OLW63: We're Back, Baby!

This week's OLW is to make a one-layer baby card...and there's a give-away, too! Check out Jennifer's blog post here for details of the A Muse product pile that she and Krystie Lee are giving away to a random particpant in the OLW63 challenge. Oh, my.

Now, I wish I had some appropriate A Muse stamps for this challenge, but mine are all ocean/beach/dude stamps, a deficit I will be correcting on my next order.

Instead, I decided to get back to my roots in stamping with a very old stamp and a little heat embossing. This congratulations stamp is from PSX (which sadly went out of business years ago). It's also one of my earliest stamp purchases. I used ColorBox pigment inks and PSX silver pearl embossing powder (which joined my stash before 2003...that stuff lasts forever!).

The boy card was stamped in Royal Blue ink. The silver pearl embossing powder softened the blue to a lovely shade appropriate for a baby card.

I tried the silver pearl over a dark red, but that didn't give me the soft pink I wanted, so I used a pink ink, which came out lighter once embossed.

Photographing the EP up close proved difficult, but you can get some idea from this shot how the pearly sheen of the embossing looks. Look at the mid-ground of the photo for the most accurate effect.

I hope you'll play along with the OLW63! Click on over to Jennifer's blog for details and to link to your entry!
supplies
stamps: PSX
ink: ColorBox
paper: PTI white
accessories: Silver pearl embossing powder (PSX), heat gun, Corner Chomper

Thoughts about Baby Cards

I have some issues with baby-themed stuff. The last time I gave a baby shower (years ago before I realized how creative I could be), I had the hardest time finding store-bought decorations. Everything was so sappily sweet, and pastel without a touch of black to anchor it, and that green! Ohmygosh that horrid, icky, sickly green!!!! There was nothing in party stores that didn't have that ugly green!!!

Sorry. I got a little carried away there.

Most baby stamp sets leave me feeling bleh. Most are too cutesy for me, or outlines that require coloring of some kind, or cartoonish (and, therefore, not for me).  My favorite in the SU catalog in the past 8 years was one for $32 (can't remember its name) and I just couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a set when most of my friends are finished having babies.

So when a friend mentioned in her Christmas letter that she's having fifth--happy surprise!--child, I knew I had to make a baby card. I'll send the baby gift with the grid card on this post because, knowing my friend as I do, I think she'll absolutely adore the tidy grid (she's an accountant) and happy colors.

But I actually made a bunch more baby cards, and these were my favorites.

These stamps are from Papertrey's Everyday Classics set, which is an anniversary set not available for sale from Papertrey. But it's easy enough to cobble together this look from other stamps. A simple sentiment and a simple star popped up in a fun, bright color. That's it.

And don't worry. I'm not going to start photographing my cards on dark gray foam core. This was just an experiment. I need something bigger than two sheets of cardstock to photograph more than one card at a time and was trying out different things from my stash.  This looked better than the white matte board base, but not by much. Must keep thinking on this. Any suggestions?

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Everyday Classics
ink: Memento
paper: PTI cardstock
accessories: dimensionals, scissors

Going Grid Again

If you've been reading Simplicity for a while, you know I love grids. As in irrational, uncontrollable, passionate love. They are just so...tidy.

First up, a blue get well card.

I stamped two of each image (from Hero Arts), punched out 1" squares, and popped the swirls. Arranging these is easier if you use a quilting ruler for spacing. Put them all on the card where they belong, then carefully attach each one (glued first, then popped). The card is 4.25".

And now for the exact same idea but with a totally different, fun, and citrus feel:

This one was made with a variety of stamps from Hero and Papertrey. After I'd made the squares, I thought they would make a fun, gender-neutral baby card. I found out last week that a girlfriend with four children is having a fifth in March. This card is for her baby, whatever he/she may be.

Isn't it annoying when people won't find out the sex of their babies? Oh, they have the right to make whatever choice they want, and I truly understand why people make that choice. But dang, it's annoying.

Anyway, back to the card. I didn't pop any of these because there's quite enough going on without popping.

Oh, joy! I'm feeling so tidy!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts, Papertrey
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dimensionals, quilting ruler (to help with placement)

CAS-ification of a Card by Sharon Laakkonen

Here's a card by Sharon Laakkonen published in the July/August issue of Papercrafts Magazine.

Wow, there is a LOT going on here with texture, pattern, bling, shape, and dimension. Note how she fixed the top of the panel to the card base but popped the bottom. That is so cool and I'm going to try that on a later card. Also, see how she tucked some flowers UNDER the panel. So clever!

The basic layout of Sharon's card is really neat, and I thought it would translate well to CAS. Besides, I wanted to make a different sort of baby card for little Grady. Here's what I came up with.


I love this color combo for a baby card...it's fresh and cheerful and happy! All the white really makes the bold bright colors pop without hurting my eyes.

Hmmm. Seeing the card in a photo, however, I think I need another flower on the bottom right corner for balance. Originally, I had only two in the upper corner, but added a third because it looked...odd. The flowers, I think, are just a tad small for all that white space. Now the balance is a bit off, but not bad. I'll add another before dropping it in the mail.

To give the dots an orange background, I traced the curves onto a piece of only orange cardstock and cut slightly inside the line. I glued that cut piece to the back of the white panel, and voila! Orange dots.

Supplies
stamps: PTI
ink: only orange, Palette noir
paper: PTI white, only orange
accessories: brads, Prima flowers, border punch, dimensionals, rick-rack

More Birds of a Feather

Here are two more cards with PTI's Birds of a Feather.



I sincerely wish this bird flew in the other direction. It directs the eye to the left, which seems wrong to me. As an obsessive reader, I think eyes should move to the right. But this card makes me happy anyway. The flourish is from PTI's Silent Night set, which I really just bought for the sentiments.



This card is for my sister, who is expecting (surprise!) her third child in November. I'm hoping he is born on my birthday so we can be birthday buddies. The layout of this card is so perfectly CAS and very versatile; I'm pretty sure it was a Fall-To Layout on the Clean and Simple blog recently. Love that blog....

Supplies for Spread your Wings card
stamps: PTI Birds of a Feather, Silent Night
cardstock: PTI white
ink: versamagic, palette noir
accessories: dimensionals, ribbon, black gemstones

Supplies for New Beginnings card
stamps: PTI Birds of a Feather
cardstock: PTI white, SU bashful blue, close to cocoa
ink: cocoa and bashful blue
accessories: dimensionals

CAS08 Challenge

Head over to Splitcoast for this week's Clean and Simple Challenge...It's a sketch! The sketch was inspired by this beautifully CAS card by StampGroover.

Here are my cards.


The duck has lived in a drawer in my craft room for years waiting for the perfect project...and now he gets to go swimming. I am so happy for him!


Hero Arts mushroom sets are so adorable. I colored this in with Bic Mark-It markers on Papertrey Ink's heavy white cardstock.

Simplicity Tip: If you can't afford/don't want to spend hundreds on Copic markers, get the Bic Mark-Its and Sharpies. For about $50 you can have a huge selection of colors. It's not just like having copics, mind you, but the marker strokes don't show, so you can get really smooth, even color over large areas, and with a little practice, you can do shading (though I didn't on this card...just keepin' it simple!).


This card has little layers...more than I usually use, LOL! But they were punched out (so very simple), and the layering gives "punch" (sorry for the pun) and weight to the very small image.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm heading on over to the CAS08 Gallery to see what everyone else is making! Why don't you join me?