This past year has been hard on all of us. I’m glad I didn’t know what was coming when the pandemic first began. I think it’s safe to say that we are all struggling and we are all doing our best to get through. Thank goodness for my online friends and activities to lift my spirits and offer much needed connection. I’m grateful to my Scrap Happy Family and to Alice for giving us events and places to come together during this time of necessary apart-ness. Alice is doing her Happy@Home live series again on youtube this month, every weekday in April at 4PM Eastern. If you can’t make it live to chat and interact catch her on the replays for a great pick-me-up and crafty inspiration.
Some of my friends have suffered great losses in the past year, life altering losses. For those of you with holes in your lives where a loved one used to be, I was thinking of you when I created this card. Please know that we want to be here for you as you navigate this difficult time.
I live in Houston, Texas. Spring is short here. It feels as if we go from winter, to Pollen Season, then straight on into summer so any clement day I am on my patio trying to soak up some fresh air! Here I am at my patio table the day I created this card.
I had a new kit that I wanted to work with the My Monthly Hero March 2021 Kit from Hero Arts. This set featured a book and reading theme. It included a stamp set, dies, bookmarks, rainbow twine, a waterbrush and a cool multicolored reactive ink pad. I sat down at my table and dove into creating to see what would happen.
I created a rainbow background by rubbing the ink pad directly onto the cardstock then stamped the tree in black and cut it out with the matching die.
This was the moment when inspiration struck, looking at that rainbow with a tree-shaped hole in it.
I recently found a stamp set with a cool saying about a tree in a box of supplies from a long ago road trip. I recorded it into my craft catalog in the Color My Life App on my phone. I add a keyword tag (bubbled in purple in the far right image) for each element in a stamp set and also for each sentiment so that can search for appropriate word sentiments and don’t have to remember which set includes which sayings.
I pulled out my phone, did a search for “Tree” and found the stamp set.
The app includes info about where each item is stored.
CC: Girls/Characters CC indicates my Totally Tiffany Companion Cart
and the item is stored in the file under the girls/characters tab which I locate by looking at the labels on the front of the drawers. I can easily rearrange categories as certain sections get full or I need to add new ones or consolidate others as my file system evolves. The drawers can be pulled out and moved to different locations in the cart for easier access if I am working a lot in one particular drawer.
I cut a tree out of plain white cardstock, inserted it into the void and stamped the sentiment over all using my Stampin’ Up! Stamparatus stamping platform.
I realized that I needed to put something under the tree taking shelter. I looked through my stamps for animals I thought would work and decided on The Gang’s All Meer because it had a single meerkat, a group, and appropriate sayings to use on the inside of the card.
I tucked the single meerkat into the shelter of the tree then added rainbow sequins to the front of the card.
I added the group of meerkats to the inside of the card and used the multicolored ink pad to continue the rainbow effect with the inside sentiments.
Something was still missing In the end I decided I need to color in the letters to match the rainbow. I colored the white halo around the cut out meerkat to match the background.
I also repeated the rainbow color scheme around to the group of meerkats on the inside of the card.
I hope you enjoyed seeing this card come together and I hope you can feel all the love that went into it. If you are struggling please let use be here for you in community and friendship!
Products Used
- My Monthly Hero Kit March 2021
- The Gang’s All Meer from Stampin’ Up!
- Jane Davenport Friendship Stamps
- Stamparatus from Stampin’ Up!
- Images colored using Catherine Pooler Ink pads and a Tombow blending pen.
- Sequins various collections Catherine Pooler
- Sequins various collections Picket Fence Studios
- Microtip scissors Close To My Heart
- Microfiber cloth
- Tim Holtz Distress Spray Bottle
- Olfa Cutting Mat
- Ranger Inkssentials Craft Sheet
- Art Glitter Glue with ultrafine metal tip
- Paper Trimmer Stampin’ Up!
Organizational Items
- Color My Life App
- Companion Cart Totally Tiffany (she doesn’t seem to still make my exact same cart) *see note for updated info
- Storage Envelopes – Small Essentials By Ellen
- Magnetic Die Storage – Small Essentials By Ellen
- Karen Buddy Bag Totally Tiffany (die file box)
- Crafty Cutter Die File Set Totally Tiffany (she says she will sell these separately but so far they have only been sold in bundled sets on HSN). *See Note for Updated info
I prefer the Karen Buddy bag because I can use just the box in my cart, but I can also use the whole bag for sets I move around with. I have my seasonal items filed in the bags because I don’t tend to use FALL or Winter sets when they are out-of-season and this saves room in my cart. I also store my WORD stamps and dies in bags because I have so many, I tend tend to bring the whole bag to my work table when I am working with them.
In the drawers of my cart two Karen box inserts without the bag part are too wide to fit side-by-side so I put a Karen Box next to one of the Crafty Cutter file boxes and then they will fit side-by-side in the drawers.
Totally Tiffany is developing products with Stephanie Barnard of The Stamps of Life, she has been regularly introducing these new products. I have not yet seen most of the new products for sale other places. The pink colored bags are made exclusively for The Stamps of Life.
***UPDATE added September 11, 2021****
Tiffany has now said that she is only making carts exclusively for HSN so if you want to get a cart, that’s where to watch for it.
She has also now said that the CRAFTY CUTTER die file set was Limited Edition only for HSN they had a few left last time I checked and The Stamps Of Life was able to get a few that were leftover. So once these are gone there are no plans to make more