Friday, March 20, 2009

Leonardo da Vinci Was Right

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” While the thought of calling myself sophisticated leaves me weeping tears of hysterical laughter, I do love simplicity. Clean design, lots of white space, a light touch with embellishments…these are the things that grab my attention about a card. Like this one:




This super-simple-looking card is one of a set I made. It’s 3.5 x 5 inches and is loaded with glorious white space.

Simplicity Tip: To get the perfect placement of the clear flower stamp (Papertrey Ink’s Honey Bees set), I used the gridded acrylic block from Papertrey. This handy tool is essential to perfect clear stamp placement.

The flower centers are the most fabulous new embellishment I’ve seen: black half-pearls from Hero Arts. They come in other colors as well, but the black ones totally rock!

Simplicity Tip: Use a craft knife to lift-and-place the half pearls easily and precisely.

The other two cards in the set use the same layout, same sentiment, and same half-pearl embellishments. The only differences are color and the flower stamps.






What do you think?

17 comments:

  1. Totally awesome cards and great tips, Susan!! Your blog is going to be fabulous!!

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  2. i am lovin' what i see here!

    ...bookmarking someones blog!

    have a wonderful weekend

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  3. These are great! Thanks for the information on how you made them. I was wondering how you got them so perfectly centered and straight! Love your other blog too!

    Barb Bird

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  4. Love the elegant simplicity of your cards! Thanks for the tips.

    Love this new blog... bookmarking... right...NOW! Got it.
    Thanks for sharing, Marilyn

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  5. I am soooo glad you decided to go ahead with your new blog! The simplicity of these cards is so appealing. I'm just not a layer-upon-layer card person, and these just look so clean and elegant! And I really appreciate your tips, too. I hope you plan on posting often!

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  6. Absolutely perfect! You have inspired me.
    Simple, elegant, clean.
    I am going to bookmark your blog. I would love to see more of your creations.

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  7. Absolutely love it! The clean and simple rage is coming at a perfect time for me. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to visiting your blog!

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  8. very clever to use that honey bee item for a flower!! love the results.

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  9. Susan
    I feel dumb...but what is PTI?? LOVE the flower stamps and can't figure it out on my own. :) Thanks! Angie

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  10. I'm so sorry, Angie!

    PTI = Papertrey Ink, and here's the link to Honey Bees, the set I used for these cards, http://www.papertreyink.com/stamps_honeybees.html

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  11. Yay, Susan! I go away on vacation and come back to see you have a BLOG!!!! :D

    Gorgeous CAS cards as always!

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  12. You are my new Inspiration blog. I love white cardstock with clean and simple. I got here from reading "bits and pieces"

    Thank you.

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  13. I LOVE them!! I am super happy that you have a blog so I can enjoy your simple and sophisticated creations...yes, I said sophisticated!! :D

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  14. I'm a late commentor because I only found your blog today - but I love it, love it, love it. Your simple cards are just beautiful.

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  15. Can't remember exactly when I subscribed to your blog (4 -5 months ago??) but I have now made it back to the first post. And I must thank you (THANK YOU!) profusely for the beauty and inspiration you provide. Also - lovely white space.

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!