this giveaway!

1. £50 store credit at Love From Lizi http://shrsl.com/1yyuw

2. My Monthly Hero August 2019 Kit http://shrsl.com/23awg

3. 12 assorted sheets of Love From Lizi Peel Offs

4. & 5. A collection of 5 original cards from CardCutups

You will need to watch the video for instructions on how to enter!

And a GREAT BIG HUGE Thank You goes out to all of my subscribers! You are my inspiration! Without you, we wouldn’t be doing this giveaway!

Please share post with all your interested fellow craft addicts, and giveaway junkies, and, as always, Happy Crafting!!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). Thank you!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

Hello Folks! Scott here with my 10 Cards 1 Kit post with the Love From Lizi February 2020 Card Kit! This kit features a GIGANTIC 8.5″ x 11″ stamp set and lots of pink goodies!

As usual, I do take the the 5 sheets of card stock in the kit and make A2 (4.25″ x 5.5″) card bases with them. That gives me 2 red, 2 pink, 2 blue, 2 green, and 2 white card bases.

When I posted the unboxing video for this kit on YouTube, Judy Brown commented, “Scott! Your challenge? Make a completely pink card for me. 🌈🌈😍😆😆😆”. Shouldn’t be too hard with these supplies!! And Lizi’s decoupage sheets are always a fun way to get started on a new kit!

Judy, I don’t think you can get much more pink than this!! I took a 4″ x 5.5″ piece of the pink pattern paper and punched a heart scallop border on the long sides with my American Crafts Knock Out paper punch, and glued that down to one of the pink card bases. I assembled the “Just for you” heart using all five layers of the decoupage sheet, and the included foam squares. I stamped the valentine sentiment with VersaMark ink using a stamp from the MMH Jan.’19 kit, and embossed that with the LFL Copper Glitz embossing powder. I thought that had a good sense of ‘pink’ while still being dark enough to read… and the ‘glitz’ matches all the glitter on the heart.

I guess I wasn’t satisfied with five layers on the heart itself, so I mounted the whole decoupage assembly to the card front with more foam squares! This card is probably too thick to send in a standard envelope, but I love the 3-dimensional aspect of the decoupage heart. I did think one of the sentiments from our stamp set would compliment this card nicely, so I stamped “you are so loved” on the inside of the card using Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink – gotta keep everything pink! As a sweet valentine card, I actually like this quite a bit! This one’s for YOU, Judy!

I was dying to play with the large 6″ x 6″ background stamp that was part of our stamp set. I stamped it on some Bristol Smooth card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink, and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I colored the whole sh-bang using my KingArt Dual Tip Brush Pens. These are nice inexpensive watercolor pens that I got for Christmas ’18 from my sister-in-law. Thank you, Alice! Very much like Tombow markers but much less expensive. Now, I know some folks look at a stamp like this and feel a little overwhelmed at the prospect of coloring something this large and detailed. But if you take it step by step, It’s really not an insurmountable challenge! I started by coloring all the greenery – everywhere I saw a “leaf” I colored it green. One of the great things about a stamp like this is you can color something “wrong” and no one will ever notice! Once the foliage was colored, it was easy to see the flowers as individual entities… I just colored each style of flower exactly the same, however often it was repeated in this pattern. Granted, this did take a couple hours to color, but I find it very therapeutic to put on some music and zen out with my colors! And look at the lovely results! I definitely think it was worth the time… Now let’s make a card with this!

I die-cut my preferred section with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, and glued that on a thin white mat before attaching both to the front of the green card base. I love the shine that the embossing powder gives this panel… almost makes the whole thing look shiny! I turned to my Silhouette software and printed “if friends were flowers, I’d pick you” on scrap of white card stock using the Lucida Grande font. I did try printing one with white letters on a black background, but I thought the black on white looked better. I die-cut that with the smallest Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die, and mounted it to the card front with foam tape. LOVE IT! Certainly not what you were thinking would come out of this card kit…! But, I love all the bright colors, the shine, and the friendly sentiment. I can’t wait to send this card to someone special!

Okay… My coloring mojo is still in gear… lets try coloring another one of the stamps!

I stamped and embossed this stamp exactly the same as the background stamp, but I colored this one using my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. I did take the time to fussy-cut this out using my craft knife. I know, I know, incredibly fussy… but I think it’s worth the effort! I die cut a piece of the blue gingham pattern paper with a LFSRD, glued that to a thin Black Tie glitter card stock mat and added a frame on the edge of the gingham using the Sky Blue peel offs from the kit. Finally, I glued the whole background assembly to one of the blue card bases.

I cut a 3/4″ x 3.3/4″ strip of my Black Tie glitter paper (I love the multicolored glitter on this card stock), and wrapped a piece of the blue flower ribbon from our kit across the center. I glued that down to the card front and ran more peel offs across the top and bottom edges. I attached the flower arrangement to the card front with my standard foam tape, and added one of the foiled sentiment stickers from the kit to the center. A generous sprinkling of our Blue Babe Nuvo Crystal drops adds the final touch to this blue themed card. That soft blue gingham is probably my favorite pattern paper in this kit!

I’m on a roll coloring these stamps, and there is another smaller arrangement in our set.

I stamped, embossed and colored this stamp the same as the blue flower arrangement and went ahead and fussy cut it out. I die-cut a piece of plain black card stock from my stash with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Die, and matted that to some red glitter card stock, and glued it to one of the red card bases.

I took one of the wood-veneer tags from our kit and, on the back, gave the bare wood a coat of Multi Medium Matte glue to seal the wood so ink wouldn’t bleed. Once dried, I colored the tag with Vermillion Archival ink (permanant) and then (once dry) stamped the “miracle” sentiment on the tag using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and I clear embossed that to assure it was permanent.

I attached the tag and flower to the card front using foam tape, and finished this up with a double red satin bow on top of the tag, and a few red pearls from my stash. Quite red here, but I think it’s actually very eye-catching, and I love the fact that there are a few sentiment stamps in our stamp set that will fit on these small wooden tags!

I think those three cards finally satisfied my need to color… let’s do another decoupage!

I cut a strip of the blue stripe pattern paper to 2″ x 5.5″ and glued that to the center of a white card base. I outlined the edges of that with the medium width peel offs and then added the wide and narrow peel offs to the top and bottom spaces of this card front.

I assembled this decoupage piece using the extra sentiment piece and layers 2 and 4 from the decoupage sheet. I did use some of my thin foam tape to try and keep the dimension under control. I trimmed away the partial leaves on the flower die cuts so you could see the whole leaf on the layer below. I think these decoupage sheets work best when the die-cutting doesn’t leave a white border. I liked seeing the stripe background in the center of the oval instead of the plain grid behind the sentiment. A few Blue Babe Nuvo drops on the front adds another touch of blue and a little more shine. I thought this decoupage card was perfect for using another stamped sentiment on the inside, so I stamped “you are so sweet” on the inside of the card using Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink. I think the blue and white on this card kind of minimizes the pink (as if!), and here we have a lovely, 3-dimensional friendship card! For a SPECIAL friend!

Back to our second pink card base… It’s hard to ignore the pink when it’s your card base!

This kind of feels like a card you’d give to your grandmother… or at least to someone who is into roses! I die cut the rose pattern paper and the red mat with my Hero Arts Nesting Oval dies. I do find it easier to use two dies to cut a “frame” for the mat instead of just using one die for each layer and having to center one oval on top of the other. I glued those flat to the card base and stamped the sentiment using Onyx Black ink and clear embossing powder. I added the two wood-veneer rose die cuts with some foam tape and went to town with our sequin mix! I did try different quantities and arrangements of the sequins, but I decided this old-fashioned card could support a lot of sequins. Again, this sentiment paired up with the “wish you were here” sentiment, so I stamped that on the inside with Onyx black ink. For a final touch, I rounded all four corners of this card with my We R Memory Keepers 1/4″ & 1/2″ Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper. I thought rounding the corners felt more “retro” and finished off this (another very pink!) card quite well!

