CSS Style Watch!

I have a super fun project to share with you today!  I'm sure you have an iPhone or knows somebody that does. Seems like everyone has one but me, but I'll be getting one shortly when the new one comes out.  What does do crafting and iPhones have in common you ask?  Well, CSS has created a template to design your own insert to go with those clear iPhone cases!!!  I love those trendy and fun cell phone covers, but they are so expensive!  This way, if you already have a clear case, you can change out your insert everyday using supplies you already own.  If you are having a hard time following me, here are some photos that may help.

Here's the template printed on regular copier paper.  I didn't want all of my inserts to use the same color card stock, but I also didn't want to be wasteful by printing the template out a bunch of times of different colored card stock.  You can see here that I planned ahead as to what color and design would be on each template.

I cut four pieces of card stock (from scraps) to fit right over each template and then adhered them with masking tape.  This worked really well and didn't get come apart in my printer. 

Here's what they looked like off once removed from the printer paper.

I would definitely recommend stamping your template and then cutting them, so much easier that way.  If you look closely, you can see the template under all that glorious stamping. 

Once I had the iPhone Cover Inserts made, I needed a cute way to give them to my friend.  Since these covers will reflect how cool, trendy and unique she is, I wanted a card to go with that theme.  

I created a little pocket on the inside of the card so that the inserts could slip right in.  

You can download the template by clicking HERE.  I was just thinking that it would be really cool to use the template on photos as well.  I would probably cut the template on card stock first and use it as a stencil on a photo.  I've seen custom photo covers and I'm sure they are pricey. 

Some of the other design team ladies are getting in on the actions!  You won't want to miss their awesome creations!

Stephany Zerbe

Jennifer Rzasa

Jaclyn Miller

Denise January

Lori Tecler

Clear and Simple Stamps

Have a great day!

{You Are an Original}

Stamps: Sunburst, Craft Room (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Dare to Be a Diva Red, A Blanc Check (CSS)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS), White

Accessories: Foam Dots, Sticky Tape, Circle Punch

{iPhone Cover Inserts}

Stamps: Background Basics 1, Squares Plus, Designer Lines (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, A Blanc Check, Green With Envy (CSS)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red, Dish All the Dirt Brown, Say Yellow to All Your Fans, Orange You Fabulous, Glamazon Green, Your Style Blue Me Away, Simply Blue-tiful, Purplicious (CSS)

Accessories: iPhone Cover Template

Read more...

Clear & Simple Stamps: Group Project!

Hey there!  This month's CSS Design Team challenge is to embrace WHITE while we can, before Labor Day!  For my card I chose to use a lot of white space, which I love to do anyway.  

As you can see, this card is pretty darn simple.  I did break out a ruler and pencil to find the center of the card and to also make sure my squares were lined up properly and not on a slope.

Check out those squares!  It's a stamp from Mini Squares and I am in love with the design, so simple yet so bold.  And look, one layer!

I can't wait to check out the other Design Team creations.  They are sure to please, like always.

• Lori Tecler
• Jaclyn Miller
• Kim Duran
• Tracy Schultz
• Laurie Willison
• Jennifer Rzasa
• Laura Bassen
• Elena Roussakis
• Suzanne Dahlberg <--- guest designer!
• Clear & Simple Stamps

By the way, this is my last post before the kids go back to school.  I have really mixed emotions about that.  I am looking forward to creating on the fly as opposed to these pre-planned posts.  I have come to realize that you wonderful readers will not abandon me if my posts are sporadic and that is such a nice feeling.  I really put a lot of pressure on myself to post new content, but this summer was really focussed on my kiddos and I really enjoyed it.  I'll be back to posting 4 days a week shortly!

Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: Mini Squares, Craft Room (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Dare to Be a Diva Red, Glamazon Green, Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Read more...

CSS Release In Review: Day 4

Hello!  Today is Day 4 of Clear & Simple Stamps release review!!!  Today we are focusing on Shapes and Backgrounds.  I'm sharing a card that is probably my favorite of this release in review.  It was really simple to make and only used two stamps, but a lot of different colors of ink.  

I really love cards that use the colors the rainbow, in that order.  Thank goodness for ROY G BIV, or I would never remember the order of the colors.  Although if you look at my card, it's backwards.  That's because when I was figuring out where to put my sentiment, over the yellow was where it showed up the best, but wasn't in the best position.  So, I just flipped that panel upside down.  

