Happy Easter

Hello, everyone! I'm enjoying a few fun-filled days visiting my mother and sister and brother-in-law and niece, and nephews. The only bad things are that we're here too short a time and without my dear husband and Furry Golden Sunshine. My husband had his last day on one job Friday and starts a new job on Monday. Daisy stayed to keep him company and because she would have driven us all crazy in a house that also contains my nephew Grady. People, Grady is a force of nature. Force. Of. Nature.

Pictures of our trip will be forthcoming on my other blog in the coming week, including a fab account of Jack saying, "Bubbles are my destiny! I am Bubble-Man!"

In addition, there will also be a brief story of my five minutes in a Paper Source store, a warning of what to avoid on the menu at P.F. Chang's, a confession of all the other sinful things I have eaten in the past two days, and advice on convincing a reluctant three-year-old boy to give you a hug.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday weekend with family as much as I am. God's grace and joy be yours this Easter!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, dimensionals

One-Layer Wednesday 133: Shapes Galore

Note: My posting will be sporadic for the next week. No worries! Just taking a little break.


This week's One-Layer Wednesday challenge is to use a shape repeatedly on a card. The shape can be any geometric shape: circle, square, triangle, oval, hexagon, diamond, etc.

Here's my card!

It uses a square from Square Prints repeatedly to form a Christmas tree or a stack of gifts...take your pick. But the tree works better because the square bling serves as ornaments. Yippy!!!!

Isn't that the tidiest tree you've ever seen?

OLW133 Rules

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

2. Use a geometric shape at least twice. Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.

3. Post your card somewhere online and link to it using the InLinkz box on the sidebar of Simplicity. If you link to your blog, please make sure it's to the individual post and not your home page.

4. The most important rule of all: HAVE FUN!!!!!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Square Prints, the Poinsettia set (can't remember the name)
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: square rhinestones

What a Mess! How Cool!

Tonight, I decided to get inspired by Anna Scarpino's spread in the latest issue of Take Ten. The color combination of brown and teal is sooooo pretty, and Anna's cards, though relatively clean and simple, have a shabby chic style that knocks my socks off...but that I can't pull off to save my life.

I'm shabby-chic challenged. There. I said it.

Woe is me!

Anyway, this was the mess I made trying to make something post-worthy.

This is what happens when I don't clean up one project before starting another. What a mess! For those of you who work like this all the time, how do you do it? I thought I'd go nuts, but I was so determined to make something before it got too late, I didn't clean up.

I am conflicted. Or crazy. Take your pick. And it's late. Oh so late.

Anyway, here's a closer shot of one of Anna's pages. Pretty, isn't it?  Anna really rocks buttons and lace.

And here's one of the two cards I made...the one I'm proudest of because that inchie was made when I still lived in my old house, with a long-ago care package from my friend Audrie that included a handful of blank mat-board inchies, and I loved it but could not figure out what to do with it at all. I found it tonight in the same drawer as the journaling strip I bought about a century ago at a now-closed scrapbook store. The gold (which looks brown) and teal were absolutely totally perfect.

I wish I could remember how I made that inchie, people, but I can't. I stared at it for a long time, trying to remember. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Audrie sent me an angry email claiming she made it and sent it to me. That's how little I remember the process of making it. But there it is, and I'm pretty sure the inchie Audrie made is on the card she sent me with the package...a card that still resides on my inspiration board.

So I probably made this one. Let's go with that. The shimmery color on the inchie is probably Twinkling H2Os...I think I have those colors.

And now I need to go to bed before I get even sillier and start rattling on about dogs and hobbits and water filters and iPhone apps.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Supplies
stamps: leaves (SU...one of the silhouette sets), wish (Papertrey Mega Mixed Messages)
ink: Ancient Page Neptune and who-knows-what on the inchie
paper: PTI white
accessories: inchie made of mat board, gold metallic marker or gold ink (not sure), Twinkling H2Os (probably), an old, old, old journaling strip (Ali Edwards, maybe), and isn't this the most useless list of supplies ever? 

