Guys Have Birthdays, Too

Making cards for guys can be tough. When I saw this pin, I knew I could come up with something similar, and here it is.

You'll note there's an elegance to the inspiration card that's utterly lacking in my version. I simply don't have the dies to duplicate what Daniela did. But the idea of a deer looking out from behind a tree, of a snowy background, and soft neutral colors absolutely came from her lovely card. The rest rocks a masculine vibe that will be perfect for one of my nephews.

The stamps and die are from Papertrey's In the Meadow set, and the birthday stamp is from Clearly Besotted's A Little Sentimental. The paper is one of PTI's natural cardstocks, so it's softer than stark white and works well with the light browns.

I even stamped an envelope to match.

Perfect for a January birthday...all thanks to Daniela's elegant inspiration.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey, Clearly Besotted
ink: Hero Arts soft wheat, soft brown
paper: Papertrey natural cardstock
accessories: Papertrey tree die, dimensionals

Fresh Take on an Old Set

I have no idea why Mehndi Medallions called my name, but it did, and I pulled it out to play. Paired with a Hero Arts ombre inkpad, it looks fresh and funky and perfect for my niece.

The design here started off an echo of this manly Christmas card, but I opted for a smaller, cleaner sentiment panel.  Instead of centering the sentiment panel as I originally intended, I stuck it to the side, in the the sweet spot (horizontally one third up from the bottom and vertically covering two thirds from the left edge). This location adds some energy to the design...centering tends to make everything look stable and secure (a perfectly acceptable option for that silent night Christmas card, but not so much for a teenager's birthday card).

The ombre effect of the background is fun and interesting (and busier than I usually make), but it's balanced by the simple, clean sentiment panel. The crisp, serif font looks great with the medallions, too.

A bit of bling in the centers of the medallions, and it's fit for fun!

I also made a coordinating envelope.

Now that Thanksgiving is finished, I'm getting started on Christmas decorating. We're going to get our tree tomorrow (we cut down a tree at a tree farm every year we're in town for Christmas). It's a bit earlier than usual, but my husband is having exploratory knee surgery next week and might not be fit for scrambling around a giant tree farm afterward.

I've nixed the idea of another Treezilla like last year. We'll get something more suited to the space and less, ahem, expansive.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey 
ink: Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, craft foam, glue

Giving Thanks, Part 4

Well, I am grateful for an awesome prime birthday (51 is lovely) and an awesome Thanksgiving two days in a row. Next year, my birthday will BE on Thanksgiving.

This may or may not be why I love Thanksgiving so much.

Today's card takes the layout of Tuesday's cards and changes the theme from flowers to sea shells. These stamps are from the Color Layering Sea Horse set from Hero Arts...one of my favorite sea-themed sets.

Can you tell me what's wrong with this card? It didn't hit me until I was photographing it, but the sentiment and the stamps don't really work together. That sentiment, which worked so well with Tuesday's floral stamps, is too loose and whimsical for these layered stamps. They are too visually heavy...and the sentiment too light.

Adding the sand in between the shells helped a bit to anchor everything, but I want to remake this card with a heavier sentiment in a very dark brown or maybe dark blue...but the black seems pretty stark here.

Other than that, I love it!

On my birthday, I received two orders of stamp supplies, one from Papertrey (my SIL gave me a gift card) and the other from Simon Says Stamp (my mom gave me money). So much fun stuff!

When I tried to use some of this goodness, I found myself paralyzed and overwhelmed. Weird. Anyway, I'm slowly starting to chip away at actually using this goodness, and oh, my...it's becoming fun! I'm grateful to get new stuff.

And let's close with yet another thing I'm grateful for: my dogs. Here's a cute picture of Cooper the Bobble-Head. He looks so serious...and he's not.

I'll try to embed a video of Cooper and Daisy playing, but the video is not playing well with my PC and Blogger doesn't work right on my iPad. First world problems for sure.

Okay, so the video won't load in Blogger, but you can see it on Facebook HERE. Let me know if there's a problem.

What are you grateful for today?

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and gratitude,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: various dye inks
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: None

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing all my readers a very happy Thanksgiving...even if you're someplace that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. Every day should be a thanksgiving, don't you think?