I do challenge myself to use all the stamps in a kit on my 10 cards, and there were LOTS of stamps in this over-sized stamp set… including 14 individual flower and leaf stamps.

This “one layer wonder” card uses all fourteen of those single image stamps. After a little practice stamping on some scrap paper, I stamped this arrangement on the left side of the green card base using Archival Emerald ink. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with this arrangement, so I erred on the side of caution and used a permanent ink. I took some light grey Spectrum Noir alcohol markers (BGR2 and BGR1) and colored the background shadow around the flowers. That didn’t quite give me the contrast I was hoping for, so I grabbed a white colored pencil, and softly colored all the images – being careful to avoid the stamped lines and leaving some of the regular green card stock showing through. That’s just what was I was looking for!

I stamped the sentiment using Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink (no embossing powder) being careful not to over-ink the stamp. I did stamp that sentiment a few times using my mini-MISTI stamp platform and am kind of thrilled at being able to achieve a nice white sentiment without embossing powder! This is a pigment ink so you do have to make sure it dries completely! For a final touch, I added some Love From Lizi Mint Glitter peel offs to create a bounding edge on the top, bottom and right sides of this card. Very tranquil… very peaceful… very green! One Layer Wonder!

We also have that “storms never last forever” stamp that gave me a little pause… we don’t have any particular “storm” stamps –  so how can I possibly convey this sentiment?

With Sunbeams! I masked off 1/2″ all the way around the edges of this card base, and masked off these two ‘beams’ and, using a Tim Holtz Distress Blending Brush and my HA Unicorn ink, added the two sunbeams to the card front. Before removing the 1/2″ masking from around the edges, I used the LFL Silver peel off stickers to create my ‘partial frame’ on the top right and bottom left, using the masking to line everything up.

I realize lots of folks are going to use these flower stamps to simply emboss on card stock instead of trying to color them, so I wanted to try embossing the smallest flower arrangement stamp – I figured if embossing powder would preserve the detail on this small stamp, then it would work great on the bigger stamps too. Using VersaMark ink and LFL Silver Dollar embossing powder, I embossed this stamp on a scrap of white card stock. And, yes… I did fussy-cut this out! That stamp embossed beautifully!

I stamped the sentiment using Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink (no embossing!) and attached the flowers with some foam tape. More Blue Babe Nuvo drops for some soft shine and a little more dimension finishes this card. I think this does a decent job of conveying the end of a storm… it almost feels kind of religious… must be the sunbeams!

Wow! I have actually used every stamp in this stamp set on these first 8 cards! Of course, I did some doubling up with sentiments, but nothing untoward! I was really looking forward to seeing what I could do with the watering can die…

It is very rare for me to make a card without a sentiment on the front, but I fell in love with this little vignette and couldn’t bear to add anything else..! I die cut the watering can two times from some medium grey card stock in my stash. I trimmed the flowers off of one and glued that on top of the other, and added some shadows with a grey alcohol marker. I die-cut the flowers from some alcohol friendly card stock and colored them with my Spectrum Noir markers before paper piecing them on the can. I used an extra-fine point silver Sharpie to add some silver highlights to the can, folded the spout and handle forward on the sides and used my bone folder to give the can a little curve.

I fussy cut a diamond from the blue rose tile pattern paper and mounted that to a thin grey mat that matched the can. I die cut the blue stripe pattern paper with a 3.5″ x 2.25″ LFSRD snd matted that to a darker grey mat and then to a wider mat of the red-ish rain drop pattern paper. Those are glued directly to the card front, the diamond is mounted with foam tape and the watering can is attached with a strip of foam tape down the center, liquid glue on the edges, and the handle, spout, and center flower are raised up with tiny spots of foam tape. I used my Silhouette software and printed “you help me grow” on the inside of this card using Arial and Mona Lisa Solid fonts. A lovely little sentiment for a watering can that can be used for many different occasions. I don’t know what it is about this card, but I’m really attached to it!! It feels homey and a little old-fashioned and showcases this watering can die perfectly!

I still have a decent sized piece of that background stamp I colored at the start of this kit, and I was certainly not going to let that piece go to waste!

This is a 2″ x 5.5″ piece of my original colored background, matted with more of the Black Tie glitter card stock and glued down to our last red card base. I cut a 1/4″ strip of purple card stock from my stash to glue behind the sentiment, and two very thin strips to go above and below the stamped panel. I die-cut the Lawn Fawn Scripty Congrats die from the same purple card stock five times, glued them all together, and topped them with one last die-cut “congrats” using the Black Tie glitter card stock, and then glued that whole chinky sentiment down to the card front. It wasn’t easy coming up with any puns for this kit, but I did manage a nice one with this card. I printed “you bloom me away” on the inside writing surface using my Silhouette software and the Freehand 521 BT font. I die-cut the writing surface with a LFSRD and mounted that to the inside of this card. Love the play of red and purple on this card! Very colorful!

That’s my 10 Cards using the Love From Lizi February 2020 Card Kit. That giant stamp set is nothing short of amazing, and I think this is a very interesting assortment of cards.

I did use every stamp in our stamp set, I used 6 of the 12 pattern papers, and two of the eight decoupage sheets. I used a little bit of everything in our embellishment bag (only one of the ribbons), plenty of our peel offs, and I do have 2 sheet of super smooth alcohol marker-friendly White card stock that will go into my stash along with all the other leftovers from this eclectic kit. I did have a great time creating these cards, and I actually quite enjoyed coloring these fun flower stamps. That stamp set is certainly a keeper!

Unfortunately, this kit has already sold out – as most of Lizi’s kits are prone to do! If you don’t want to miss out on any of this crafty fun, I would suggest subscribing at lovefromlizi.com. Lizi’s kits are very unique and usually over-loaded with all kinds of crafty goodness. If you do go shopping with Lizi, please use my links whenever you can! It is always supremely appreciated!

Thank you so very much for sharing your time with me here – YOU are the ones who truly keep me inspired! My CardCutups channel on YouTube is rapidly approaching 5000 subscribers, so stay tuned for a little bit of a celebration when that milestone is reached, and I believe we’ll have some nice giveaways to impart a big Thank You for your continued support. Remember to Like me, List me, Pin me, Post me, Share me with all your friends… Don’t run with scissors, and Happy Crafting!

 

 

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

Hello folks! Scott here with my 10 Cards 1 Kit posting featuring the My Monthly Hero January 2020 Kit. This is a very unique kit from Hero Arts this month! And now for something completely different…! It seems that our “Fancy Dies” are taking the lead this month. Instead of our usual 6″ x 8″ stamp set, we get a 4″ x 6″ clear stamp set with a large assortment of useful sentiments, a small “newsprint” stamp and assorted postage icons. And ALL of our dies are Fancy this month! Nine flower and leaf dies, two butterflies, a small envelope die, a bouquet wrap die and a sentiment banner die. I have always enjoyed Hero Arts’ Fancy dies but this is the first kit I’ve received where the dies are the main event! I guess we’re going to be doing some flower arranging this month! We do get some terrific extras as well this month; eight 5.5″ x 8.5″ sheets of Card stock (Rose, Fireweed, Gold Breeze, Kraft), a half ounce pot of Pink Sparkle Embossing Powder, a vial of Aqua Glimmer Metallic Ink, and 2 yards of Pink Satin Ribbon. Lots of pink this month, but Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so pink is certainly appropriate! This kit must have struck a chord with folks this month as it sold out almost instantaneously! Glad I’m a subscriber!

I do always challenge myself to use everything in a kit in the course of my ten cards… this stamp set has 13 sentiment stamps (not counting the “to:” and “from:”) so I figured I might have to double up some sentiments in an effort to use them all!

