Clean and simple Christmas card

I just purchased two new sets of Amy R stamps.  I love them!  They are both Christmas sentiment sets which should come in handy over the next couple of months.
While looking at this set, I noticed that the sentiments were all slightly different lengths and wondered if I could make a Christmas tree shape from them...and here is what I have come up with. 

Stamps:  Amy R 'Big Christmas Wishes'
Twine:  Whimsy Farm Twine

Thanks for looking!

Butterfly thank you card

I made this card in about 5 minutes - got to love that!  I love yellow, it's such a happy, cheerful colour.  I wanted to stamp the sentiment in yellow also, but I was worried that it wouldn't stand out enough.  I copied the idea from this blog, Ink it up.  Their card was a one-layer card and so lovely, but I thought that my card needed a solid colour as the base.  I also made one in red, another in purple, and one more in green.  Took no time at all!

Here is my green version of the card - I made it slightly differently and had a go at stamping on a dictionary page.  I found and purchased a second-hand dictionary for $1 at a local Vinnie's store.  I thought the words would make a nice backdrop for the butterfly stamps.  I thought I was very clever and used the page that had the definition for 'thank' on it.  The word 'thank' was nicely placed down the bottom to the left of my stamped 'thanks so much' sentiment.  Ah yes, just perfect.  I thought I was very clever until I was about to take the photo and realised that the first word at the top of the card was 'tes'tis' and in the definition were words such as 'sperm' and 'scrotum'...hmmm, not so clever after all!  Oh well, let's just hope the recipient of the card does not look too closely at it!

Thanks for looking!

Mucking around with my stamps

So I have been inspired lately by all things Pinterest.  In particular I have been enjoying seeing some 'clean and simple' cards and cards with stamping on them.  I have limited stamps at home, I really must make a few more purchases because I am really loving all these cards that I am seeing.

So it is this whole 'clean and simple' thing that has got me intrigued.  I love all the cards on the clean and simple stamping blog, they are so beautiful.  I also love to look at the Less is More blog, which also has beautiful cards.  They look so simple, so quick and easy...but they're not that easy to make!  There is a real art to making a clean and simple card look so good.  It's all about the white space, the clever design, the particular choice of stamp or embellishment...anyway, this is all a big learning curve for me and I hope to improve in this area over time.  For now, I think I will stick to being inspired by the cards I love!

So here are a couple of cards that I have been making today, mucking around with ideas that I have found online and seeing how they turn out.  Some are kind of clean and simple, others not so much, but all of them were quick and easy, that's the main thing for me!

 This card was pretty easy but I'm happy with how it turned out.  This photo is a bit dark, the actual card looks nicer in person (of course!)  I simple stamped my flowers, stems, leaves and sentiment and ran the white piece of card through my cuttlebug with my swirly embossing folder.  I tied a piece of sheer ribbon around it, then attached the white piece to a slightly larger pink piece of cardstock, then stuck that to my white card base.  Voila - we have a card!
I got the idea for this card by watching a great tutorial on Stamp TV.  They used different stamps but the end result is pretty much the same.  Great tutorials on this site. A direct link to the tutorial I watched is here. 

How cute is this twine!  I just purchased five spools of twine from Whimsy Farm Twine, an Australian owned and run business.  They sell 100 metre spools of twine for $5!  Bargain!  No, I'm not paid to promote them, I found an ad for their business in a cardmaking magazine.  I just thought I'd give them a shout-out because their service was very friendly, their delivery was super fast (and postage was very reasonable), and their product is fab!  Oh yeah, and did I mention they're Australian?!!  Looking forward to using all my other coloured twine on later projects.  (Oh and they also make tri-coloured twine).

Another simple, stamped card, run through the cuttlebug and attached to a card base.  So simple.  Love this embossing folder.  This card was inspired by a card I saw on...wait for it...Pinterest!  I found the card that inspired me, but unfortunately when I clicked on the link it just took me to flicker, not to the actual card, so I don't have a link to share for the original card and I have no way of finding the original person's blog.  I can tell you though that their card had butterflies, embossing and a sentiment. 

Stamps: Basic Grey
Embossing folder:  Tim Holtz
Sentiment stamp:  Amy R Designs
Twine:  Whimsy Farm twine

Thanks for looking!

Perfect Sentiments Critter challenge

I made this cute little critter card for the Perfect Sentiments Challenge that is happening at the moment.  Their current challenge is:  Create a card with a sentiment for Christmas; include a critter somewhere on your card. We are looking for animals, bugs, mice, etc. Not humans. You can have a human on your card but, there must be evidence of a critter somewhere. For example: A little girl holding a puppy would work fine. Don't forget to include your sentiment on the front!

What a great challenge!  I am trying to build up a stash of Christmas cards this year so this was a great challenge for me.  I have admired this cute little penguin from the Create a Critter cartridge for a while now, but haven't had the chance to make him.  Isn't he adorable!

I was also chuffed to find out that my Happy Birthday to Moo card was chosen in the 'top 3' in the Perfect Sentiments challenge a couple of weeks ago.  Thanks! Our friend who received the card had a giggle when he opened it, but it was the children who thought it was hilarious!  Got to love a good pun!

The layout of this card was inspired by a card (or a sketch, I can't remember) that I saw on Pinterest.  I am busy trying to find the link now and will update this blog post when (or if) I find it.  Always so much inspiration on Pinterest!
Found it!  The link to the card that I copied is here.   Here is a direct link to her blog,  Stampin Shauna.   She has lots of beautiful cards with gorgeous stamping on them.  Definitely worth a visit to her blog if you are looking for some inspiration.  Thanks for inspiring me Shauna!

Papers:  Kaisercraft
Sentiment:  Kaisercraft
Penguin:  Create a critter cartridge

Thanks for looking!

New baby cards

My cousin is expecting a baby any moment now so I got busy and made her this pink baby card (I don't know why but I am convinced she is having another girl!)  Then I figured I better make a blue one as well, usually I guess incorrectly.

I love embossing on cards and these squares were quick and easy to emboss.  I inked over them in white ink just to make them stand out a little bit more.  I rarely make cards in pastel colours, I much prefer bright colours, but I enjoyed the change and think they look very 'babyish' and appropriate for a newborn.

I followed a sketch from the Clean and Simple blog,  I've never been to their challenge website before, so I hope that my cards are considered 'clean and simple'!  I guess it refers to not having too many embellishments or lumpy bumpy things?  Anyway, I really liked the sketch, so I rotated it and used it for these cards.  I thought I may as well enter their challenge and hopefully the cards fit the bill!  This is the sketch:

The monkey is from the Create a critter cricut cartridge.
The rose is a rolled rose MFT die.
The little rocking horse dies were purchased from my LSS.
Baby stamps are 'Amy R Designs' stamps.

Thanks for looking!

Boy robot cards

Here's a couple of little boy cards that I have made today.  The cards are 3.5 x 3.5 inches - I love this cute little size - perfect for adding to a birthday present.

Cricut cartridge:  Boys will be boys - robot and circle
Patterned Paper - Kaisercraft - Technologic - one of my favourite boyranges of papers.
Thanks for looking!