time to CELEBRATE

I am sharing a one layer card with bright vibrant colors today.  In preparation to enter the challenge of One-Layer Simplicity #2: "Can you repeat that?" I first wanted to use a big floral stamp and repeat stamping it, but it turned out to be a bit boring so I turned to see what I could do with my background stamps. 

I first made the masculine version but I like this feminine version a lot better:

The masculine version does not make me as happy as the feminine version, probably because of my bad choice of colors:

What's interesting is that I thought it could only become a masculine card (that's why I started with this second one), then because it didn't make my heart sing I changed up the colors and also my mind as to whether it can be a girly birthday card.  I guess I can't really envision the card before making it, thus always creating trash in my craft area. LOL.

The feminine version is linking up to:
One-Layer Simplicity - Can you repeat that?
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

One Layer cards

I'm sharing two one-layer cards today - one I like better than the other.  Let's take a look at the better one first:

It is based on the sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge:

I've used one stamp set, sorry I can't find the name, but it is a clear stamp set by Hero Arts that was designed for Operation Write Home.  I've used the three stars and the sentiment in the set.  I like the stars in blues and greens and there are a total of 5 colors.  They are all Color Box chalk inks:  Ice Blue, French Blue, Prussian Blue, Lime Pastel and Olive Pastel.  At first I thought I might overlap the stars so chalk inks will be nice but did the stars overlap?  Oh well, I still like the color combo.

I have seen many cards that say "I think my lucky stars for you" and am totally in love with this sentiment.  Glad that I found this stamp set and can make a card from it.  You know, masculine thank you cards are not always easy to make.

I'm linking up this card to:
Atlantic Heart Sketch challenge - see sketch above
Catch the bug challenge - Anything Goes
All sorts challenge - Anything Goes
Avenue 613 challenge - Anything Goes
Challenges for everybody - Anything Goes
One-Layer Simplicity Challenge - whatever we need in stock

Now onto the one-layer card that I don't like as much.  It is just so plain:

Super simple, right?

Just like many other cards I have made, this one evolved to be quite different.  I got a new background stamp that I wished to ink up in different colors but after a couple of epic fail I gave up and came back to this Envelope pattern background stamp.  I masked off the label with masking tape while I stamped the background image, then peeled it off, inked up the label stamp in bright pink and the sentiment in navy blue.  With just a little baker's twine, the card is done.

The part that took me quite a while was to center the label.  Some simple math was involved but the placement was difficult.  The sticky mask has in fact lost its tackiness after I've moved it a gazillion times. 

I had actually finished this card before the one with the stars.  The blog post was accidentally saved rather than published so I thought, why not make another one that I like better?  Then the star card was born.

The new one-layer card challenge will run for almost a month.  I can't wait to make more one-layer cards when I recover from this nasty cold.  One-layer cards may appear to be simple but I often struggle with them.  This challenge provides an excellent opportunity for me to practice!

Thanks for stopping by!

Leaves

I am excited to play another OLW challenge.  One layered cards may seem easy and quick but I like it as a way to challenge my craftsmanship.  When stamping is the major focus, any tiny imperfection is amplified.  Yet, when I first saw the theme of this OLW challenge I was a bit disappointed.  Leaves. Boy oh boy, can we start Christmas cards yet?  My mind has already gone to the Christmas land so when the theme is about leaves, I thought I wasn't going to play along as I have enough fall cards.

Then I came across the card made by Cheryl, one of the hostesses of OLW.  She has made a Christmas card!  That's right, there are so many kinds of leaves and who says that it has to be a fall card?  If I am ahead of the game, I could probably use a clover to make a St. Patrick's Day card!  LOL.

Interestingly I found my forgotten stamp set Petals & Stems from Avery Elle and at first glance I couldn't imagine using it on Christmas cards but hey, after adding the berries (or designed as dots, fillers, whatever) it worked!

Finally a Christmas sentiment was stamped in brown and a Christmas card was born.  I like it.  A lot.

I have read quite a bit about the Memento Luxe Pigment Ink Pad online and I took the splurge and bought four of them.  Two of them, Pistachio and Rose Bud, were used on my card.  I am normally not a huge fan of pigment inks as I am so tired of cleaning my stamps but this pigment ink takes no effort to clean off.  I also like that it dries fairly quickly.  Both the green and the red stain my stamps but I do not mind that at all.  More colors of this Pigment Ink will go on my Christmas wish list.  :)  The brown color is the Ranger Coffee Archival Ink.  It is a beautiful brown but comparatively it took me a lot more time and effort to clean the stamp.  Having said that, it's worth it.  I love this card.

I have a disease that I tend to forget my new goodies but I'm glad that I've played with three for this card.  If you have new goodies that need some love, break them open and enjoy them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Using my pins?