I decided a bouquet of roses seemed like the perfect way to kick off this new kit.

Here we have a dozen roses wrapped up in ‘newsprint’ and ready to give to your favorite valentine! I was a little intimidated by the thought of having to color 12 roses (and assorted greenery) so I dug out some “watercolor” pattern papers I had in my stash – the papers are from a huge Altenew freebie pack (Reflection Collection Paper and Sticker Sheet Bundle) I received in October of 2018 (and have never used!). I thought the watercolor nature of these pattern papers would make for some simple paper piecing – roses in the pinks and reds… stems and leaves from the green. That worked very well! I love the variety and shading the pattern paper gave to these roses… and I didn’t have to color a thing!

I die-cut a piece of the Rose card stock with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and embossed that with a Darice Dot Background embossing folder, matted that on a piece of the Fireweed card stock and glued those to a Neenah Solar White 110# card base. I thought I might have some newsprint paper in my stash but I couldn’t find any… but I DID find a decades old Mead Academie Sketch Pad that was showing its age quite nicely, so I decided to use that for my “newsprint” bouquet wrap. I die-cut the wrap and stamped the small text stamp using HA Soft Granite ink on all three pieces of the wrap – I didn’t realize I was going to lose the center back triangle – I folded on the score lines and glued the front flaps together, and then glued the whole wrap to the card front.

All of the roses do have green stems and sepals though they ended up mostly buried in this arrangement – it wasn’t easy to get 12 roses in there..! The roses are glued into the wrap and the buds are mounted with foam tape. I added some leaf die cuts among the buds (glued and foam taped) and used my Hero Arts Clear Lacquer Pen to add clear drops to the arrangement for a fresh, wet feel! I stamped the sentiments on the same sketch paper using HA Soft Granite ink, embossed those with clear embossing powder, and die-cut them using the sentiment strip die. I glued the banner sentiments along the two sides of the bouquet and added a small double bow using the pink ribbon included in the kit. For a final touch I stamped the “LOVE MAIL” stamp on the inside using the same Soft Granite ink.

Well… that is certainly PINK… but it’s actually quite a lovely valentine! And no roses were harmed in the making of this bouquet. That rose bud may be my favorite die in this kit!

I toyed with the idea of using that Altenew watercolor pattern paper to die cut all the flowers this month, but my control freak asserted itself and I decided to try coloring some of the flowers.

I die-cut these flowers and greenery using Neenah Solar White 80# card stock and colored all with my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and added then some white gel pen highlights in the centers. I die-cut a piece of my Kraft card stock (close match to the kit Kraft card stock) with a LFSRD, embossed that with an older Darice embossing folder and matted that to a thin white mat, then glued both to a card base made from the Kraft card stock in the kit.

I stamped the sentiments on white card stock using Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink and clear embossed them both before die-cutting them with the sentiment die. I arranged the flowers, buds and leaves into a pleasant grouping, glued them together and to the card front, adding foam tape on the blooms and greenery at the top of the bouquet. I glued the top sentiment to the card front and foam taped the bottom sentiment over the flower stems. A few wood-dot embellishments (from the Love From Lizi Dec.’19 Card Kit) adds some rustic decoration and we have a cheerful yellow get well card! Some of these kit sentiments actually go together perfectly!

What will happen if we die cut some flowers from pattern paper but then did some coloring on top of that – highlights and shadows to enhance the patterns…

Paper pieced flowers from the Altenew pattern paper but touched up with some alcohol markers and a little white gel pen… I was going for “baby’s breath” with the background greenery, but I think it looks a little like broccoli! Isn’t that trendy? Using vegetables in your flower arrangements?? I didn’t realize this kit was going to be a crash course in flower arranging…! VERY interesting!

Here, I die cut the sentiment strip twice to make a 5.5″ banner and stamped the two sentiments on each end using VersaFine Onyx Black ink, and then folded the banner around the flower stems. I did add a little grey marker to the exposed back side of the banner (between the sentiments) to help it stand out before mounting it to the white card base with foam tape and glue. The flowers are glued and foam taped to the card front, and a few black heart sequins adds a modern touch of bling.  I do like these flowers, though I can’t imagine going any darker with these blooms. Hey!  3 cards, 6 sentiments!

If you have followed me at all over the last few years you probably know that I am not a huge fan of butterflies… let me tell you, these could change my mind…!

I did a random Google search to see if anything would turn up looking for “blue butterflies” and lo and behold I found lots of blue butterflies but this one is what caught my eye – it’s the same basic shape as our large butterfly die in this kit! And that Aqua Glimmer Metallic ink was just sitting there begging to be used. I die-cut the three butterflies from some HA Pitch Black card stock and painted them with the Aqua ink at full strength. WOW! Talk about bang-for-your-buck! These guys are gorgeous and have that light luminescence that real butterflies have! Groovy!

I die cut a piece of the Gold Breeze card stock with a LFSRD, matted that on a thin black mat, and glued that to another white card base. I stamped the sentiment using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with some clear embossing powder. I mounted the butterflies to the card front with glue on their bodies and small foam squares behind their wings. Finally some blue bubbles (from the MMH March ’19 kit) for a little accent and here’s a butterfly card I would be proud to share!

It seems as if Hero Arts was trying to cover all our basic stamping needs with this stamp set and the wide variety of sentiments contained. Obviously this kit isn’t intended to be used strictly for valentines…

Perfect example of the power of white space. I LOVE this! Couldn’t be much simpler – 5 rosebuds die-cut from 80# Neenah, one colored with alcohol markers, then all 5 layers glued together. The sentiment is stamped with Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. A light alcohol-marker shadow added to the card front and the layered bud glued on top of that. I think this might be my favorite sympathy card ever!

We have a “Happy Birthday” sentiment as well, but I just couldn’t do another bouquet…!

How ’bout a birthday cake? I cut a piece of my Kraft card stock to 4″ x 5.25″ and embossed that with a Darice filigree embossing folder and glued that to a white card base. I cut two cake “layers” from the  Gold Breeze card stock, and the flowers and leaves from 80# Neenah, and colored all with my alcohol markers. I arranged the “frosting” flowers on the layers and wasn’t really happy with this card until I added the leaves – that gave us some contrast and helped ‘ground’ each layer. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock using Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink and clear-embossed that before die-cutting with the sentiment banner die.

The top flower and ‘layer’ is attached to the card front with foam tape and the bottom ‘layer’ is attached with a double layer of foam tape. The sentiment is mounted with more foam tape, and I tied a double bow with the twine from the MMH Dec.’19 kit and glued that to the left end of the sentiment. A few Darice Crystal sequins adds a little sparkle and here we have a uniquely decorated birthday cake card!

I’m not exactly sure what gave me this idea… I was playing with the envelope die and…

Maybe I was just itching for something bright and graphic!? I die cut six envelopes in rainbow colors from some thin (60# Reflections) card stock and assembled them all using scor-tape. I grabbed my HA Reactive inks in Fruit Punch, Creamsicle, Lemon Drop, Green Apple, Blue Hawaii and Thistle and stamped the two postage stamps across the top and bottom of a white card base, then arranged the envelopes together and glued those to the card front with a couple pieces of foam tape on the left edge of the red envelope.

I turned to my Silhouette software to print this sentiment on a piece of my Mead sketch paper using the American Typewriter font. I trimmed that down and folded it over to add to the last envelope. I think this sentiment coupled with six envelopes really drives the point home! Very graphic and colorful yet not so thick that it couldn’t be mailed – that thinner card stock for the envelopes helps keep this card from requiring extra postage! That is a really nice, not too small, envelope die!

Lets have another go at those butterflies using more glimmer metallic ink – this time using the purple and red inks from the MMH August ’19 Kit!

