*Let's Celebrate*

And POOF!  July is over.  Hubby and I both celebrated birthdays in the last week, the sun finally came out and chased away the cooler temperatures and rain, I've had some time to sit in the sun with a good book... and now we are looking to August.  I swear to you, (and I know I've said this before) the older I get, the faster the years go!

I wanted a very quick and easy card a few weeks ago as I was late sending out a birthday greeting... so I grabbed some Lawn Fawn stamps and my gel pens and off I went.

This card came together nice and quick, except for the colouring... I forgot how careful you have to be with gel pens when you're colouring over an image you haven't embossed.  The gel will cover your stamped lines which can really mess with the stamped image and how the final product looks.  So I took my time as I wanted the shimmer of the metallic gel ink.

Items Used:
*Stamps:  Lawn Fawn Simply Celebrate
*Ink:  gel pens, VersaFine Clair Nocturne
*Tools:  Big Shot, Lawn Fawn Simply Celebrate die, Perfect Layers Tool
*Paper:  MFT
*etc:  Stampin' Dimensionals (both sizes)

*Wish Big*

I love this new set of sentiments from My Favorite Things...  Bitty Birthday Wishes.  They are smaller than what they usually create for these one line sentiments but are perfect for a little something to add on to a clean and simple card.

This card came together pretty easily using some laser die cut paper from Stampin' Up that I bought last year.  I think it's oh so beautiful but I tend to not use it because it's so pretty (tell me I'm not the only one who thinks like this about their craft stash!).  I thought a quick and easy card that leaves this paper as the focal point was a good way to use it and feel good about it.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up and whatever I got at the print shop
*Tools:  Big Shot, Memory Box nested squares die, Perfect Layers Tool
*Images: MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes
*Ink:  VersaFine Clair Nocturne

*Balloon Birthday*

A few weeks ago I saw someone use this fabulous stencil to create balloons on their card so I went on a search to find it here in Canada.  I found a shop that was new to me in Kingston Ontario who had it in stock so I placed a quick order.  It's a set of two stencils from Neat & Tangled that you can use together or separately to create layered balloons.

I honestly couldn't wait to play with these stencils... and this is the first thing I did with it.  Not bad for a first try!

I love love love the look of the black and white diagonal striped layer behind my top layer...  you'll see it a few more times in the coming weeks as I'm on a "kick".

Items Used:
*Stamps:  Avery Elle So Kind
*Inks:  Catherine Pooler All That Jazz, Garden Party, VersaFine Clair Nocturne
*Paper:  MFT
*Tools:  Life Changing Blender Brushes, Neat & Tangled Balloon Duo Stencil, Perfect Layers Tool

*Big Happy Birthday*

Happy Birthday to ME!  Yup, today is my birthday.  The last one in my 40s.  I have no idea how I am 49... my mind is still in my 20s. 

When I was working on my CASology challenge card a few weeks ago, I cut out the two A Jillian Vance flowers using scrap pieces of cardstock that were on my desk to see how the two pieces would look together... and I ended up loving the colour combination!  So instead of throwing them out, I decided to make a card.

I truly wasn't sure about the sentiment I chose... I thought it would look ok but I hemmed and hawed about it for a while. And then I couldn't decide what ink to use.  In the end, I am quite happy with how it turned out.

Items Used
*Cardstock:  unknown white, Stampin' Up! Berry Burst and Lemon Lime Twist
*Ink:  VersaFine Clair Nocturn
*Stamps:  Stampendous Big Words Happy
*Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design Open Daisy and Daisy; MFT Stitched Blooms
*Tools:  Big Shot, Perfect Layers Tool
*Embellishment:  adhesive pearl

*AAA Birthday Game #3*

I am playing along with the AAA Birthday Card Challenge for the month of July... Game #3 is "for the girls".  My first thought was shades of pink... and flowers.

I'm not sure that I actually like this card.  If feels like it's really lacking.  Lacking oomph.  Lacking something.  But hey, I'll share it anyway...

I started out by cutting out three colours of cardstock with the Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die (the smallest one).  I centred them on the front of a side fold card and then put it in my Misti to stamp the sentiments from the Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy stamp set in VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.  I added a black line around the banners to help make it stand out a little.  I then grabbed some scrap flowers from the MFT Stitched Blooms die set that I cut out several weeks ago, put them together and added them to the corner of the banners.

