Less is More: White Christmas

I absolutely could not pass up this week's challenge at Less is More - a white on white challenge with a Christmas theme!  Is there anything more perfect than an all-white Christmas card??

A recent favorite of mine (yes, I have a lot of favorites) is Clearly Besotted Stamps.  CBS is in the midst of its first birthday celebration.  I saw the first stamps from a year ago and fell in love with Signature Christmas but my excitement died when I realized they were in the UK and I was in the US.  I naively thought it would be a pain and very expensive to order. But then, as part of a design team, I got a free set!  I added a few other items into my order and it showed up faster and cheaper than some big-name US companies!!!  I've been back to order since.  My last order included a fun Halloween set, the Signature Christmas set that I had drooled over a year ago - PLUS a brand new Signature Additions set and DIES!!!

Since I am excited over the stamps and absolutely love white on white Christmas - it seemed like a good time to bring them all together!



The set obviously includes multiple patterns for the wreath - and also multiple patterns of ornaments and Christmas trees!  I'm not even going to put it away with my Christmas stamps yet - because I want to do each of them and I want to try color!!

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted Stamps Signature Christmas and Signature Christmas Additions
• Paper: Stampin' Up Shimmer White
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: Clearly Besotted Signature Christmas dies, Stampendous White Pearls embossing, Ranger Super Fine Detail Gold embossing, Maya Road Sparkle Gold twine

Less is More: Happy Birthday Jen!!

This week's challenge at Less is More is to do a birthday card for Jen, one of the wonderful hostesses!  I have read and admired Jen's blog, The Tiny Blue Butterfly, for years - so I definitely had to jump on this challenge!  Jen has a wonderful clean style.  One of the things that she does very, very well is to use colored card bases while still keeping it CAS.  I decided to use a kraft base and then to use one of her self-proclaimed faves: cats, fish or butterflies!

Happy Birthday Jen!!One of the dangers of reading lots of blogs in a blog reader is that you don't see the sidebar info on each blog.  In linking to Jen's blog - it was the first time that I saw she was an accountant and that making cards is her "savior"!!  I can SO relate.  I was an actuary, I'm now studying to be an accountant and there is nothing better than moving from tangled masses of black and white numbers, into a world of color and sweetness and maybe a little bling!!  Isn't it a wonderful hobby/passion that we have all stumbled into?!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Papillon Potpourri, Itty Bitty Banners
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
• Ink: Stampin Up Crushed Curry, black
• Accessories: Stampin' Up butterfly punch and banner dies, L'il Inkers stitched rectangles, My Mind's Eye twine, Ellen Hutson Iris Blue sequins

Cheer UP with Casology

There is nothing new about this card - you've definitely seen it all before because I jumped on every trend out there.   Die cut letters on a shelf, baker's twine, scallops and even sequins!  The only thing that I didn't use, that I would have used had I owned what I thought I owned(!), is a wood veneer arrow for the up part.

I am playing along with this week's CASology Cue Card: Up.  I was a little worried about whether the sentiment was obvious, so I asked my fairly clueless husband and he didn't even hesitate before he said "cheer up...but it has too much bling" (that's his usual analysis of my cards - my clean, simple, basic cards!!)  I also added a little scallop to the "shelf" because I am always inspired by the challenges at Less Is More!



I really wasn't going to jump on the sequin trend.  I had myself totally talked out of it when I realized that the stores/brands carrying the really nice sequins had each color bagged separately.  I would have had to spend $60 and owned about 5,000 sequins to get a complete collection from any of these stores - because, you know, I have to have complete collections!  I do like some of the cards that I have been seeing, so I popped into Etsy and found some collections of iridescent, metallic and satin sequins at Endless Inkabilities - just enough in a bag so that I could play along with the trend!

iPad Users: The iPad/iPod tab at the top of my page has been updated.  Mostly just removing a lot of clutter - but it's MUCH easier to use!

An Amusing Google Reader Update:Just a reminder that I defined the situation here (no, you won't lose your followers) and I gave a tutorial on Feedly here (my choice for a Google Reader replacement).
Feedly is now saying they have 3,000,000 new users.  Wow!  And the other service being used by cardmakers is bloglovin' - you can't read card blogs without seeing the button popping up.
It really makes me wonder what Google was thinking when they canned the Reader.  And I'm not the only one who thinks that.  Last week, Google announced a new note-taking tool called "Keep".  Tech bloggers and news people are warning against it.  One headline said "Google Keep just went live, and watching the media warn people about it is remarkable".  Other techie people have said it might even be better than what's already out there, but they say "fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me" - they won't use it because they had been Google Reader users and no longer trust Google.
The big flaw that Google missed is that they not only annoyed a legion of crafts and cardmakers (!), they killed something that was used loyally by techies and journalists - the same people that they need to promote their products.  One techie blogger said, "It's a public relations nightmare that I'm sure is being discussed in a dimly lit office right now."
(This all has nothing to do with cardmaking and I'm sure none of you care - but I'm currently in a marketing class - and this whole move violates Marketing 101 - so I have been following in fascination!  Thanks for listening!)

• Stamps: none!
• Paper: Papertrey Hibiscus Burst CS, Simple Stories dsp
• Ink: none!
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Headline Alphabet and Get to the Point dies, Trendy Twine Tinkled Pink, Stampin' Up scallop border, sequins from Endless Inkabilities

One Layer Spots and Stripes

It was the easiest of cards...

It was the hardest of cards...

I am SO not comfortable with one-layer cards and it's one layer week at Less is More.  I am definitely a clean and simple stamper but no matter how simple my card is, I feel like I have to have just one extra layer to frame it.  I virtually always have a standard sized color then a 4 x 5 1/4 white piece on top.  That's just a little bit of a frame...and it makes me happy.  I feel like it keeps the images from falling off the card!?

