Enamel Dots and Hero Arts Ombre Ink Pads

By a delightful coincidence, I had enamel dots that matched one of my Hero Arts ombre ink pads.

You have no idea how this delighted me.

Or perhaps you do.

Actually, I expect you do have an idea of how much this delighted me. You are, after all, a stamper who knows the struggle of things not matching.

Right?

Sure.

Anyway, here's the card.

The stamp comes from Papertrey's Ombre Builders and was inked and stamped twice...with a rotation of 180 degrees between stamping so the fat lines were in the center and the narrow lines came out top and bottom. The sentiment (Papertrey's Wet Paint die) is actually three layers of die cuts glued together for more dimension.

So let's sing the praises of things matching and know that it's a blessing that doesn't come around very often unless you are a StampinUp demonstrator. Then, I imagine it's pretty easy, actually.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Ombre Builders
ink: Hero Arts meadow ombre ink 
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: enamel dots, Papertrey Wet Paint die, glue pen

Purple Blessings

Today's card relies heavily on the Infinity Heart Dies from Hero Arts. These may be my favorite dies because they are so very basic and therefore incredibly versatile.

After stamping a large Hero Arts shadow stamp with Hero Arts purple ombre ink, I cut the hearts and arranged them on the card. The two smaller hearts are popped on dimensionals, and one end of the banner is popped as well. The results were too plain, so I colored some clear heart rhinestones in three sizes with purple Sharpie and added them. Yay!

Let's all say it together: Bling makes everything BETTER!

This card is destined for an acquaintance whose favorite color is, hands down, PURPLE.

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And now for a glimpse of what my weekend involved.

My elder son Nick is seated on the left with the black undershirt.
He played Benny Van Buren, the team manager of the Washington Senators.
What a great production of Damn Yankees
by Springboro High School!

Very little stamping, but this has been a Proud Mom Weekend.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Stemmed Sentiments
ink: Hero Arts ombre purple
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: Hero Arts Infinity Heart Dies, StampinUp Bitty Banners dies, heart-shaped rhinestones, Sharpie marker to color the bling, glue, dimensionals 

Visual Triangles Are Awesome!

Today's card shows why visual triangles are awesome.

There are two triangles here: one of big, bold, irregular circles and one of tiny bling. The big circles have lots of interest because they are each unique in color, size, and design, and because they are arranged in an irregular triangle, with two overlapping and one off by itself. The much smaller rhinestones add movement and shine to the design...creating a lot of happy energy.

Bling makes everything happy, doesn't it?

The unity comes from the harmonious color palette and also the sentiment banner that physically unifies the three circles. That sentiment started off simply stamped onto the card, but that henna circle (the dark one on the right) obscured the brown ink of the sentiment, making it almost unreadable. If you used lighter colors, you wouldn't need the banner, but the banner works for me, too.

And the banner proves that there are no mistakes...only opportunities for embellishment.

So yay!

Have an awesome weekend.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Altenew Simple Flowers, Hero Arts Thank You Messages
ink: Hero Arts dark quartz, soft apricot, cup o' Joe; Papertrey terra cotta
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones and Sharpies to color them, dimensionals

Thanks with More

As promised, a thank-you card using StampinUp's Endless Thanks...with more than yesterday's card had on it.

Endless Thanks has a cute collection of tiny stamps to use as accents with all the sentiments, so I decided to use ALL of them on one card. Tiny stamps sprinkled randomly over a tightly defined area give a pleasing effect, especially if you aim to create vague visual triangles with the colors. Note that the triangles are irregular, and not all colors form them...just most.

Note also that you could draw a light pencil line to keep your stamping straight, but I eyeballed it.

The color combination was loosely inspired by this pin, with variations to accommodate the ink colors I had. I love the combination of cool and warm colors.

The bling became a way to reinforce the randomness-with-order structure of the design. There are only two large rhinestones (no visual triangle, unless you count the sentiment as a large black spot, which might be stretching it). Then, there are three small rhinestones (visual triangle...yay!). If I'm doing the math correctly, that makes five total rhinestones, a pleasingly odd number.

I made a third card with this set but don't like it so I will not share it. As one of George's B-1 instructors used to say, in a VERY southern accent, "It was a good idea that shouldn't have seen the light of day."

Live and learn.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: StampinUp Endless Thanks
ink: various dye inks
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones

Needing Thanks

I needed thank-you cards and pulled out StampinUp's Endless Thanks to make a few. Here's one...my favorite, but probably too clean and simple for most people's taste.

Don't worry. There's much more to the next card.

Well, not much more, because it's my blog and simplicity is my game.

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Sisam
(which is how my name is spelled when I am typing in the dark and my right-hand fingers shift one key to the right...go figure. Or gp fogire/_

(Gracious, I hope that doesn't spell something naughty in another language!)

Supplies
stamps: StampinUp Endless Thanks
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Archival black; Hero Arts cornflower, green hills
accessories: craft foam, rhinestone, black Sharpie (to color the rhinestones)

Praise the Lord and a Word on Bling Placement

Okay, I have two associations with Praise the Lord.

1) This hymn.

2) The PTL Club. You remember Jim and Tammy Faye, right?

What in the world is a girl to do with these two VERY different associations. The hymn makes me happy. The PTL Club...not so much.

Let's choose to focus on Association #1, shall we?

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!

A frequently-asked question: how do I know where to place the bling?

Well, I wish I had a good answer for that. My sassy answer is "Use the Force, Luke!" And truly, that's what it feels like. I place rhinestones with a craft knife, which lets me see where it's going better than my thick fingers. I try to create visual triangles, making sure the triangles are irregular (equilateral triangles look contrived).

On this card, there are two visual triangles. I would love to say I planned it that way, but it sort of evolved. It generally looks better to have multiple sizes and two shades of color (or two colors, though my cards do tend toward monochromaticity) to make the bling look even more irregular and interesting.

Y'all just see the successful bling placements. There are plenty of times I carry it a bling too far, or things line up awkwardly.

When the results are this satisfying, to God be the glory...because otherwise it was just dumb luck.

Mercy, grace, peace, love, and praise,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Inkadinkado Good News, Altenew Extra Special
paper: Papertrey white
ink: Archival black, various pink and green dye inks
accessories: MISTI, rhinestones

In Him There Is No Darkness at All

1 John 1:5

"...God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."

This verse was part of the scripture reading in church this morning, and I thought of this card as Pastor Amy preached on it.

The paper is Gina K deluxe white. Its coated surface makes coloring with and blending Copic markers so much easier than absorbent card stock. I used Y11, Y15, and Y17 Copics, blending out from the center (Y17) to a feathering of Y11.

The image looked a bit flat, so I brushed on Wink of Stella clear shimmer, and it looks awesome! You can see it somewhat in the close-up photo, but in real life, it's very shimmery.

If you don't have a Wink of Stella brush pen in clear, get one!

This card, like the past two I've posted, comes courtesy of Inkadinkado's Good News set which the very kind Eva gave me.

May your week begin, continue, and close in the light of love, peace, and hope.

Hugs,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Inkadinkado Good News
paper: Gina K
ink: Memento black
accessories: Copic Markers, craft foam, glue, Wink of Stella clear brush pen