A {Hello Friend} Card...

Hey there!!!  It was so nice to sit and craft this morning in my little craft studio with a big mug of coffee, that is until the utility tub overflowed!  Thankfully our laundry area is right by my craft area so I heard it as soon as it happened.  Something was clogged in the drain where the water that the washer uses is drained.  Minimal clean-up!

So, there is another great post from CSS's Style Watch this week all about One Layer Cards.   To me, one layer cards usually mean masking.  That's just what I did here with the heart.  I die cut the heart on a post-it note, placed it on the card stock and then stamped the woodgrain over it.  Easy peasy!

I knew my kids made a gigantic mess in my craft area over the weekend.  They even got out my dies *cringe*.  At least they know what paper is off limits.  So, they cleaned up their mess yesterday and this is what I found when I went to craft this morning.  I love that my kids are so creative.

And yes, that is Ellen on my iPad.  I'm about a week behind and trying to play catch-up today.  Watching shows on my iPad while I craft is one of my favorite things to do.  

Things have been really busy around here, but good busy.  I got the iPhone5 on Friday and I'm totally in love with it!  I've never had an iPhone before and I'm in heaven.  The photos today were all taken with the iPhone since it has such a nice camera.  We'll see if it's better than my regular point-and-shoot camera.  

Have a great day!

{Hello Friend}

Stamps: Tweet Notes, Tag Lines, Background Basics 1, Shapes: Hearts (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar (CSS)

Ink: Dish All the Dirt Brown, Green With Envy, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Dies: Shapes: Hearts (CSS) (used as a mask)

Accessories: Red/Green/White Twine (CSS)

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A {We Miss You} Card...

Today is the sixth day of our cruise and this morning our kids opened this card:

The sentiment stamp actually says "i miss you", so I wanted to replace the "i" with "we" and thought about handwriting it in.  Then I saw the stamp in this same set that says "WELCOME" and it was fate!  I stamped the "WE" from "WELCOME" and the "miss you" from the "i miss you" stamp.  Perfect!


Now, don't laugh at me!  After making this card is sorta looks like the parent birds are getting frisky, KWIM?  Bahahaha!  Hopefully my kids don't notice!  


Okay, so today we are at sea again and will be until we dock in Cape Canaveral on Sunday morning.  


Have a great day!

{We Miss You}

Stamps: Tweet Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: On the Catwalk Cream, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Green With Envy, Glamazon Green (CSS)

Accessories: Aqua-Painter, Baker's Twine

Copic Marker: W1 

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A {You Float My Boat} Card...

Hi & Happy Friday!!!  We have a busy night and weekend ahead of us, but it's all fun stuff and I can't wait to get started.  I made this card for the Embellish Magazine Challenge which was to use the colors in my card as well as to use a nautical theme.

I feel like this card is a bit technique-y.  I don't have any tag dies, so I made my own by using a Labels 9 Spellbinder's die and sliding the kraft card stock just under a portion of the die.  I stamped the chevron stripes first on the light blue card stock and then on the kraft, then lined them up before the tag was adhered.  I stamped the boat on white card stock, colored it with copics.  I used an x-acto knife to cut a small portion of the chevron stripes on the tag so I could slide the boat under the "waves".  The boat also was also outlined using a W3 copic marker so it would pop off the page a bit more.

I love the baker's twine on the tag.  I wrapped the twine through the hole about four times, tied a bow and then cut the loops.

Hope you have a fun weekend!  I know we will!!!

{You Float My Boat}

Stamps: Across the Miles, Tweet Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps), Chevron Stripes (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Dare to Be a Diva Red, Trendsetter Blue, Your Style Blue Me Away (CSS)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red, Your Style Blue Me Away, Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Labels 9 Nestie (Spellbinders), Baker's Twine (Jillibean Soup), Brads (CSS), Hole Punch, Stamping Sponge, Foam Dimensionals

Copic Markers: 0, W3,  B93, B95, B99 

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A {Love Birds} Card...

Hi there!  I simply cannot get enough of the Tweet Notes stamp set.  It's just too cute and perfect for any occasion.  This card is pretty clean and simple, but I did do some paper piecing.  I used some paper from the Gertie collection from My Mind's Eye, so I know all my papers would coordinate.  The birds and the leaves are paper pieced. I stamped the branch on right first and then turned my branch around and stamped it again on the left side.    

The birds are popped up on foam dimensionals for added interest.  The sentiment is an outline and it was colored in with an aqua painter and some Paint the Town Pink ink.

Thank you so much for dropping by today.  Hope your day is great!

{Love Birds}

Stamps: Tweet Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, On the Catwalk Cream (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Paint the Town Pink, Dish All the Dirt Brown, Green With Envy (CSS)

Accessories: Top Note Die (SU), Aqua Painter, Foam Dimensionals, Stamping Sponge

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A {Tweet Little One} Card...

