1 card for 3 challenges

Happy weekend! I'm spending some time catching up on cardmaking - it's been too long! Yesterday, I made one card that I'm entering into three (yes, three!) challenges. Love it when challenges come together. :)

Here are the challenges:

1) Freshly Made Sketches #230

2) Papertrey Ink Make it Monday #244

3) Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

And here's what I came up with:

This turned out very clean and simple. I did have a little bit of an urge to fill some of that white space, but I left it as is. I think the blue and pink colors work well for a friend expecting a new little one. Such an exciting time!

Thanks for stopping by this weekend! Don't forget to add your email to that subscribe email box to get updates as they're posted! :)

Materials

Stamp set - Hero Arts Sun Showers

Inks - Ranger Dye Inks (blue ribbon and wild orchid), Versafine Ink (onyx black)

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

Other - Pretty Pink Posh sequins

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

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

Simon Says: Ombre #ssswchallenge

Hi all! Hope you enjoyed the long weekend! With Monday off, I was able to spend some time on this week's entry for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. This week's theme was ombre, a design showing up all over the place... so why not cards, too? :)

I went a little girly with the design for this week, using pinks and purples and polka dots, along with one little heart. I also thought it would be fun to include additional ways other than stamping to incorporate the ombre - hence, the washi tape and baker's twine.

This was a pretty simple card to put together. I used just two stamp sets - one for the ombre polka dot look (stamped three times from top to bottom) and another for the sentiment, envelope, and heart. This could easily be mass-produced with the sentiment changed for different occasions with any number of sentiments on the front.

I really lucked out with having different shades of purples and pinks in inks, tape, and twine. I liked having the solid pink stripe across the middle to "ground" the sentiment. That pink polka dot washi tape was a perfect way to incorporate another row of color without stamping - it might look like it's stamped, buuuut it's not! :)

Thanks to SSS for another fun week of inspiration, and many thanks to you for dropping by!

Materials

White card & envelope (Hobby Lobby)
Washi tape (Hobby Lobby)
Baker's twine (Hobby Lobby)
Stamps - Sending Happy Thoughts (Simon Says Stamp), Good Times (Papertrey Ink)
Inks - Ranger die inks (grape soda, wild orchid, pink gumball, black tie)

Simon Says: Something New #ssswchallenge

Hi everyone! I'm playing along again today with the weekly Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. This week's theme is "Something New" to go along with the New Year. I received some new craft goodies over the holiday season, but I decided to take a different spin on things and use a new sentiment...

I am LOVING the Hero Arts Acts of Kindness stamp set. So many card markers were using this set during the fall, thanks in part to Jennifer McGuire's "Share Handmade Kindness" campaign. I bought the set, and it's quickly become one of my favorites. So many uplifting, positive sentiments are included in this set, and I just think it's a great go-to set for one of those "just because" notes. Here's a picture of the set so you can see the different sentiments included:

Over the holidays, I made some card sets as gifts using this set, but I hadn't yet used that "a bit of kindness to brighten your day" statement. So, it was new to me! The design of that sentiment is so great to fit in so many different spots on a card, and I love that script font - it's my favorite among all the text styles in the set. This card was pretty simple to make...

First, I used a green card base with a small white rectangle cut out of card stock. I started out by pulling out the very ornate star stamp and stamping it different colors along the left side. No rhyme or reason here; I just randomly stamped along the edge. To finish the stamping, I placed the kindness sentiment in the lower right-hand corner.

Now comes the fun part - embellishments. :) I actually went back to the stamp set one last time to use the hearts. I used a larger and smaller heart to highlight around the sentiment. One of the best ways to enforce the kindness theme was with the hearts, so they were a perfect choice. I also pulled out some light pink sequins. I really love the preppy pink/green color combination, so I thought adding a bit more pink here would be a complement to the green card base. Lastly, I added some more pink with the baker's twine along the side of the card. One of the first basic design tips I learned about card design was to repeat a color combination three times, so this twine also made a third time that pink was used on the card.

To finish things off, I adhered the white base to the card. I left the inside blank for someone to use the card as they need it. I've also included a green envelope with the card (not shown in photo). I think one of my signature styles is going to be colored envelopes. They just catch your eye when you get the mail and have a way of standing out! :)

This is one of my new personal favorite cards, and I think I'll be mass-producing it for some future notes! 

Materials 

Stamps: Ornate star on wood stamp (Hobby Lobby), Hero Arts Acts of Kindness stamp set
Clear blocks (Michael's craft stores)
Paper: green cards and envelopes, white card stock (Hobby Lobby)
Baker's twine (Michael's craft stores)
Pink sequins (Studio Calico monthly card subscription - no longer offered)
Ink: Ranger Die Inks (blue tie, lemon twist, blue ribbon, caribbean coast, grape soda, lily pad, pink gumball, wild orchid)

Simon Says: Party! #ssswchallenge

To begin... Thanks to everyone for all of the views on my first post! I am just so excited to be sharing more of my cards through this blogs, and the early traffic has been so great to see!

Today, I'm participating in the Simon Says: Party! Wednesday Challenge. I loved the party theme because there were so many possibilities. I have several January birthdays coming up for family and friends, so I let that be my inspiration. Here's the final product...

I knew I wanted to use the word "party" in my design, so I used one of the stamps from an old Card Kit from Studio Calico (these kits have since been discontinued). I stamped it in Caribbean Coast Ranger Dye Ink. I fussy-cut the circle out and set it aside.

Directly stamping on the card on a diagonal, I used the cute party hats stamp from PTI Caution: Another Year Older. I also used the Caribbean Coast ink for this stamp. I then used pink, yellow, green, and purple markers to randomly color in some of the stripes from the hats. I will admit that this took a bit of time, but I really like the fun and festive look.

I then used a tape runner to attach the pale yellow graphic paper to the card. I pulled out washi tapes in similar green and pink colors as the hats and taped them to the yellow paper. I stamped a line and then, the "party" circle was adhered to the card using some small pop-up blocks. I wanted this to look like a balloon - what do you think? Mission accomplished? Lastly, I also added a few fun turquoise sequins from the December SSS Card Kit "Gifts of Love." (Sidenote: I have to say - I LOVE these Jillybean Soup Sticky Sequins. The kit included red and turquoise. They are so quick and easy to use with the adhesive on the back, and they stick right where you put them! No need to wait a few minutes for wet glue to dry. I would take a sheet of these in so many different colors!!)

There's a lot going on for this card, but I think it's okay for a birthday celebration. The colors really bring it all together, and this was a fun way to participate in the challenge!

Thanks for the inspiration, SSS! Look forward to future Wednesday challenges!!