Clean and Simple

Hello my blogger Friends! Thanks for dropping by on the start of another weekend. Wow, I am really on a roll cranking out cards in a quick hurry the last two days. I made this beauty in oh I'd say 30 minutes. Can you believe that! I amazed even myself. OK I guess it helped that I already had the flower made and the background but really it all came together like it was meant to be. To bad that doesn't happen more often. Enough of my babbling and on to my card:

 

When I saw this sketch today over at Clean and Simple Stamping:

I knew that it was perfect to use with the Double Background that I had made for Papertrey Inks Make it Monday Challenge.

This flower was made by punching several layers of two flower shapes from an old dictionary and inking each one with distress ink. I put a small glittery flower in the center.

The sentiment is from Verve and I embellished it a bit with three tiny gemstones. It is stamped in Worn Lipstick distress ink.

I tried to get a close up of the double background so you can see the watercolor effect from spritzing the inked stamp with water before stamping. If you click on the photo you will be able to see the effect better.
It has been quite a while since I have played at Clean and Simple but maybe I should play more often if it means I can whip out a cards in thirty minutes or so. ;)

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Teresa

Viva La Verve Week 3&5

Last night I went to check when the time was up to submit my last card for the Viva La Verve Sketch challenge and found out there were 5 sketches for this month. Ugh! I was already struggling to get 4 done. So I thought I'll try to get them both done. I really liked week 5 sketch so I tried to start it last night but I think I was too tired and my mojo was already asleep. I went to bed knowing I couldn't do it this month. But as I lay in bed my mojo must have returned because I had the idea for sketch 5 come to me.
First thing this morning I whipped out my card for week 5 in only an hour. Now I know that may sound like a long time for some of you to make a card but that is quick for me. It can take me all day for some. LOL!
Here is my first card Viva La Verve Sketch Challenge week 5:

I loved this sketch and think it turned out a very nice card. 

 Here is the Week 5 sketch. Fun isn't it!

 I used lace ribbon for the row of banners at the bottom of the strip and embossed all the plain cardstock with embossing folders.

 The stamped image is from Inkadinkado and is stamped with Walnut Stain distress ink on white cardstock that I had inked with Peacock Feathers and spritzed with water. I then inked the edges with Walnut Stain. The top border strip is a technique I learned on Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday video Double Backgrounds and will be entering this card there too.

 I stamped the more solid background first in a lighter color (Spun Sugar) and spritzed it with water for more of a watercolor look. Then I stamped the script stamp in the darker color (Worn Lipstick). I did this in browns for my card instead of pink.

The circle with the Papertrey Ink sentiment is white cardstock with the edges inked with Walnut Stain and the sentiment too. It is backed with pattern cardstock from DCWV Linen Closet as is the card base.
Since this card went so quickly I thought I might just be able to squeeze out a second card today. But it didn't go quite as fast as the sketch for week 3 was a bit challenging for me so I had to really do some figuring to get it to come out.

 I really like how it turned out. It's not perfect but I was pleased with it.

 

 And this is the sketch for week 3. I left it for the last since I was clueless on what I was going to do with it.

 The butterfly stamp is from Papertrey Ink as is the sentiments. The "today and everyday" is only the bottom part of the sentiment. It actually says "Celebrate today and every day." It is stamped in Walnut Stain and so is "Smile" The butterflies are stamped in Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Stormy Sky distress inks onto watercolor paper. Before I stamped each butterfly I spritzed the inked stamp with water and overlapped each butterfly.

 I used a leftover piece from the Double Background and used it as the banner. I used Tea Dye and Walnut Stain on it. The solid cardstock is also Tea Dye and the blue gingham cardstock is from DCWV.  I stamped the border on the right side of the card using a border stamp and Walnut Stain ink and added a lace bow.

Well, I feel like I accomplished a lot to day getting two cards done, laundry and gardening. Now my husband is taking me out for dinner! Yeah!

Thanks so much for dropping by and I always appreciate your kind comments. Have a great evening!

Teresa

It's A Circus & A Sweet Sunday Sketch

I had so much fun making the card I am sharing today. It has a circus theme with tickets, balloons, banners and bright colors.

Over at The Twinery they have a new challenge: It's A Circus- The Twinery Theme Challenge

After seeing the creations of The Twinery's Designers I really wanted to create something for the challenge. But then I realized I had nothing with a circus theme so how in the world could I create a card without circus themed stamps or papers. I almost gave up the thought until I saw the Sweet Sunday Sketch #188.

When I saw the large scalloped border it reminded me of the circus tents and that got my circus mojo going and I started gathering stamps from several different sets and went to work.

I used the party hat from a Hero Arts birthday set and colored the circles with bright colors then covered the colored circles with Glossy Accents

 I ran red and white baker's twine from the Twinery along the top edge of the card then stamped banners in Mowed Lawn, Broken China, Fired Brick distress ink and Sunflower Yellow Memento Ink then hand cut them out. The banner toppers were die cut with a Papertrey Ink die before I glued them to the baker's twine.

 The ticket is stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and Fired Brick on  paper that is from DCWV Matstack Citrus. The ticket stamps are from Papertrey Ink. The three green dots are Glitter Epoxy Dot Stickers from Kathy Davis Designs

 The Happy Birthday balloons are Hero Arts stamped on cardstock with Versamark WaterMark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I used more baker's twine for the balloons strings and bows.

 I used a red Glaze Pen to do pen stitching around the white cardstock to add shine and dimension. I added a blue punched star with and a small blue Glittered Epoxy dot to the middle of the star. The large scalloped border is from a Papertrey Ink die. I masked off three of the scallops and colored them red with Barn Door distress marker. I then found ribbon with bright colored stars and wrapped that around a green cardstock border and outlined the star ribbon with green and white Twinery baker's twine and then layered it over the large red and white scalloped border.

I had so much fun making the card that I went all out on the envelope using the same colors and elements that were on the card.

I am also entering this card and envelope in the Make it Monday Card and Envelope Challenge. You need to make a matching envelope for your card.

Whew, I think I covered everything!

Thanks for looking!

Teresa