Blog Break

 . . . taking a brief blogging break.

I'll be back posting cards and visiting your beautiful blogs soon.

PDCC141 and RetroSketches 20

I was quite taken with sketch 20 at RetroSketches this week.  It had a lot of white space, which I love, but also a lot of elements to put together, which scared me. :)  I determined last night to give it a go, and I chose to use the lovely, soft colors of PlayDate Cafe 141.

This is what I ended up with:

Unfortunately for me, when I went to post my card, the challenge at RetroSketches had already closed.  Oops.  Oh well.  I'm still fairly pleased with the result and all those elements really gave my brain a creative workout. :)

Supplies:
Paper: PTI white
Stamps: PTI happy hexagons, mega mixed messages
Ink: Memento cantaloupe, Versamagic pink grapefruit,
Other: hemp cord, corner rounder, Cuttlebug embossing folder, flowers by Recollections

Beautiful Inspiration:

Clean and Simple 199

I had some more fun playing with the great sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping.  I tried it out using telephones from two different companies.

Supplies: 
Paper: PTI white, plum and gray from scrap bin
Stamps: PTI Heart-2-Heart 4, Hero Arts sentiment
Ink: Memento lulu lavender, sweet plum

Supplies: 
Paper: PTI white and kraft, black from scrap bin
Stamps: Hero Arts Just Saying Hi
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, tea dye distress ink


Finally, this was my one-layer entry for Less is More and One-Layer Wednesday.  Unfortunately I had made a mistake on the backside of the card, so I had to cut it down and mat it.  I really liked it as a one-layer, but I think it looks nice with the blue matting as well.

Supplies: 
Paper: PTI white, blue from scrap bin
Stamps: Martha Stewart doily lacy butterflies, PTI sentiment
Ink: Brilliance Mediterannean blue

Sorry for the distracting background in my photos. I was feeling lazy today and short on time, so I just popped out onto the deck to take them quickly. :)

FTL 199

 

Three butterflies

The challenge at Less is More is to use the number three - three stamps, three images, three somethings. . . .  I'm sure I'm not the only one to combine this challenge with sketch 199 at Clean and Simple stamping.

I took the sketch literally and used butterfly stamps.  I started out with Hero Arts designer butterflies.  I was trying out different color combinations when my favorite butterfly broke while cleaning it!  Has this ever happened to anyone before?  It was so sad.  I love that butterfly and I wasn't cleaning it that vigorously, merely wiping some ink off!

At any rate, I switched over to Martha Stewart doily lacy butterflies and used just one color, Brilliance Mediterranean blue, for a classic blue and white card.  I cut my card narrower than usual and combined one larger butterfly with two smaller.  I added a PTI sentiment from damask designs and some bling to each butterfly, making this card also fit the One-Layer Wednesday challenge to create a one-layer birthday card with bling.

I've just returned home again from another short trip, this time to the beautiful Oregon Coast with my two daughters, my mom, and my mother-in-law.  It's a lovely tradition for my girls to have these memories with their grandmas.  And so lovely for me to come home to such friendly comments on my blog.  Thank you for your visits and your kind words.

Ann

The Beautiful Oregon Coast:

Sketch 199:

Supplies:
Paper: PTI white
Ink: Brilliance Mediterranean blue
Stamps; Martha Stewart doily lace butterflies, PTI sentiment
Other: bling from stash

CASology # 1

I've made a couple of quick cards for the brand new challenge blog, CASology.  Each week there will be a challenge to create a CAS card based on a single cue word.  The word for this week is sun. 

I used Hero Arts Sky's the Limit and made two cards.  I'm not overly thrilled with either of them but decided to post anyway.  The blue cardstock is impressed with my new PTI canvas impression plate.  So excited to finally have this as it had been out of stock the last few times I ordered.  I added a little glitter glue to the sun for some sparkle.

Thanks for visiting!
Ann

Neon Joy Ride

A quick post to share the card I uploaded to the Hero Arts flickr group this morning for the July contest. I made this last night after finishing my gold card for Less is More.  The bright colors made me happy. :)  I used Joy Ride, one of my favorite sets. 

Hero Arts July Contest Colors:

Gold Christmas

I've missed the last two challenges at Less is More, and they were great challenges, too.   Happily, I'm able to play along this week and the challenge is to use gold.  Ooh, that's a tricky one for me.  I lean first toward natural colors and second toward bright, happy colors.  Rarely gold.  I don't have any gold ink, but I do have some very old gold embossing powder, so I pulled it out to play along.

I stamped this beautiful Penny Black damask pattern background and embossed the entire thing with gold powder.   Then I cut it down to two panels and mounted them on the card base.  I embossed a sentiment on each and called it good.  Two more Christmas cards checked off the list.  These are very shiny!

I've recently returned from taking a troop of 10-year old Girl Scouts camping for three days.  We lucked out and had incredible weather, which was a blessing as our summer so far has been wet and cold!  The girls had a fabulous time exploring the woods and beaches, whittling sticks, sitting around the campfire, and exploring the historic gun batteries.

I'm looking forward to having time later this afternoon to do some blog-hopping.  See you then!

Ann