Thank you for reading Simplicity, for your comments, for your emails, and for your positive energy. I wouldn't do this if it weren't for you!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and gratitude,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Through the Trees, Clearly Besotted A Little Sentimental
paper: Papertrey white
ink: embossing ink, Tim Holtz Distress inks, Ancient Page henna
accessories: white embossing powder, heat gun, inking tools, craft foam, glue

Giving Thanks, Part 3

Part 3 has three cards, all with the same basic layout and same sentiment, but with different stamps and different colors. I love playing around like this!

Papertrey Beautiful Blooms II

The monochromatic pink daisy card came first, and I liked it so much, I had to play some more. Out came a Christmas set and presto! A Christmas thank you in two colors!

Papertrey Peaceful Poinsettias

Then, I decided to go wild with colors and made this bright card.

StampinUp Endless Thanks

It's always a treat to see how different colors and slightly different stamps affect the feel of a design. The first card is the simplest, with three sizes of the same daisy stamp, three shades of pink, and three sizes of bling. As the simplest, it's also my favorite.

The second card creates more interest with two complementary colors (red and green) adding energy, along with three different stamps (flower, leaves, berries) dancing around. I regretted adding the bling to the centers of the flowers...it sort of weighs down the design. The open berries would have reinforced the open centers of the flowers, adding more unity to the design. Oh, well. Bling and learn.

The third card has much looser images, almost whimsical, with vivid colors and no bling. I'd originally planned to add bling but after not liking the bling on the second card, I decided against it on this one. The open centers of the flowers keep things bright and light.

Which is your favorite?

Also, what are you thankful for today? I'm thankful for my Tuesday morning Bible study. It's an awesome group of amazing, faith-filled people who teach me so much and who inspire me to be a better person. Love them!


Mercy, grace, peace, love, and gratitude,
Susan


Supplies
stamps: Thank you from Hero Arts
ink: various dye inks from Hero Arts and Archival Inks
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones

Giving Thanks, Part 2

Many, many thanks to Cheryl, who sent a batch of thinking-of-you and sympathy cards last week for Karen's Card Shop and today commented that she'll be sending thank-you cards soon.

I tell everyone at church how wonderfully my blog readers have contributed to our little card shop. Our Tuesday morning Bible study has even prayed thanksgiving for all who have donated.

Today, I am grateful for the generosity and big hearts of stampers all over the world who send beautiful bits of love to others.

Today's card represents a gentle thanks...and also an iridescent one.

The inks are Brilliance iridescent jade, sky, and lime. What a happy and fun combination! The strong black sentiment anchors the lighter colors and is positioned to touch all the feathers...unifying them.

This is such a simple, clean card...and so fun!

What are you grateful for today?

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and gratitude,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Waltzingmouse Fine Feathers, Hero Arts thank you
ink: Brilliance jade, sky, and lime; Archival black
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: dimensionals, scissors

Giving Thanks, Part 1

By lovely coincidence, Karen's Card Shop is running low on thank-you cards, so this Thanksgiving week, I'll be sharing a bunch of thank-you cards I've made for the shop. There's quite a variety of looks to this particular batch of creativity.

Today's card looks very wintery and uses one of my favorite color combinations: gray and red.

The trees come from Papertrey's classic set Through the Trees. The stamp has three trees (the three on the right of the card). My panel needed an extra tree, so I stamped the far right one again on the left. The two red birds are looking at each other and form a visual triangle of red with the sentiment.

The matting is simple white-on-white.

I hope all the Americans reading my blog are happily gearing up for Thanksgiving on Thursday. We are having a low-key but festive day ourselves.

Blessings to all of you, and I encourage those who live in countries that don't have formal thanksgiving celebrations to take this week to think of things you are grateful for and thank whatever greater power you believe in for your blessings. There is always, always, always something to be grateful for.

Feel free to share what you're grateful for today in the comments. Today, I am grateful for my church family and the warm community in Christ we have!

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and gratitude,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Through the Trees, Keep It Simple Birthday III
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Hero Arts soft granite, Archival red geranium
accessories: none