IC534: Audrie Did It Again

Audrie, who hosts the Inspiration Challenge at Splitcoast, found an amazing board on Pinterest for this week's challenge. Peg Schoenfelder put together over a thousand pictures of minimalist decor that are a treasure-trove of ideas that can be used on cards.

Here's my first card for the challenge, which is based on THIS PIN.

Obviously, I took the idea of the negative space from the oval window and used the colors from the photo. After stamping the branch and leaves, I realized the view didn't quite pop as much as I wanted, but sponging some Memento New Sprout over the space helped a lot.

There will be more cards sprouting from this challenge, you may rest assured. What fabulous inspiration!

And while we're on the subject of Audrie, let me share with you the last card I received from her. She offered to let me pull her photo of it from Splitcoast because my own photos just weren't doing it justice.

Photo from Audrie Magnogordon

Remember that "white" space doesn't have to be white. That's really just a misnomer for "empty" space. Audrie uses a lot of textured black card stock in her card making, as you can see if you scroll through her gallery at SCS. I can't remember the last time I used black, but perhaps I should pull some out and play a bit. There may be a sheet or two hiding in my hoard somewhere!

Not only is this card simply stunning...it came in a stunning envelope showcasing Audrie's amazing talent as a calligrapher. (Note: I took these two photos and blurred our addresses. After I went to the trouble of blurring mine, I realized I've plastered mine all over the interwebs anyway, so it was pointless!)

Check out her calligraphy! If I remember correctly (it's been years since I dabbled in calligraphy myself), she's using a Copperplate script. I NEVER could master the swirls and flourishes without my dip pen spitting ink all over the place. Audrie's are perfection!

The whole package, in fact, was perfection, and it made me feel both honored and humbled to receive it.

Thank you, Audrie, for your kindness and generosity. You are a treasure!



Supplies for my card
stamps: Clearly Besotted Paired Up, Papertrey Keep It Simple Thinking of You
ink: Hero Arts, Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dimensional tape, oval punch, sponge

A Spot of Color

As I type this, I'm reminded that my husband's call sign when he flew with the Air Force was Spot. He has a small white spot on the back of his head...and the hair that grew from it was also white. I was Mrs. Spot. Also, The Creature.

But that is a story for another time.

Anyway, staring for a very long time at Flower Garden, a set from Hero Arts, gave me the idea for this card.

This served the purpose of ticking off a bunch of the stamps in the set as "used." Only after they've all been used can the set join my hoard collection. This didn't use all the stamps, of course, but it freed me from the intimidating pressure of making a gazillion cards with this set's numerous small flowers.

Sets like this one are so much fun, even if they do overwhelm my sensitive CAS sensibilities.



Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Flower Garden, Papertrey Happy Trails
ink: Memento Luxe
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones

The World Can Never Have Too Much Kindness

The Hero Arts' set Acts of Kindness is the set that keeps on giving. What an easy set to work with, so much goodness!

This sentiment with color-able letters is simply splendid! I colored the heart on the envelope and the letters with a red Sakura Stardust pen, and the shimmer and sparkle are so very fun!

Happy, happy, joy, joy!!!

Go forth and spread kindness today and every day. Because it's the right thing to do.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Acts of Kindness
ink: Memento black
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dimensionals, Sakura Stardust red pen

Confetti

Nothing much to say about today's card except that it's more proof you really need to take a look at the Acts of Kindness set from Hero Arts.

Seriously.

Eeep!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Acts of Kindness
ink: various pink and purple dye inks, Memento Luxe black
paper: Papertrey white

Getting Punchy with a Side of Artistic Tension

While poking around at Marco's Paper the other day, I came across a bunch of Tim Holtz punches that were new to me.

Punch Heaven!!!

A few leaped into my basket, and one found immediate use when I got home. This card combines the Holtz branch punch with a Martha Stewart hydrangea punch.

Here's a little close-up.

The contrast of the delicate--yet bold lime green!--branch and the solid, dense hydrangea blossom makes me so happy! Those subtle contrasts can enhance the visual interest of a card by creating tension...based on the theory that opposites attract.

In this case, they certainly do. Yet the result is harmonious and balanced. It feels like magic, but it's actually the result of color balance and line. Honestly, I rarely get the balance this right, so I did a happy dance when this card came together!

