New England Stamper

Sweet & Simple Saturday

It's the weekend and time for another sweet and simple card.  I used two A Muse stamps that had never seen ink - I'm sure that's never happened to any of you! 

It turned out particularly sparkly.  The bottom half of the card is So Saffron c/stock that I sprayed with Babys Breath Spritz.  And the flowers were stamped with Summer Sun ink and then painted with Sunflower Shimmerz.  To finish it off, the flower centers were highlighted with tiny Clear Twinkle Stickers.  You can never have too much bling in my opinion!

I'm off to a rubber stamp expo with my best buddy Sharon today - I'll fill you in on all the fun next week!  Have a wonderful weekend.

Supplies:

• Stamps: Long Grass, Mini Flower & Happy Birthday to You by A Muse Art Stamps
• C/stock: Stamper's Select White (PTI), So Saffron & Kiwi Kiss (SU)
• Ink: Memento Black, Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, Sunflower Shimmerz, Babys Breath Spritz
• Accessories: Clear Twinkle Stickers & sheer lime ribbon (A Muse)
• Tools: Scallop Edge punch (SU)

Clean and Simple Polka Dots

I had a little extra time today, so squeezed in one more card.  I was sad that I missed Monday's Splitcoast CAS challenge to create a simple card inspired by beach towels, but I found time to play today.  Yeah!  I combined it with today's Splitcoast sketch challenge and The Pink Elephant challenge.

There's not much to say about the card - it's clean and simple.  The polka dot paper is from Amuse, the stamp from SU and the buttons from Papertrey.  I'm addicted to Papertrey's vintage buttons right now - I've been using them on so many projects.  I love their rich colors and that they come in a big bag, so I don't feel the need to hoard! 

Have a super day!

Window Box Card

I made a double challenge card this afternoon for today's Splitcoast Clean & Simple challenge and Gingersnap Creations Garden Challenge. The CAS challenge was to use little bits of ribbon on your card.  If you are stumped for ideas on how to use small pieces of ribbon, I wrote a blog post last month called 10 Ways to Use Ribbon Scraps. 

The images and sentiment are all A Muse.  I cut out the window with a craft knife and replaced it with a piece of transparency that had been run through my Big Shot with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.  The little blue bird was jazzed up with a little December Sky Blingz.  Here's a closer look:

Don't forget to enter to win the blog candy in the post below!

Supplies:

• Stamps: A Muse Art Stamps
• Card stock: A Muse note card, Neenah white c/stock, Pretty in Pink textured c/stock, acetate
• Ink: Black Memento, Copic Markers, Bashful Blue, December Sky Blingz
  
• Accessories: SU brad, sheer A Muse ribbon
• Tools: Big Shot, Swiss Dots embossing folder
  

Spring Cards

I have two Spring Cards to share with you today.  And of course, I made them both for stamping challenges.  I think I might have an addiction to challenges!

The first was for a new challenge blog called Crafty Creations.  Their theme was Spring, so I thought this newly-purchased Memory Box bird stamp would be perfect. 

The bird was water colored with Bashful Blue reinker and has a coat of Under The Sea Blingz - one of the new color releases from Shimmerz.  [BTW - check out Shimmerz new and improved website].  Here's a closer look:

The second card is for today's CAS (Clean and Simple) challenge on Splitcoast, which was  to use a punch on your card.  I turned to my trusty Word Window punch and a brand spanking new A Muse stamp, called Open Zinnia.  With this card I also took on Sharon Johnson's ribbon tab challenge and sort of reversed the tab, but I think it still counts!

I stamped flower twice and colored them with copics, cut one out and layered it on top of the other.  The flower center has 3 tiny black pearls.

Thanks for visiting!

Card One Supplies:

• Stamps: Bluebird Branch (Memory Box)

• Paper: Baja Blue, Very Vanilla, water color paper, Basic Grey Two Scoops pad

• Ink: Stazon, Bashful Blue, Pirouette Pink, Certainly Celery & More Mustard reinkers, Under The Sea Blingz and Celery Shimmerz.

• Accessories: Valet Ribbon (SU), pearls (Kaiser)

• Tools: Aquapainter

Card Two Supplies:

• Stamps: Open Zinnia (A Muse), Simple Wishes (acrylic set by A Muse)

• Paper: PTI white c/stock, Regal Rose & Basic Black (SU)

• Ink: Black Memento, Copic markers, Regal rose (SU)

• Accessories: Regal Rose ribbon, black pearls (Hero Arts)

• Tools: Word Window Punch

 

Sweet & Simple Saturday

Happy weekend!  For this week's Sweet and Simple card, I used this sweet A Muse car image.  A Muse stamps are perfect for this kind of card.  This week's challenge on the Creative Belli Blog is to make a project with wheels, so the car fit perfectly.

While making the card, I started thinking about some tips for making clean and simple cards.  What struck me is that they are definitely less forgiving than more layered and detailed cards.  They take less time to make than most cards, but it's definitely worth taking five extra minutes to make sure that it is finished nicely.

If you water color an image, you can rework it and disguise any mistakes you make more easily.  Or on a layered card, you can tie a huge bow or put a big button over a nasty smudge and it will look great.  Not so for these type of cards.  Here are a few tips, which are probably pretty obvious, but I'll share anyway:

Tips:

• Use a stamp positioner, such as a Stamp-a-ma-jig, to position your images correctly.

• Keep your work area clean: put down fresh scratch paper for each card and put the lids on ink pads once you're finished with them.

• Have baby wipes close at hand to clean inky fingers.

• If coloring a small image, use the fine tip of your marker, small paint brush or sharp pencils.

• Use grid paper or a ruler to ensure your images are adhered straight.

Just a few thoughts....Enjoy your weekend and come visit again soon!

Supplies:
Stamps: Car Load (A muse Artstamps)
Paper: White c/stock (PTI), Basic Black c/stock (SU), Bitty Dot Basics (PTI)
Ink: Stazon and Copic Markers
Accessories: Silver eyelets, gingham ribbon (SU)
Tools: Cropadile

10 Minute Chick

I just realized that I haven't posted here since Monday.  I've been stamping my brains out, but I can't show any of it yet.  So, I decided to make a real quickie this morning - I had it finished before the school bus came at 8:25am! 

I broke down and bought a few Amuse stamps this week.  I took a class last fall with Julie Ebersole and can't believe it's taken me all this time to make my own Amuse card - I think it's because their stamps are quite pricey.  But if you can make a card in 10 minutes, they're probably worth the investment. 

I made the card for today's Limited Supply challenge on Splitcoast.  The challenge was to use a bug on your card, so mine includes 2 little bumble bees. 

And they would not be complete without a little sparkle on their wings, but you can't really see this on the picture!

Don't forget to enter to win the blog candy at the top of the blog.  And come back tomorrow for Sweet & Simple Saturday!

Supplies:

• Stamps: Amuse
• Paper: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana c/stock and watercolor paper
• Ink: Black Stazon, SU Markers: So Saffron, Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie, Green Galore, Summer Sun, Angel Wings Shimmerz
• Tools: Aquapainter, scallop edge punch (SU)