I have absolutely no idea where the first of my posting adventures disappeared to…but since the photos even disappeared from my media library…I know I did something wrong! So, just to catch up… I decided to spend my summer months (at least) seeing what kind of creativity I could find in the card making kits that are available from several companies. My plan is to do some challenges, experiment with inks and other mediums, and of course…paper. In May 2018 I happened to “discover” Love From Lizi, which is a wonderful paper crafting business in England. Their May kit was sold out, so I ordered their June kit. When the kit arrived I discovered that it was themed “Maker’s Gonna Make”…so it was all about creativity. There was a lovely stamp set…which Scott (of Card Cut Ups) called the “build a bust” set in his You Tube video about the the kit and the cards he created. Very appropriate, as the stamp set featured the head and shoulders, two hair styles, some jewelry and neckline options to create your own creative gal. Also in the kit was a wonderful stencil for creating stripes (and plaids), some great peel off linear embellishments, (wonderful lavender lines of varying thickness and adhesive backing), plenty of printed ephemeral and hard board die cuts, a bag of embellishments, including ruler ribbon, sheer lavender ribbon edged with hearts, and a couple of mini doilies. There was also a set of button dies, and so much more! I was feeling a bit challenged by the kit because it had so MUCH already printed and designed for creating cards or scrapbook lay outs. I want some of the kit contents to leave the designing up to me and decided to check out the blog. And there I discovered Lizi’s monthly challenge! The title of the challenge was “Show Us Your Stripes”. I looked at the kit supplies, the stamp set, the papers…and, of course, discovered it was just what I needed to get my own creative juices flowing. Using my distress ink and the “build a bust” stamp I set out to create a page ful of individuals, each with it’s own individual stripes. One of the stamp sentiments in the kit was “Perfect just as you are”. I loved it! No make up, no hairstyles for my lovely striped crafty people. I left them open minded and their only adornment was descriptive words I found to give each a trait of their own. I’m very happy to report that my card won the challenge!
But, wait…you can enter up to five times in Lizi’s monthly card challenges! So, back to the stamp and stencil I went! For entry number two I used both hair styles, added some eyebrows and a hint of eyelashes. The theme, remember is “Show us your stripes”…so the stencil and some of the lavender peel off lines created the stripes for this card. I added a sentiment, a bit of shimmer tape and used a border die to cut the scalloped border…popped it up on a blue background to match the girl on the card’s eyes….but something was missing… I added a few sequins and some Nuvo drops. And I realized I could turn those sequins into a very fun representative shape by using the semi circles from the ping border extra bits. No…those shapes aren’t flowers…they’re eyes…because you can’t create something until you can “see” it. I needed to add the “buttons” to balance the card and entry number 2 was finished. I love this card almost as much as the first!
For entry number three…I went back to the stencil. Having looked at the blog I couldn’t help notice that several people were creating more complicated “line” patterns…or plaids. Plaids remind me of flannel and flannel reminds me of Christmas. So, my third entry started with a plaid and became a cute little Christmas card…”It’s tartan to look a lot like Christmas” printed on vellum. I used one of the hard board die cut figures, punched up her hair color with my alcohol markers…et voila! Entry number 3.
So onto the remaining 7 cards. I didn’t enter them into the challenge but I do want to share them with you:
A couple of these included ideas I embellished upon…like the male shirt. (Thanks Scott!), and winding some thread on the spool on the sewing machine. (Thanks Tina!)
I was happiest with the cards I created for the monthly challenge…which tells me I like creating backgrounds and designs much more than I like adhering stickers, etc. to my card designs.
And that’s it for my first Love From Lizi card kit!
I’ve got mote to catch up on…but for now….
Peas be with you ‘til we meet again!
Paper Poodles and Puns 