One-Layer Wednesday 50: Thankful for the Good Ol' Days

This week's One-Layer Wednesday challenge is sort of the opposite of the OLW49. We used new rubber last week, so this week, I want you to pull out an old rubber stamp (or photopolymer, if you prefer) that hasn't seen love in a while. Dust it off, ink it up, and make a one-layer Thank You card with it!

This is an old Anna Griffin floral stamp that I've had for at least seven or eight years. It's really not my style, but stamping anything in green works for me these days, and I love how this turned out with the brown sentiment. The sentiment is newer...from Hero Arts.

OLW50 Rules

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

2. Pull out an old stamp that hasn't seen ink in a while, and make a thank you card with it! Remember to keep embellishments to a minimum.

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

4. Most important rule of all: HAVE FUN!

Supplies
stamps: Anna Griffin, Hero Arts
ink: VersaMagic Chalk ink (tea leaves, jumbo java)
paper: PTI vintage cream
accessories: stamp positioner

PTI's Framed

A while back I promised a tutorial on using Papertrey's Framed set. I haven't forgotten and had intended to post it today, but I'm not happy with my solution for stamping that diabolically tricky set, seeing as five of the twelve samples I stamped didn't turn out well at all. Frustrating, yes, but I'm not giving up. No sir-ree. Not me. 'Cause I sniff an opportunity to go shopping for a giant gridded acrylic block, and I'll not declare defeat until I've exhausted all the options.

That's just the kind of blogger I am. 

So in the meantime, enjoy the fruits of my labor to date...the best card to come out of my experimenting:

See, this set CAN be stamped straight and without smudges!

Supplies
stamps: PTI Framed and Everyday Classics
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white
accessories: rhinestones, post-its for masking

A Quick and Easy Project with Chocolate...YUM!

A girlfriend of mine hates April. All sorts of bad things in her life have happened in April. A few days ago, we went for a walk, and in the half-hour before the walk she found out an old friend and mentor had passed away and that her own mother had spent the day undergoing medical tests...par for the course for her as far as April is concerned. So, I made her a gift to help make April a little easier to get through.

Inside the bag are wrapped Hershey's Nuggets (one for every day left in the month). Inside the card, I told her to take one chocolate a day until they are gone, and then April will be over. I don't imagine the chocolates will keep more bad things from happening, but at least she gets a little chocolate every day to help her through.

Details: The card is smallish, only 3 1/2" x 4 7/8", so you can see that the bag is also small. The stamp is one I got on sale at Michael's, and I stamped it in brown Memento and colored it with a pink Memento marker. The flower on the bon bon is accented with a tiny rhinestone. I wrapped the chocolates in stamped Avery address labels using Papertrey Ink's Limitless Labels set and pink and brown ink by Memento. The chocolates are loosely wrapped in tissue paper and placed in the bag. A simple hot pink bow is all I added to the bag, and I love how sweet it looks!

This was such a quick and easy project, one you could whip out at a moment's notice for a friend in need of a bit of cheer.

OLW49 New Rubber and Pink and Green

Jennifer's OLW this week is to use a stamp that's not seen ink AND the colors pink and green. Well, this wonderful little church stamp from A Muse had never seen ink, and you might not believe it, but the church has pink (pretty in pink tinted windows) and green (mellow moss door and sentiment) on it, as well as sahara sand for the stones. It's colored with an aqua painter and SU classic inks on PTI white cardstock.

I envisioned it as a baptism card for a baby girl. Or a wedding card. Seems like it would work for either occasion.

I may not be done with this challenge yet. Still have four more uninked rubber stamps from A Muse (ordered from their online store clearance and got them for $2 a piece! go, me!).

Supplies
stamps: A Muse chapel, Papertrey Sign Language sentiment
ink: Palette noir; SU mellow moss, pretty in pink, sahara sand
paper: Papertrey
accessories: aqua painter, scallop scissors to round the corners

Memento Inks and MFP White Cardstock: Lovin' Them

First, I'll remind you that the OLW this week is over on Jennifer's blog. It's a good one so check it out!

Now, while I'm seeking to purge colored cardstock, I've stayed true to my love of the white card base and have expanded my white cardstock selection to include White Storm 100lb from Mark's Finest Papers. Now in addition to PTI white (thick cardstock with a bit of tooth) and Gina K white (perfect for one-layer Bic/Sharpie/Copic colored cards), I'm lovin' MFP's, which is lighter than PTI's (easier to fold, but not as thin as SU whisper white so a lovely card base for one layer). It also takes ink beautifully.

See?

Okay, so perhaps this distressed sentiment stamp from Hero Arts isn't exactly the best to show how nicely this paper takes ink, but really. It does. The blues are from Memento...an ink I'm lovin' so much. I liked the gradient blue look so much that I decided to try sunny colors. Gives the card a completely different feel, doesn't it?

So then, I just got nutty playing with color. Oh how fun this was!

Look through your stash and see what largish sentiments you have that could work with this idea. So easy and quick, yet so very, very cool!

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts (discontinued clear set)
ink: various Memento
paper: Mark's Finest
accessories: gridded acrylic block...a must in this case!

Before and After: Color Balance

Before

When I made this card, one mistake caused some odd design elements. When I stamped the Text Style background, I left a bit too much space between images. So that's where I put the twine, to cover the gap. Then, I decided that I'd use a red starfish for a pop of color, highlight it with some rhinestones, and stamp the sentiment in cool caribbean.

Sadly, the starfish is just a little too visually insignificant and just floating there on the twine oddly. (You try attaching a skinny-armed starfish over twine!) Plus, the sentiment really needed to be red.

After

By replacing the starfish with a couple of sea horses, anchored from below with the twine in a more realistic manner, the right side of the card has more visual weight and makes more sense. The sentiment also doesn't disappear now that it's red.

If I made a third version of the card, I'd make the popped water panel a smidge taller, to give more room for the sea horses. The twine is just a little too low on the panel.

And yes, I understand text-covered water is weird, but I don't care. I love text, and I love the ocean. If you want to do something similar but not so English-major geeky, you could try polka dots or flourishes or something nautical. But I'm sticking with text.

Supplies
stamps: Text Style (PTI), Life is a Beach (PTI)
ink: cool caribbean, real red (SU)
paper: Mark's Finest Paper
accessories: Martha Stewart sand dollar/starfish punch, sea horse punch, Fiskar's ocean waves border punch, dimensionals, glue dot, twine (PTI) 

CASEing Kelley Eubanks

As soon as I saw this card in the new issue of Papercrafts, I knew I had to CASE it. It's not often I want to actually copy a card I see, but Kelley Eubanks spoke to me with her fun, crisp, clean-and-simple, one-layer card. I just couldn't think of any way to improve upon it!

I started with the butterfly from Kind Thoughts (SU), a sentiment from Hero Arts, and three rhinestones. Oh I'm so happy!

Then, I decided to try a more vintage image from Letters from Friends (SU) and a lighter sentiment from Clear and Simple Stamps. I'm so happy again!!!!

On a design note, I deliberately left the bottom corners square on the second card...the image didn't seem to invite rounded corners, while the butterfly certainly did.

Kelley is an amazing CAS stamper, and I thank her for giving us this fabulously flexible layout (I never would have thought to put bling underneath like that) and a fresh color combination. If you get a chance this week, play around with her idea. It's truly fabulous, and you can take it in so many different directions.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Supplies
stamps: SU, Hero Arts, Clear and Simple Stamps
ink: SU real red, Memento black
paper: Mark's Finest Papers
accessories: rhinestones, corner rounder