OLW 95: Stars and Stripes

Yeah!  Was able to fit in another of Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenges!  Loved this one and loved how my card turned out if I say so myself!  I needed some thank you notes and this one was really easy to replicate.  The challenge, as always, is to make a one layer card, this time using a star and a stripe, any theme.  Well, I couldn't pass up the fact that Independence Day was this week....the star and stripe fed into my feelings of patriotism!

Used the retired solid stripes stamp (say that fast 3 times!) from SU!, the frilly star is a $1 clear stamp from Studio G, and the sentiment is from Savvy Stamps.  Used the new Nautical Blue ink from Memento (isn't it yummy???) and SU! Real Red.

This is my second post of the day....please scroll down and wish Colleen a happy birthday!

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Happy Anniversary PTI!

Today begins the 5th anniversary festivities over at Papertrey Ink.  Five years of fabulous stamps and a supporting cast of wonderful product.  Five years of the most incredible, jaw dropping inspiration from Nichole Heady and her Design Team members.   And, five years of fabulous February anniversary festivities.
In honor of Day 1 festivities, Nichole had her entire design team list each of their top five PTI items along with a favorite card or project and a special memory.  Then, she wowwed us all by announcing a grand prize package of ALL those top five picks to a random poster if we made a card that was inspired by one of the design team members favorite cards/projects.
I am always amazed by the clean graphic style of Maile Belles, and I used PTI Background Basics Text Style and a PTI sentiment from A Big Thank You to create my card.

A few punched flowers from my scraps and a few rhinestones colored with my copics finish it off.
Congratulations on a fabulous 5 years, PTI.  May you have 5 times many more!
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LIM 39: Lucky Dip - Stars

I really wanted to play along with the Less Is More crew last week when the theme was polka dots.   Love me some polka dots....my hands down most favorite pattern....any color, any size dots!  Time was not in my favor last week, but it is this week, so I combined this weeks theme of stars with last weeks polka dots.   I also LOVED the sketch layout over at the Clean and Simple blog last week (FTL 163), so I combined all three to make the three cards posted below.

First and second up are 2 super simple creations.  I used the retired SU! small star punch and sentiment from Morningstar.   The patterned paper are tiny scraps from my scrap drawer....have no clue who the manufacturer is, and popped up the stars with dimensionals.

This card doesn't apply to the LIM theme this week as it doesn't have any stars, but it does have polka dots and uses the same sketch.  The flowers are made from a SU! flower punch and EKSuccess circle punch, and the sentiment is from a Hero Arts clear set.

Ahhhhh.....  Feels good to get back to some challenges!
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LIM 33: 1000 Challenge Anything CAS Goes

The gals over at Less is More are trying for 1,000 card posts to their challenge blog this week.  I thought perhaps I could help them along.    I have a few simple Thank You cards  that I believe fit CAS.

They were all quite quick and easy to make...heat embossed images and sentiments in white on kraft...a classic look, with a little ribbon from my stash.  Easy peasy!

The swirl is from Heartfelt Creations and the agapanthus cluster is from Stampendous!   The 1st sentiment is a $1 Studio G from Michael's, the 2nd is Penny Black and the 3rd is a $1 Snag 'em from Imaginesce.  Kraft cardstock is SU!, white cardstock is Georgia Pacific.

Good luck Chrissie and Mandi on your challenge this week...I hope you make it!

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OLW 60: Quick Layers of Ink

Yeah!  I made the Simplicity challenge this past Wednesday!  And, it was a fun one!

This week's OLW challenge is to make quick and easy cards with nothing but layers of ink by overlapping the stamped images and/or sentiment. The idea here is to practice whipping up a quick card or even an easy card set at the last minute with just ink and cardstock!

I really needed a few quick thank you cards and this challenge fit the bill.  I dug through my stamp drawers and pulled out a mess of stamps and memento ink colors and went to town. 

First up:

Love, love, love this polka dotted scallop stamp from Memory Box.  This is the first time it's seen ink...so glad to finally use it!  Flowers and sentiment are from Savvy Stamps.

Second:

Another GREAT round script stamp from Memory Box.  Flower stamp by Just For Fun and sentiment by Printworks.

Next:

 Same Memory Box script, Hero Arts leaves and AMuse sentiment.