Do you pin?  How many boards do you have?

I learned that Pinterest is a lot of fun but at the same time a total time burner so I have been avoiding it.  You see I have the Pin button on my blog but I rarely pin.  Sometimes my computer is so slow that it takes longer than what my frustration allows to load my pins.  Before I start pinning, I am ready to close all my windows.  I can't help but wonder how I can use Pinterest to improve my life if I don't have to patience for it to load my pins.    Call me outdated.  Call me backward.  I will gracefully accept that.

I started my blog in part to have a craft diary.  I was asked if I would make a duplicate of the cards I make, no, because I normally take a picture of my card, write a post about it, then won't feel bad when the day I have to part with it comes.  However, when the number of my blog posts grows, it is becoming difficult to look for my past creations.  That's when I started pinning.  I pin my own cards.  Pinterest thus serves as my "back-up craft diary."  I also started other boards to pin others' cards and creations, but I stumbled upon how to organize the pins and thought I should keep the collection manageable until I know how I want to organize them.  I really wish there were "sub-boards" within boards.  For instance I  wish I could have a board for all my cards then within this board I could have a Christmas sub-board, a Birthday sub-board, etc.  Am I brain-washed by the way I organize my files in my PC so I want to do it the same way on Pinterest? 

Susan from OLW asked that we use our pins as an inspiration to create a one layer card.  She generously offered to share her boards as inspiration.  Wow.  I took a cursory look at her Pure Inspiration board and her Cards board and found her pins awesome.  I love those cards that have such a clean look but the white space is so powerful that your eyes tend to fix on it.  Amazing.

So I was inspired by the white space of her cards and I decided to make one like that.  How to make it interesting?  Colors.  But color coordination is never my forte so I looked at some color challenges to see what others are doing.  Halloween colors?  Good, I just can't go wrong with that.  I used the palette from Fab Friday Challenge:

Then I found this sketch from CAS(E) this sketch:

My card is basically a combination of the card sketch and the color combo:

No, this card is not going to a kid.  I figured that I have no Halloween decoration in my office so I'll place some random décor and cards in the office.  I should have made all my Halloween cards for the kids this year, but will make a couple extra just in case a friend asks me to lend him/her a card.

My card is also entering the following challenges:
Crafty Calendar - Halloween
Hiding in my craft room - Halloween colors
Moving along with the Times - Anything Goes
Sarah Hurley - Halloween
Craftin' Boutique Challenges - Halloween

Thanks for stopping by!

Another color combo

I am challenging myself with another color combo today!

The color combo is one that I would have never thought of myself - Aqua, Green and Orange from CAS-ual Fridays:

My card only uses the colors above, plus white in the Close to My Heart palette - Sky, Lagoon and Goldrush.  They are the closest colors I can find in the palette.

These bright colors are really bold and vibrant so I would put them on a birthday card.  Then I thought the arrows are so on trend right now, why not give them a try?  Oh the mini-starbursts?  Don't they deserve the spot to show the explosion of happiness in bright orange?

My card also enters the challenge at The Paper Players' One Layer card challenge:

and OLW at Maskerade - Lunatic Fringe. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Can it be simpler?

A simple card.
It's a one-layer card.
It has one image.
It has one sentiment.
That's it.

Simple, isn't it?

Unfortunately the picture is not doing justice here.  I've used a couple of distress inks on the leaf but the layering is not too obvious in the picture.  I hope you could at least see the bright middle part on the leaf - that's the area where the lightest yellow was used, then the closer it gets to the edge, the darker it becomes.  Use your imagination if the picture isn't clear!  In real person it is pretty cool.  I thought about hand-drawing some veins but I worry that it will ruin the contrast so I'm leaving it like this.

The sentiment was embossed in gold, accompanying the lonely leaf.

Simplicity is kicking off the 2013 Gratitude campaign and it reminds me that while I should catch up on Christmas cards, I should also carve out time for Thanksgiving cards.  After all, we cardmakers want to show how we care about others, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Wishes

The Christmas in July challenges remind me that I should start making my Christmas cards early!  Last year I started in the summer and it absolutely helped during the crazily chaotic holiday season.  I like that I was able to grab a card from my stash whenever I needed one.  It was so convenient.  In addition, I love Christmas and starting making the cards early appears to be extending the celebration. 

I've made a simple one-layer Christmas card for today's post:

I like that this card gave me an opportunity to color!  How fun!  I went with the most "childish" way of coloring - using color pencils.  There is a long way before I can master coloring with markers or otherwise, but that does not deter me from coloring.  I've played safe with color pencils and I think it's not bad!

This card is entering the following challenges:

1.  Heart 2 Heart challenges - masking (I've used both the positive and the negative from the cut to create the border, fun technique and I'll be using it more often!

