Simplicity Is Easy Sometimes

In case you hadn't noticed, the name of this blog is Simplicity. Simplicity means...well, it means keeping cardmaking clean and crisp in a back-to-basics, ya-don't-need-much-to-look-good sort of way.

Some stamps lend themselves to pure simplicity. Others take a little more imagination to get there. Two recent releases from Papertrey definitely fall in the first category. These are Harvest Berries and Beautiful Blessings. The ginko branches in Harvest Berries have a fabulous shape and several sizes, and the font of the sentiments and verses in Beautiful Blessings couldn't be cleaner, simpler.

Put the two sets together, and cards practically make themselves.

See what I mean?

That sentiment is my new mantra. "In every ordinary day there are a thousand miracles." Indeed.

And why not do the same with a Bible verse from the set?

And what if your verse is a bit larger? Just use the big ginko branch. It works.

A lot of the time, making a simple card isn't simple and definitely isn't easy. But this time, it's a walk in the ginko park.

Thank you, Papertrey, for such wonderful stamps!

What are your EASY stamps to work with?
Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Memento New Sprout, Rich Cocoa
paper: PTI
accessories: not a blessed one

Vertical Sketch by Jessica Witty

FINALLY, I had a chance to try some of the sketches in the magazine Papercrafts Card Ideas for Paper Crafters. The one by Jessica Witty on page 134 caught my eye, and I made a simple, one-layer card intended for a friend who is battling cancer.

The rainbow was created with a long-neglected shadow stamp from Hero Arts (discontinued), and the sentiment is from Papertrey's Beautiful Blessings. Inside, I stamped the verse "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (BTW, the orange isn't quite so bright in real life; it's Memento Canteloupe...darn Picasa!)

I love the image of the rainbow as an image of hope and God's faithfulness. What images do you enjoy using on cards for people battling illness? Do you stick with flowers or trees, or do you make the cards with images that the recipient will find funny, cute, serene...depending on the situation?

Stuff, Things, and a Card

First, let me remind you that I have stamps for sale, as well as a stack of random sheets of StampinUp cardstock (current and discontinued). Just go to this page to see what's there. Many thanks to those of you who have already purchased stamps from me.

Second, a few words of explanation about my Thanksgiving cards. You noticed that yesterday's card...my first official Thanksgiving card...was baby blue and black and didn't have the word Thanksgiving anywhere on it. My purpose for sending out Thanksgiving cards is to tell friends and family how much I love them and how grateful I am to have them in my life. This frees me up artistically a bit from sticking with fall colors or motifs, and makes thank you, thinking of you, blessings, etc. all very appropriate for the occasion. So I'm labelling these posts Gratitude Collection. Some will be more traditional Thanksgiving/harvest-themed cards, and some will not.

Third, I challenge you to create your own Gratitude Collection. Make a certain number of cards and send them out before Thanksgiving (which means you Canadians need to get crackin'!) to your own loved ones. It makes no difference if you live in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving; gratitude doesn't have to be an official holiday to take root in your heart. Think of Thanksgiving as a state of mind rather than a turkey-and-stuffing federal holiday. Have I preached enough? Are you converted? Are you going to share your love?

I'll shut up about Thanksgiving now.

Today's card uses two colors that have long been favorites of mine: Papertrey's Aqua Mist and Memento Pear Tart. The clean design suggested itself because of the tall, skinny sentiment from Beautiful Blessings, which contains all sorts of wonderfully inspiring Bible verses and inspirational sayings in a crisp, CAS font. As simple as this is, it took two failed attempts to get everything just right.

Isn't it lovely how the ginko branch descends from above just like our blessings?

In the comments, please feel free to share a blessing you're experiencing today. For me, right now, it's a wonderful dinner prepared by my honey-bunny.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Beautiful Blessings, Harvest Berries
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white, aqua mist
accessories: dimensionals

A Week of Gratitude: Day 2

Welcome to DAY 2 of  A Week of Gratitude! Remember to leave a comment here and then check out Mary Dawn's post at My Pink Mexico to leave another comment for a chance at this week's give-away!

Yesterday, I made a card for an old friend who's been out of contact with me for a while. I just want her to know that I still think of her and value her friendship during those years of my life in Idaho.

Today, I'm sharing a card for a very new friend in my life, a woman named Barbara. We met a week ago at our first Stephen Ministry class, and we are now prayer partners for the duration of our training. Obviously, Barbara and I have faith in Christ in common, since we both feel called to the Stephen Ministry. We're also both a bit uncertain and nervous about the responsibility of providing Christ-centered care for people in need. The Papertrey set Everyday Blessings gave met the perfect stamps to make a card for my new friend!

Design Discussion: I really wanted the scripture to be prominent, so I offset the cross and made sure it overlapped the sentiment on the word Lord. The gray medallion in the center of the cross forms a bit of a right triangle with the sentiment...a design I can't remember using before. My original plan was to put the matted panel on a standard 5.5-inch wide card with a bow off to the left for balance, but that looked, well, odd, sort of like the eye just didn't know what to look at. It was a distraction.

So I cut the card down to evenly matte the stamped panel and added pearls to the corners to anchor the whole thing. Now the eye moves just between the cross and the verse, which is where I want it to be. At least, I hope the design works that way!

I'm really liking the gray and lime color scheme lately. It's so fresh-looking, and softer than black and lime would be. I'd rather not beat someone over the head with a blessing, if you know what I mean!

Do you have a new friend (or person you hope will become a friend) in your life? Why not make a card for him or her?

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white, SU gable green
accessories: SU ticket punch, half pearls, dimensionals

Celtic Fun

Joan B of Paperlicious fame has recently fallen in love with Waltzingmouse Stamps, which has Celtic sets that are beautiful. Seeing Joan's cards reminded me that I have quite a few Celtic stamps in my stash that haven't seen ink in years. I pulled out these two and started playing.

The sentiment is from PSX, and the border stamp isn't labeled. The sentiment is a bit hard to stamp. I tried SU classic, Memories, Colorbox pigment, and Tuxedo, and they all looked icky. I also tried two different papers: PTI and SU whites. The problem is the ornate M...liquid inks blotch, even on PTI white.

I was really surprised with the ColorBox pigment didn't work but realized my pad is drying out finally...after 8 years. That's pretty good longevity in a stamp pad, don't you think? Finally, I tried Colorbox chalk ink and got a good image.

In early medieval Celtic manuscripts like the Book of Kells, monks used red ink dots to outline ornate letters and fill spaces, as in the example below. My color scheme is obviously not authentic, so I went with chocolate brown dots and edged the stamped panels with a chocolate Zig writer as well. Edited to add: the dots are on the stamp as well; I just used the pen to make them a different color.



It was fun pulling out long unused stamps and playing, even if getting the good image was a bit frustrating and resulted in some wasted paper.

Supplies
stamps: PSX, unknown
ink: ColorBox Chalk
cardstock: PTI vintage cream
accessories: Zig marker, dimensionals



Photo credit

Evolution of Art

A few weeks ago, I was messing around with PTI's retro borders. My success in using these lines for musical notes had me giddy, so I thought why not use it to make a grid...didn't Nichole Heady do something like that? Delusions of grandure afflict me periodically with the misguided notion I know what I'm doing.

Anyway, I had a scrap of white cs (smaller than the one here), stamped a line, turned the scrap, stamped another line, then turned it again and saw...drum roll, please...a cross. The grid idea slipped away as I obsessed on how to make an inspirational card for my dear friend Liz, who recently had surgery.

I hit many evolutionary dead ends with this idea. The sentiment was too close to the cross, too far away, too big, too small, stamped imperfectly...you get the picture. With clean and simple cards, there are so few elements that each one must absolutely be perfect or the imperfection is all you see. There is NO PLACE TO HIDE!

About ten cardstock pieces ended up in the recycle bin before I had this beauty. My evening prayers were extra long asking for forgiveness for all the swearing I did while making it.

Lately, in my gallery at SCS, people have left comments about how "easy" I make clean-and-simple look. EASY?!!?? Nuh-uh. Like many other stampers, I love a challenge and am both bull-dog determined and stubbornly obsessive. For some reason that doesn't bear close examination, I HAVE FUN doing this, even when I'm swearing like a sailor in frustration.

Artistic evolution is not easy, but in the end, it's worth it.

Right?

Supplies
stamps: SU Refuge and Strength, PTI Retro Borders
cardstock: PTI white
ink: Palette noir
accessories: dimensionals

Everyday Blessings Set

Papertrey's Everyday Blessings set is so pretty. I made an entire clean-and-simple set with Fabriano Medioevalis cards, using the cut-out, popped-up cross and a different sentiment on each.

Simplicity Tip: Cheap cardstock makes cheap-looking CAS cards. I wasted much money learning this lesson. When I took an online class with Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR from SCS), she put into words what I'd begun to realize. When you make CAS cards, every component stands out, and you can't hide cheap stuff. So I started searching for quality cardstock.

SU has lovely colored cardstock, and I have all 48 colors of that. But SU whisper white is flimsy to use as a card base. Papertrey also has great cardstock (even a little heavier than SUs), and PTI's white is dreamy-heavy, with a bit of tooth that stamps beautifully. Ever had problems with real red ink smearing on whisper white? Well, you won't have those problems if you use PTI white.

JulieHRR loves the Fabriano Medioevalis cards, and I found them half-price at Stampin' Treasures last year. They are BEE-utiful! The deckle edge looks so rich and pretty, and they stamp nicely, too, despite the texture.

A simple card, with quality cardstock, really shines.

Supplies
stamps:PTI Everyday Blessings
cardstock: Fabriano Medioevalis premade cards
ink: versamagic
accessories: dimensionals

Simple Set with Amber Bling

In my effort to use every image stamp in my collection, I've had to stretch myself to use the odd little pieces in the Papertrey sets which I had hitherto avoided. This set of cards uses the little stamps from Everyday Blessings to make borders for the various sentiments in that set. The gemstones are amber colored and look so nice with the Hint of Pesto ink. I used the grid acrylic block from PTI to line everything up for the repeat stamping.

Simplicity Tip: When repeat stamping like this, it's hard to line stuff up so the repeats look even at both ends. Look at the borders of the first two cards to see what I mean: the first is uneven, the second is even on the card and looks better. To do this easily, just cut the card down to fit the stamping AFTER you stamp the border. Don't stamp the sentiment before cutting, as this will throw off the balance of the card. (Ask how I know this....) These cards are various sizes to accommodate the repeats evenly. Of course, you only need this tip if you are AR/OC like me. Otherwise, don't worry about repeat stamping being even. Really, it doesn't matter to normal people.










Supplies

cardstock: PTI white
stamps: PTI Everyday Blessings
ink: Versamagic Hint of Pesto and dark brown
accessories: gemstones

Ask and It Will Be Given to You

This very simple card showcases one of my favorite embellishments at the moment: Hero Arts half-pearls. They come in several soft, pretty colors, including this pale green. So pretty! Several companies make pearls like these, and while I adore rhinestones, the pearls are so subtle and lovely.

The only oddity here is that the card is A6 size (6.25 X 4.5) rather than standard. The sentiment needed more space to breathe.

Supplies:
cardstock - PTI white
stamps - Hero Arts (background); sentiment ?
ink - SU wild wasabi, Palette noir
accessories - dimensionals, Hero Arts light green half pearls

Amazing Grace

I made this for a friend who, coincidentally, passed the discernment phase of her program to become a Methodist lay minister the next day. This was the last piece she added to her discernment journal, and I'm just so honored by that. Her favorite hymn is Amazing Grace.

Supplies: SU cardstock in chocolate chip, bravo burgundy, very vanilla; stamps by Papertrey; Brilliance red poppy, can't remember the brown; ribbon; scallop border punch by SU.