Tuesday, June 8, 2010

One-Layer Wednesday 8: Masking a Background

OMGOSH! Yesterday, I went over 150,000 hits! I gotta think about a give-away for that, but for now, let me just say thank you to each and every one of you. Who knew in March 2009 that my little blog...with no fancy banner or pretty wallpaper or cool, hip doo-dads...would find such a wonderful audience? You all ROCK. Your words of encouragement keep me going. Thank you.

And thanks also for making the OLW challenge such a success! I still haven't commented on all of the OLW7 cards (there are 69...and I'm too thrilled to crack a joke about that), but I will today. If you're linking to 2Peas in a Bucket, however, I can't comment because I'm not registered and when I tried to register, the internet gremlins kept giving me weird error messages. I tried.

For OLW8, we're masking a background, mainly because I bought this REALLY COOL LABEL PUNCH (EK Success) at JoAnn's on sale last week and wanted to use it on a one-layer card. That's how random these things are, folks. Shopping serendipity leads to awesome challenge!

That would make a great headline, don't you think?

Anyway, today's challenge requires you to create a mask and use it to create a background on your card. You can punch, cut, diecut, or use a found object to create your mask. Feel free to go buy something if you want. You have my permission. Just use a coupon or get it on sale, okay? That's what I did, and wowza, it felt good!

I actually masked my mask because I didn't want the brackets on my card. Extra points for me!

Rules for OLW8

1. A one-layer card is defined as a single piece of cardstock folded in half. No other layers allowed.

2. Mask a background for whatever image/sentiment you're using. You can use a spritzer, sponge, direct-to-paper, dauber, or whatever else occurs to you to apply ink, paint, or whatever else you want to use. Lots of options here!

3. Upload your card to the internet somewhere and link to it using the InLinkz button on the sidebar of Simplicity.

4. Most important rule of all...HAVE FUN!!!

Supplies
stamps: PTI Fruitful, Mega Mixed Messages
ink: Memories soft leaf, Versacolor grape, VersaMagic Tea Leaves
paper: PTI white
accessories: EK Success label punch, corner rounder, post-it notes, sponge


32 comments:

  1. I am really enjoying the OLW's....
    thanks for enabling us to shop, always a good thing!!

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  2. Why would you have 100's of things on your blog - it is Simplicity afterall! I'm with Karen, thank you for taking away the guilt of craft shopping - someone has given me permission to do so.

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  3. Why would you have 100's of things on your blog - it is Simplicity afterall! I'm with Karen, thank you for taking away the guilt of craft shopping - someone has given me permission to do so.

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  4. Congrats on all the hits and challenge submissions and general awesomeness!!
    That punch is pretty awesome, I gotta say -- and I love the grapes! Perfect for my wine-loving aunts. :)
    Can't wait to play along...as always!

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  5. Congratulations on the success of your blog! Again, your card is fantastic!

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  6. Congrats on your blog hits! I think we all need a little Simplicity in our lives....Great challenge this week!

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  7. Congrats :)
    I'm a recent follower and loving it :)
    Coming from a place where we get close to no craft supplies we crafters here try to as creative as we can be with minimal stuff. Your blog is a huge source of inspiration. Thanks :)
    xxx

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  8. You are naughtey! Thanks for the morning chuckle and another great challenge. Lovely sample BTW.

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  9. Congratulations on your blog success. You have earned it! I love cards that I can mail easily. Thanks for all the inspiration.

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  10. ooooh, masking is one of my FAVORITES!!! I can't wait to play (sadly I have to wait until after work!!). Now, to decide exactly what I will mask ... you know what I'm going to be thinking about as I try to work today!! ;-)

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  11. Okay, gotta' ask --- did you mask first and then stamp, or stamp first and then mask? It's a lovely card! Congrats on your tremendous number of hits! None of your audience is surprised, though. You, and your blog, are absolutely outstanding.

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  12. Love how clean the grape image is, nice ink. I so should not check your blog at night time, it always ends with a delay in my bedtime!

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  13. Sue, I masked and sponged first, then stamped. The ink I sponged is a dye ink, fairly translucent, and then I used thicker inks to stamp over it.

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  14. Congrats on all of the blog hits! I am a recent follower too and I am loving it! Love, love, love your cards - they make me want to stamp more than ever. I never knew such clean and simple cards could be so beautiful! Thank you for inspiring me to be more creative with less. I also follow your other blog - Questioning my Intelligence. Your posts on both are witty, charming and entertaining. I haven't gotten a chance to participate in the challenges but I will try soon! Thanks again for brightening my day!
    Lisa

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  15. You won't believe it but today morning, I was thinking to myself, the next challenge will be masking..don't ask me how I thought of it..next Wednesday I'll try to guess again!!!
    Thanks for wonderful challenges week after week!

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  16. Congrats on the hits Susan!! I love this technique. Great challenge!

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  17. A simple card with lots of subtext - love it. You shouldn't be surprised at the number of hits you've received. All you need to do is look at the number of posts to the OLWs and you'll know that Simplicity has hit the big time.

    As an aside, I just read this article about books in the house and children and thought it might interest you.

    http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2010/06/02/summer_book_giveaway/

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  18. I am responsible for 10,000 of those hits!!! keke...j/k...close to it tho. Your blog is full of inspiration...I love coming here when my mojo is on vacation. :) Congrats on the blog hits! Can't wait to try masking.

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  19. Nancy,

    Thanks for sharing the link! That Salon article further confirms the finding in Freakonomics that book ownership, more than being read to, was an indicator of educational success. My kids are TOTALLY SET FOR LIFE. I estimate we own well over a thousand books, and each boy has at least 75-100 age-appropriate books in his room. It's nice to know we're doing something right!

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  20. Congrats on the (well-deserved) number of blog hits. I of course had to go check the EK website to figure out why the heck you were talking about brackets. :P Now I know... Your card is beautiful! My card is actually ready to be photo'd, but I discovered my husb is charging the battery. Oh well, tomorrow!

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  21. Too fun, loving these challenges. Just posted the first creation for this week (there might be more) and just re-read the rules... mine isn't a background- it's the whole card! But I had fun anyway, and I think that's the whole point right?

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  22. Congratulation.....just found you, wish I had found you early....can't wait to play this week...

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  23. Your's is my very favorite blog, you are a very talented artist. I get tons of ideas and learn so much. THANK YOU for keeping this blog.
    Cassie Z.

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  24. Congratulations, Susan! Well deserved! Your cards are just gorgeous. I'm so glad I found your blog. Michele

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  25. Susan, I love the NEW look of your blog! I was embarrassed in last week's challenge and my thumbnail picture did not show. SCS moved it, and I did not get it corrected on Inlinkz. The picture works this week. Yea! I understand what you mean by finding monograms hard on OLC. I am going to keep trying because I was VERY happy with my 3rd try.

    Thank you for the inspiration and the challenges!

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  26. Great card Susan. Love the simplicity, yet powerful effect. Will try to participate as I love masking and distressing. Thanks for the wonderful challenges and inspiration.

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  27. Thanks for another fun challenge!
    I´ve added my card!

    Hugs
    Birgit

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  28. Fab card Susan! And congrats to all the well deserved hits!

    Love
    Maarit

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  29. Fun challenge Susan. You kno wI love your work and Judi told me about this fun masking challenge, and I couldn't resist it. Thank you kindly, Peggy

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  30. Hi Susan! Thanks for a fun challenge!
    smiles,Deena

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  31. i looked at the beginning of hte challenge...and there are now sooooo many great entrys! I can't wait to go blog visiting! Thanks for the fun challenge!

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Thank you so much for taking time to comment!