White Embossing Inspired by Susan Rodgers

In flipping through Take Ten, I noticed a card by Susan Rodgers on page 7 that has a large flower outline image embossed in white and colored beautifully...each petal is a different shade of pink. Y'all know how much I color, but Susan's card inspired me to give it a go.

As I sifted through all my wet media coloring supplies, I noticed the Twinkling H2Os, which have been much neglected. They looked so sparkly and colorful I just had to pull them out to play.

Then, I went to my stamps and discovered, not surprisingly, that I have very few outline images. A set by Clearly Besotted stood out, so I ran with it.

Here's a close-up. Isn't that shimmer just lovely!

I wanted to vary the intensity of color across the petals in a nice, balanced fashion, but it was tough to do with the Twinkling H2Os. The deeper orange petals aren't as balanced as I would like, but I found it impossible to control the color...the Twinkling H2Os I have are mixes of gold and other colored pigments, and I just never knew whether I was going to get pure gold or some orange with each dip of the brush.

That's okay though. The result is still gorgeous, shimmery, and colorful!

Thanks to Susan Rodgers for the inspiration!

Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted
ink: clear embossing ink, Brilliance pearlescent brown
paper: Papertrey Ink
accessories: white embossing powder, heat gun, Embossing Buddy (cloth bag full of chalk dust), paint brush, Twinkling H2Os, dimensionals

Soft, Cool, Comforting Thoughts

Have you ever noticed how disasters and tragedies happen in clumps? Life perks along for a while with little sadness, and then all the sudden, half your friends are dealing with life-or-death issues.

What really stinks is that there's next to nothing you can do to help people who've put a parent in hospice or have loved ones battling cancer or facing a terminal diagnosis or fading in old age.

Well, we can send cards.

That's something.

I need a fresh stash of thinking of you cards, and here's the first. It's soft, cool, and comforting with gentle blues and greens. And a little bling adds interest. It's going to a friend who just put her father in hospice.

I love the soft colors. Very relaxing. NOTHING about my friend's life is relaxing right now, and this card won't magically fix that. But it will remind her that I'm thinking of her, praying for her, and loving her through this tough, tough thing.



Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Gracious Vases, Keep It Simple Thinking of You
ink: Hero Arts, Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones

Merry and Bright

Sometimes, pulling out old alphabet sets feels a bit like meeting old friends to play. Here's a card using two old SU wood-mounted alphabet sets...it was a workout for my stamp positioner!

No matter what I did, the Letterpress alphabet (the tall one) looked blotchy. This card uses VersaMagic rocket red...a rich, creamy ink that usually gives a great, smooth, even impression. I tried several inks, and this one definitely looked the best, but I'm not entirely happy with it. I've noticed this problem with the set before, and wonder if there's something wrong with it.

The Typeset alphabet, though, gave me great images with any ink. Weird. I ended up using Impress Ink's grass. I love using a non-traditional shade of green for the holidays. It looks so fresh and fun!

To make this card, I drew a pencil line and stamped MERRY first. Then, another pencil line, and I stamped & bright backward, starting with the t. Finally, I added the holly sprigs and rhinestones in two different sizes.

Isn't it lovely when stamp sets and embellishments contain different sizes of the same thing? Of course it is!

The toughest part of a card like this is getting the spacing between letters right. Even spacing isn't a factor of measuring so much as feel. It can be tricky, and using a stamp positioner with the wood-mounted stamps is absolutely critical.

My out-of-town guests left today, but it's going to take a while for things to get back to normal around here. Not only do I have to catch up on the much-neglected stuff of ordinary life, I'm also working on The Circle Maker study by Mark Batterson, which I will teach at my church starting next Tuesday. Y'all, it feels so good to be developing lesson plans again!

But it will also feel good to get into my craft room later today and make stuff. Oh, yay!!!! I hope you're getting crafty, too. Remember the OLS challenge!

Supplies
stamps: SU, Papertrey (holly jolly)
ink: VersaColor, Impress
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, stamp positioner

Silver and Gold

I experimented with silver and gold embossing powders. Here's the result.

Before I added the red rhinestones, it was pretty boring. The gold and silver are not strong enough to carry a card, at least not used in such small quantities as my design allows for. Adding the red created a lot more interest.

I'm also not quite sure about the font of the sentiment. It worked so well on this other card, but the points and curves and dotty flourishes of the holly border stamp (Papertrey's Holly Jolly) don't quite invite the same clean modern font as the leaves from the other card.

I don't have enough Christmas sentiments.

Seriously.

Can we ever have enough sentiments?

That's a rhetorical question.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Holly Jolly, Clearly Besotted sentiment
ink: clear embossing ink
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, extra-fine gold and silver embossing powder, embossing gun

More with the Mask

Here's the mask I used for yesterday's card:

And here's today's card, which also uses the mask.

These stylized pine boughs, from the same set as yesterday's leaf branches, are airy and light. Without some sponging , it would look extremely weird. The space must be defined, and so I chose a nice lime green (Hero Arts) to set off the green and red royal (both Hero Arts as well) of the pine boughs and berries. It's a lively holiday combination!

Now, about the sentiment. Underneath the popped panel is the ugliest mess-up I've made in a long time. The only way to save this card was to cover it up. I tried sponging the edges of the popped panel to increase the unity of the card, but honestly, it looked goofy. I much prefer the simple, clean look of a white rectangle.

And the fact it's hiding an ugly mistake is a bonus!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Embellished Elegance, Peaceful Poinsettia (sentiment)
ink: Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: mask, sponge, dimensionals

Recovery

Having a regular stamping routine in the past two months has been impossible, so I grabbed a couple of hours at my craft desk this afternoon and found it difficult to get in the groove. Eventually, I recovered my mojo and made this happy card:

I adore gray and red for Christmas or winter cards. Squee!!!!

First, I made this mask:

This is a classic mask that can be pretty flexible. Today's card is the first of at least two different cards I'm going to make with it. I put a bit of repositionable mono-adhesive on the back of it to hold it in place while in use. Any adhesive that sticks to the card rubs off easily with my finger.

My gray-and-red beauty utilizes a very bold pair of leaf stamps from Papertrey's Embellished Elegance. The denseness of the leaf images allows the mask borders to be well defined without anything else to clarify the borders. Often, people will sponge ink or draw lines to give definition, but with this stamp, it's not necessary.

At least, my minimalist eye doesn't need anything else.

The sentiment is from a sentiment set from Clearly Besotted (*swoon*). Its mod style works great with the clean, bold leaves, adding to the unity of the card.

Blessings this weekend to you all!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey, Clearly Besotted
ink: Memento Gray Flannel, Hero Arts Red Royal
paper: Papertrey Ink
accessories: mask (copy paper)

A Day

I had a day. You know the type.

So instead of a card, I'm going to remind you of a few things that are going on right now on this blog and the OLS blog. Follow the links to join the fun!

One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #10
Cheryl is hosting this month's OLS Challenge, which is right up my alley. The theme is Turning to Fall, and it's perfect for making those Thanksgiving cards for my Thanksgiving Challenge, too!

Thanksgiving Crusade Challenge 2014
So far, we only have two entries for the Thanksgiving Crusade Challenge. I KNOW more of you have made Thanksgiving cards and just haven't linked up to the Crusade. I hope you'll join us there to create a wonderful resource for Thanksgiving inspiration! Check out the previous years' entries on that same page...just scroll down and you'll find lots of gorgeous fall/Thanksgiving cards to drool over!

Use-Your-Stamps Challenge
This challenge is ongoing and never-ending...at least as long as you're buying new stamps. I'm plugging away at using every image stamp I own again since this is my third time around with this challenge. But it's a great way to help you figure out what sorts of stamps you prefer to use (not just hoard) and might help you streamline future purchases by making wiser decisions up front. At least, that's the hope.

Follow Simplicity by Lateblossom on Facebook
If you're a Facebook junky, consider following Simplicity on Facebook!

Follow Simplicity on BlogLovin
If you're not receiving emails because of the SNAFU with FeedBurner, consider moving your blog subscriptions to Bloglovin. It's what I use to organize my subscriptions and read blogs. It's free and easy. Can't beat that.

Blessings to you all. I'm off to take a nap. Like I said, I've had a day. It's either nap or drink wine.

My plan is to do both.

But not at the same time. That would be silly.

Zzzzz.