I built the background of my card by using the solid square background building image from Squares Plus.  I simply stamped once with each color of the rainbow.  I chose a plain black base to really make the colors pop.

 Check out the other CSS DT ladies and their creations using Shapes & Backgrounds:

• Jaclyn Miller
• Amber Kemp-Gerstel
• Jennifer Rzasa
• Laura Bassen
• Laurie Willison
• Elena Roussakis
• Clear & Simple Stamps

Have a great day!

{You Color My World}

Stamps: Squares Plus, Craft Room (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red, Orange You Fabulous, Say Yellow to All Your Fans, Glamazon Green, Your Style Blue Me Away, Simply Blue-tiful, Purplicious, Perfect Little Black Dress

Read more...

A Tweet {Happy Birthday} Card...

Hey guys!  I'm sitting at the library typing this up.  Our internet is down at home and I didn't want to wait to share this card.  I made two cards this morning and they couldn't be more different.  The other one I'll share tomorrow.  I made it ahead of time since I'll be subbing.  


This card is totally clean and simple, I love it!  I actually used three different stamps sets.  The lines are from "Party Elements: Baby," the birds are from "Baby Shower," and the sentiment is from "Craft Room."  


I had the birds totally spaced out on a scrap piece of paper exactly where each bird should be stamped, but then I just went for it and started stamping my heart out.  It probably turned out better like that anyway.  


Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: Craft Room, Party Elements: Baby, Baby Shower (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Purplicious, Orange You Fabulous, Paint the Town Pink, Glamazon Green, Say Yellow to All Your Fans, Simply Blue-tiful

Accessories: Green Embroidery Floss 

Read more...

A Crafty {Happy Birthday} Card...

Hello!  This card started with inspiration from a card I found on Pinterest.  I won't even link it because my card looks NOTHING like it.

I started out with the background and the colored circle punches, then I got stuck.  I picked out the sentiment from "Craft Room Sentiments" and saw the button stamp, once I stamped the buttons on the circle punches (that were already glued in place) there was no turning back.

So, I decided to incorporate the jar of buttons, even though I didn't have the exact matching colors.  I finished up the card and then took the jar of buttons off, dipped the jar in versamark and clear embossed it.  I gives the look of glossy accents without the drying time.  Here's a look:

In the end I think this card is just so-so, KWIM?  

Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: Craft Room, Craft Room Sentiments, Circles Plus (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: On the Catwalk Cream, Coral Necklace, Orange You Fabulous, Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)  

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Orange You Fabulous, Simply Blue-tiful, Paint the Town Pink, From an Anonymous Source (CSS)

Accessories: Circle Punch, Clear Embossing Powder, Foam Dots

Copics- R85, B95, W1, Y38 

Read more...

A Heart-Felt {Happy Birthday} Card...

Hey guys!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  It's been awhile since I've made a card heavy on patterned paper, but that's just what I felt like this morning.  That's one of the things about crafting that I love, just going with what moves you in the moment.

So, for my card I started with a plaid piece of patterned paper.  I went through my stamps and found a tiny heart in the CSS stamp set "Love Notes".  I stamped the heart in navy ink on the plaid patterned paper.  I think it adds a little something to the paper.

I created the sentiment panel using strips of colored card stock that match the plaid background paper.  I like how it just slightly overlaps the sides of the card.

The hearts were punched from the same pack of patterned paper as the plaid.  I love the fact that you know that everything is going to coordinate.

Have a great day!

{Happy Birthday}

Stamps: Craft Room, Love Notes (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Trendsetter Blue, True Blue Fan, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Silver Valley (SEI)

Ink: Trendsetter Blue, True Blue Fan (CSS)

Accessories: Heart Punches, Foam Dimensionals, Stamping Sponge

Read more...

A {Happy Birthday Friend} Card...

Hi there!  I have a fun and easy card to share with you today.  I went to the store this morning and made an impulsive purchase, a Xyron machine.  It was only $8!  Of course I was anxious to use it, and it was so easy to put adhesive on the back of these narrow rick rack strips.

I actually thought this card out a bit before I started to assemble it.  I wanted to use the "triangle rule" with the color black.  See how the sentiment is black and well as the rhinestones on the left and right side.  Each area of the color black forms a triangle which is supposed to be pleasing to the eye.

The black ink I used is my absolutely favorite black ink I've ever used.  It's A Perfect Little Black Dress from Clear & Simple Stamps.  I loaded up my stamp with the ink and ended up with a perfect impression.

