Less is More 25, Take 2

I entered a ribbon card for Less is More 25, but I also wanted to make a card featuring buttons. From time to time I pick up buttons on sale at the craft store, but I don't often use them on my cards. I've had these little star buttons sitting around, and wanted to feature them on a CAS layout.

I was picturing a simple row of buttons with my sentiment underneath, when I spotted this sketch from Lily Pad Cards, via Judy's Card Corner. It seemed to be made for just what I had in mind!


I pierced my paper where I wanted the buttons to go, and then tied them on with embroidery floss. I added a bit of ribbon and a sentiment and popped the panel up on dimensionals.



Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts Sky's the Limit sentiment
Ink: Brilliance Mediterranean blue
Paper: PTI white
Others: ribbon, buttons, embroidery floss

CAS-ual Fridays # 12

The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays this week is to use stickers or rub-ons in a clean and simple design. I've never used rub-ons before and didn't think I had any. As I was looking through my scrapbooking stickers, I found one little pack of Imaginisce jungle animal rub-ons that I picked up on clearance once upon a time. I made two cards with them, and I hope they're 'casual' enough!


First up is a little baby card using a spotted giraffe. I cut the shape by hand, and I can say that I definitely need to go shopping for some new Nestabilities. They look so much neater when cut with dies.


Then I made a Miss You card using the lion. On the inside of the card I printed a computer-generated sentiment that says, " . . . and I'm not LION!"



My 9-year old will be going to a dude ranch for three nights next month with her closest friend's family. She's never been away from me for more than a night with her grandparents or best friend. I'll tuck this little lion card in her suitcase when she goes.

Supplies:
Stamps: PTI sentiments
Ink: Color Box chestnut roan
Rub-Ons: Imaginisce
Paper: miscellaneous from stash

Less is More and Play Date Cafe

Talk about just squeaking in! With five minutes to go, here is my entry for the Play Date Cafe color challenge: black and white and one other color (just a splash). This is my first time playing along.

It is also my entry for this week's Less is More challenge, which is to use ribbon or buttons. Nothing new or original here, but it is the first time I've done this kind of ribbon treatment, and I quite like it! I also have a button card in the works, so hopefully I'll be back with another card tomorrow.




Supplies:
Paper: PTI
Ink: Brililance graphite black, Memento rosebud
Stamps: PTI fillable frames
Other: PTI die, cuttlebug embossing folder, ribbon from stash

Skipping Stones Design #85

I was blog hopping last week when I stumbled upon this great sketch from Skipping Stones Designs. The sketch immediately appealed to me, and I wanted to try it as both a card and a scrapbook layout. This company is new to me, so I do not have any of their beautiful stamps yet. It didn't say you must use Skipping Stones Designs products, so I thought I would add my projects.


For my card, I paper pieced a little Studio G cupcake and added red rhinestones for the cherries on top. I used a bit of green embroidery floss for one of the stripes. Cardstock is PTI.


Here is the scrapbook layout I made, using pictures I took on my youngest daughter's fifth birthday. (I've distorted her face for sharing on the internet, sorry!) It took many tries to get this page right, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. Title is made using Thickers and stamping is Hero Arts Sky's the Limit.


Thanks for visiting today!

Less is More 24, Take 2

It seems I'm making up for lost time since I got back from my trip. Unfortunately that means I'm not getting much sleep, either, but Less is More Challenge 24 has put circles on my brain!

Last year I purchased a set of four super cheap Studio G stamps (2 circles and 2 squares) on clearance. I wasn't sure what kind of impression I would get, but last night I decided to stamp them up for the first time and they stamped beautifully!

I'm happy with how these cards turned out. I think it's a simple but striking layout that I will use often for many types of cards.

Happy Anniversary: Brilliance graphite black on PTI white and Raspberry Fizz, PTI sentiment

Happy Birthday: VersaMagic Spanish olive on rustic white and ripe avocado, PTI sentiment

How Kind of You: Brilliance pearlescent rust on PTI white, Rubber Soul sentiment

I'll change this last one to a colored card base, I think.

CAS-ual Friday CFC11

The theme for CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is Sweets & Treats, and I'm just squeaking in on the last day. We are to make a clean and simple card using something sweet.

My stamp collection is fairly limited in this category. I have a couple of cupcake stamps, but I wanted to do something I hadn't done before, so I decided to make an ice cream cone. I drew my cone and ice cream scoop by hand and cut them out. I scored lines on the cone with my scoring board and stitched some seed beads onto the scoop for sprinkles.



I didn't have an appropriate sentiment, so I ended up using two from from PTI Mega Mixed Messages to make my own. The Sweet is from Sweet Baby. I just masked off the baby before stamping.

I'm somewhat pleased with how this card turned out, but I'm not thrilled with the shape of my ice cream scoop. I'll probably fiddle some more with it. Or else I'll just go stamp shopping! :)



Supplies:
Paper: PTI white, pink from scrap box
Stamps: PTI Mega Mixed Messages
Ink: Color Box Chestnut Roan
Other: seed beads, Martha Stewart edge punch, scoring board

Less is More 24

We've just returned from a two week road trip to Yellowstone National Park in Montana and Wyoming. We spent a couple of days driving each way, visited with friends and family along the way back, and spent a week sleeping in our cozy tent in Yellowstone and Grand Teton. My husband and I had been there in the past, but what fun it was to share this beautiful treasure with our two sweet girls. They loved it! Here are just a few of the 600 pictures we took. :)



Now, it's back to business and just in time to play along with Less is More week 24. The challenge is to make a clean and simple card using circles. I used my favorite Rubber Soul polka dot stamps to create a background in red, green, and pink. Then I inked up some new AMuse holiday stamps, cut them out, and popped them up over the dotted background. I've used this simple layout in the past and I quite like it. I'm also pleased to add three more Christmas cards to my stash!




Now I'm off to have a look around and see what I've missed while we were away. Thanks for stopping by to visit today! :)

Supplies:
Paper: PTI white, red from scrap box
Stamps: Rubber Soul, AMuse
Ink: Brilliance rocket red and pearlescent ivy, Memento rosebud

CAS-ual Fridays # 9

Krafts-men is the theme for CFC#9. Such clever titles! The challenge is to make a clean and simple, masculine card using kraft.

I love both kraft and natural colors. I used the beautiful Hero Arts Leaf Prints set, and stamped each image off on another sheet of paper before stamping on the panel to get a more textured look. I also used a fillable frame die from PTI to frame the sentiment.




I've tried it both with and without a button, and I can't decide which I like best. I'm leaning a little bit toward the card without the button.

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts Leaf Prints, PTI Fillable Frames
Ink: Memento desert sand, Color Box chestnut roan
Paper: PTI kraft and rustic white, dark brown from scrap box
Others: button from stash, PTI die

Less is More 22

I've just returned from taking 10 9-year old Girl Scouts on their first campout. I have a few days at home and am determined to take part in a couple of my favorite challenges, especially having missed last week's fabulous sketch for Less is More 21. The challenge for Less is More 22 is to make a clean and simple card using shades of blue. Here is my effort.



I took a piece of white cardstock and just played around with it for a while, embossing, sponging, and stamping with the snowflakes in Hero Art's Owl Christmas set. When finished, I cut it down, matted it, and place it on a dark blue card base. I've added some diamond stickles to the center of some of the snowflakes which give a nice sparkle, but it's hard to see that in the picture.

Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts Owl Christmas, Christmas Messages
Ink: various Memento and Color box
Paper: PTI white, enchanted evening