Take a look at your punches or dies and play around with ways you can create this sort of tension in a card of your own. It's fun!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Acts of Kindness
ink: Memento Luxe black
paper: Papertrey white, assorted colored card stock
accessories: Martha Stewart hydrangea punch, Tim Holtz branch punch, glue pen, rhinestone

Two New Cards and One New Car

Another set I bought in my last Hero Arts order was Acts of Kindness. What a great set, and the sentiments really speak to me. Their font combinations are fabulous and large, so they can carry a card. Here are two cards using the same layouts with different sentiments and different accent stamps (both of which are from Hero Arts Flower Garden set). I was surprised at how different the two cards feel because of fonts, colors, and embellishments.

Well, I suppose changing that many things should change the feel of the cards. Duh.

But I'm still surprised.

For the first, I colored the outline flower with red Copics and added a gold half bead. The stamped panel is edged with a gold Prisma metallic marker. I added the panel without popping it on craft foam (those half beads are kinda large).

The second card is lighter and shinier, with all that pink bling. The sentiment's cursive, handwritten font is just fabulous. This stamped panel is raised on craft foam, which gave weird shadows and makes the silver lining of the lower edge look washed out. Actually, it's the same as the lining on top.

I just love this layout as a way to focus attention on very cool sentiments!

And now for the new car...

George, God bless the man, got on the phone, did some dealing, and got me a replacement for my totalled 2013 Mazda CX-9. The replacement (a new 2015) is black, which was my last choice for color, but given that this was our very best car-buying experience ever (in and out in 40 minutes!), I'm so very grateful and relieved.

It's essentially the same car that was totalled, except it has a sunroof instead of rear-seat entertainment package. Jack is the only one in the family disappointed by the change.

So, YAY!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Memento Luxe black, Memento black, Impress Fresh grass
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: Prisma metallic markers, craft foam, gold half bead, pink rhinestones

One Small Set: Day 4

Well, my car was totaled. Ugh. May it rest in peace...or be recycled at the junk yard. Whatever. I'm sad. It was a very good car. Here's the damage.

Hard to believe this is totaled. But it is. Poor thing!
It served us well.

On to happier things. Here's the last card (for the time being, at least) using the Spring Hello by Lia Griffith set from Hero Arts. I just wanted to play around with the little bird and chipmunk stamps.

May you have a lovely weekend. We'll be at the Special Olympics Bowling Tournament tomorrow. Jack will try to "be the ball." And we'll drive some cars in preparation for replacing my poor, smashed Mazda. *sigh*

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: various pigments
paper: Papertrey
accessories: craft foam, Copic marker for border

One Small Set: Day 3

Click for Day 1 and Day 2 if you missed them!

Today's experiment with Spring Hello by Lia Griffith from Hero Arts focuses on the thank-you sentiment, which is in such a darling font and ever so sweet! I'm sharing three variations of the same card. See which you like best!

The first card combines the thank you with a flower from Gina K's Hello Sunshine set. The flower is stamped in Hero Arts butter bar and the sentiment in Memento Luxe espresso truffle.

My initial reaction: it's too busy. The white spaces in the flower seemed just a bit too overwhelming for the already flourished and interesting sentiment. These thoughts prompted the second version of the card, which uses a simpler, more solid flower from Papertrey's Beautiful Blooms II.

[Happy aside: Isn't it cool that I have two flower stamps that are so similar and yet so different? I love my stamp collection and am so grateful to the many companies happily selling us stuff for this wonderful hobby!]

Back to the second card.

Hmm. Once I had made the second version for comparison, suddenly I really liked BOTH versions of the card. The first one ceased to look so busy to me, and both make me happy. How weird is that? I wonder if the white-to-yellow proportions of the first flower help integrate the design into all the white space better than the more solid second flower...something I didn't see before I made the second card. Who knows what my brain is thinking. I sure don't.

Anyway, I started to wonder if using a lighter yellow (butter bar is VERY bright) might make the sentiment pop more. Here's a version with Memento's dandelion.

Blech. Photo editing makes the yellow appear darker on my computer screen than in real life, but even here, it looks sadly noncommittal...sort of how I feel when someone asks whom I plan to vote for in the upcoming presidential election. Ugh. Seriously? The butter bar definitely stands up better to the espresso truffle sentiment.

I'm certainly NOT voting for Card #3. If you were to press me aggressively, I might possibly admit to a slight preference for Card #2, but Card #1 isn't out of the running.

As for the presidential race, you might not have heard (NPR's coverage has been irresponsibly negligent), but Bill and Opus of the Dandelion Meadow Party are back in action and running for the highest office in the land once again, this time on an Ottoman Platform.