I stamped the small text stamp using VersaFine Onyx Black ink a couple times on some Grey card stock from my stash, die cut that with a LFSRD, matted that on a thin black mat and glued them down to a white card base. I die cut the butterflies from HA Pitch black card stock (four of the profile butterflies) and painted them with the Red and the Purple metallic inks. I stamped both sentiments with Onyx Black ink and clear embossed them and then assembled the butterflies. On the profile die cuts I just glued the bodies together beeping their ‘tails’ lined up and offsetting their ‘heads’ to create two antennae and separate their wings a little bit. Their bodies are glued to the card front and little pieces of foam tape give some dimension to their wings. Some purple sequins adds a little more sparkle and I have another butterfly card that doesn’t make me hate butterflies! I must remember how well the HA glimmer metallic inks work on black card stock! YEAH!

Let’s look at that envelope die again. I don’t feel like my rainbow card quite did it justice!

I’ve always wanted to make an interactive card like this, and our envelope die is the perfect size!  Two envelopes die-cut from my sketch paper and assembled. I stamped the stamp stamp with Soft Granite ink on a scrap of Neenah card stock, colored that with alcohol markers, and fussy-cut it out. I stamped the sentiment and post mark using Onyx Black ink and added some little heart glitter pieces on the top left. I die-cut the Fireweed card stock with a LFSRD and added a thin mat of the Rose card Stock behind that. The center of the Rose mat has been cut away with another LFSRD to start making a thin hollow chamber behind the card front. I cut a slot in the back of the top envelope just below the middle to feed our love note through, and copied and cut the same slot through the Fireweed card front as well.  I did die-cut some scrap white card stock to make two more “frames” (using two LFSRDs) and glued them to the back of the card front for a little more wiggle room to hide the rest of our note. Using my Silhouette software, I printed this poem on a scrap of white card stock that measures 2.1/2″ wide by 4.3/8″ tall (the bottom 1/4″ is 3″ wide to provide a stopper so the note doesn’t pull all the way out). I dry-fit everything to make sure I had room for this whole poem, then glued the envelopes to the card front.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white card stock using VersaMark ink and embossed that with the Pink Sparkle embossing powder included in our kit, and die-cut that with the banner die.

Finally, I slid the printed poem through the slot and glued the whole card front down to a white card base – only putting glue around the edges. I die-cut the little heart from the Rose card stock using one of my NEW HA Nesting Hearts Infinity dies (Merry Christmas!) and stamped the “open” using a MFT Interactive labels stamp and Onyx Black ink topped with clear embossing powder. A little removable glue dot holds the flap down, and not only is this a perfect (classic) Valentine poem, but I am a little amazed that I was able to get the entire poem on this magic reveal letter. When you start taking the letter out of the envelope, it just keeps going and going! A little touch of magic for you and your sweetheart!

One more sentiment to go, and I will have used a little bit of everything in this kit!

I am totally into these blue roses!! Not quite a wreath, but close! Flowers and greenery die-cut from Neenah 80# card stock and colored with alcohol markers (with some stardust glitter pen for the dots on the ‘bushy’ piece and a few white gel pen highlights).   I die cut a piece of the Gold Breeze card stock with a LFSRD and added a mat behind that using some silver mirror card stock, and glued those to my card front. I used two of my NEW HA Nesting Oval Infinity dies (Merry Christmas!) to create this silver oval frame. I used the frame to lay out my sentiment and I stamped that on the card front using Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I glued the oval frame down to the card front and arranged the flowers and leaves on the two sides using glue and spots of foam tape. I tied a simple bow with some silver cord to add at the top and finished up this card with some Nuvo Sea Breeze Jewel Drops. LOVE this card!!

You know I was trying to use all the stamps in our set, but that didn’t give me much of a chance to play with any puns this month… but I do like this bit of a pun on the inside. “Congratulations” “You rose to the challenge!” work perfectly together and if it doesn’t give you a giggle, I hope it at least gives you a groan!

That wraps up my 10 cards for this sold out MMH January 2020 kit…! This is a very unique kit that can create a variety of cards – I managed only 2 Valentines but ended up with 8 different occasion cards.  I can understand why this kit sold out so quickly – who doesn’t love flowers and butterflies? If you don’t want to miss out, I would suggest subscribing…! The six month plan lets you skip one month if you don’t happen to like the kit – not very many subscriptions let you do that! If you do go shopping at Hero Arts please use my links throughout this post and to go directly to Hero Arts click here: http://shrsl.com/1f7qx   Thank you!

I did use every stamp in our set EXCEPT the “to:” and “from:” stamps, I used all of the dies, and actually a little bit of everything including the pink sparkle embossing powder! I did have a good time creating these cards… I LOVE that rosebud die and the envelope die and I’m starting to fall in love with those glimmer metallic inks!  Thanks so much for sharing your time with me here… let me know which cards you like best, and remember to Like me, List me, Pin me, Post me, share me with all of your friends and remember… Don’t run barefoot through the roses!  Happy Crafting!!

 

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Hello Folks! Scott here unboxing the new Love From Lizi February 2020 Card Kit. I believe Lizi is calling this the “Happy Days” Card Kit and she has some BIG surprises in store for us this month (look at the size of that stamp set)!

Yes… this kit is quite pink this month, but seeing that Valentine’s Day is coming, all the pink is easily forgiven! At least there’s some nice red to balance things out!

Let’s start with our card stock in the kit. We have our usual five sheets of 8.5″ x 11″ card stock in Dark Green, Pink, Warm Red, Mid Blue, and a super smooth, alcohol-marker-friendly White. Instead of specialty card stocks in our kit this month, Lizi has given us two extra sheets of the Super Smooth White. Hmmmm… Explanation to follow!

Our patterned papers this month include twelve 6″ x 6″ single-sided sheets in a soft pale blue, pinks, and warm reds. A nice assortment from gingham to flowers, stripes, damasks, and text. Don’t worry…  there’s plenty of pink in this collection!

 

 

Our peels offs this month are a new color – Sky Blue pinstripe peel offs. They do not have a mirror finish – they have a “matte” finish although you can see that they still have some shine! A perfect match to all the soft blues in this kit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This month, Lizi is treating us to some new Decoupage Sheets!  Eight of them!

I LOVE Lizi’s decoupage sheets – These die-cut sheets are all about dimension and layering up the pieces to make stunning focal images. All of the sheets have numbers to assist in layering up the images. Most of the sheets have some “extra” pieces as well (some are extra sentiments), and all feature glitter highlights.

There are also three sheets that feature Decoupage Tags – the top left one here is actually ONE tag with SIX layers – and the bottom left one in the first pic is two tags each with three layers. Of course, you can always decorate a card with a tag or you could even use these as actual gift tags. Plenty to play with here!!

Now we get to our amazingly unique touch of Love From Lizi magic for this month…

This is our GIGANTIC 8.5″ x 11″ stamp set this month!  Oh My Heavens… this is the largest stamp set I have ever seen!! This amazing stamp set features a 6″ x 6″ background stamp that is actually an “infinity stamp” – the pattern will match up for repeat stamping to the left and right and to the top and bottom. Perfect if you are doing scrapbook layouts, and want am image larger than 6″ x 6″ (I don’t think I will need any more than a single image of this stamp).  That infinity stamp is joined by three smaller flower arrangement stamps and a whole bunch of individual flowers and leaves as well as seven sentiments. I’ve never seen anyone release a stamp set this large! This feels like two complete stamp sets to me! Amazingly Gigantic! The retail price of a stamp set like this is more than the price of the kit all by itself!  Truly amazing!

That bring us to our embellishment bag, which always has a bunch of goodies!