It's Palm Sunday

...so let me post an Easter card I made months ago.

size 4.25" square

This Hero Arts dogwood stamp is beyond gorgeous and is a nice variation for an actual cross. The dogwood has long symbolized the cross because its four petals have indentations or holes on the end and hints of pink or red, symbolizing the holes and blood from the nails that held Jesus on the cross. The center of the bloom looks spiky, like the crown of thorns.

The crucifixion in a flower. Pretty cool. And pretty.

I stamped the flowers in pale pink after masking off the top third of the card with a post-it. Then I drew a line with a silver metallic marker and metal ruler. The sentiment came next, but the card lacked something, so I added the three silver half-beads as an accent.

Love it!

Happy Palm Sunday to you all!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Memento
Paper: PTI white
accessories: silver marker, half-beads, ruler, post-it to mask

Blingity Bling Blang Blung

First of all, thank you for all your comments on my post about inspiration challenges and Heather's OLW132. I sincerely hope those of you who are intimidated by inspiration challenges will overcome that worry because, seriously, they are the most. fun. ever.

Second, we all need more bling in our lives.

I tried this as a two-layer white-on-white, but it looked odd. So I tried a hot pink mat, but I didn't have a good shade to match this one, which is purple-y pink. So then I thought, why not get wild and crazy and use THREE layers of white.

That walk on the wild side caused me to throw all caution to the wind and get blingity, so I blinged (or blang) to my heart's content.

Hmmm. Methinks someone took a cliche pill today.

My thesis advisor would be having a cow.

Bless his little heart. *giggle*

Stamp happy this weekend!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Turning a New Leaf, Green Thumb (?), Signature Greetings
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: bling...and lots of it

OLW132, or OMG I HEART STAMPING!!!!

You know, there are a lot of things I love about stamping.

I love stamps. I love hoarding owning lots of stamps. I love color. I love ink. I love white space. I love paper. Especially white paper. I love gadgets like punches and craft knives and metal rulers and awls and corner rounders and scissors and trimmers and embossing guns. I love design and the rules thereof. I love stamps. Oh, wait. I already said that. I love organizing stamps. I love people who love stamping. I love stamping things for the people I love and for perfect strangers whom I love because the Bible tells me to love my neighbor and everyone's my neighbor.

Basically, there's a lot to love about stamping.

But Heather's OLW132 challenge reminds me of one of my most favoritest things to do with stamps...be inspired by the stuff around me.

Her challenge is to be inspired by packaging.

Now, I know a lot of you don't love inspiration challenges. I get emails occasionally from people who say they are too hard. These stampers are intimidated by inspiration challenges because they don't know how closely their card should resemble the inspiration piece. They don't know what they can change to make the inspiration piece work with their supplies. They worry about breaking the rules.

These people worry entirely too much.

If you're worried about doing Heather's challenge, STOP RIGHT NOW. Don't worry. Be happy. Play with your stamps. See what happens.

You can turn this:

into this:

Or this:

into this:

For when I run out of time this December and
need 50 more cards quick!

You might even take the ugliest packaging you can find (a compressed air canister!) and make something pretty from it.

Card trimmed to cut off a mistake...because
mistakes are just opportunities
to do something cool!

You just never know what will happen when you let yourself go and play with inspiration.

Give it a try.

Go on.

You can do it.

Yes, you can.

supplies
stamps: Papertrey Square Prints, Signature Greetings, Holly Jolly, Text Style, Botanical Silhouettes
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, silver embossing powder, embossing ink, heat gun

Square Prints Birthday

Let's revisit Square Prints.

Oh how I love this card. It's so...tidy.

Yes, tidy should be a design goal.

For those of us who are mildly obsessive.

The end.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Square Prints, Birthday Basics
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: 3/4" square punch, dimensionals