We could do a lot worse.


Supplies
stamps: Gina K, Papertrey, Hero Arts
ink: Hero Arts, Memento Luxe, Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: corner rounder

One Small Set: Day 2

The small set Spring Hello by Lia Griffith from Hero Arts is so much fun! Yesterday's card set showed a super-CAS option with it, but today's card uses almost every stamp in the small set...and there's still plenty of white space!

The color inspiration for this card comes from THIS PIN. Unfortunately, I didn't have quite the right purples, so I improvised. Remember that's always an option when you're facing a color challenge. Close is good enough in horse shoes, hand grenades, and color inspiration. 

To make the card, I stamped the sentiment first, then masked around it with post-it notes. After stamping, I set the card aside to dry fully (those are pigment inks) and then added the silver lines with a Prisma metallic marker and metal ruler. The metallic ink is opaque and cleans up the masked edge nicely. 

This design feels fresh and fun without being too busy for my CAS-lovin' heart. 

Supplies

stamps: Hero Arts

ink: various pigment inks

paper: Papertrey white

accessories: post-its, Prisma metallic marker, ruler

One Small Set: Day 1

Okay, so in my latest Hero Arts order were three small stamp sets by Lia Griffith, including this little beauty called Spring Hello:

This diminutive set inspired me to play around with several different layouts and looks, from super-CAS to, well, still CAS but busy for me. Also, you might remember this BIG rule in my craft room: I can't put away new sets until I use each and every stamp in them. Despite its small size, this set has a lot going on in it, and it's been pure delight to play with it.

Today's post highlights the CAS-est cards of the bunch...a whole gift set of Hello cards in happy, bright, fun colors.

Be careful. Some of you might get itchy at the amount of white space.

Hero Arts orange soda

Ancient Page amethyst

Hero Arts butter bar

Hero Arts raspberry jam

Hero Arts ocean

Hero Arts ultra pink

Eeep! Just a little bling on each, and YAY! Note how commanding a presence this largish sentiment is on a standard-size card. The flow of the curvy cursive font creates all the interest needed for this simple set of cards, demonstrating that the right font in the right size can do amazing things.

And this also explains why we can never have enough sentiment stamps.

Never.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Hero Arts and Ancient Page
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, alcohol markers to color a few of the rhinestones to match

Marker Mayhem

Thank you all for your kind words and prayers regarding my recent auto accident. I have no update on the other driver yet, though my insurance agent said she would try to find out if the woman is okay. I'll keep you posted. BTW, I love my insurance company...USAA. Your comments on stopping for funeral processions have been fascinating; thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences. If you missed them, check the comments on this post.


Markers are a staple in the stamper's hoard of stuff, but I find I simply don't use them often enough. The other day, after perusing my Pure Inspiration board on Pinterest, I felt the need to do something with circles...such a basic element of design, pure geometry, simple, strong. Circles and markers...a match made in heaven.

I combined markers, a spritz bottle of water, and a simple circle stamp to make this pair of cards that quite literally made me squeal with delight so loudly my 16-year-old came to investigate. He pronounced them cool.

Hear that? I make stuff cool enough for a teenage boy to notice.

That's a pat on the back if I ever had one!

To get this strong wash effect, I inked the stamp in a very light shade of a color, then scribbled a brighter, darker marker of the same color over the stamp. (Don't try to blend! Just quickly scribble a few streaks.) Normally, when I spritz water to blend colors on a stamp, I'll let the water swirl around on the stamp a bit before stamping, but this time I spritzed and stamped immediately for maximum contrast. Isn't it fun?!?!?!

The key, I think, to making this work is have really light and really dark shades of ink for contrast.

The sentiment is stamped with Memento Luxe tuxedo black ink to make it really stand out and accented with bling because everything is better with bling.

This simple marker treatment produces such a bold and bright background!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Memento, Memento Luxe
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, water spritzer, marker (Memento), corner rounder

New Stamps, Other Weirdness, and a Question

When family asks what I want for Christmas, I generally ask for cash to spend on stamps in the coming year. Here's my first 2016 order from Hero Arts.

Some sets are from Hero's new release; others are older. I played with the layering set on the far right first and felt like throwing it in the trash. Not good. (I've had no problems with the butterfly layering set, but this floral one defeated my ability to line the layers up AT ALL.)

Playing with the other sets, however, has indeed been fun and worthwhile.