See, it's just not "right".... I don't know what it's missing or what I should have done differently....  live and learn!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up! Pixie Pink, Pretty in pink, Pink Pirouette and three unknown colours/brands
*Stamps:  Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy
*Ink:  Versafine Claire Nocturne
*Dies:  MFT Stitched Blooms, Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners
*Tools:  Big Shot, Scor Pal, Misti

*AAA Cards Game #145*

It's time for another challenge over at the AAA Cards Challenge Blog.  I hope you will play along with the prompt this month!!  You have two weeks to create your card and link it up with the Challenge on the blog.  The sponsor for this month is Precious Remembrance Shop.  Be sure to check out the card from our guest designer as well... you will find Sharon's blog HERE.

For this challenge, you can use only one main image... and the optional twist is positivity.  I took this to mean something that is encouraging and I was thrilled to finally use this very long stamp from an AlteNew Set I've had for a while now.

The card I created is long a skinny, perfect for a business sized envelope.  It measures 8.5"X 3.5".  I don't do this shape too often, but do like how they look.  It's something a little different.

I took my top fold card and Stamped the AlteNew Beloved Daisy stamps using Catherine Pooler Sweet Sixteen, Pixie Dust and Grape Crush inks for the flower and generation stamped the centre pieces in Tiki Torch ink.  I used my Misti to stamp the sentiment from the Bad Days Happen set from AlteNew in Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink.  As a final touch, I used some Frosted Lace Stickles on the centre of the flower to create a little interest and dimension.

Items Used:

*Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White

*Ink:  VersaFine Clair Nocturne, Catherine Pooler Tiki Torch, Sweet Sixteen, Pixie Dust, Grape Crush

*Stamps:  AlteNew Beloved Daisy and Bad Days Happen

*Tools:  Scor-Pal, Misti

*Embellishments:  Frosted Lace Stickles

*Smile Eclipse*

Happy Thursday Everyone!  I am on the Scrap'n Stamp blog today with a relatively clean and simple Eclipse card using stamps and dies from My Favorite Things.

I started with a smaller panel of white cardstock and I used my Misti to stamp the one dew drop from the Color Drops stamp set using the rainbow of colours from Catherine Pooler.  I also stamped the sentiment in Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink.  I then used my Big Shot to cut out the MFT Smile die from the stamped front panel.  I put the letters aside and used my Perfect Layers Tool to create a 1/16" border of dark blue cardstock along all sides and then put the panel on a white side folding card.

I cut the SMILE out of craft foam and used liquid glue to attach the paper letters to the craft foam letters and then put the letters on the front of the card in the holes I had originally cut.

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Brilliant Blue, Neenah Classic Crest
*Stamps:  MFT Color Drops, All Smiles
*Dies:  MFT Smile
*Ink:  VersaFine Clair Nocturne, Catherine Pooler Samba, Orange Twist, Limoncello, Grass Skirt, Suede Shoes
*Tools:  Big Shot, Scor Pal, Misti (or other stamp positioning tool)
*Other:  craft foam, Lawn Fawn Glue Tube

*CASology #348*

There has been a lot of exciting news for me lately... and this week I have another announcement for you.  I am absolutely thrilled to have been asked to join the Design Team for the CASology Blog...  yup, another clean and simple cards challenge blog.  They do a new challenge every two weeks... a CAS card with a single word cue that you can interpret however you want.  The design team picks cards to be honourable mentions out of those that are shared on the CASology Blog.  It's a great challenge to play in and I am so very excited to be a part of their Challenge Design Team!

The first challenge I am playing along with them is #368... and the cue is SHIMMER....  that doesn't scream my name at all, does it??  The sponsor for this challenge is Stamplorations... this company is new to me but I went to have a look and saw some really fun things!  Check them out!

This card took a couple of times at my craft desk to create... not because it was difficult or anything, but because (A) I had to let thing dry and (B) I had to figure out what I really wanted to do.

I started with a 4.25X5.5" panel that I did ink blending on using Catherine Pooler inks and the Life Changing Blender Brushes from Picket Fence Studios.  I then had to set it aside for a bit to let the inks dry a bit.  Once I thought they were good enough, I put on a layer of the Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone (I LOVE THIS STUFF) and then, of course, had to set it aside to dry again.  This time I let it dry overnight since I knew I would be using dies with it and I didn't want to create a mess.

I came back to the dried panel the next day and had to think about what I wanted to do.  I cut some of the Daisies from A Jillian Vance out of the panel, not sure if I wanted the biggest or the medium sized one and then cut out the Open Daisy die in White.  I played around a bit until I settled on this layout.  I used liquid glue to put the pieces together to ensure the cardstock would stick to the dried Glimmer Paste.  I used my Perfect Layers Tool to create at 1/8" border along the front panel and added it all to a white card.  I stamped the sentiment from the Gina K Wreath Builder set and called it done.

I hope you will play along with the CASology challenge... have fun with whatever Shimmer means to you!