We start off with a sheet of foam squares – Lizi most always includes a sheet of foam squares when we get decoupage sheets! We get four printed wood-veneer die-cuts – two “with Love” tags and two roses, and we get a sheet of 8 gold foil sentiment stickers -these have foam dots on their backs for a little added dimension. Our “Happy Days” sequin mix includes some pink flower sequins along with dark green and gold sequins in assorted sizes. We get a new color of Nuvo Crystal Drops this month – Blue Babe – which matches the soft blues in the kit perfectly, and we get five different ribbons in this kit – each a meter long and all with some kind of coordinating pattern – I LOVE the cardboard spools these come on – makes it very easy to store any extras! Finally, we get two dies in our kit this month – a watering can with flowers coming out of the top, and a small birdhouse in a circle with flowers all around. That wraps up all the items included in this kit… WOW!

I did manage to get an additional add-on this month. I got the “Happy Days” Peel off pack which has a sheet each of Rose Gold Straight peel offs, Soft Peach Pinstripe peel offs, Silver Moondust Pinstripe peel offs and Apple Green peel offs – perfect colors to compliment this kit!

 

That covers everything I got in my kit this month! I cannot say how excited I am to play with that gigantic stamp set. Once again, I think Lizi has given us a stunning card kit with the most unique and certainly the  largest stamp set I have ever seen! Flowers and pink may not be my go-to favorite, but I am really looking forward to digging into this kit and seeing what it inspires me to create! Stay tuned for my 10 Card 1 Kit video featuring this kit as soon as I can get them all together!

At posting, this kit is still available at lovefromlizi.com. You should hurry up and grab one of these kits for yourself – feels like this one is going to sell out pretty quickly! If you do go shopping at Love From Lizi please use my links: Love From Lizi:  http://shrsl.com/1yyuw  LFL 2/20 Card Kit:  http://shrsl.com/231ks  Happy Days Peel off Pack:  http://shrsl.com/231l0 .

Thank you so much for sharing your time with me here… it’s been a while since I’ve been this excited with a LFL kit…! I hope it excites you too! Please remember to Like me, List me, Pin me, Post me, share me with all your friends, and as always… Happy Crafting!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

Hello Folks! Scott here with my 10 Cards featuring the Love From Lizi January 2020 “Hello Sweetie” Card Kit. Cupcakes, donuts, cookies and biscuits are featured in this kit with a bright spring palette (lots of pink!) and tons of supplies! I apologize for being tardy with this post. I did some traveling over the holidays – a little bit of a “Second Christmas” with family in Kansas – and I’m a little slow to get back into the groove…!

If you made a New Years resolution to shed a few pounds, then this kit might push you into a relapse with all the goodies sprinkled throughout – OH – and sprinkles too! As I always do with a LFL kit, I made card bases out of the five sheets of card stock included.

For my first card, I fussy cut the “row of donuts” pattern paper (discarding the pink portion) and die cut it to match the the white “sprinkles” pattern paper with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die. I glued the background panel to the Pink card base, and framed that panel with some of the Lemon Yellow peel offs. I stamped the sentiment using Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink, and embossed that with some clear embossing powder.

I did add some Glossy Accents to the ‘glazed’ portions of the donuts, and when that was dry, added that panel to the card base using foam tape. A few small sequins from our sequin mix pulls your focus towards the sentiment, and we have a nice pun-ny card with some truly appetizing donuts to temp you with! It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to avoid the pink completely in this kit, but, hey… even Homer Simpson eats pink-frosted donuts!! With sprinkles!

We got two sheets of matte mirror specialty card stock along with an embossing folder this month, and I thought that gave us an opportunity to add a touch of classy shine.

I die cut a piece of the Gold mirror card stock with a LFSRD and embossed that with the “falling sweeties” embossing folder – love how nicely that card stock takes the embossing! I matted that panel on a thin black mat and glued it directly to the Yellow card base. I fussy cut the bunch of “sweeties” (I believe Lizi called those little merengue cookies “sweeties”) from one of the pattern papers and cut a matching blank piece from another. I matted both squares to a thin black mat and stamped the sentiment on the blank one using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then embossed that with more clear embossing powder. The two square panels are attached to the card front using foam tape – a single layer under the sentiment and a double layer under the sweeties. A few more sequins adds a touch of sparkle to the sentiment and I am surprised how the use of that mirror card stock takes this card beyond the simply playful and makes it a bit more classy!

Our stamp set this month has a couple of pun-ny sentiments and a great assortment of cookies. I had to play with the gingerbread man stamp first!

I stamped the gingerbread man twice on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White  80# card stock and colored them with my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I used a VersaMarker pen and White embossing powder to add the ‘icing’ highlights and then fussy cut them out and glued them to a piece of the blue ‘linen’ pattern paper. I bisected the sentiment stamp and stamped that below the cookies using VersaFine ink. I marked a 2″ band behind the gingerbread men, and fussy cut the pattern paper allowing for a bit of a border around their arms and legs.

I cut the background pattern paper to 3.75″ wide and glued that to the Pale Blue card base and trimmed the edges with some Sky Blue/ Silver pin stripe peel offs from our LFL November  2019 kit, and added more peel offs to the straight edges of the Blue pattern paper. The center panel is attached to the card front with foam tape, the “linzer” cookie (from the die-cut sheet) is attached with a spot of foam tape, and has a layer of Glossy Accents on the ‘jam’. The blue satin bow adds the final touch for a fun (almost pun-ny) valentine or thank you or love you card. All of the fine detail on the cookie stamps in this set makes them nicely dimensional as well as quick and easy to color.

Due to the “smart cookie” sentiment in this kit I kind of felt like this card was a given!

I took two of our washi tape rolls and alternated them on the Green card base for this fun striped pattern. I stamped the cookie on Neenah 80# card stock, colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers and fussy cut it out. I die-cut a piece of Ivory card stock with a Darice nesting circle die and curved the sentiment using my stamp platform to match the circle and stamped the sentiment using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I matted that on a thin black mat and mounted it to the card front with foam tape.

I couldn’t resist putting glasses on this cookie, since I had a perfect stamp from the Simon Says Stamp Some Bunny stamp set that was featured with their March 2017 kit. Stamped and colored in black, I cut them out with a craft knife and glued them to the cookie. These google eyes fit perfectly, and make me laugh! I attached the cookie using more foam tape, and added a couple strips of the peel offs and a few sequins to finish off this fun card! I know the whole glasses/smart thing is a stereotype… but it’s always fun to anthropomorphize food items!

We had that one “chocolate” sentiment in our set, but actual chocolates were sparsely represented in this kit, so I dug around in my stash for some chocolate-y card stock.

I found this Rich Copper card stock from the My Monthly Hero September 2019 Kit and it looks good enough to eat! I wanted some sprinkles for the background, but the pattern paper sprinkles thinned out towards the bottom of the page, so I used the sprinkles washi tape to create a ‘frame’ background on the pink card base. I just laid out the 4 sides of the tape frame 1/4″ from the edge of the card front and mitered the corners. I did divide this sentiment stamp and embossed the “You’re sweet” portion here using the LFL Very Vanilla embossing powder. I die-cut the ‘chocolate’ card stock with a LFSRD, matted that on a thin white mat and glued it directly on top of the washi tape frame.

I fussy cut the tower of cookies from one of the pattern papers, and fussy cut five of the small chocolate wafers from another. I added a touch of Glossy accents to the small cookies (looks more like chocolate!) and added all the pieces using foam tape. I did complete this sentiment on the inside of the card, stamping the sentiment with Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink and embossing that with more clear embossing powder. This feels about as chocolate-y as I could get with this kit to go along with this sentiment!

I  have one more sentiment from our stamp set to use, and lots of cookies to go along!

I stamped all the rest of the cookie stamps on Neenah 80# card stock, colored them all with Spectrum Noir markers and fussy cut them out. The “digestive” cookie on the far right is stamped on kraft card stock using Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink and embossed with clear embossing powder for a little chocolate-y shine. I added some of our Nuvo Drops to the center of the biggest cookie and spots of enamel dots on two others, and some Spectrum Noir sparkle pen to the crackle cookie and tiny tart and set them aside to dry.