2.  OLW - Christmas sparkles

3.  Addicted to Stamps and More - Make your mark

4.  Merry Monday - Anything Goes



Repeat After Me

"Repeat After Me" is the theme of this week's OLW challenge.  Such a cute name!  Karen is challenging us to create a repeat background using the same stamp.

When I first saw it I had a million ideas and thought that it was not a big challenge.  I was wrong.  When I started to think the stamp would be good for a background my mind went blank.  I saw the stamp set from Hero Arts on my desk, in which the arrow image has never seen ink, so I decided to give it a try:

It is fun to make this card.  I learned that because one layer card lacks dimension, color plays an important part to make it interesting.  So I have the sentiment in black and the arrows in various colors, and of course, the arrows do draw our attention to the sentiment itself.

I think I could use this idea for something else, let me try and share with you later.

Thanks for stopping by!

White-pigment-ink-phobia

I have white-pigment-ink-phobia.  There is no cure for me.

People have told me a million times that white pigment ink is a "must-have", a "go-to" for various techniques and they made beautiful artwork with it.  I tried those techniques and I tried to cure my phobia but I'm afraid I have yet overcome my fear for it.

Between finishing up the inking and completion of this card, I have probably washed my hands for 10 times.  No kidding, 10 times.  It is actually my nth attempt to get the stamping straight but after the success, I worried so much that my inky fingers would mess up the pattern so I kept on washing my hands. I'm not sure what I've done wrong with white pigment inks, but even after multiple heat setting sessions, I think the ink was still not completely dry. If you have tips about pigment ink, please share!

See the front of the card is warped as a result of heat?  I hope it will flatten out later.

Even though I have yet overcome my White-pigment-ink-phobia, I am a step closer to overcoming it.  This card does turn out quite lovely.  For me it is quite a challenge to make a Thank You card for a man but I think the recipient will like it (and the chocolate bar next to it).

This card is entering the challenges below:
1.  OWL - 3x3 card
2.  Simply Less is More - Colored cardstock, one layered card.
3.  Just Us Girls - White Ink

Thanks for stopping by!

Another CAS Thank You card

OLW challenges us to use a geometic shape repeatedly on a card. It does not sound like the most challenging rule but, try it out and you may change your mind!

I first started thinking about what a geometic shape is.  I would really love to use hexagons but my stamp set has not arrived, so I've settled on circles.  I wasn't really sure whether a circle is a geometic shape as I think I took another class that focused on circles, eclipse and parabolas...........  Alright.  Let's forget about classes and focus on the fun!

So the result of the fun looks like this:

I've only used two stamps for this card - the circle and the sentiment.  I have used 6 colors for the circles and black for the sentiment.  The sentiment in black stands out quite nicely in the colorful circles.   

Yup.  This card will go to my other co-worker who works in a different office.  I've never met them and I doubt that I will.  Every time when there is someone who travels between the offices we will exchange a card and a small gift.  It means a lot to me and I must show them how I appreciate that. 

Thanks for stopping by!

A Rainbow

Just want to share a super CAS card today.  I stamped the sentiment "Happy Birthday" in Archival Black ink, then used watercolor pencils to create the rainbow behind it.  Finally, I used a waterbrush to blend the colors and added some blings to finish it.

It is not only CAS, but also QAE - quick and easy for me.

This card is entering the challenge at OLW - Centered Sentiment, and CAS on Sunday - Happy Birthday.

Thanks for stopping by!

All in a Row

This week's OLW is hosted by Karen and she challenges us to make a card with a row of anything.  Sounds simple to you?  Not to me.

I've finally settled on a birthday card that I played with colors:

I like this gradient stamping technique a lot, where you ink up your stamp on different ink pads to create your own color.  It looks like a lot of ink pads are involved, but the truth is that I've used six:

Sunset, Creme Brulee, Blush, Pear, Twilight and Lagoon from the Close to My Heart palette.  Oh of course, black as well.

It is fun to play with colors and I look forward to experiment with other ones.

Thanks for stopping by!

Colorful music

Finally, I can use this stamp set with colors more than just black and white and I'm so excited about it!

I have had this set A Melody for quite a while but every time I used it the card ended up a rather boring combination of black and white.  I wanted to use this to make a card for my piano teacher friend but the card almost always went to my trash bin.

I've learned to use baby wipes as the platform to absorb reinkers to become a DIY inkpad so I was just going to give it a try.  It looks really nice!  I wish I had more reinkers so the effect could be even more dramatic:

But now I am happy with this card for my piano teacher friend.

It is  entering the challenge at Less is More, asking us to make a one layer card with some music on it.  It is also entering the challenge at OLW - asking us to use a color that has been neglected.  For me, this rainbow color combo rarely shows up on my cards!