Consider that alphabet set. It's been around for forever. It has upper- and lower-case stamps of a font similar to (or perhaps identical to) Times New Roman, plus a cursive lower-case font. How cool!

My niece is attending a special high school for the arts, where she is studying ballet and writing. She's gifted in both. Now, my ballet skills are nil; my sister was the professional ballerina. But writing. THAT I understand. So I made this card to encourage her.

The funky combination of letters, the pinks and oranges, the hand-cut words...loose and fun and young.

I hope.

Now for the weirdness.

Yesterday (Saturday) I was rear-ended for the third time in just over 18 months. In all three accidents, I was at a complete stop when hit by someone not paying attention behind me. This third accident was the worst. I'd signaled and stopped for a funeral procession, as had the car in front of me. The woman coming up behind wasn't paying attention and plowed into me doing probably 50 MPH. I saw her coming in my rear-view mirror and tensed for the impact, so I'm a bit sore today. Our son Jack was with me, and he is fine. He was, in fact, a complete trooper through the whole experience.

The woman who hit us, however, was transported to the hospital. I have no idea how she is doing and hope to get some information tomorrow. She didn't appear seriously injured, but she complained of chest pain...what she described as feeling bruised on her chest, from the air bag. If you're the praying kind, please say a prayer for her.

My car isn't drivable, mainly because of damage to the muffler (smashed into the rear left tire) and tail lights (hanging by wires in the air). It will, of course, need a third new bumper. My mom asked if I was going to get rid of the car, which is a Mazda CX-9, and I responded that the car kept us injury-free through three accidents, so no. We're not getting rid of it. Then she suggested that I take the target off the back of it, and I said I'd consider that.

A friend suggested that my "magnetic personality" was causing the accidents. I seriously need to turn it down, don't I?

Let's consider for a moment why I stopped in the first place. I grew up in the American South, where the tradition of stopping for funeral processions lives strong. Showing respect for the dead and honoring the family's grief feel second-nature to me and not to stop would feel incredibly disrespectful and callous. I still remember watching a man in his yard stop and cover his heart while my grandmother's funeral procession passed his house in Shelby, North Carolina. I so appreciated his respect.

My husband, however, had never seen this until he moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and thinks it's unnecessary and dangerous. On Saturday, he was proved right, at least on the "dangerous" part.

Here in Ohio, given that there's a huge cemetery near our home, we see the tradition often, and George always complains about it. On Saturday, the person in front of me had stopped, so I didn't have a choice. It felt right and good...until I saw the Toyota barreling up behind me.

Is this tradition of stopping for funeral processions common where you are? How do you feel about it? Just curious.


Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: various pigment inks
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dimensionals, scissors

Thinking Ferns

Combine a Kaleidacolor Vineyard inkpad, the Hero Arts Three Ferns stamp, and a spritz bottle of water, and this happens.

Add some bling and round two corners...and you're finished.

Thinking Ferns. Oh, yeah.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Three Ferns, Papertrey sentiment
ink: Kaleidacolor Vineyard, Memento Luxe dark cocoa
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, spritz bottle, corner rounder

Playing with a Design Idea: Three Variations

A reminder to winners Janet and Jeanne H....please send me your snail mail addresses so I can send you the cards you won! susanraihala at roadrunner dot com

So occasionally, an idea comes to me (directly or indirectly) that begs to be played with it. Sometimes, my first effort is...inadequate? slightly off? weird? Whatever words you use, it just doesn't work. But if I believe in the basic design idea enough, I'll start riffing off of it, messing around until the results justify my initial excitement.

A key element of creativity is PLAY.

The first card today reflects that initial "meh" effort of a color-blocking idea I had after seeing a pin that I failed to pin and now cannot find. Oh, well. This card is far from the original anyway, and definitely not a winner.

Meh. A.K.A. What Not to Do
Stamps: Papertrey Grunge Me, Clearly Besotted A Little Sentimental;
ink: Hero Arts cornflower, green hills, Memento Luxe black

This ended up being a mess. The spatters in two different colors are sloppy looking, not at all artsy. The solid block stops the design on the right, which to my eye pretty much kills the energy of the splatters.

As design goes, it just does not work.

So I switched things around, went for a monochromatic green with soft, watercolor effects, and switched the solid block to the left. Much better!

Much better!!! Stamps: Hero Arts background, Gina K sentiment; inks:
Memento markers, Memento Luxe dark cocoa

For a static, color-block design, this has so much movement, from the white flourishes to the flowing green faux-watercolor wash. (These stamps were inked messily with sprout and bamboo Memento markers, spritzed with water, and stamped. Easy peasy!)