I cut a 1.75″ width of the ‘linen’ pattern paper and glued that to the middle of a white card base, and added peel offs to the edges. I took a strip of the shaped washi tape, cut it right down the middle and added that to the top and bottom edges of the card front. I stamped the sentiment using VersaFine ink and embossed that with clear embossing powder. Then I glued the small cookies down to the card front and attached the  larger cookies using foam tape. Kudos to Lizi for giving us a good pun this month!

That actually covers all the stamps in this stamp set! Let’s take a look at our dies!

Using some E6000 spray adhesive, I covered the front of a pale Blue card base with the printed tissue paper and set that aside to dry. I die cut the frame from our matte silver specialty card stock using two LFSRDs and added a thin mat to the “Birthday wishes” die cut banner in silver too. I die cut the cupcake from Neenah 110# card stock and colored the pieces with my alcohol markers. I die-cut it a second time from more of the silver card stock and inset the sentiment on the frosting, and the base of the candle as well.

I added some sparkle pen highlights to the sweets on the background tissue and glued the frame directly to the card base. I die-cut a round piece of vellum to glue behind the cupcake, and mounted that and the banner with foam tape. The banner seemed a touch odd just sitting there below the frame, so I did add a short piece of silver cord along the top. That’s really a great cupcake die and I think that’ll get a lot of use over the years!

The “Best Wishes” die looks nice too, and I still have some ‘chocolate’ card stock!

I die-cut a piece of the blue patter paper (plenty of pink on that too!) matched up with a 2″ wide piece of the blue ‘linen’ pattern paper using a LFSRD, glued them together and matted them to a thin ‘chocolate’ mat before gluing all down to a white card base. I added thin strips of the ‘chocolate’ card stock to the top and bottom of the linen strip as well. I die cut the sentiment from back card stock twice and the ‘chocolate’ card stock once and glued all three together to make this chunky sentiment.

The “linzer” cookie was removed from its clothespin, the heart enameled with the Hero Arts Glitter Lacquer pen, and some sparkle pen was added on the cookie for that special sugar effect! I glued the stacked sentiment to the middle of the panel, and just had to cut up one more sentiment to finish this card out. On the inside, I stamped “Sweetie” (from the “Hey Sweetie” stamp) using Walnut stain Distress Oxide ink and more clear embossing powder. I think that helps justify a cookie / sweet treats card sporting a Best Wishes sentiment. Unless you might want to give this card to a friend starting a new diet! Is that mean?

I have some extra pieces from the silver frame card and the ‘chocolate’ field on the ‘You’re sweet’ card so let’s not let them go to waste!

The silver piece is from the inside of the silver frame, and the ‘chocolate’ frame is from the outside of the “You’re sweet” panel, so they fit together perfectly. I embossed the silver panel using the embossing folder, and glued that and the frame to the yellow card base. The cookie is one of the stickers glued down to a scrap of card stock and fussy cut – the heart is enameled with Glossy Accents, and some Hero Arts Prisma Glitter (from the MMH October 2019 kit) was added for a little touch of sugar sparkle.

I created this sentiment using my Silhouette software and the Sign Painter font, and printed that on a piece of photo paper to make it nice and shiny. That is a bit of a paraphrase of a Cookie Monster quote! The cookie and sentiment are attached to the card front with foam tape, and this makes quite a dear friendship card!

Though we had a couple of nice puns in our stamp set, I couldn’t resist just one more!

LOVE THIS PUN!! Perfect card for any loved one who has a doughnut obsession..! This card kind of turned into a referendum on different glazing mediums. I “glazed” the white donut using a Hero Arts clear lacquer pen, and the other two donuts using theNuvo Morning Dew Crystal Drops, and, of course, Glossy Accents for the sentiment.  It’s always a bit of a crap-shoot when trying to “glaze” such large surfaces on a card. The Hero Arts lacquer pen worked very well and leveled out nicely but developed some light wrinkles when dry. The Nuvo Drops flowed easier but didn’t level off particularly well. All dried perfectly clear, and gave me the “glazed” effect I was going for.

I die-cut the yellow sprinkles pattern paper with a LFSRD and printed the sentiment on that using my Silhouette software and the Candara font (“you drive me”) and the Santa Fe font (Glazy). I glued that to a thin white mat and down to the last Green card base. I did take Glossy Accents to the “Glazy” portion of the sentiment and let that dry. I glued the pattern paper donuts to some scrap card stock to add some rigidity before fussy cutting all three. Those are attached to the card front with different thicknesses of foam tape. This pun never fails to bring a smile to my face!

That’s my 10 Cards from the Love From Lizi January 2020 “Hey Sweetie” Card Kit. I did manage to use every single stamp in our stamp set this month. WOO-HOO! I used 10 different pieces of our pattern paper (I have SO MUCH left) a couple of the die cut sentiment pieces, one piece of tissue paper, both the silver and gold specialty card stock, the peel offs, embossing folder, a sticker, a satin bow, all four of the washi tapes, two of our three dies and even some sequins from the mix. Looks like the only thing I didn’t use at all was one of the round Gift tags . And though I didn’t use one of the clothespins (VERY chunky), I did use a decoration FROM one of the pegs! I thought the sentiments were pretty fun this month and the cookie stamps are quite nice and lend themselves to many different stamping methods!

As of posting this kit is still available at LoveFrom Lizi.com. If I have managed to inspire your imagination or titilate your sweet tooth, please use my links when you go shopping with Lizi! It is truly appreciated and helps support this page!

Thank you so much for sharing your time with me here, I’ll be back in the swing of things shortly…! Thank heavens Lizi is delaying the release of the February kit due to the Creativision trade show in Phoenix… that will help! Please share this post with others who might be interested, and don’t forget to Like me, List me, Pin me, Post me, and remember… It’s hard to be sad when you’re eating a cookie! HAPPY CRAFTING!!

Hello Folks!! Scott here with my 10 Cards 1 Kit post featuring the My Monthly Hero December 2019 Kit. Sorry this is a little tardy this month… holidays, you know! Hero Arts is celebrating the diversity of our beloved (yet stressed) planet Earth this month with this lovely 6″ x 8″ stamp set with a stunning (and large) “Earth Goddess” stamp. I think this must be the largest image stamp I’ve seen in a MMH kit in the couple years I’ve been a subscriber. Really beautiful! She is complimented with an earth, a tree, a pair of fish, a peace sign and a few sentiments sized to fit in the crook of her arm. There’s also a pair of hands, some birds, flowers and clouds to round things out.

We do get 18 coordinating frame cuts to die-cut all the images, a new Earth Palette Reactive Ink pad (LOVE IT!) and a pack of Green Biodegradable Glitter. VERY interesting! I’m tempted to toss some in a glass of water and see what happens!! Finally we are treated to five little mini brushes – I find these most useful for super small glue or paste or more permanent media details since they aren’t much good after a single use or two. Though I’m not overly thrilled with all the sentiments here, I do think this is one of the most interesting and unique kit I’ve ever received from Hero Arts!

So, of course, I just couldn’t resist grabbing that big Goddess stamp and plunging right in!

 

I stamped this (and all the other cards this month) on Bristol smooth card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and I embossed this stamp with clear embossing powder. I rarely emboss stamps I’m going to color, but for some reason I thought it was very appropriate for this stamp. WOW! I LOVE the shine that gives to this entire image! I don’t know why I don’t do that more often! I reached for my Stabilo pens to color this whole image and just worked my way around from the ‘water’ to the ‘fire’. I really like how vivid those Stabilo markers are, and, with a little water, they move on the Bristol smooth card stock super easily!

I wasn’t sure what image I wanted to put in her arms, so I went ahead and stamped, embossed and colored the earth, the fish, the tree, and the peace sign in the exact same way. Of course, the earth won out..! I cut out my stamped panel with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and  glued that to a white card base. I fussy cut the Earth (the die in the kit leaves a small border around that stamp), added a little Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen to the oceans, and mounted that in her arms with some foam tape.