Hello!  It's a rainy day here but I had a perfect morning.  My husband is taking a mini vacation and we both slept in, drank our coffee and read the news on our ipads.  The kids have been lazy today, recovering from the 12 hours we spent at Kings Island yesterday.  I was able to steal some uninterrupted time in my studio.  Such a laid back day. 


I was in the mood to make a clean and simple card.  I decided to create a scene using Tweet Notes.  This set is perfect for baby cards.  I really like how the branches are crossed and provide a perfect place for a nest.  

I used blue copic markers for the birds.  The two larger birds were stamped on white card stock and cut out with scissors then glued on top of the branches.  I stamped the nest first and then the cracked egg. I masked the egg and then stamped the baby bird so it's peeking out of the egg.  Since I don't have green copics (yet!) I used some green ink and a colorless blender copic marker.  I'm sure if that's an actual technique or not and as I was doing it I was thinking "I hope I'm doing this right and not ruining my marker".  I think the green looks good on my card.  I rubbed the blender pen on some scrap paper to remove the green.

Thanks so much for joining me here today!  I'm wishing you a relaxing day!!!

{Tweet Little One}

Stamps: Tweet Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Green With Envy, Dish All the Dirt Brown, Brown Leather Satchel (CSS)

Accessories: Blue Trio 6 Copic Markers (B93, B95, B99), Colorless Blender Copic, Baker's Twine (May Arts)

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Clear & Simple Stamps: Group Project

Hello!  Today is our group challenge from Clear & Simple Stamps.  This month's challenge was super fun.  It was to use the new set, Tweet Notes, to create a background on a card.  I will walk you through it step by step.  

First I started with a piece of square On the Catwalk Cream card stock.  I inked up the leaf image with Green With Envy ink and stamped it randomly as shown below.

Next I added the flowers using Simply Blue-tiful ink, as shown below.

Then I added the hearts using Dare to Be a Diva Red ink.

I took my aqua-painter and some Green With Envy ink and colored in the leaves of the branches.

Here's how my card looks all put together.  The leaves on the branch were also colored in using an aqua-painter and Green With Envy Ink.  I love the music notes that come with this set!  Did you notice that my birdy looks a little shiny?  Well, I gave her a quick coat of glossy accents before adhering her to the card.  

Here's another look of the main image panel.  

Be sure to check out the Clear & Simple Stamps Blog to see all the design team creations.  You won't want to miss it!  


I hope you've enjoyed group post day.  I really had a great time using so many images to create a fun background.  Have a great day!

{Tweet}

Stamps: Tweet Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, On the Catwalk Cream, Perfect Little Black Dress, Simply Blue-tiful, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Ink: Green With Envy, Perfect Little Black Dress, Simply Blue-tiful, Dare to Be a Diva Red 

Accessories: Foam Dimensionals, Oval Nestablilities (Spellbinders), Aqua-Painter, Stamping Sponge, Glossy Accents 

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Clear & Simple Stamps: June 2011 Release

It's the first day of June and we all know what that means, a new stamp set is being released from Clear & Simple Stamps!!!  Let the fun begin!!!  This month's set is called Tweet Notes and it is super cute.  Take a look and see for yourself:

I'm so in love with this set.  Birds and branches are so trendy right now and I love how versatile they are to use on all sorts of cards.  Birds are totally gender neutral, don't you think?  Take a look at one of the cards I created for this release:

I sketched this card out first and it didn't include the tag with the bird on it.  I think that's the best part.  I love the creative process and how something goes from your mind, to being sketched out roughly on paper and then to something so tangible as a finished product.  It's so interesting to me to see how your ideas evolve over the course of time and seeing how something that looks great in your head doesn't translate to paper.  I love this little hobby of mine.

I started with Green With Envy as my card base and applied the floral paper first and then the a strip of distressed Glamazon Green on top of that.  Then I added a thicker strip of striped paper to cover the seam.  I stamped "TWEET" across the top in Perfect Little Black Dress ink adding the flowers in between in Simply Blue-tiful ink.  

The satin ribbon is A Clean Slate and is actually threaded through the top of the tag and then tied in a knot.  Before adhering the tag to the card I created a little scene.  The leaves of the branches were paper pieced using Green With Envy and the bird is paper pieced with patterned paper.  The little hearts were stamped with Paint the Town Pink, there are actually three hearts but one is covered up by the ribbon.  

Thanks for sharing in the fun today!  Be sure to check out the Clear & Simple Stamps Blog for all the design team creations.  


I also have a card featured on the Clear & Simple Stamps App for the iphone today.  For more info on how to get the app, click HERE.  It's a super cute one too, you won't want to miss it!

Have a great day!

{Tweet Tweet}

Stamps: Tweet Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Green With Envy, Glamazon Green (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Paint the Town Pink, Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Accessories: A Clean Slate Satin Ribbon (CSS), Corner Rounder Punch, Edge Distresser, Foam Dimensionals, Hole  Punch 

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