Here are the headlines this weekend in CAS news....
1. The newest One-Layer Simplicity Challenge is running like a mountain stream!!! Karen Dunbrook's fabulous challenge this month is called OLS#3: Just Add Water. Either spritz your inky stamp with water or make a background with water to blend your inks! The challenge will be open until March 24, and then on the 28th, the design team members will spotlight their favorite details from among all the entries. So get to spritzing!
2. If you're interested in learning more about design from three rock stars of clean-and-simple cards, a class over at Online Card Classes is just for you! Taught by Julie Ebersole, Kristina Werner, and Jennifer McGuire, this class is the third in the CAS series and focuses on one-layer cards. You do not need to have taken the first two classes to take this class!!!! While I've never taken a class from this site, all three of those teachers are awesome and so I have no worries encouraging those of you who want to learn more about one-layer design to take it. Class starts on March 10, so don't wait!
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
OLS Details
No card from me tonight, but click over to the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge to see the "Details" post for OLS#2-Can You Repeat That?
The Details posts on the OLS blog will be posted after the challenge closes on the 24th of the month. Some members of the design team will highlight several cards each and tell you what details in that card make it stand out. These posts are an excellent way to be inspired!
For February, Heather, Karen, Ardyth, and I each spotlighted three cards, so you have twelve awesome cards to check out in one post!
Go! Soak up the inspiration!
And many, many thanks to all who are participating in our OLS challenge. There are so many amazing cards that we all had a REALLY hard time picking just three each. To see ALL 104 OLS#2 cards, go HERE.
And on March 1st, Karen's challenge will be posted. Hmmm. What will she come up with?!?!
The Details posts on the OLS blog will be posted after the challenge closes on the 24th of the month. Some members of the design team will highlight several cards each and tell you what details in that card make it stand out. These posts are an excellent way to be inspired!
For February, Heather, Karen, Ardyth, and I each spotlighted three cards, so you have twelve awesome cards to check out in one post!
Go! Soak up the inspiration!
And many, many thanks to all who are participating in our OLS challenge. There are so many amazing cards that we all had a REALLY hard time picking just three each. To see ALL 104 OLS#2 cards, go HERE.
And on March 1st, Karen's challenge will be posted. Hmmm. What will she come up with?!?!
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Can Boys Handle Bling?
An interesting question. Someone (Virginia, was it you?) had a card published in Paper Crafts' special issue of guy cards only after she remade it without bling.
Seriously? Boys can't handle a bit of bling?
Of course, this card has a bit more than a bit of bling, but still. My 12-year-old nephew would love it. My four-year-old nephew would pretend it was a gun and yell "pewpewpew" while pointing it at my sister, who would send me an angry text about corrupting her tender young man with shiny weapons.
Just kidding. But if she did that, I would totally learn how to do a screen shot on my phone so I could share it with you. Because it would be hysterical.
My sister is funny...but not that funny.
Anywho, I'm off to bed after an exhausting day of helping with junior high show choir's production of Guys and Dolls, in which my son has one line and several songs. Middle schoolers are a funny bunch. Very loud.
Rest well.
Supplies
stamps: Borders and Arrows (Hero Arts), some random and cool birthday sentiment, probably Gina K's Hello Sunshine set but I might be wrong there. I'm tired
ink: Memento (including pear tart...chuckle)
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: lots of bling
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
I Love Y'all!
Comments on my last post are brilliant. If you haven't read them, I'll wait while you do.
Are you back? Good.
First of all, let me say thank you for reassuring me I'm not alone in my "over-stimulation" (Mynn's phrase). Also, yes, I "can change the rule" (senga44's words), and I should have at least temporarily suspended it for this particular buying binge. But the rule has served my purposes very well for a long time.
It's just the, ahem, abundance of my recent ordering that it became a problem.
Angie brought up a good point. Some rules do box us in and stifle creativity. BUT I would argue that other rules really do help us out by encouraging creativity. Under my ordinary buying patterns, my rule about not putting sets away until I use them is a very good rule. Knowing I'm going to have to use a set immediately means I buy stuff that I want to use immediately. Generally, this is exciting and makes me overflow with creative ideas. Placing so many orders in such a small span of time, however, changed the situation...but I didn't let the rule change, too. My bad.
Missoula Gal Pals wrote this wise comment:
"I too make 'rules' to craft by and sometimes it helps me focus in on all the fun and sometimes it feels too confining. Since the 1st of the year I've been trying eliminate the 'should's' and 'have to's' in the crafting part of my life and gently telling myself over and over - 'this is about having fun and expanding my creative energy.'"
In other words, rules can enhance our creativity and energy, and we need to pay attention to the ones that don't and change them. Princess Judy Palmer says the same thing: "This year I've decided any 'rule' or 'obligation' that stifles my creativity or stresses me out over what is to be a fun hobby is to be ditched immediately."
Y'all have no idea how comforting your comments have been!
And now for a card that duplicates the layout of THIS CARD, but looks significantly different because of colors and stamps. I just love how the same basic idea could be tweaked to result in so different a card.
The border was made using the row of dots from Hero Arts Borders and Arrows set. I alternated shades of red ink (Hero Arts) to add interest and used two shades of red bling (although the dark red looks blackish in the photo...in real life, it's dark red!). The sentiment is stamped in Hero Arts' dark gray ink.
The first version of the card is light, bright, airy. This one is grounded, colorful, strong. I like them both. How about you?
Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Borders and Arrows, Papertrey Signature Greeting
ink: Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, dimensionals
Are you back? Good.
First of all, let me say thank you for reassuring me I'm not alone in my "over-stimulation" (Mynn's phrase). Also, yes, I "can change the rule" (senga44's words), and I should have at least temporarily suspended it for this particular buying binge. But the rule has served my purposes very well for a long time.
It's just the, ahem, abundance of my recent ordering that it became a problem.
Angie brought up a good point. Some rules do box us in and stifle creativity. BUT I would argue that other rules really do help us out by encouraging creativity. Under my ordinary buying patterns, my rule about not putting sets away until I use them is a very good rule. Knowing I'm going to have to use a set immediately means I buy stuff that I want to use immediately. Generally, this is exciting and makes me overflow with creative ideas. Placing so many orders in such a small span of time, however, changed the situation...but I didn't let the rule change, too. My bad.
Missoula Gal Pals wrote this wise comment:
"I too make 'rules' to craft by and sometimes it helps me focus in on all the fun and sometimes it feels too confining. Since the 1st of the year I've been trying eliminate the 'should's' and 'have to's' in the crafting part of my life and gently telling myself over and over - 'this is about having fun and expanding my creative energy.'"
In other words, rules can enhance our creativity and energy, and we need to pay attention to the ones that don't and change them. Princess Judy Palmer says the same thing: "This year I've decided any 'rule' or 'obligation' that stifles my creativity or stresses me out over what is to be a fun hobby is to be ditched immediately."
Y'all have no idea how comforting your comments have been!
And now for a card that duplicates the layout of THIS CARD, but looks significantly different because of colors and stamps. I just love how the same basic idea could be tweaked to result in so different a card.
The border was made using the row of dots from Hero Arts Borders and Arrows set. I alternated shades of red ink (Hero Arts) to add interest and used two shades of red bling (although the dark red looks blackish in the photo...in real life, it's dark red!). The sentiment is stamped in Hero Arts' dark gray ink.
The first version of the card is light, bright, airy. This one is grounded, colorful, strong. I like them both. How about you?
Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Borders and Arrows, Papertrey Signature Greeting
ink: Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, dimensionals
Monday, February 24, 2014
A Funky Layout and Some Musings on Unintended Stupidity
Here's a layout that popped into my head one day. No idea from whence it came, but I was glad it did!
What makes this work for me is how the horizontal sentiment is the focal point, while the vertical accent contains diagonal lines and curvy hearts. There is so much going on here, but it's taking place in such a small area surrounded by so much white space that it has a clean, fresh feel to it.
Happy sigh!
And now for unintendedconsequences stupidity. If you're not interested in my blatherings, feel free to quit reading. You won't hurt my feelings.
Well, maybe a little. But I'll survive.
Anyway, one of my favorite "rules" I imposed in my craft space is this one: no stamp set will every be put away in my stash until every image in it is used. This is such a good rule, don't you think?
Yeah, I thought so, too, until the past three months.
After years of very limited stamp buying, I went a little nuts and bought a whole bunch of new stamps during and after the holidays. This indulgence was planned and budgeted for, by the way, so don't think I fell off some sort of wagon. I had fun spending money again!
But using all those new stamps has felt like a chore, not a blessing. It's not the stamps' fault at all. While I in no way regret my several-year spending hiatus, I do wish I'd spread out the several-month spending spree more. For some stupid reason, I felt like I had to use all those new stamps before I could do anything else. And it has dragged out so long that I feel rather burned out.
I know, I know. First-world problem. But there it is.
Does anyone else ever feel this way? It's not buyer's remorse, exactly, because I truly love most of what I got. But the pressure (self-imposed and stupid, I know) to use all that glorious goodness took away some of the fun. I think I need to find some sense of balance, but honestly, shouldn't I be smarter than this? Please tell me I'm not alone. Perhaps some of you on design teams will feel the same when you get a big shipment to work with in a short period of time.
Supplies
stamps: Papertrey (sentiment), Lily Bee Memorandum
ink: not sure, maybe Hero Arts...probably Hero Arts, but maybe Memento...I can't be sure...sorry
paper: white
accessories: not a one
What makes this work for me is how the horizontal sentiment is the focal point, while the vertical accent contains diagonal lines and curvy hearts. There is so much going on here, but it's taking place in such a small area surrounded by so much white space that it has a clean, fresh feel to it.
Happy sigh!
And now for unintended
Well, maybe a little. But I'll survive.
Anyway, one of my favorite "rules" I imposed in my craft space is this one: no stamp set will every be put away in my stash until every image in it is used. This is such a good rule, don't you think?
Yeah, I thought so, too, until the past three months.
After years of very limited stamp buying, I went a little nuts and bought a whole bunch of new stamps during and after the holidays. This indulgence was planned and budgeted for, by the way, so don't think I fell off some sort of wagon. I had fun spending money again!
But using all those new stamps has felt like a chore, not a blessing. It's not the stamps' fault at all. While I in no way regret my several-year spending hiatus, I do wish I'd spread out the several-month spending spree more. For some stupid reason, I felt like I had to use all those new stamps before I could do anything else. And it has dragged out so long that I feel rather burned out.
I know, I know. First-world problem. But there it is.
Does anyone else ever feel this way? It's not buyer's remorse, exactly, because I truly love most of what I got. But the pressure (self-imposed and stupid, I know) to use all that glorious goodness took away some of the fun. I think I need to find some sense of balance, but honestly, shouldn't I be smarter than this? Please tell me I'm not alone. Perhaps some of you on design teams will feel the same when you get a big shipment to work with in a short period of time.
Supplies
stamps: Papertrey (sentiment), Lily Bee Memorandum
ink: not sure, maybe Hero Arts...probably Hero Arts, but maybe Memento...I can't be sure...sorry
paper: white
accessories: not a one
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Hearts and Hexes
After months and months of focusing heavily on one-layer cards, I find my scrap paper drawer is as full as it's ever been. Expect to see lots of two-layer, white-on-white cards in the coming months as I work through the pile.
This hexagon border stamp comes from Hero Arts Borders and Arrows set, and it's stamped in a light bluish gray. I stamped it three times on the scrap, then added the sentiment (Hero Arts Year Round Sentiments) in black.
At that point, I was stumped. What would make that design look interesting? Coloring was out of the question because the outlines were too light and thin...no tolerance for my klutzy coloring. (I prefer coloring inside thick, black lines that hide my sloppiness!)
At the time, round bling just didn't seem appropriate with the hexagonal shapes, although looking at it now, I suspect it would work just fine. Angles love curves, after all.
When I'm stuck for an idea, I generally peruse my embellishment drawers, and when I got to the red drawer, I saw these fun heart gems and thought, "Why not?"
Indeed. Hexes and hearts.
Won't this be a perfect card for a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine to send to his/her significant other? It's already been sent to OWH.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Borders and Arrows, Year Round Sentiments
ink: VersaColor
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: red heart rhinestones, dimensionals, corner rounder
This hexagon border stamp comes from Hero Arts Borders and Arrows set, and it's stamped in a light bluish gray. I stamped it three times on the scrap, then added the sentiment (Hero Arts Year Round Sentiments) in black.
At that point, I was stumped. What would make that design look interesting? Coloring was out of the question because the outlines were too light and thin...no tolerance for my klutzy coloring. (I prefer coloring inside thick, black lines that hide my sloppiness!)
At the time, round bling just didn't seem appropriate with the hexagonal shapes, although looking at it now, I suspect it would work just fine. Angles love curves, after all.
When I'm stuck for an idea, I generally peruse my embellishment drawers, and when I got to the red drawer, I saw these fun heart gems and thought, "Why not?"
Indeed. Hexes and hearts.
Won't this be a perfect card for a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine to send to his/her significant other? It's already been sent to OWH.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Borders and Arrows, Year Round Sentiments
ink: VersaColor
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: red heart rhinestones, dimensionals, corner rounder
Friday, February 21, 2014
Cards I've Received Lately
Today's post is all about thanking those of you who've brightened my mail lately with beautiful cards! There are actually a few more that I've not photographed yet, so don't worry if you sent something and it's not here. Your lovelies will make it into the next thank you post!
You have absolutely no idea how much I appreciate these or the lift they continue to give me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Many thanks to all of you who have sent cards, but also those who have sent emails expressing your support and appreciation for this blog and my others.
Thank you all so very much.
You have absolutely no idea how much I appreciate these or the lift they continue to give me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
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| From Darla P. |
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| From Leslie B., who couldn't possibly know that most of the cards I sent before making cards came from the WWF. |
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| Lisa I. and her German shepherd Annie sent this lovely card along with a bag full of homemade dog treats for Daisy |
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| Isn't Annie beautiful?!? And so kind to share with Daisy! |
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| From Anne B., who also sent this magnet/bookmark, whose message I need every single day: |
Many thanks to all of you who have sent cards, but also those who have sent emails expressing your support and appreciation for this blog and my others.
Thank you all so very much.
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