2 Neutrals + 1 Color = Soothing

Some of the hardest cards to make are either sympathy and thinking-of-you cards for serious occasions. The idea of two neutrals plus one color is perfect for creating that much-needed soothing feel to a card. Consider these two cards.

The card above is for a friend who definitely needs to find peace with a difficult situation. White, gray, and dark blue give a soothing feel, while the sketchiness of the flower acknowledges how crazy challenging finding that peace may be. (Or am I going too English major on the interpretation? I just never know.)

This sympathy card uses VersaColor Cement, which is a wonderful taupe-y gray and Paprika. The smallness of the sentiment and the single colored sprig don't matter given how the Paprika dominates without overwhelming. Soothing, understated, sincere.

On both cards the colors are strong, but by using so little of them, the message comes across clearly without being shouted.

Love that.

Supplies Peace Card
stamps: Peaceful Garden (Papertrey, sentiment), Flower (Hampton Art, very old!)
ink: Memento
accessories: rhinestones
Paper: PTI white

Supplies Sympathy Card
stamps: Peaceful Garden (Papertrey)
ink: VersaColor
paper: PTI white
accessories: dimensionals

Color Fun: Two Neutrals and a Color

Not sure what put this idea in my head (probably a card--or several--in a magazine), but I decided to experiment with using two neutrals (one of them the white card base) and a random color, just to see how the color would pop. I varied the colors on five or six cards, and found this to be a fun formula to experiment with!

And yes, I ended a sentence in a preposition because "...found this to be a fun formula with which to experiment" sounds snooty.

Anyway, you'll be seeing several such cards over the next few days, and here's the first color combo I experimented with: teal, gray, and white.

I love the softness of this, and the way the teal just pops right off the paper. The bling is just an added bonus!

Then I decided to vary the neutral with the teal, and try tan. This is the card that evolved. Not sure where it came from, but whatever muse was whispering in my ear doesn't visit me very often. It was fun to play along with her, but she's not as big a fan of white space as I am.

The tan warms things up, but there's no question which card I prefer. The first one is just more "me." The second one is more like my aunt, who owns a condo at the beach. That's why I am mailing it to her.

Isn't it cool that we can play and experiment and there's always someone to send the results to?

"...to whom to send the results?"

Whatever.

Have an awesome weekend.

Supplies Birthday Card
stamps: Hero Arts (text, butterfly), Papertrey (sentiment)
ink: VersaColor
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones

Supplies Shell Card
stamps: PSX (shells), Unknown (text)
ink: VersaColor
paper: PTI white
accessories: lace, dimensionals, half pearls

Variations on a Sketch--Part 4

Today is my last day of variations on Stephanie Halinski's sketch, and it's the loosest interpretation.

Loosest. That makes it sound promiscuous.

But in design, that just means that it took liberties.

Ohmygosh, this card is a slut!

Pretty, though.

Pretty cards can get away with anything.

The variation involves turning the card from portrait to landscape orientation, using a vine stamp repeatedly to create the diagonal, and arranging the sentiment completely differently to guide the eye across the horizontal rather than diagonal.

I'm not sure about the sentiment, though. I think it would look better if both happy and birthday were in the same font.

Anyway, live and learn. Vary the awesome sketch. Play and have fun.

But not too much fun, if you know what I mean.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Turning a New Leaf (vine), Out on a Limb (berries), Botanical Silhouettes (sentiment)
ink: VersaMagic
paper: Papertrey
accessories: nada

Variations on a Sketch--Part 3

To refresh your memory, here's Stephanie Halinski's sketch from Papercrafts.

And here's my fourth card using it.