Fourth:

 Memory Box script again, Judikins cattails, Hero Arts sentiment.

Fifth:

 Hero  Arts script and blocks, Lockhart sentiment.

And, last but not least:

Bline Designs polka dot stamp (use this one ALL the time!), Just For Fun flowers and AMuse sentiment.

Thanks, Susan, for pushing me to get these done!  It feels good!

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OLW 14 Square Outlines

As soon as I saw this week's challenge over at Simplicity's blog, I knew exactly which stamp I would use. It is my current favorite which I have used on several cards. The challenge was to make a square one layer card using an outline stamp.

This image is a fairly new one from Hero Arts...it is the wood mount one you can get at Michael's, which is slightly smaller than the clear set. I find the wood mount one is scaled porportionally better for A2 cards. Used my copics to color, and the image is from Amuse.

In a recent post, Susan at Simplicity talked about envelopes and how she uses common rectangular envelopes for her square cards...using the smaller dimension (minus 1/4") of the envelope rectangle as the square dimension of her card. What a "DUH" moment for me! That is brilliant! I like the look of square cards, but I don't like the additional postage stamp price of mailing them. So, this card is 4-1/4" square and I will mail it in an A2 (4-1/2" x 5-3/4") envelope. Problem solved! Thanks, Susan!


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OLW-9 Flourishes

I can't believe I've done Simplicity's challenge 4 weeks in a row and actually gotten the cards posted on the blog! Yippee!
This was a fun challenge....again, a one layer card, free of extraneous embellishing...but, this week, using flourishes.
So here's my take....it evolved over the last several days, and what I ended up with in my mind actually worked out on paper! Yeah!
Used a script background stamp from SU!, flourish from Stampabilities, and sentiment from Impress Rubber Stamps.
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Manly Thank You

If I am to keep up with my New Year's resolution, I better get posting here!

This card is one I have made a couple times when needing a masculine thank you, and I think it fits the bill...I also made it for my stamp club's thank you card swap a few months back. I use my card swaps to try something new or different...to stretch myself and hopefully learn something. I think I've been sucessful so far.

Anyway, back to the card. This is one of those Hero Arts collage-y type stamps that came out a couple years back. I really loved them all, but didn't buy them all, because I didn't know how I would use them. This one I loved the most and had to buy. I decided to keep the colors simple (safe) and cut out sections of the stamp (stamped a second time), mat and pop them up. I was quite pleased with the result.

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A quick design

Came across this card on Paperlicious' blog several weeks ago, and besides prompting me to order the paper from SU! (yes, it really is gorgeous!), I really liked the simplicity of it. I had several cards I needed to make, so, using different patterned papers, cardstock and stamps (and, of course, ribbon), I came up with a few cards that I was really pleased with quite quickly. I am definitely adding this design to my stash!

Patterned paper is from Basic Grey and Amuse (can't remember who makes the red/black dp). Cardstock is SU! and Bazzill. Thank you stamps are from Hero Arts, sympathy stamp is from My Favorite Things. Cream and black ribbon is Basic Basic from Michael's; green silk ribbon is from May Arts and sheer green ribbon is from Midori. Used the SU! large oval and new scalloped oval punches. Also used 2 of the new EK Success border punches, which I love using, but find them to be a bit persnickity. They prefer paper the weight of SU cardstock or Basic Grey patterned paper. Anything lighter or heavier become problematic.

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Friends are Flowers...

Just a simple little card I made as a thank you. This is an old sentiment from Hero Arts circa 1995 (yikes!), but I've always really liked it.
Ink is Jumbo Java chalk by Tsukineko, PP is Karen Foster, cardsotck is SU!, ribbon by May Arts and an EK success punch.
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You are the best...

A quick thank you to my good friend, Colleen, for my visit with her in Florida a while back. The card shape is made with the SU! Sizzix Top Note die...I diecut a folded card with the folded edge placed ever so slightly below the top edge of the die, then cut a single die cut and attached it to the front of the folded die cut so that I wouldn't end up with any 'flat' edges on the top of my card (clear as mud????). Stamps are from a clear set by Hero Arts, and SU!'s new Kiwi Kiss ink and Kiwi Kiss/Very Vanilla ribbon. A really quick and fun card to make.
And, thanks again, Colleen! I had a blast!
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