Lighthearted Lines Inspired Me Once Again

My regular readers will know that I love finding new and interesting sentiments to use on my projects. Sometimes they’re part of a stamp set with both images and sentiments. Other times they’re part of a sentiment only set like the new Lighthearted Lines. This set of eight stamps has somewhat larger sentiments, although they’re certainly not huge. Some of them could also be ‘edited’ with the first part stamped on the front of a card and the second part on the inside. Today though I kept things much simpler.

I love the “Don’t grow up (it’s a trap)” in the Lighthearted Lines Stamp Set. It’s one of those sentiments that could be used for a number of different occasions. My initial thought was a birthday card, I’ve even had an idea for a baby card. But for this project I thought I’d give it more of a ‘just because’ feel.

LIGHTHEARTED LINES

I began by stamping my sentiment onto a 1″ x 4″ strip of Basic White Card using Soft Suede ink. Then using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I mounted it onto a 1-1/8″ x 4-1/8″ strip of Bumblebee Card.

Next I used my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Crumb Cake Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create my card base.

With the “growing up” on my mind, I’d decided to use the giraffe image from the Back On Your Feet Stamp Set. So that set me looking for the leafy background I found in the Beauty Of The Earth Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack.

I started by cutting one piece of the green and yellow tree paper 3-1/8″ x 5-1/2″ and glued it up against the crease on my card base. Then I edged the DSP with a 1/8″ x 5-1/2″ strip of Mossy Meadow Card.

TIP – Before cutting, and again before gluing, make sure the trees are growing up, not down or sideways!

Next I cut a 3/4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of the DSP and glued that down the right hand edge of a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Basic White Card. Then I fixed the assembled layer inside the card base.

Finally I cut a 2-1/4″ x 6″ piece of the DSP and glued it to the flap of a Basic White Medium Envelope. Then with my Paper Snips I trimmed off the excess paper using the edge of the flap as a guide.

BACK ON YOUR FEET

Now the card base and envelope were decorated I was ready to start work on the focal image. I started by using Soft Suede ink to stamp the giraffe from the Back On Your Feet Stamp Set onto Basic White Card.

Then I coloured him in very quickly using Stampin’ Blends alcohol markers. First I used dark Pale Papaya for his spots and hooves, then I changed to light Pale Papaya for the rest of him. Although these markers are designed to blend I didn’t worry about that as a I just wanted the smooth colour. Once I’d finished colouring I used Paper Snips to cut him out.

Finally using liquid glue I fixed the giraffe to the sentiment, and then glued the assembled piece to the front of the card. With that my project was complete.

This is such a quick and easy card to make. I love the contrast between the simple colouring on the giraffe and the darker tree background. What do you think?

For more projects using the Lighthearted Lines Stamp Set see these earlier blog posts: