Delusions of Grandeur

Did I spell that correctly? Grandeur? It doesn't look right. I'm a visual speller who is far too tired to pull out her magnifying glass and Volume One of the two-volume, tiny-print Oxford English Dictionary tonight. (If you don't have one, get one. It's way better than electronic spell checkers.)

You see, I spent all day dealing with my boys who, at 12 and 9, seem to think it's okay to call each other idiots and liars and jerks. Refereeing is exhausting.

It was the first day of summer break.

Just 84 more days until school starts.

I need coffee. Lots of coffee. And chocolate. Oh, yes. Chocolate. Noise-cancelling earphones would be nice, too.

Anyway, back to grandeur, or delusions thereof. You see, when I made today's cards, I "discovered" a neat trick with using PTI's first Polka Dot background set. It's laid out so you can stamp TWO colors by stamping it twice. Like this vision of fun in pink and orange.

Or this, if you prefer your colors greener and bluer.

This set has been out for a couple of years at least. I bought it shortly after it was available. And when I discovered this AMAZINGLY COOL TRICK earlier this week, I felt like the smartest stamper on the planet.

But I know that's not true. Others have definitely noticed how easy it is to two-step stamp with this set. But the giggling with glee I did a few days ago must be shared.


I. Totally. Rock.

See? Delusions of grandeur on a Thursday night.


Have you ever experienced delusions of grandeur? Care to share? Please do.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Ink Birthday Basics, Polka Dot
ink: Memento pink and orange; SU turquoise and green galore
paper: PTI white
accessories: ribbon, Scor-Tape

Inspired by Christina MacLaren

It's been a long time since a magazine inspired me as much as Card Creations Volume 10 has. There's just so much goodness hitting me at just the right time and when I'm in just the right mood, I guess.

Today's inspiration comes from Christina MacLaren, whose black-based card with white embossing totally grabbed my attention. The way all the images fall off the left side of the card really appealed to me.

I decided to pull out some StampinUp and Hero Arts office-supply images and play. Here's what I came up with:

How fun is this?!?!? You know I had to use a white base because I'm me, but I kept Christina's color scheme of white, black, and red...just changed the proportions. Using the white background allowed me to create a visual triangle of red, which helps unify the card nicely. Christina's card doesn't have a unity problem like my version because she uses the strip of white card stock to create a clear focal point, and the background images support her card's sentiment perfectly. My card doesn't have that clear focal point (unusual for me, I know), so some other aspect of the design has to fill in to bring the main message into focus.

The calendar (from a Hero Arts stamp) is positioned so that I can circle the birth date of whatever person receives this card. I'd originally planned on using a red pen for that, but then decided to make the Happy red instead, since that pulled the sentiment into the design so much better.

I hope my design blatherings make sense.

Anyway, this card makes me happy, and I hope it has the same effect on you!

One-Layer Wednesday #90: Dudes Rule

This week's OLW is to make a one-layer card for a man in your life. Of course it could be a Father's Day card, but really, whatever theme you choose, you just need to make it for a guy.

My card is for my hubs for Father's Day. He served 20 years in the Air Force (thus the military theme) and retired because he didn't want to deploy for year away from his sons, especially the one with autism. He'd already deployed several times and just couldn't bear to miss more of their childhoods. Walking away from a career he loved for his sons...he's my hero. And that's why I stamped "you're my hero" inside this!

OLW90 Rules

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

2. Make a card for a man...and tell us who it is! Please keep embellishments to a minimum.

3. Post your card somewhere online and link to it using the InLinkz button on the sidebar. If you post on your blog, please link to the individual post, not to the main page of your blog.

4. The most important rule of all is TO HAVE FUN!!!!!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts (sentiment), StampinUp (stars)
ink: Memento
paper: PTI natural
accessories: none

Memorial Day

I will remember. Always.

To read a Memorial Day tribute from a Navy veteran, please visit my other blog here.

Have a safe and meaningful holiday!


Supplies
stamps: StampinUp
ink: Memento
paper: PTI
accessories: half pearls, stamp positioner

OLW89...Three Cards

So I didn't get to stamp yesterday because I was too busy being obsessive about my new house. Seems that the only thing holding me back from going all AR/OC about getting settled in the new place was the fact that we'd not sold the old one.

Now that we only own one house, the dam has broken and I'm surging forward with a vengeance that has left me crippled and limping. Because, you know, I can't do something sensibly slow and easy. I've got to either laze about thinking "oh there's just too much to do so I'm not going to do any of it" or "I am the Energizer Bunny on SPEEEEEEEEED look at me GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

You think I'm kidding? Then you don't know me. It's sort of scary, actually, how stupid I can be.

Today is "stay off my feet as much as possible day." So of course I stamped. Three cards for OLW89: Something Sweet.

PTI's Fruitful came immediately to mind. Fruit is sweet. And yummy. So let's start with grapes for a thank you note:

Suitably simple and just my style, right? So now let's mix things up with a technique. I colored the peach stamp with SU pretty in pink and pumpkin pie markers (pink first, pumpkin over that) and spritzed with Shimmer Mist. The photo editing made the color more intensely orange than it is in real life, but you get the picture.

Finally, well, let's just say I can only give this card to my husband. If you don't know why, read this.

The watercolor effect comes from Memento pear tart marker under rhubarb.

And that's all I have to say about that.

If you haven't played the OLW this week, click on over to Cheryl's blog and do so! It's a sweet challenge!

Finding My Mojo with Jaclyn Miller

Before we get to my mojo, don't forget to check out OLW89 on Cheryl's Blog: Something Sweet. Make a one-layer card with something sweet on it. Her sample is fabulously inspiring, and I'm going to make time tomorrow to play along!!!!


And now on to my mojo.

Oh, I'm having so much fun with Card Creations Volume 10! Today's inspiration comes from Jaclyn Miller and her absolutely delightfully "me" baby card:

Can't you just imagine I would make a card like this? Check out all that glorious white space! Check out that fun color combo! Check out the SINGLE LAYER OF CARD STOCK!!!!!!!!!

Of course, I can't remember ever having the brain bliss to do something like this, so I took her brilliant idea and looked for stamps in my collection that would work similarly. And I made this in about five minutes (and that includes searching for the stamps):

Squeee!!!!!

Sometimes, when we improvise, we have to tweek things to keep the design balanced. Since my sentiment was a bit wider and the red image a bit bigger than Jaclyn's, I moved it down on the card. That just felt right for balance. Higher, it would have looked top-heavy. Lower down, it feels grounded.

Thank you, Jaclyn, for opening up a whole glorious new CAS layout for me. I anticipate using this one with every single long sentiment I own. The permutations are endless!


Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Ink Floral Frenzy
ink: Memento pear tart, black; SU real red (because it's the only real red out there!)
paper: Papertrey
accessories: not a single one!

A Question and Request for You

Reader Brend is having a weird experience on Simplicity, and I hope one of you can help. She's getting text enhancement on certain words...you know, when her cursor hovers over them, she gets ad links. Is anyone else experiencing this? Does anyone know what's causing it? I don't get any text enhancement, so we suspect it might be a virus on her computer or some setting in her browser. Any help getting rid of this annoying feature would be greatly appreciated!

Please know that if I ever add advertising to Simplicity, it will be the "bottom of the post, non-blinky" kind. DH is mad that I have so many hits and no money to show for them, LOL!

Also, Reader Leslie had a problem commenting on a post on my other blog. If you ever have a problem commenting on any of my blogs, please pretty please let me know.