Clear and Simple Apothecary Sweets and...

Clear and Simple Stamps ran a contest and I won Apothecary Sweets, which was on my wishlist.  Seriously, my dream wish list for CSS runs to about $500.   Hmm...not going to happen. 

Clear and Simple makes the perfect stamps and dies to coordinate with gifts and food -- two of my favorite things, and items that go well with papercrafting.

I made these two cards with the set and then thought long and hard about the hobby, a hobby I still love.

First the cards --

 

The sentiments are from Technique Tuesday and WPlus9.  

 

MOOD WHEN DONE =  Decisive

I'm tired of only making greeting cards.

I'm

 

I'll be back ...

Redesigned Blog

Redesigned Use of Stamps and Dies and Ink

Casology Week 125: Silver

Love this set and pulled it out for a non-Chrismas holiday card.  There are silver snowflakes and a general pale gray silvery look, and therefore, fits the Casology Silver theme this week. 
 

Can you see those very pale gray snowflakes on the sentiment strip?  They are there, I promise, stamped with a very pale My Favorite Things Grout Gray.

That's Memories Unicorn white ink and Memento Nautical Blue.  The "snow" is a Simon Says Stamp stencil with Hero Arts ink dauber....

Noticed that Clear and Simple stamps has a new website.  They haven't released stamps in ages and I'm hoping they get back into production next year as I love the company's look.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Happy!
HUSBAND'S COMMENT = Trendy  (what???)

Red v Pink

More Simon Says Stamp #stamptember fun.

The red card is festive -- black and white twine and some gold spatters add to the pop of color.  Hard to see, but the right and bottom edge of the white panel has a bit of the Hero Arts Neon green ink that I used to stamp the leaves.

And, then, I went softer:

The pink is nontraditional for Christmas, but close enough to red to be "in the zone." Again, the right and bottom edges are inked with a dark green ink.

Both cards use a holly and berry images from a Clear and Simple set and a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp Peace on Earth, which I believe will be sold starting in September.

Color makes such a difference!    I like them both, although they evoke very different feelings.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Joyful

Floral Thanks

Love this Curly Label set from Clear and Simple Stamps -- makes a nice little background. 



MOOD WHEN DONE:  No complaints!


Supplies:

Stamps:  Clear and Simple Build a Flower and Curly Label
Paper:  Neenah Solar White (the better to hand cut)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo, Mama Elephant Sunshine, Versamagic Tea Leaves, Hero Arts Cantaloupe
Other:  detail scissors, Glossy Accents, adhesive, paper trimmer, sleep

Happy Thoughts

Love this sentiment, from Clear and Simple Stamps Build a Flower.   Everyone needs happy thoughts and the recipient of this card could use a lift.

I needed a lot of happy thoughts during the years of taking care of my Mom and I haven't forgotten the folks who sent me (or my Mom) cards to lift our spirits.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Clear and Simple Stamps Build A Flower (sentiment) and Butterfly Garden.  Stampin Up Tape It.  
Ink:  Hero Arts Tide Pool and Stampin Up lilac marker (outlined the butterflies with the marker) and Ranger Archival Black
Cardstock:  Stampin Up Pool Party and Neenah Solar White
Other:  Gold Marker, Micron Black pen, adhesive, paper trimmer, President's Day so I had time to stamp

MOOD WHEN DONE = Floaty

White on Ivory

White on cream is elegant, but difficult to photograph.  This close up photo is a bit washed out to highlight the white tree.

Stamped the trees in Hero Arts Unicorn, a white pigment ink, on cream card stock, and let it dry.  I stamped the sentiment in brown over the tree and colored in a bit with a marker, as the white ink washed out the "s" in thanks.

I have a thing for flat note cards....and always use the heaviest card stock I have on hand, particularly when it is a one layer note card.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Serene

Supplies:

Stamps:  Clear and Simple Winter Woodlands and Stampin Up Thank You Always
Ink:  Hero Arts Unicorn, Versamagic Jumbo Java, and Stampin Up marker
Paper:  ??
Other:  We R Memory Keepers Corner Rounder

Merry Christmas

To those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope your holiday is filled with peace, happiness, and good health.  If your family isn't the Norman Rockwell version of Christmas, then I wish you strength and patience --  and also peace, happiness and good health!

This was the last Christmas card I made for this year -- cut the "joy" with my Silhouette using Stampin Up's gold foil paper.  Hard to see, but there are some white embossed snow flakes under the sentiment. Here's a close up.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Pensive

Snow Boy

Love this little boy.

MOOD WHEN DONE = It is 4:20 am, I've been up for 2 hours and about to go on the treadmill.  I possibly need a nap.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Clear and Simple Stamps Winter Woodlands
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Amuse and Neenah Solar White
Other:  Paper Source Embossing Powder, Red Copic (to draw in scarf), glue, paper trimmer, embossing buddy, heat gun, time to commute to work to earn the $$ to buy this stuff....

Named Note Cards

I pretty much want $7000 worth of Clear and Simple stamps.  However, since that seems a tad excessive, I settled for a couple of sets, including Writer's Desk.

I had a million ideas on how to use this set when I bought it, but this idea was not one of them. However, these old typewriter letters just begged to be used.  Rather than make an envelope liner, I added just a little message (literally) to the back of the envelope.

But wait . . .

How I Made These:

1.  Trimmed 8 panels of white cardstock -- 4 of 4.25 x 5.5 and 4 of 3.75 x 5.
2.  Using markers, stamped my name in 4 different colors on the smaller cardstock pieces, and then ran the marker along the sides of these pieces in the same color.
3.  Adhered to the larger white base.
4.  Stamped a note on the back of the envelopes using the same markers.

Tip:  I set up the letters on the block rather than try and stamp each letter one at a time.  This gives a uniform appearance when making a set of cards and eliminates the random error.  It took about 8 tries to get the letters exactly where I wanted on the block.   That's what scrap paper is for.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Pleased x 4

Supplies:

Stamps:  Clear and Simple Writer's Desk
Paper:  Neenah Solar White
Ink:  Faber-Castell Pitt Big Brush Pens
Other:  Acrylic Block, glue, paper trimmer, Paper Source envelopes