Wow WOw WOW! LOVE this so very much! The shine from the embossing makes her feel very ethereal, and I love the buck and deep blue oceans on the earth..! I couldn’t bring myself to add a sentiment to the front of this card, and I was in a bit of a celebratory mood after making this, so I turned to my Silhouette Software to create the sentiment on the inside. “You GO Gaia” is printed on a scrap of card stock using the Typewriter Hand font and die-cut with my smallest LFSRD. In Greek mythology, Gaia, is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess. This does echo the classic “you go girl!” which made it seem all the more appropriate for this card! I LOVE THIS!

Bit of a side-bar here… After much consternation and debate over prices, I treated myself to a ream of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110# card stock. I have experimented with MANY heavy-weight card stocks over the last few years, and ALL were much cheaper than the Neenah… but I have to admit you get what you pay for. This Neenah card stock is smooth as butter, bright white, scores and folds beautifully, goes through my printer with no problem and it is luxuriously thick. A ream of 250 sheets stands about 3.75″ tall! All my white card bases this month (and for the foreseeable future) are Neenah!

Though I kind of felt like I had “Mastered this Kit with a Single Card”, I do have a few other ideas, and I did have three more of the round images already colored…

One of my favorite “peace” quotes of all time! I printed this sentiment on a Neenah card base using my Silhouette Software and the Typewriter Hand font again. I was very pleased that the 110# Neenah would go through my printer using my ‘piggy-back’ printing method! You can review my technique for Printing Unique Sentiments for your  cards here: https://cardcutups.com/2017/07/18/printing-sentiments-for-cards/.

I fussy cut the (stamped, colored and embossed) peace sign (very carefully) with a craft knife, and mounted it to the card front with thin foam pieces. I thought this unique stamp was cool enough to hold it’s own on the front of a card – and is very appropriate with this quote that I do attribute on the inside of the card. Plain yet powerful!

The fish stamp seemed very “Yin/Yang” to me – whether it was intended to or not, so I did color that stamp as if it was a Yin/Yang symbol – basically just reversing the colors from one fish to the other. I added a touch of light blue in the background, and die-cut them using the circle die in the kit.

Now, I have seen LOTS of spinner cards and rotating cards and window cards using this set coming from a lot of the HA design team – obviously, this kit lends itself to those type of interactive cards, but I wanted to try something just a little bit different. I stamped the hands on a piece of Bristol smooth card stock cut to 3.5″ x 5.5″ and printed this sentiment using my Silhouette Software and the Smoothie Shoppe and Arial fonts. A simple hole punched in the middle to connect the spinning wheel to the fish. I used a stitched circle die to cut the spinner and stamped the arrows using the MFT Interactive Labels stamp set, and punched a finger-notch on the left side right in line with my center hole.

I ink blended the edges of that panel with Hero Arts Splash Reactive ink and a mini ink blending tool, and added a couple strips of pattern paper (from the Sizzix Geometrics 6″ x 12″ Cardstock Pad) down the two sides of my white card base. I attached the spinner to the fish with a brad through the center hole, and used foam tape to attach the panel to the card front leaving room for the spinner to rotate. I think these fish were just begging to ‘swim around’ (pun intended!) and this is a fairly surprising and unique interactive card with a poignant and useful sentiment!

I still have that tree stamp colored, embossed and die-cut that I haven’t used yet …

And here we break into that Biodegradable Glitter! I cut a frame from some adhesive backed card stock using two LFSRDs and covered the adhesive with glitter. I burnished it down quite vigorously, but this glitter is super fine and still sheds a little bit..! I also die cut a slightly larger circle than the tree and covered that with glitter before gluing it behind my tree die-cut for a matching mat. I did print this sentiment on a Neenah card base using the Typewriter hand font and glued the frame to the card front and added the matted tree with some foam tape. Of course there is more to this sentiment than just “Be a Tree”… I printed the rest of this sentiment on the inside of the card using my Silhouette software and the same font. Very good advice for most anybody at most anytime! And I think this is particularly appropriate with this stamp that shows the roots of the tree!

We also had nine little flower, leaf and stick stamps in this kit, and I kept thinking…

I really like the hand stamps in this kit – pretty versatile – and any plant that blooms with three different flowers is damn precious!! I stamped everything using only a mask for the hand – I simply stamped all the foliage as close together as possible. I colored these with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, stamped and clear embossed the sentiment (after I removed the “so take care!”) and die cut that panel with a LFSRD.

I swiped the Earth Palette reactive ink pad on a piece of Bristol smooth card stock and blended the colors together with a paintbrush and a little water – the brownish stripe behind the sentiment happened when the purple went over the light green – it matches the stick part of our ‘plant’ nicely so I let it be! I die cut the background with another LFSRD and glued it directly to a Neenah card base. I matted the image panel with a thin black mat and added that to the card front with foam tape.

Once this was all together, I felt it was still missing something, so I stamped the little bird on a scrap of Bristol smooth card stock, colored and die-cut it out. I did try to make the bird look like a Meadowlark. I like the sense of movement that comes from die-cutting the bird (when none of the other images are die cut) and I love the matching ombre background! Precious, indeed!

We also have dies for all those little incidental stamps (and hands!) in this month’s kit…

I stamped everything on Bristol smooth card stock, colored all with my Zig markers, and die cut everything with the matching dies. I stamped and clear embossed the sentiment on a Neenah card base and arranged all my die cuts on top. The foliage is glued directly to the card front and the hands and butterfly are mounted with foam tape. A thin strip cut from the scraps of my ombre background adds a final touch of color to our abundant cornucopia of nature being offered up. Fun and colorful, this is a great way to use all the little incidental stamps included with this kit. And those hands are really versatile!

Speaking of versatile, I had another interactive card idea to go along with a bit of a pun…

I stamped the hands together masking the right one before stamping the left, colored them with my Zig markers and die cut those with a plain circle die. I swiped the Earth Palette reactive ink pad on a scrap of watercolor paper and blended them out with more water – that gave me more of a ‘brush’ texture on the watercolor paper versus the smooth blending on the Bristol smooth card stock. I cut that down to a 3″ square and used my corner choppers to round the corners. Again, I poked a hole in the center of a Neenah card base, die cut a 4.25″ circle for the spinner, stamped the arrows and attached the spinner to the watercolor background through the center hole. I added the hands to the watercolor piece with foam tape, and took some thin heart washi tape from my stash to run across the top and bottom of this card front. I added a finger notch to the right side this time and attached the front panel to a Neenah card base using foam tape.

There’s the pun! (I couldn’t resist!) LOL! I printed the inside sentiment using my Silhouette software and the Henny Penny font. The Neenah card stock takes the print so well…  nice and clean and very sharp. I’m extra thrilled with this card stock knowing that I can print on it! And I really like that the whole ‘square’ rotates and I think that’s a little bit of a surprise. A great interactive congratulations card! Makes me laugh!

I can’t do 10 cards with this kit and NOT do one more Earth Goddess stamp…! Let’s try her on some Kraft card stock and break out the colored pencils!

I hadn’t used the large bird stamp or the clouds yet, so I added them to this card front using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and colored everything with my Prismacolor Colored Pencils. A little more subdued than the first card, but I think every bit as beautiful! I colored the bird in a bit of a parakeet motif and even added some of the twine along the spine tied in a simple bow. Again, no sentiment on the front, so you know I’m going to have something to say on the inside. I love this “Unleash your inner Goddess” sentiment! I printed that on a scrap of ivory card stock using the Brushgyo and Arial fonts, die cut that panel with a LFSRD and added it to the inside of the card. Another fun, colorful encouragement card for all the “Goddesses” in your life! I know there has to be a few! Though it does takes some time to color, I really love that stamp!

A lot of the ‘environmental’ sentiments in this kit didn’t particularly catch my eye – I had a hard time figuring out who I would send a card to that says “One world is enough for all of us” – a feuding neighbor? An estranged relative? A mortal enemy? Might as well try to laugh it up a little bit!

I stamped the four images and the sentiment on Bristol smooth card stock and colored them with my Zig markers and die-cut them all with the matching circle die. I did fussy-cut the earth and glued it to a thin velum mat. I used a 1″ and 1/2″ paper punch to punch out the blue and green dots using the HA Neon card stock from the October 2019 Kit. The punched dots are glued to a Neenah card base, the sentiment, tree, fish and bird are mounted with foam tape, and the earth is mounted with a double layer of foam tape. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, this was the perfect card to add some of the blue and green ‘droplet’ embellishments we got in our MMH March 2019 kit. Perfect match! But what’s the joke you may be asking? You have to open the card to see, silly! “Mulch this card” makes me giggle every time I say it! I printed this on the inside of the card base using the Marguaritas font and the Calibri font. I thought about “Recycle this card” but I think Mulch is a much funnier word! AND it also implies that we’re returning something to the Earth! Protect the Earth!

I have used all the image stamps in this kit (many of them twice!) but there is one more sentiment stamp that I wanted to use, and I’m going to go outside the stamp set (but staying with Hero Arts) for the image on my last card.

This is the Hero Arts From the Vault Earth stamp that I was so happy to receive for Christmas this year! That is one of my favorite “From the Vault” stamps that Hero Arts has re-released in honor of their 45th anniversary. (I asked Santa for this stamp long before I knew that this kit would have an earth stamp too!) I love the size of this stamp and the vintage dot patterns swirling through the oceans and land masses. This stamp is so detailed that it only needs a  little bit of color to bring it to life! I stamped that on some of my Neenah 110# card stock and colored it with my Spectrum Noir markers before fussy-cutting it out. I did trace the cut edges with my Memento Tuxedo Black Dual Marker and added some thick foam dots on the back. I stamped the sentiment on the same paper and die-cut it with the coordinating die, and inked the edges with a little Black Soot Distress Ink, and added thin foam dots behind that piece.

On watercolor paper, I created my “galaxy” using Brusho Black powdered pigments with some water, and let that dry thoroughly before ink blending in some Hero Arts Creamsicle, Blue Raspberry, and Taffy reactive inks. When that dried, I ink blended more of the Black Soot Distress ink all the way around the painted “galaxy”, and then spattered some Permanent White Gouache for the stars and then spattered some of my Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen for a little touch of glitter. I die cut the galaxy with a LFSRD and glued that to a Neenah card base, and mounted the two circles with foam tape. Now there’s a truly useful sentiment from this kit! A Valentine for your favorite astronomer, maybe? I really like this card and I love that Earth stamp from the vaults at Hero Arts!

That’s my 10 cards using the My Monthly Hero December 2019 Kit. I was tempted to throw in the towel after just five cards, but I soldiered on and am very pleased with the nice variety of cards I achieved. A sweet batch of encouragement cards with a Valentine or two thrown in for good measure! I am still impressed with that Earth Goddess stamp, and am particularly pleased with how colorful all these cards came out.

This kit is still available at Hero Arts! http://shrsl.com/21ba3  If I have managed to ignite your imagination or inspire an idea or two from you, please use my links when you go shopping at Hero Arts. It is always greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for sharing your time with me here… your support and encouragement is what keeps me inspired!

I have now actually completed a full year of MMH kits! WOO-HOO! (PHEW!) I am still enjoying my subscription, and I really love getting feedback and hearing from all the Hero Arts fans out there! Please remember to Like me, List me, Pin me, Post me, share me with all your friends (and enemies!), and remember… Its not nice to fool Mother Nature! I am sending you and yours all my best for a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year! Happy Crafting, and see you in 2020!

Hello Folks! Scott here unboxing the new Love From Lizi January 2020 Card Kit! This kit is  the “Hey Sweetie” card kit and is packed with tons of treats from cookies to donuts, cakes, pies, gems and some proper English biscuits!

I thought we were suppose to give our sweeties up for our New Years resolutions!? If we can’t eat ’em, then at least we can craft with them! Everything in this kit is curated to be totally coordinated – papers, stickers, die-cuts, – even an embossing folder!

As always, we get 5 sheets of 8.5″ x 11″ card stock in Green, alcohol marker-friendly White, Pale Blue, Pink, and Yellow. In addition to those, we get two sheets of specialty card stock in Gold and Silver matte mirror. I always love Lizi’s specialty card stocks! For a new and unique item this month we get two full-sized sheets of printed tissue paper – a large ‘sprinkles’ print in color, and an outline print of assorted sweets in a soft brown. Very interesting – and unique!

This month we get a sheet of Lemon Yellow Glitter Straight Peel-offs – a new color in the ‘Straight’ shape; and we get a die-cut Sentiment Sheet with 14 different sentiments ready to pop out and use. Sprinkled with Love, indeed!

And look at this pattern paper! Sweeties galore! 6″ x 6″ pattern papers that coordinate with our card stock sheets and come in small patterns, large patterns, subtle and bold patterns – I got 25 sheets in my kit! And they are all double-sided!

I think there may be a repeat in here… but if a pattern repeats in these papers, then it usually has a different background color. TONS of pattern paper! (plenty of pink as well!)

Thank brings us to the “Hey Sweetie” stamp set! This 4″ x 8″ clear stamp set features 9 difference treats and six accompanying sentiments – with a fun little pun! WOO-HOO! That’s a nice large gingerbread man stamp, and the cookies look scrumptious! We are also treated to an embossing folder this month! A 6″ x 6″ cascade of cakes and cupcakes raining down upon us all! Again… perfectly coordinating with this entire kit!

Another treasure trove of unique items in our embellishment bag this month! Four round printed tags in large and small circles, 10 rather larger stickers (2 each of 5 designs) of cakes, cookies, donuts, cupcakes and biscuits! Perfect for a scrapbook page! Then we have our sample pack of the “Hey Sweetie” sequin mix with a really pretty iridescent blue, and (of course) some shiny pink! We get another new bottle of Nuvo Glitter Drops this month in “Enchanting Pink” – lots of glitter there but I’m not necessarily ‘enchanted’..!!

We get four clothes-pins (short, yet wide) with cardboard treats attached on top, and twenty satin bows in yellow and white and pink and blue and purple… I do wish there was matching ribbon..! We are treated to four rolls of Washi Tape this month! A very thin pink, a blue background with colored treats, a wide “shaped” washi with all round treats and tarts, and a yellow background with sprinkles! Perfectly matching everything in this kit!  Last, but not least, we do get three dies this month! A Birthday cupcake with “Make a Wish” in the icing, a “Best Wishes” sentiment die and a Frosted Donut die with little sprinkle impressions..! A well appointed and coordinated batch of embellishments!!

Of course, Lizi has all sorts of add ons and new releases to go along with this card kit. I did manage to get the peel off bundle assembled to go with this kit. It includes sheets of Peach/Gold Sway peel offs, White/Gold Pin Stripe peel offs, Ice Blue Pin Stripe peel offs and a Clear Pink Irridescent Straight peel offs. These all go along with this kit very nicely.

 

At posting, This kit and most of the add-ons are still available at lovefromlizi.com – including an amazing Hey Sweetie Bumper Pack with pattern papers, vellum, die cuts, alphabet stickers and so much more…! If you DO go shopping with Lizi, please use my links… it helps support this page and my YouTube channel and is ALWAYS super-appreciated!

Thank you so much for sharing your time with me here, your encouragement and support means so much to me! I am sending you and yours all my best wishes for a Happy, Healthy, Hearty and Prosperous New Year!  Please remember to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, share me with all your friends and remember, Don’t be too sweet, or they’ll eat you!