Keepin' it Simple

Today's card is for two different challenges- ColourQ and a new challenge for me, Retrosketches. I decided to do two things with this card; first, to go for another clean and simple design and two, to use scoring on the card, my new favorite technique.
Here are the Colour Q colors-

And here is the card-

 The card base is Daffodil Delight and Whisper White.  The white has a strip on it which is scored from top to bottom with the Simply Scored tool.  The flower is Melon Mambo Patterns dsp and is made with the Blossoms punch.  The center of the flower is stamped with the Mixed Bunch stamp in Daffodil Delight and sponged in Barely Banana then punched with a 1" circle punch and popped up on a dimensional.  The greenery is Certainly Celery and is made with the Fancy Flourish Cheery Lynn die.  The butterflies are in Tempting Turquoise and made with the Beautiful Wings embosslit.  Lastly,  the tag is stamped in Basic gray with a sentiment from the Tiny Tags set and punched with the jewelry tag punch.  All items are Stampin' Up unless otherwise mentioned.
This is a very springy card but without a lot of fuss.  I hope you like it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and, as always, your comments are greatly appreciated!
 Have a blessed day!    

Clean and Simple as Cake

Today's Clean and Simple challenge over at SCS is to use the inspirational picture, seen below-

     I am really beginning to enjoy these inspiration challenges- they really help in thinking outside the box.  And...they are helping me create clean and simple cards which I have not had much success at.

This card is made with Whisper White paper, the stamp sets Trendy Trees and Party this Way, as well as Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder, Certainly Celery and Pretty in Pink ink.  I also used the Simply Scored tool (LOVING it) to simulate the cupcake liners.  The card is finished off with a white organza bow and the front panel is popped up on dimensionals.  
Thanks for stopping by; I hope you found my card inspiring.  As always, your comments are greatly appreciated!

Lee Ann                    

Quick CASE

I made a quick card this morning for OWH's sketch this week.  Also, at SCS the Featured Stamper Challenge is to CASE ourselves.  So, I CASed a card I made yesterday, using this OWH sketch-

I turned the sketch and made this card-

I really like how this turned out and I am loving the combination of River Rock and black.  I used the Stampin' Up stripes embossing on the lower portion of the card, scored two lines with the Simply Scored tool dividing the upper and lower portion of the card, cut the frame and the sentiment panel with a spellbinder and stamped the sentiment with a retired Stampin' Up set, All Year Cheer. 

Well, I am off to a bead and gem show with a friend to enjoy our last day of spring break.  Have a wonderful, blessed Sunday and thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Lee Ann

New Technique

I had a great time at a Stampin' Up workshop last night, teaching new techniques to the girls.  We did the Rock and Roll technique as well as Thumping.  They also learned how to make a longer jewelry tag out of the jewelry tag punch.  For review of this technique, see this tutorial.
 Today I played along in the Inspiration Challenge at SCS and combined that with trying a new technique myself.  I was inspired by Karen, one of the stampers at SCS to try watercoloring with markers, although in my card, I did not ink up the stamp with markers.  I used a regular stamp pad and then sprayed the inked image with a light water mist.  After misting, I stamped my image.  For my overall card design, I was inspired by this image- 

to make this card-

 Ingredients for this card include:

Stamps- All Year Cheer, Fresh Vintage, Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Paper- Night of Navy, Naturals White, Crumb Cake

Ink- Night of Navy, White, Crumb Cake, Versamark

Other- Scallop punch, Circle punch, dimensionals, misting bottle

I also threw together a quick card yesterday using the Button Buddies set.  I was stumped on how to use the pig stamp in this cute set, until I decided to pair it with this sentiment from Word Play.  A perfect card to send someone who is ill or feeling down, don't you think?  I hope it puts a smile on my friend's face!

Besides the stamp sets mentioned, I also used-

Paper- Brocade Blue, Confetti, Whisper White, black, Poppy Parade, Summer Sun, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Glorious Green, Pumpkin Pie

Ink- Regal Rose, Black

Other- Button, Simply Scored, Word Window punch

Hope you are inspired by these cards.  Happy stamping!  

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and thank you for your comments.  They are much appreciated!

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So, I had so much fun trying the first Inspiration Challenge card (blue and white above) that I decided to give it another try.  This next one seems to be a bit odd, but it caught my eye and, more importantly, provided inspiration for a masculine graduation card.  Here is the inspiration-

...and here is the card that came from this inspirational piece-

As you can see, this card is just words, so making a card without an image is very doable (Kathy, I am talking to you)!  This card uses the Word Play stamp set, River Rock paper, Black ink, the Simply Scored tool, dimensionals and a spellbinder die.  This will make a great graduation card for a friend's son.
Thanks for stopping by!  Have a blessed day!

Lee Ann

Picture of Spring

Are you loving the fact that it is officially spring?  I know I am!  The challenge at Stampin' Sisters in Christ is to show something related to the new season.  I think the unofficial first sign of spring is the robin so what better image to use than that?  Even though it was not a harsh winter here, it was wonderful to see the robins back, ushering in the new season. 

I used Stampin' Up's Inspired by Nature and Nature Walk stamp sets for this card.

Other Ingredients for this card include:

Paper- Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Glorious Green, Naturals White, and Soft Sky

Ink- Lucky Limeade, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Basic Gray, Sun Yellow, Pumpkin Pie, Close to Cocoa

Other- Linen Thread, Bright Buttons, Little Leaves die, Dimensionals, aqua painter

The robin was stamped and the masked; the grass was then stamped.  The scripture verse is Our Daily Bread designs.  

Thanks so much for visiting my blog.  Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!  Blessings-

Lee Ann

Razzleberry Blues

I have been busy doing much neglected chores around the house and finally took time out to craft.  This card is for the sketch challenge at Stampin' Queen's Sketch Challenge as well as the color challenge at ColourQ.  I hope it is OK that I used some yellow for the candle flames!

I had fun cutting out a candle border for this card.  I stamped the candles in Tempting Turquoise, Wisteria, and Cool Caribbean on Whisper White and then cut approximately the top one third of the images out.  Other ingredients include:

Stamps- Party This Way, Happiest Birthday Wishes

Paper- Whisper White, Cool Caribbean, Patterns dsp (razzleberry), Wisteria, Daffodil Delight

Other- Blossom punch, small scallop circle punch, perfect polka dots ef, dimensionals

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!  As always, your comments are very much appreciated-

Lee Ann

Glorious Spring

Even though technically it is still winter, I got to enjoy early spring in St Louis with a friend.  We soaked up the sun and the flowers at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  Bear with me as I share just a few pictures of the most incredible floral display I have seen in a long time!