Items Used:
*Cardstock:  unknown white from local print shop
*Images:  GinaK Wreath Builder
*Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design Daisy Die Set, A Jillian Vance Design Open Daisy Set
*Ink:  Catherine Pooler Pixie Dust, Fiesta Blue
*Tools:  Big Shot, Picket Fence Studios Life Changing Blending Brushes, Perfect Layers Tool
*Etc:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone, Lawn Fawn Glue Tube

Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has been up to!

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas

Janet Ribet 

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Melissa Chipperfield

Milka Gubo

Nancy Elrick  -- you are here

Sue Symens

*Less Is More #399*

I found some time to playing along with the current Less is More challenge... the theme for #399 is Celebrations.

The first thought I had was "birthday"... I'm sure you could interpret it many different ways (Christmas, graduation, anniversary), but I went with the birthday idea.  As this is another Clean and Simple challenge blog, I went with some small pops of colour on a very clean card.

It took a lot to step away from this card... I feel like it needs something more. 

Items Used:
Cardstock:  Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo, Granny Apple Green, Only Orange
Ink:  VersaFine Claire Nocturne
Die:  Stampin' Up! Celebrate You, Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banner
Stamps:  MFT All Smiles
Tools:  Big Shot, Perfect Layers, Scor-Pal
Embellishments:  Wink of Stella clear

*Birthday Splotches*

Let me come clean with you, right from the start... this is *not* my card idea.  A lot of my cards are born from ideas I see in other places.... and in some cases (like this one) it is an almost exact match of something I've seen somewhere else.  In this case, it's a card from The Card Grotto... and while I used different stamps and dies and slightly different colours, I can't take much credit for how this card turned out...

I used two colours of Catherine Pooler ink (All that Jazz and Suede Shoes) and did both first and second generation stamping using some MFT distress pattern stamps.  I added the stamped words from the Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy set stamped in Nocturn VersaFine Clair ink and then added the Hello Bluebird Happy Birthday Words die cut out of white cardstock on the front.  I stamped everyone on to the front of the side fold card, no extra layers.

Thanks for the inspiration...  I hope I made it just different enough :-)

*Heartfelt Thoughts in Blue*

Well, I think it's time to splurge and buy a real light box for taking my photos...  the more I see how dark these ones are, the more I know I need to hit "buy now" on the one I've picked out on Amazon.  Hopefully in the next few weeks you'll be seeing some better photos of my cards.

Sadly, this card is rather dark.... and while I did use a dark blue ink, it isn't this dark in real life.

This is another card for the set a friend of mine ordered... I didn't have any sympathy cards on hand so I had to make a few.  I thought that this Stampin Up Heartfelt Thoughts stamp set would be perfect.  I added a little more interest with a lighter blue layer on the card.  But I kept it as clean and simple as I could with such a busy stamp.

*AAA Cards #144*

I am over the moon excited to share with you all, that I am one of the newest members of the AAA Cards Design Team!  I discovered this blog a few months ago and have done my best to play along as often as I could... I love that their challenges are all Clean and Simple challenges, which, as you know, is the type of card I *LOVE* to create.  Their challenges are once every two weeks and go live on Sundays... you have two weeks to create your card and share it on their blog.  Our Sponsor for this challenge (and they are donating a $30 gift certificate!!!) is The Ink Road!  Be sure to check out Shona's blog, the guest designer for this month!

For my first challenge, we are working with a maximum white space with the optional twist of Christmas in July (I love the idea of an optional twist each week... you either play along with the optional twist or not!).  You all know just how much I enjoy making Christmas cards, right??

I will admit, I was intimidated with my first design team card.  I pulled the stuff I thought I wanted to use and it took me literally days to throw this quick clean and simple card together... I was almost afraid to even try!  I think it was just "first day jitters".  LOL!

For this card, I used a die by Stampendous that I cut out three times in red cardstock and layered to create a little dimension.  I used my Misti to stamp just the word "Christmas" from a saying from the Merry Messages set by Lawn Fawn in Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink.  I then added the holly leaves from the GinaK Christmas wreath builder set stamped in Grass Skirt Catherine Pooler ink.

And then I made myself step away instead of adding anything more to the card.

*Turnabout Blog Hop*

Hello Everyone and welcome to the July Blog Hop with Scrap'n Stamp.  This month, the design team has been playing with the Concord & 9th Turnabout stamps.  There are some WONDERFUL designs of these stamps to play with....  I may or may not have more than a handful of them!