In this case, I went sort of shabby chic...well, as shabby chic as I'm comfortable going. The script is from Papertrey's Text Style, the leaves are from Turning a New Leaf, and the sentiment is from Botanical Silhouettes. I love the softness of this card and how making the script tilt is both whimsical and elegant at the same time. Also, I love how different it looks from the other three cards. It's proof that a good sketch will work in LOTS of different ways.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: VersaMagic
paper: PTI white
accessories: pink pearls

One-Layer Wednesday 108--One Stamp, Two Ways

This week's OLW challenge is TWICE the fun! Your challenge is to make two different cards using at least one image stamp on each! Keep in mind that the two cards can still look like they used the same stamp...just show how flexible the stamp can be.

Remember what I did with the presents stamp here, here, and here?

My inspiration cards for the OLW challenge are a bit more straightforward that the present stamp cards...especially because the OLW challenge has to be one layer and only one layer...no cut-outs or pop-ups!

Something like this:

See how the vine stamp looks so heavy and masculine on the first card, which has a very graphic layout. On the second, the stamp looks so light and pretty and elegant with all those tiny little gems on it.

THAT's what I'm talkin' about. One Stamp, Two Ways



OLW108 Rules


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

2. Use at least one image stamp (not a sentiment) on two different cards. See how different you can make them...beyond just color. Your challenge is to give the same stamp two different looks.

3. Post both your cards online and link to them using the InLinkz button on the sidebar. If you link to your blog, be sure to link to the specific post, not just your blog's main page. If you post your two cards to two different links (as on Splitcoast), please link to both!

4. HAVE TWICE THE FUN!!!!






Supplies
stamps: Papertrey First Fruits, Fall Elegance
ink: VersaColor
paper: PTI white and vintage cream
accessories: rhinestones

Variations on a Sketch--Part 2

Today's variation on yesterday's sketch is...heavier. Yes, it's visually heavier than yesterday's cards. But the monochromatic approach helps the busier design retain its fresh, CAS feel.

The sentiment placement just wasn't working where it was in the sketch, so I moved it up and picked a sentiment with a cursive first word to rest on the top of one hexagon while the rest of the words run over the design. The random-ish pearls were added for a bit of interest...subtle but pretty, and their randomness balances (hopefully) the tidy hexagons.

I really like this card, but I really didn't like making it. Lining up all those hexagons was a pain and took longer than I would have liked.

Just call me lazy.

Supplies
stamps: PTI Happy Hexagons, Botanical Silhouettes
ink: VersaMagic
paper: PTI white
accessories: half pearls

Variations on a Sketch--Part 1

Have you ever looked at a sketch and thought, "What would I do with THAT?"

I have.

Many sketches have so many implied layers that I take it as a challenge to minimize the layers, simplify the whole thing, while still sticking to the basic idea behind the sketch.

Sometimes, however, the sketch is pretty clean and simple, and inspires me to riff on it in a variety of ways. And that's the effect the following sketch from Papercrafts had on me. Stephanie Halinski is a genius!

I made five variations of this card, every single one a single layer. Two of them are dominated by straight lines, so today we'll take a straight and narrow interpretation.

First, a baby card in sweet pastels and a tiny sentiment. The ribbon stamps are from Papertrey's Faux Ribbon set, and the sentiment is from Sign Language. I had to trim the card because the stamps weren't quite long enough to span a standard 4.25"-wide card at an angle.

Second, I was inspired by Heather Telford's OLW challenge to do some sponging. After masking the diagonal area, I sponged VersaMagic inks (mango and pumpkin, I think) and stamped the leaves (Fall Elegance). Then, after pulling up the masks, I drew the dark brown lines and stamped the sentiment (First Fruits). It was a tad plain, so I added the bling to jazz it up.

When you have a great sketch to work with, you can do all sorts of fun things, get all sorts of different looks, with just a change of color scheme and technique. Tomorrow, we'll take a look a little different approach to the same sketch.

BTW, I have enabled comment moderation. I allowed the Anonymous comments again and within a minute was spammed. Grrr. So you can now comment anonymously.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: VersaMagic
paper: PTI white
accessories: gridded acrylic block, rhinestones, dark brown marker, post-its for masks, sponge