clean & simple...day 1

I'm taking an online class about how to make clean & simple cards.  I signed up for the class because these are the hardest cards for me.  I find myself wanting to add various elements but I have to remember to pull back.

This card was based on a sketch from the first day of class.  Though there's not much going on here it took forever to find the right size stamp to place on the card.   I ended up with lemons/lime but my husband felt I was missing a key ingredient from the card...a drink!

Stamps: A muse, Paper Smooches
Supplies:  Copic Markers, Memento Ink, A muse paper

let's try this again...

I walked into my craft room the other day and found I have a room full of goodies waiting to be used.  So here's my attempt at using some of the old before I start with adding to my collection.

Here's a quick card for the Card Postioning Systems 249 sketch challenge.  It's super simple but just getting my feet wet again, I could use a bit of simple for now.

Stamps: Amuse Studio, Sassfrass
Supplies: Stampin Up scallop punch, W R memory keepers corner rounder, Copic markers, brilliance black ink. 

two posts in one day...

I can't remember the last time I was able to spend most of the day in my craft room so I took advantage today and make a couple of cards. That should give me enough posts for a few days! This is a card for the CPS card challenge, the layout was fairly simple but that didn't stop me from taking my time with paper selections. I ended scrapping one of the patterned papers and went with ribbon, seemed a little less busy that way. Thanks for looking!

Supplies: A muse stamp 'Wild about you' and ribbon. Paper: Sassafras. Bam Pop Bubble Quote.

my new favorite toy...

I braved the 3am Black Friday crowds to go shopping at WalMart for a Cricut expression, I've wanted one for a while! I bought the slice but never had much luck with it so it's in a corner gathering dust. I was hesitant to try another die cut machine, but I'm glad I took the plunge!

My first project with the Cricut was a friend's baby shower invitations. I used a program on my Mac to draw various colored circles on 5x7 sheet of white paper, then just added a text box with the invite info. Finally I used the New Arrival cartridge to cut out the little lady and purse. This is a first mock up so I may change later but not bad for a first time!

Supplies: New Arrival Cartridge, Shimmer Orange Bazzill, PTI

even longer than before...

I really missed creating something over these last few months. Life always manages to get in the way and my creativity falls to the side. So here I am again with a new year and a goal to use the things that I have accumulated. I still found time to read blogs while I was away, I got to see what's out there and pick up a few things to add to my stash. To get my brain thinking I went out in search of challenges and came up with two of my favorites. The monthly A muse challenge and Kristina Werner Color Challenge. Patterned paper has always intimidated me so I hope to play with it more!

The A muse challenge was to make a card with the 10 different things. The ten things I used were: Copics, Creative Candy from A muse, Scallop Punch, Patterned Paper, Embossing Powder, Ink, Solid Paper, Pop Dots, Tape Runner, and a Corner Rounder.

Kristina's challenge was to use the colors: deep red, coral, baja blue, mustard, saffron and white.

So there it goes my little toe is in the pool, hope to keep the creativity coming!

Supplies: Stampin Up Cardstock, Hogwild PP: Sassafrass, Stamp & Creative Candy: A muse, Fiskars Punches, Copics.

school bus...

I was able to combine a couple of challenges for this card. The sketch is from the weekly CPS Blog and the other is for the A muse Lounge challenge #7 to use new A muse stamps. Luckily A muse had a new release last week and I was able to stock up a few things. The majority being paper, I seem to be really hooked on paper these days and the new A muse gingham paper has been on my wish list for quite some time!

I used the new school bus image and the lined paper clear stamp on this card. I inked up one side of the stamp and then the opposite side to make the road larger. It's always great to get extra use out of your stamps!

Stamps: A muse. Paper: A muse & Gina K (red)

Here's a

quick shot of the Copics used.

time gets away...

Every time I think I have a few moments to stamp I stamp out as much as I can, because I know my time will be fleeting. Like it was this week! Luckily we headed to a birthday party so I had an excuse to make a birthday card for a little girl. I got to play with a new set from My Cute Stamps, the little girl stamps are super cute! Since I didn't have a lot of time I went with one of my simple go to layouts! I use this quite a bit when time is short.

As you can see from my Copic picture I had a lot of blending to do with purple since I choose some darker colors. It took a lot of coloring the image but was really happy in the end!

Stamps: My Cute Stamps & PTI polka dot basics. Ribbon & paper: A muse

i heart...

my hubby of course! I came across this stamp at Lizzie Ann Designs a few days ago and had to order it. I loved the rose emerging from behind the heart with the banner across it. I used the layout from yesterday which was a CAS challenge on SCS. I also used the colors from this week's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge to get me motivated. This was a great image to pull all these colors together!

Stamps: Lizzie Ann Designs. Paper: PTI, A muse. Ink: Memento, Copics

Here's a quick shot of Copics used to color the image.

deer friend...

I'm still working on challenges to get me stamping and this one took longer than expected. I colored 4 or 5 deer before I settled on a Copic combo I was somewhat happy with.

I've become fairly obsessed with the color teal, I bought a few packs of 'taken with teal' from Stampin Up. At a certain point I may have to hide the paper because I reach for it all the time. Brown and turquoise has become my go to color combo! Stamps: Hero Arts & A muse

I was thinking more about a Copic notebook for color combinations but until I get that together I took a picture of the markers I used in the photo.

wood paper...

I'm still playing with my newest A muse stamps and my yummy wood paper also from A muse. I made sure to pick up a big pack of paper so I don't worry about hoarding all the little pieces!

Maybe this year I will start on Christmas cards sooner so I can actually get them in the mail this time!

Paper: Amuse & Gina K white. Ink: Memento & Copic. Misc: A muse ribbon

playing with copics...

I wanted to experiment more with Copics so I pulled out one of my Rubber Romance stamps. I usually color my girls with brown hair but my husband thought she looked more like a red head! I think most people use 3 markers to blend but with me fairly new to coloring I used 5 or 6 to get the right shading. Other than I kept the card simple to focus on the coloring of the image.

Looking now I really like the blue shopping bag but I have no idea what colors I used. Wonder what others do to keep tab of good color combos?

Paper: American Crafts, Gina K white. Ink: Memento, Copic & Spica