These are some pretty neat stamps to play with.  You do need a stamp positioning tool of some sort to use the stamps to their best ability.  You get things set up according to the directions (which can be a challenge, but it's worth the effort!) and you stamp the image four different times, turning your cardstock in the stamp positioning tool each time.  You can use one colour of ink, two colours of ink or four colours of ink to create some neat designs.  I've also seen some people only stamp the image one or two times.  You need to feel like you can break the rules with these a little!  There are some *great* tutorials on YouTube... I encourage you to watch some of the ones by Justine Hovey, Jennifer McGuire and Concord & 9th.

I find these stamps a bit of a challenge.... not because of the style of the stamp, but because they don't scream "clean and simple" to me.... So I decided I'd try to do something a little different.  I pulled out the Birthday Basics Turnabout set, cut a piece of cardstock to 5.5" square and found four colours of inks I liked... and I stamped up a big square background piece.  And then I set it aside while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do.  I had a lot of ideas, but I finally settled on this...

Yes, I made you three cards today!  I treated my 5.5" square as a one sheet wonder... and while I left a small piece off a card, I did manage to use most of it.  As these are all very clean and simple, I didn't bother with any process photos...

This was the first card I made... I cut a strip 1.75" X 5.5" and used my We R Memory Keepers Layers Guides to create a 1/16" border on two sides in a teal cardstock.  I adhered this to the side of a top fold white card and stamped the sentiment the Sprinkles Turnabout stamp set in the teal ink.

This was card #2... I cut a piece of my stamped background paper to 2.25 X 3.5" and once again used the We R Memory Keepers Layers Guides to create a purple border.  I stamped the Happy Birthday Greeting from the Birthday Basics Turnabout stamp in VersaMark ink and embossed it in white embossing powder on purple cardstock.  I trimmed it down and then cut the "v"s in to the sides to create the banner look.

And finally, card #3.  I used circle dies to cut both the background paper piece and a slightly larger green circle.  I added this to a white panel, used my We R Memory Keepers Layers Guides to great a boarder and put it all on to a white top fold card.  I stamped the sentiment from MFT All Smiles in VersaMark ink and embossed it in white on black cardstock.  I trimmed down the strip and cut in the fishtail on one end.

I hope you can see that you can take something is truly anything but clean and simple and by using small amounts of it, make clean and simple cards.

Now for the fun... I hope you will continue along the blog hop and visit with my fellow Designers...  and of course, leave a little comment love on each of their blogs for your chance to win a $50 Gift Certificate from Scrap'n Stamp!!!  Also, if you go shopping at Scrap'n Stamp this month, you can take 15% off all Concord & 9th by using the coupon code CCD15

Scrap'n Stamp/Tara

Dawn

Nancy E

Kia

Chala

Laurie

Susan

Nancy F

Deb

Sandi

*CASology #347*

I saw the prompt for the CASology challenge that was posted a few days ago and thought I'd skip it as I don't have any stamps that fit the theme....  but then I decided to think outside the box....

I have no citrus stamps... at least I don't think I do.  So instead I decided to make a card using citrus colours!  I use my Picket Fence Studio Life Changing Blending Brushes to create a yellow and orange panel using Catherine Pooler inks (in Limoncello and Orange Twist).  I set it aside to dry for a few minutes and then smeared a thin layer of Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone over top of the panel.  I set that aside to dry for about an hour.   I created a green layer for my card by blending Lime Rickey ink on a white panel and using my Perfect Layers Tool to create my favourite 1/16" border.  I put that on to a side folding white card.   I cut the word "birthday" out of the yellow and orange panel using this great Hero Arts die and adhered it to the front panel with liquid glue.  To finish it off, I stamped the word "wishes" from the Lawn Fawn Happy Happy Happy stamp set in the Lime Rickey ink.

This is the beauty of the CASology challenges...  they are word suggestions and you can take it whatever direction you want, as long as you keep your creation clean and simple.

*LessIsMore Challenge #398*

Happy July, everyone!  I'm sorry I don't have a Canada Day or 4th of July themed card for you...  I don't know that I've ever made a Canada Day themed card... and being Canadian I don't celebrate the 4th.  It was a quiet long weekend for me... I worked for a few hours Saturday, had a good time doing a trail run (let's be honest, I walked) on Monday and my poor hubby worked 12.5 hour days. 

I found a little time to play along with the LessIsMore Challenge #398...  it was a one layer card with spots. 

I had some fun playing with a My Favourite Things stamp set and a few sizes of circles from that set along with Limoncello, Melon Ice, Lime Rickey and Fiesta Blue Catherine Pooler inks.  I stamped the sentiments (also MFT) with VersaFine Clair ink in Nocturn (I think this is my most favourite ink to use for sentiments... great coverage!)

I encourage you to check out this challenge blog if you like clean and simple cards...  there are some great prompts!