While the soft watercolor looks great, I wanted to try again with a crisper image and a funkier placement of the color blocks. Here's the final variation:

The sentiment on a thin white panel works much better than the solid panel did (wish I'd taken pictures before tossing the solid panel). The white panel lightens everything up. This arrangement gives an asymmetrical interest to the combination of large and thin panels that feels fresher to me and certainly clean and simple!

So there you go. Three variations of a single idea...and two of them actually worked! Give this process a try, if you haven't already. See how playing around can get your creativity flowing!

Phrases and Praises Set and Two Winners

Papertrey's set Phrases and Praises contains some uplifting, inspiring, comforting, and faith-filled sayings that are creatively laid out. I wanted a few very simple cards made from the set, and had so much fun easily combining these multi-stamp images on small, one-layer cards.

All Cards: 3 5/8" x 4 7/8"

While most of the images in the stamp set are fairly detailed and use interesting combinations of fonts, they can easily be used on CAS cards. Obviously.

And our winners of this Happy Mail Contest are...

Comment #7, Janet, who wrote, "The first one. Just a little bit of spring. So simple to the eye."

Comment #17, Jeanne H., who wrote, "I like the second card best because I feel it is more pleasing to the eye. Thanks for all you do, Susan."

Janet and Jeanne, please send me your snail mail addresses at susanraihala at roadrunner dot com.

And many thanks to everyone for their comments!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: various pigment inks
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: none

Inspired by an OLS Card

In the cards submitted for the January One-Layer Simplicity challenge was a gorgeous one by Karen Haman.

I'll wait while you check it out.

Cue Muzak. Ahhhh...Barry Manilow. Copacabana. Music and passion were always the fashion at the Copa....

Oh, you're back!

Anyway, I loved Karen's card so much I highlighted it in the details post for January. It's totally cool in every way, but I was particularly inspired by the way she faded the watercolor background on the left. Completely cool, and something that never would have occurred to me.

So I made this card with Twinkling H2Os and some new watercolor paper.

As the daughter of a fine artist who works mostly in watercolor and has sold actual paintings in return for actual money, I'm shockingly uncomfortable using watercolors. But this turned out fine (IMHO), especially with the shimmery gold mixed in with the red of the Twinkling H2O paint.

So, Karen, I'm inspired by your example. THANK YOU!!! If you send me your snail-mail address, I'll send you this card! My email is susanraihala at roadrunner dot com.

And I'm also shockingly behind in picking winners and mailing cards from last week's card give-away. I'll get on that ASAP.

Blessings to all.

Good night.

Supplies
stamps: Waltzingmouse Blessed by You
ink: Memento Luxe black
paper: watercolor 
accessories: washi tape for masking, brush, water, Twinkling H2Os

Inspired by Book Design

I love it when an inspiration comes together this easily. The total time from first seeing this pin to finishing today's card was in the neighborhood of 15 minutes or so. Woohoo!!!!!

This card is destined for my father-in-law, who is so hard to make cards for.

Guys.

Go figure.

And now I have all the birthday cards I need to make for 2016. YAY!!!


Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Through the Trees, Sign Language
ink: Hero Arts Granite, Stampin'Up cherry cobbler
paper: Papertrey white, Stampin'Up cherry cobbler
accessories: craft foam, glue, scallop scissors to round corners

Well, Duh

Before we get to today's card, let me thank all of you who are supporting the Cox family with a donation or prayers. Ann is such a great person, hardworking and dedicated to her family and her students. Kevin's health situation is serious as he recovers from triple-bypass heart surgery with just one barely functioning kidney. Dialysis and transplant are likely in his future.

As Kevin has always been the primary caregiver for their little son Liam and obviously can't do that now, Liam has started daycare for the first time. Medical and daycare expenses are a hardship for this family, and even the smallest donations are a blessing to them.

If you missed yesterday's post, consider visiting it and checking out the other blogs on the Blog Hop. There are fabulous cards to see and prizes to be won (for leaving comments and/or donating), and on the final stop of the hop, a card gallery you can add to! Just make a card of encouragement for Ann, Kevin, and Liam, and link to it using the InLinkz button on the CAS-ual Fridays' blog post!

Now for today's card, which was completely inspired by a card on page 15 of the new Hero Arts 2016 catalog.