And now for some completely random stuff:

• I went to the chiropractor yesterday (fourth day in a row) and I'm feeling great!  I think my chiropractor is different than most.  He has an exercise room in his office.  In addition to realigning my back, he taught me a bunch of exercises to strengthen my core so I don't re-injure myself.  I don't have to go back until Monday!
• I'm absolutely addicted to the game Phase 10 for the iPad.  I've always liked the card game, but since it's digital, you can play a whole game in 20 minutes.

• Anyone else a huge Anderson Cooper fan?  I've always liked him, but I'm in love with his new daytime talk show, Anderson.  So dreamy!

That's about it for me!  I'm going to my SIL's for a girls craft night tomorrow and I can't wait.  Don't know what I'll be making, maybe some Valentine's for my kids to pass out at school.  I need to start thinking about next years Christmas card, it is almost February!

Have a great weekend!!!

{Happy Birthday Friend}

Stamps: Craft Room (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Paint the Town Pink (CSS)

Accessories: Rick Rack Die (PTI), Black Rhinestones

Read more...

A {Baby Shower} Card for Maylee...

Oh my!  I've been trying to get this posted for quite some time now and my computer was just not letting me.  I tend to leave a lot of pages open and then my computer comes to a crawl and then freezes.  Ugh, I hate when I have to press the power to shut it down, it just feels wrong.  


Anyway, now that I have my computer back to normal I can share this cute card I made for a baby shower over the weekend.  As you can probably tell they already have a name picked out-- Maylee, a combination of her grandmothers' middle names.  So adorable, I can't wait to meet her!  


I had so much fun making this card (well, it was fun after I tossed my first attempt).  I can't believe I used five stamp sets!  That might be a personal record for me.  I've seen a lot of the other Clear & Simple Stamps design team gals filling the bucket stamp with all kinds of things, so I thought I'd give it a try.  It does require a bit of masking though.  


Since I wasted so much time getting my computer to work, I'm going to stop chatting now.  If you have any questions about today's card, feel free to leave a comment.

Have a great day!

{A Gift For You...Maylee}

Stamps: Trendy Tags, Craft Room, Craft Room Bonus, Alpha Varsity, Holly Jolly (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Paint the Town Pink, Coral Necklace, A Blanc Check (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Foam Dimensionals, Rhinestone

Copic Markers: 0, W1, W5, B93, B95, R83, R85, Y38 

Read more...

A {Card Making Kit}...

Hi there!  I have one last project to share with you this month using the Clear & Simple Stamps sets: Craft Room & Crafty Sentiments.  This is a little gift tin I whipped up to give a crafty friend.  It includes some envelopes, blank card bases, buttons, die cut shapes, some ribbon, and and some clear stamps.

The tin is one I've had in my stash a while.  I think a watch originally came in it.  I recovered it to hide the tacky pattern that was printed on the tin.  Tied ribbon around the sides and made a cute tag.

 The ribbon is stamped using Perfect Little Black Dress ink on A Blanc Check satin ribbon, no bleeding!

For a finishing touch and to give my friend some card making ideas, I stamped the card images on a blank piece of card stock and then sketched some layouts with a pencil.  Everything you could ever ask for in a  card making kit.  

Have a great day!

{Card Making Kit}

Stamps: Craft Room, Crafty Sentiments (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, A Blanc Check, Coral Necklace, Simply Blue-tiful (CSS)

Patterned Paper: Gertie (My Mind's Eye)

Ink: Simply Blue-tiful, Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: A Blanc Check Ribbon (CSS), Brads (Making Memories), Corner Rounder Punch, Square Tin (Filled w/ card making supplies), Stamping Sponge

Copic Markers: R85 

Read more...

A CAS-ual Fridays {Colorful} Card...

This week Clear & Simple Stamps is sponsoring a challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.  Our own Laurie Willison challenged us to use markers, pencils, chalk, etc. to add color to your CAS card.   I chose to use Craft Room and Craft Room Bonus for my card.  It was a little ironic to be coloring images of copic markers using my copic markers.  Weird, huh?

I think this sentiment is perfect for a challenge where you needed to add color.  I actually cut up this sentiment so I could space the words out and use different colors of ink.  I really like the rhinestones.  They really seem to make the card look special.

Here's a close-up of the sentiment banner.  It's curves just a bit and adds just the right amount of dimension.  


