Simon Says: One Layer

The more I've been making cards, the more layers I tend to add to my cards. So it was a good challenge this week with Simon Says: One Layer for the weekly Wednesday post!

I needed a quick thank note for a recent gift, so this challenge came at the right time.

Stamping directly on the card, here's my final product:

I really love when a sentiment plays off of the images or scene on a card. :) And who doesn't like getting a bunch of flowers?

Since I have gotten a score board, it's showing up A LOT on my cards. It's such a simple and subtle way to frame a scene or add some dimension. The scoring on this card is a little difficult to see, especially on the left-hand side, but I think adds a lot to this note.

 Look forward to next week's Wednesday Challenge - it's one of my favorite weekly posts!

Materials

Paper: White card and envelope (Hobby Lobby)

Stamps: Flower and sentiment set (personal gift)

Ink: Range dye inks (Lemon Twist), Stampin' Up (Mossy Meadow & Cajun Craze), Versafine (Black Onyx)

Other: Washi tape (Stampin' Up), black marker (Recollections), blending tool, gold gel pen, score board

Freshly Made Sketches #223

Jumping right in today for a quick post... I'm taking some inspiration from Jennifer McGuire for Freshly Made Sketches #223. I loved her recent post about distress ink lifting!

Here was the FMS sketch:

And here's what I came up with:

The world could use a little more kindness lately... let's remember, no matter our disagreements, to keep being kind to those we know and those unknown who will be affected by our actions.

Enjoy the rest of your Valentines weekend!

 

Materials

Paper - white envelope and cardstock (Hobby Lobby), purple patterned paper

Stamps - Acts of Kindness (Hero Arts), Rustic Wreath (Papertrey Ink), flower woodmount stamp (Hobby Lobby)

Inks - Versafine Onyx Black, Tim Holtz Distress Inks (crushed olive, tumbled glass, dusty concord)

Other - Light blue ribbon (WalMart), white embossing power (gift)

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Ray of Sunshine

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a good weekend. I had a great day having lunch with a friend who just became a mom a few months ago. I'm super lucky to have fantastic friends who are also amazing moms. I've learned from them that it's so important to keep making time for friendship, even with the busyness of children. And, I'm more than happy to be that friend to whisk them away for a little while for lunch, cards, shopping, chatting, and laughter. :)

I made a card earlier in the week that I wanted to share with you this weekend! This is for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Ray of Sunshine. I have to be honest - the Monday challenges are tough for me. The distress look highlighted in these cards are not my style or my forte. But I saw a new technique online that used some mini distress inks, and I also have a friend who is recovering from surgery. So I thought would be a good opportunity to try something that's a little out of my comfort zone and send a card to a friend recovering at home.

As I mentioned, the challenge this week was "Ray of Sunshine." I didn't take this literally, but I hope this happy mail will be a bright spot in a friend's recovery:

So, I will be the first to admit that is is far from a strong distressed look - let's just say I'm taking baby steps! But I did use a new technique with distress inks to stamp the mini ink pads right on the paper for those green and blue blocks. Those tiny blocks are just perfect for making squares on a card, and I found that small envelope stamp to fit juuuuuust right inside!

A sentiment along the bottom, a little circle in the top left, and a couple of gold accents finished off the card.

Any tips for trying out another distress card? The clean look of the SSS Wednesday Challenges come a lot easier to me, but I think this was a good first attempt at distressed style!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend - hope you have fun Super Bowl plans!

Materials

Paper - White card and envelope (Hobby Lobby), light blue card stock and white card stock (Simon Says Stamp)

Stamps - Happy Mail (Right at Home Stamps)

Inks - Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads (crushed olive and tumbled glass), Ranger Dye Ink (black tie)

Other - Gold dots sprinkles (Doodlebug Design Inc,), gold gel pen (Hobby Lobby)

1 card for 2 challenges

I'm doubling-up today, entering one card for two challenges!

PTI's Make It Monday #238 includes a current design trend - ombre! The challenge was to incorporate ombre into a Valentine's card. Here's the video to check out for more info...

This worked very well with another challenge this week: Have A Heart over at Simon Says Stamp.

Here's what I came up with when I fused the two challenges together:

Can you see that ombre actually shows up in two different places on this card? The hearts change colors as you look down the card, as does the blending on the piece of paper behind the hearts.

I started out with the postage die cut and heart stamps. I've had that postage die cut for a little while now, and it's been sitting on my table as a reminder to try it out! Does anyone else do that with their craft supplies? Sometimes when I put supplies away all the time, I tend to always go back to my favorites. Keeping a stamp set, sentiment, paper, or die cut that I don't use as often on my desk reminds me to use it.

Valentine's Day is coming up... do you have your cards yet?

 

Materials

Paper - White card and envelope, black paper (Hobby Lobby), white card stock, patterned paper (Simon Says Stamp card kit), red paper (Stampin Up)

Stamps - Circle hearts (Michael's), Swoosh (Papertrey Ink)

Ink - Ranger dye inks (Classic Cherry, Pink Gumball, Wild Orchid, Black Tie)

Die cut - Postage die (Papertrey Ink)

Embellishments - Recollections red marker, blending tool

Thank You & January Personal Faves

Just wanted to write a quick note to thank everyone who has read, commented, and/or supported this blog in its first month! I had no idea that my first 30 days in the blogging community would be so busy, engaging, and FUN!

As you can tell, most of the posts here will be sharing cards that I'm making for different challenges like Freshly Make Sketches, Papertrey Ink Make It Monday, and others. But I have few other ideas that I hope to roll out soon. Stay tuned...

Here are a few of my personal favorite cards from the month of January - some made it to the blog, so they might be familiar...

Thanks again to everyone for following along! (And if you haven't yet, be sure to subscribe to this blog so you don't miss any updates along the way.) Looking forward to the next 30 days - February is a great month for cards! :)