March Pals Blog Hop

Welcome to the Stampin’ Pretty Pals’ Blog Hop!

This month, the theme is Cute Critters. We really hope that you will be inspired by all the amazing creations the Pals are sharing with you! As you hop from blog to blog, we would love for you to leave a comment. You will find the lineup at the end of my post to help you “hop” along from Pal to Pal.

I was so excited when Stampin’ Up released the “Friends of the Forest” stamp set in the January to June 2022 Mini Catalog and indicated that it coordinated with the Deer Builder punch. I had the Deer Builder punch from the July to December 2021 Mini Catalog and knew that it was carrying over. I love when Stampin’ Up extends the life of a punch by adding stamp sets that coordinate with existing punch. Now I had to figure out how I was going to create with it!

For this card I knew the focus needed to be on the “critters” but this stamp set had so many! Since I had the Deer Builder Punch just waiting to be used, I decided to focus on the deer. I stamped two deer from the “Friends of the Forest” stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad and punched them out with the Deer Builder punch. I colored the deer with one of the Natural Tones Stampin’ Blends (SU500). I didn’t want the deer to be unprotected so I stamped a tree, also from the “Friends of the Forest” stamp set, and colored it with Stampin’ Blends. For this tree, I decided to go with a fall color scheme so I colored the tree with Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight and cut it out with my paper snips. I thought it would be nice to bring in some DSP as background for the deer so I pulled out this piece (3 3/4″ x 5″) from the Heart & Home DSP. Since I had two deer I decided it would fitting to use this sentiment from the Blessings of Home stamp set. I stamped it in Pumpkin Pie and punched it out with the Double Oval punch. I layered a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock on the Daffodil Delight card base (5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, scored at 4 1/4″). I then layered the DSP on top of the Pumpkin Pie piece. I adhered the tree and one deer with Tombow Multipurpose glue. The sentiment and the other deer were popped up with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

These two card fronts were my initial playing around with the “Friends of the Forest” stamp set. I hesitated to post them but wanted to show a few more ideas with the stamps. Besides, who doesn’t like a blooper reel? While not perfect, these card fronts were my chance to play with the stamps, see the different combinations and try some coloring and blending with them. I really enjoyed figuring out where to place the different critters and which direction they faced. As soon as I saw the bird and the stump, I knew I had to put them together. I’m thinking of having the fox jumping over the stump on a future card.

I had a little trouble with the background since my Balmy Blue Classic Stampin’ Pad needed to be reinked. Of course, I didn’t realize that until I had already started with the blending brush and wondered why it wasn’t blending well. Lesson learned – do not try to blend a light background immediately after reinking an ink pad! And in case you are wondering, I also experimented with blending some Granny Apple Green after I had already blended in Balmy Blue. Also, can you tell which card has blending over the animals?

It was fun creating these items out of the Friends of the Forest stamp set and a few of the coordinating items. I would love to know what you think so please leave a comment.

More inspiration awaits, so use the lineup below to visit the rest of the Design Team. The Pals are excited to show you what they’ve created! Then, please mark your calendars for our next blog hop on April 13th. Our theme will be Fabulous Flowers when our Design Team creates a project using any of the many beautiful flowers in our catalogs.

Until then, have fun in your craft space.

A new kit has been added to the collection! The Robot Buddies Kit includes 9 card bases—3 each in 3 designs—and 9 envelopes. It also includes sticker sheets and printed die-cuts to decorate the cards and two Classic Stampin’ Ink Spots in Bermuda Bay and Pumpkin Pie. The finished card size is 5-1/2″ x 4-1/4″ (14 x 10.8 cm). And, you guessed it, the coordinating colors are Balmy Blue, Bermuda Bay, Granny Apple Green, Night of Navy, and Pumpkin Pie.

During the month of March, you can snag the Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine at a 20% discount! This miniature machine is compatible with a large selection of Stampin’ Up! embossing folders and dies. Build your craft collection and combine the Mini Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine with any (or all!) of the select stamp-and-die bundles that are also available for 20% off during the month of March!

Stampin’ Pretty Pals Blog Hop

1. Mary Fish at Stampin’ Pretty
2. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
3. Rae Harper Burnet at Wild West Paper Arts
4. Jill Loveland at Simple Stamping
5. Pamela Sadler at Stampin Pink Rose
6. Tricia Chuba at ButterDish Designs
7. Debbie Mageed at Secrets to Stamping
8. Deb Walker at Deb Stamps Life
9. Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping
10. Beth McCullough at Stamping Mom
11. Karen Hallam at Karen’s Stamping Habit
12. Sue Jackson at Just Peachy Stamping
13. Su Mohr at Aromas And Art
14. Amanda Howard at Papercrafting With Amanda
15. Melissa Seplowitz at The Stamping Ninja
16. Stesha Bloodhart at Stampin’ Hoot!
17. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creations

Product List

• Friends of the Forest stamp set #157746
• Blessings of Home stamp set #157930
• Deer Builder punch #156390
• Double Oval punch #154242
• Daffodil Delight cardstock #119683
• Pumpkin Pie cardstock #105117
• Basic White cardstock #159276
• Heart & Home 12″ x 12″ Designer Series Paper #157928
• Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin’ Pad#154897
• Memento Tuxedo Black Ink Pad #132708
• Soft Suede Classic Stampin’ Pad#147115
• Granny Apple Green Classic Stampin’ Pad $147095
• Balmy Blue Classic Stampin’ Pad #147105
• Petal Pink Stampin’ Blends #154893
• Balmy Blue Stampin’ Blends #154830
• Poppy Parade Stampin’ Blends#154958
• Granny Apple Green Stampin’ Blends #154885
• Basic Black Stampin’ Blends #154843
• Pumpkin Pie Stampin’ Blends #154897
• Daffodil Delight Stampin’ Blends #154883
• Natural Tones Stampin’ Blends Collection #160940