Head on over to CAS-ual Fridays Blog and check the cards from their design team as well as some linked up from the Clear & Simple Stamps design team.  

CAS-ual Friday participants get a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Clear and Simple Stamps. And as an added bonus, use the html code below to add the CSS blinkie to your side bar, and leave us a message with a link to your blog and we will randomly select (3) blogs featuring the CSS blinkie to win the Limited Edition Crafty Bonus stamp set!

{bonus offer closes Thursday, Oct 27th at midnight, EST}

Hope  you all have a great weekend!!!

{You Color My World}

Stamps: Craft Room, Craft Room Bonus (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, Coral Necklace (CSS)

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

Accessories: Rhinestones (Recollections), Foam Dimensionals, Labels 9 Nesties (Spellbinders), Birds & Swirls Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

Copic Markers: R81, R83, R85, B93, B95, B99, Y32, Y35, Y38, W1, W3 

Read more...

A {Happy Birthday Crafty Girl} Card...

Hello!  Can you tell I am loving this Craft Room set?!!  I am loving the clean and simpleness of this one.  You can never go wrong with black and white with a pop of color, or can you?  

Here's a different view so you can see all the layers.

I also have a card featured on the Clear & Simple Stamps App for the iPhone.  This is one of my all time favorite cards and I think you can see why!  Yep, that's my little girl!!!

I hope you have a great day!  Thanks for stopping by!!!

{Happy Birthday Crafty Girl}

Stamps: Craft Room, Crafty Sentiments (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, Coral Necklace (CSS)

Ink: Paint the Town Pink, Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Foam Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch

Copic Markers: W3, W1, W5, B95, R85

Read more...

Clear & Simple Stamps: Group Project

Hello!  For our group project this month we have a card sketch designed by former design team member, Kim Howard.  Take a look:

Such a clean and simple layout, but I took it a step further by making my card one layer.  Check it out:

I used the marker stamp to create the thin horizontal lines.  I wanted the ribbons to look like they were hung on a rod, like in many craft rooms.  I masked the spools to make them look like one solid image.  

After I was done coloring all the images with regular markers (crayola), I outlined them all with a light gray copic marker to add a little dimension.  


Take a look at what the rest of the design team created:

1. Lori
2. Laurie
3. Kim
4. Cristina
5. Tracy
6. Laura B.
7. Laura O.
8. Clear & Simple Stamps 

Thanks so much for dropping by!  Have a wonderful day :)

{Thank You Crafty Friend}

Stamps: Craft Room (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check (CSS)

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

Accessories: Markers (Crayola) 

Copic Markers: W1, W3, W5

Read more...

Clear & Simple Stamps: October 2011 Release

Hey crafty friends!  This month's Clear & Simple Stamps sets are just for you.  You are going to flip when you see these two gorgeous sets designed by our very own, Stephany Zerbe!  These sets are large (double the size of the older sets) and are packed with crafty images and sentiments, perfect to kick off World Card Making Day.


Are you ready?  Introducing......

Craft Room

Crafty Sentiments

Awesome, right?  Here's a card I created for this release.  I know today is World Card Making Day, but it's also the first day of October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  

I had a lot of fun using Copic markers on this one.  I stamped the jars and ribbon first, masked the bottoms of the images and then stamped the shelf.  I just love all the PINK!  

The sentiment with the set says "Let's get our craft on" but I omitted the word craft and used the set Alpha Varsity to spell the word "PINK".  


I love how these two sets work together.  As an added BONUS, Clear & Simple Stamps created a limited edition coordinating set for customers who spend $100 today through Oct. 3rd.  This set can not be purchased.  

Free Set With $100 Purchase

As if that wasn't enough news, Clear & Simple Stamps is retiring some of their stamp sets in order to create room for new 2012 stamp sets.  Here's a list of retiring stamps, get them before they are gone!

Clear & Simple Stamps: Retiring Stamp List

This is such a fabulous release!  Make sure you check out the rest of the Design Team and their creations.  I can't wait to see them myself!  

Cristina Kowalczyk

Kim Duran

Laurie Willison

Lori Tecler

Tracy Schultz

Stephany Zerbe

Have a great day!

{Let's Get Our PINK On}

Stamps: Craft Room, Crafty Sentiments, Alpha Varsity (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, Paint the Town Pink (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Paint the Town Pink (CSS)

Copic Markers: W1, W3, R81, R83, R85, 100, 0

Read more...