You might be wondering why the title of this post is "Well, Duh." I totally planned and made this card for the OLS challenge this month, and only after I added the last bling did it dawn in my feeble little brain that the sentiment is on a SECOND LAYER. Seriously. You can't enter a two-layer card in a one-layer card challenge. It simply isn't done.

But 'tis still a cool card.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey white
ink: various dye inks
accessories: rhinestones, craft foam, scallop scissors to slightly round corners of raised panel

Caring for the Cox Family Blog Hop

Welcome to Stop 7 of the Caring for the Cox Family Blog Hop! If you're falling into the middle of the hop, please start at Ashley's blog post to go through the entire hop in order, or see the complete hop list at the bottom of this post.

THERE ARE PRIZES, PEOPLE! Details about the prizes are on Ashley's blog. Entries for the prizes will be drawn from comments on all the blogs of the hop, and people will get an extra entry for donating to the GoFundMe link below.

It's an honor and a privilege to be a part of this Caring for the Cox Family blog hop for Ann, Kevin, and their young son, Liam, who are going through an extremely tough time right now. Ann and I met through Splitcoast and her blog, Creative Antics, years ago, and I always admired her design sense and her humor. Also, Ann is a high-school English teacher, and y'all know how much I love people who appreciate both great literature and proper grammar.

I wanted my card of encouragement to speak to them personally. I know one of Ann's favorite color combinations is aqua and red, that her stamping style is definitely clean and simple, and that they are faith-filled Christians. Putting those things together gave me the idea for this card.

This sentiment, which comes from from 1 Peter 5:7, reminds us that God loves us and cares for us through all the storms of our lives. One way He cares for us is by inspiring others to help us in our time of need. Let's surround Kevin and Ann and little Liam with caring thoughts and prayers, and if you feel able, please consider donating to the GoFundMe page that has been set up for them:

GoFundMe for the Cox Family


Here are the links for the hop. What an amazing list of talented stampers. I want to thank Ashley Newell and Karen Kelly for pulling this hop together, and Lawn Fawn, CAS-ual Fridays, and Sugar Pea Designs for their generous prizes.

Happy Hopping!

1. Ashley N Newell

2. Karen Kelly

3. Tenia Nelson 

4.  Amy Tsuruta 

5. JoLynn Plato

6. Rae Barthel

7. Susan Raihala --You Are Here!

8. Lawn Fawn

9. Kim Hall

10. Sankari Wegman

11.Lisa Lara 

12. Angie Tieman

13. Stacey Schafer

14. Lynnette Kaufman

15. Heather Pulvirenti

LAST stop: CAS-ual Fridays

Supplies

stamps: Papertrey Phrases and Praises

ink: Impress, Memento Luxe

paper: Papertrey white

accessories: craft foam, silver metallic marker (Prismacolor), silver half bead

Be Random

Check out yesterday's post for your chance to receive a bit of happy mail!

Tomorrow's post will be extra special. I'm so excited to be part of an important event that's very close to my heart, and I can't wait to share it with you. *squee*

For today's card, let's get a little random. Sometimes, it's helpful to pull out random stamp sets and just mess around. Here, an interesting background from Ombré Builders, a bird from Birds of a Feather, and a small cloud punch work together to make an encouraging card!

The stark black (Memento Luxe) and the soft sky (Hero Arts) inks are a study in contrast, and the shiny rhinestones brighten up the design nicely.


Supplies
Stamps: Papertrey, Waltzingmouse (sentiment from Funky Feathers)
Ink: Memento Luxe, Hero Arts
Paper: Papertrey
Accessories: rhinestones, dimensionals, cloud punch (Fiskars)

A Little or a Lot...Depends on One's Mood

Sometimes you want a little,

Sometimes, you want a lot...of grass, that is.

The top card keeps a tight focal point, with all three elements close together while the second spreads everything out in a leisurely scene. The pop of a warm color heightens the energy of the first card while the cool, soft colors of the second are more serene. The sentiment font of the first is clean and loopy, but tidy, while the handwritten "You" is loose and wandering...a bit like the butterfly's flight.

Which are you in the mood for?

I'll send these cards to two randomly chosen readers who leave a comment on this post. (Comments on Facebook will not be included in the random drawing.) Just tell me which card you prefer. Deadline for the drawing is midnight, EST, Wednesday, February 3, 2016.

Let's hear it for happy mail!!!!!


Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Memento Luxe black, Impress Fresh Ink Pool
paper: unknown green, Papertrey white
accessories: Martha Stewart butterfly and grass border punches, rhinestones, glue pen, dimensionals