Happy Anniversary

I truly didn't mean to disappear for a week, but things have been a bit crazy around our house. Our son is off for spring break -- as is pretty much all of Texas, it seems. Our niece is attending college in Dallas so drove down along with a few friends and we're playing host parents... It's been so much fun having them around! It's definitely bringing back some fun memories (which makes me feel young and carefree) but also making me realize I have definitely crossed over to the Mom side :) Yep, I'm old and I'm OK with that!! And then there's the fact that since we pretty much live in Spring Break party central (near South Padre) every place is busy, so even my mundane tasks like grocery shopping are taking much longer. Anyway, enough with the stories and on to a card!

I made this fun monochromatic card for this month's smART-word challenge (there's still a week left for you to play along!) The images are all from the Feathered Friends sheet. I really like the solid circle and oval that come with that set, and here I decided to ink it up with a couple different brilliance inks to set the tone for the card. I overstamped the leaf outline, added a sentiment, matted, and added a bit o' bling to balance out the design. I love these colors for anniversary cards - soft and romantic but not overly feminine.

Hope you're having a great week. Things should be calming down very soon and I'll be getting inky again...

Just thinking...

I'm realizing I have yet to post several of the last batch of cards for the smARTworks DT... This darling image is from the Happy Silhouettes sheet, and I wanted to keep the card pretty simple. After I stamped the initial image onto some speckled white paper, I colored in the water and then trimmed it out - definitely easy! I wanted to layer in some dark blue paper somehow, but couldn't find anything appropriate in my stash (shocking!)... stamps to the rescue! This is actually the same paper as the rest of the card, just repeatedly inked, stamped, and smudged. I used the swirly image from the set, which provides some nice texture. I used a variety of Brilliance inks, so it shimmers nicely, too. A bit of glue and a sentiment, and it was all done - simple can be very good!

White Thanks

Well, here's the result of 3 of the challenges I wanted to participate in this week: Mercy's Tuesday Sketch, Stampin' Sisters in Christ: Thankfulness, and Color Create Challenge: White.

The main sentiment is from Impression Obsession, and it's stamped with versamagic sage - I needed 1 color with the white, and I thought this was worked pretty well. The panel underneath was embossed with a Sizzix folder, and then I made the "ruffle" with some Making Memories paper (which admittedly does have a soft print on it). I pulled out some velvet rickrack that I honestly don't even remember purchasing, but it really fit the design nicely.

I know it has a wedding vibe to it with the color scheme and all, but I can think of plenty other "thankful" times that it would work well, too!

Monochromatic Tea Party

Susan is our hostess this week, and she challenged us to go mono. I really like this look, but don't tend to do it very often. My card is made with white cardstock, a single ink (Brilliance pearlescent purple) and minimal accessories... doesn't get much more "back to basics" than that!

I started with a scrap of white cardstock (3 1/2" square), and I repeatedly stamped the floral image from the Cookie Plate Botanicals. I then went around the edge with the ink*, then adhered it to a white card base. The phrase is from Little Things - isn't that a great sentiment for a birthday? The final touch was line of pearls (Kaisercraft). I love the final result - definitely simple, but it still has a sense of richness to it.

Click over to see what Susan, Dina, Giovana, Donelda & Donna have created for this challenge. Ooh, did you notice that the list is a bit longer this week? Yep, former cookie Donna has returned to the jar :)

*Brilliance pearlescent inks are so gorgeous - fabulous coverage and a beautiful shimmer; if you haven't tried them out, then I'd highly encourage you to pick up a couple to play around with. I love the Dew Drop size, too, as it makes it easy to ink small areas of a stamp or edges as I've done here. These can be purchased from smARTworks as well as most chain craft stores.

Monochromatic Let it Snow

I have another simple card to share. Yesterday's challenge on splitcoast was to do a monochromatic design. I pulled out my Winter Days set, a Fabriano notecard, my sepia versafine ink, and went to town. Super simple layout, but I think it lets the beauty of the image really come through. I did accent the snow with some fabulous glass glitter (also available through smARTworks). The final touch was tying on some brown twistel. It's paper ribon made by Making Memories; I've had it in my stash forever, and I'm not even sure whether they make it anymore.

I'm also working on a very cool project for the Salt challenge. A little different from my normal style, but I'm really enjoying the process. Hopefully it will be ready to share by Monday!