The colors I've used are Cranberry, Creme Brulee, Sorbet, Juniper, Twilight and Pacifica, all from Close to My Heart.  Even though it is not exactly a rainbow color combo, it gives me a good opportunity to try it out so when I have collected all the rainbow colors I know exactly what to do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Your Perfect Day!

I'm still in the catching up mode.  Class 2's homework is to make a one layer card and Class 3 is to apply a new technique.

I've learned this technique called Gradient Stamping and immediately fell in love with it!  I am using ink pads from Close to My Heart so I had to spend quite some time to figure out the colors to use, and how to achieve the effect as the instructor did. 

Eventually I've picked Blush, Creme Brulee and Sunset to achieve this effect.  Then I'm making a one layer card for Class 2's homework and OLW's challenge.  See the "HAPPY"s in different colors here:

Honestly I just picked up a stamp from an old set to try it out, but using it for a birthday card appears to make sense so I continued to work it up for this card.

Ardyth has made a stunning one layer card for her challenge - Your Perfect Day.  You really want to check it out.  Her card describes the perfect day for every one!  Don't you agree that those are the elements of a perfect day? 

Well, when I was making this card, I can't help thinking about the good time I had on my birthday this year.  I then naturally made this birthday card with the gradient stamping technique.  Certainly, TODAY is my perfect day, as I finally grasp the technique well enough to make a card.  I'm so excited!

Thanks for stopping by!

Doodling?

I rarely doodle.  In fact, when I was in school I hated those uncivilized readers who doodled on every page of a book that does not belong to them.

OLW asks that we add doodling to our project.  Tough.  Let me give it a try:

The doodling is the butterfly trail.  It's just a little, but trust me, this little trail represents a big step to me as I never doodle. Challenge accomplished and perhaps I'll try some more doodling in the future.  Honestly when I see others use gel pen or marker to doodle my eyes are filled with envy as it appears to be something I could never do. 

The butterfly was made in two steps.  First I cut out the butterfly outline and put it on top of the card, sponged it in yellow, then I cut out its layer and put it on top of the sponged butterfly and sponged further in pink.  Lastly I used some markers to outline those areas to define the butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Keep Warm

OLW's theme is Keep Warm and I can totally relate to this as I am fighting a bad cold.  At one point I thought I was getting better but I guess I was wrong.  While I am at home, the heater is cranked up high and I have extra layers of blankets, just in case.

I've used this stamp set that says "You Warm My Heart" for the challenge.  To give it a little interest, I've used Liquid Applique to mimic the layer of foam.  It is three dimensional and is pretty cute in person.  I like it!

Thanks for stopping by!  Stay warm and stay away from germs!

I {HEART} YOU

I {HEART} YOU, said a little owl.

I love owls, especially when they are on a stamp.  They are simply irresistible.

I whipped up a quick little card for two challenges: OLW - Hearts and Color Dare #25 Ruby and Indian Corn Blue.  This card took me about five minutes from cultivating idea to finishing the end product, which is something I love!  Imagine you need a card for everyone in the class.  This will be my go-to card:

Perhaps I'll change it to "let's be friends" for the classmates.  I think either one looks good!

Thanks for stopping by!

Guilty?

Don't get me started to describe how I got to my craft area.  I was unpacking my luggage then........

this card was made:

This card is entering the challenge at OLW - asking us to create a project that represents what we do on a snowy day.  Stamping, I guess?

This is also entering the challenge at Heart 2 Heart Challenges - Snow much fun!

Gotta go back to where I was at......unpacking.

One Layer Thank You card

OLW is challenging us to use blue and silver.  I immediately thought of "CAS-ing" myself - using blue cardstock and silver snowflakes.  However I think that the reason I wanted to take part in a challenge is to challenge myself.  CAS-ing myself does not constitute a challenge.

Thus I thought about what I could do and I decided to use Outdoor Denim as the card base and make a card with silver embossing.

Outdoor Denim is a very dark blue, and I bet you think it is dark when you see it in the picture, but trust me, it is blue.  I stamped the flourish twice and then the sentiment in the middle.  It looked a bit plain to me so I colored the rhinestones in blue and put some of them in the flourish.  Easy-peasy.

The card looks quite elegant in person and I probably should make a couple of these to stock up my Thank You cards.

Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!

Let it Snow

A quick post to share a one-layer card that I made.

I made it with Sky cardstock as its base, then snowflakes were stamped randomly on the cardstock in VersaMark, and of course the snowflakes were then heat embossed with White powder.  The sentiment was added at the very bottom for the recipient to sing along "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."  To add some interest, I've used the silver glitz glitter gel to add some shimmer on the tips of the snowflakes.

This card is made to enter the challenge at OLW - Snowflakes.  Please check out what other participants have made and be inspired!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.........