But I had a great stamps for spots and stripes which was the rest of this week's LIM challenge - so I took the challenge...


(I still want a bottom black layer to frame it!!)
I also used this week's unscripted sketch.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Pillow Talk, Words to Live By
• Paper: Just white!!!
• Ink: Memento Blakc and copics
• Accessories: none!

Hold On Pain Ends - HOPE

I am so in LOVE with this sentiment from the February release at The Alley Way Stamps!!  It's so unique and it says something that is so very hard to say...

And it is just one of ten fun sentiments in the new set All About You. Check out the link above to see some more sneak peeks with this same set!!I used the sketch from Less Is More.

And the colors from Dynamic Duos.

NOTE: The darker brown really is Soft Suede.  That's one of the colors that I have the new Stampin' Up ink pads for.  I have been throwing away my old pads as I got the newer ones and I am really regretting that.  There are some blog conversations going around that the ink isn't as good with clear stamps.  I can't say I have had coverage problems with clear stamps, but even IRL this does not look like Soft Suede.  Anybody else having problems?

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps All About You (to be released Feb. 1), Trees Company
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake
• Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede and Crumb Cake
• Accessories: Memory Box Woodland Branch die, MFT scallop die, CTMH Bitty Sparklers, Stampin' Up embossing folder, white crochet thread

Splashes and Inspiration!

It's my day to re-inspire you for The Alley Way Stamps Be Inspired challenge.  The challenge was this very orange photo.

I took the vertical lines of the photo and the black and white, but I am not an orange fan (except when it comes to football - go Broncos!!!)  So I decided to play along with two "splash" of color challenges that are active this week - Simon Says Stamp and Less Is More.

I so love this cat image - it is absolutely my own cat.  My cat is black and white and his expression is just as clueless as this stamp.  Can't you just see the "duh" speech bubble above him?  And it amused to me to use a cat and fish bowl image when I was playing along with "splash" challenges.

True confession - that wonderful button/twine treatment is not my creation.  I saw this card and immediately ordered a supply of the buttons so I could do exactly the same thing!!

The layout of my card comes from this week's sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Also - the huge give-away over at The Alley Way Stamps is still going on.  There are prizes every single day!!  Be sure to click over...but be careful.  I won a prize from them just six months ago and now I am on their design team and totally hooked on the style!!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Sittin' Pretty
• Paper: black and white
• Ink: Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Ranger Glossy Accents, Martha Stewart Fine Crystal Glitter, Close To My Heart Bitty Sparklers (the bling), Papertrey Ink Orange Zest Twill Ribbon, Hobby Lobby brand black and white ribbon, Stampin' Up Embossing folder.  Whew!!  I am definitely an equal opportunity user on this card - check out all of the brands!!

LIM: Black and White plus One

Less Is More is having one of my favorite challenge types:

BLACK and WHITE 

with a touch or a splash, a hint or suggestion, a dab or a  patch of 

a colour of your choice!

Over my first cup of coffee this morning, I was reading your blogs and someone said (sorry, don't remember who), that they were two weeks behind in using supplies out of their box of new supplies.  Two weeks??!!  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  My box of new supplies-that-won't-be-put-away-until-they-are-used keeps getting bigger and bigger and BIGGER.  I've never, ever been within two weeks of using them all.

So, before I even saw the LIM challenge, I knew I was reaching into that box for this morning's card.  On the very top were heart bling, a set of Sizzix embossing folders and a new set of stamps from Verve.  Here they are...

This came together in FIVE minutes!!!
Now...continuing on my thread from yesterday...I am losing huge blocks of my time because on Monday I am a full-time college student again!!  I WILL continue making cards - but one of the things that I realized was that I simply wasn't going to have time to make and re-make until I felt they were deserving of being posted.  My new focus will be to post the card that I create - but also tell you what I would like to have re-done.  I think this could be a good learning time for all of us - a here is what works and what doesn't work feature.  For example, I don't dislike this card, but in my old life, I would have re-done it.

IF I COULD DO IT OVER...
The sentiment does not stand out enough.  I thought the fun font would give it enough interest, but it still gets lost.

This could be solved in two ways:
1. If I wanted to keep that sentiment, I could add it on a label die.
2. I could try a bigger and/or bolder sentiment.




Knowing myself well - I would imagine this feature will be a regular part of my blog posts as I can always finding something that I would do differently!

• Stamps: Verve Treasured Words
• Paper: black and white
• Ink: black
• Accessories: May Arts Gingham ribbon, Marthat Stewart butterfly punch, misc heart gem, Sizzix Vine and Garden Textured Impressions

Anniversary Wishes with a Score!!

There were two challenge that I wanted to play along with this week...

• Less Is More: Anniversary.  I have this fun Doodle Frame that I thought would be perfect for a truly CAS card.  I was thinking of my own husband when I kept this card to a little platinum embossing and one red gem - but I'm guessing he will think I went overboard.
• CASual Fridays: Even the Score.  I don't know why I don't think of using simple score lines more often.  I'm always looking for a stamp or a die cut to highlight an image or sentiment, but often a set of scored lines would do it better.  On this card, I thought the scored lines would support the frame so it wasn't left hanging.

Most importantly today, I just wanted to let all of my blog friends know that I've not made it around to comment much and probably won't until after the holidays.  I'm so sorry - but I bet you all understand.  I am still reading your blogs every day, but I often find myself scrolling through blogs in those few minutes between shopping, baking, wrapping, decorating and, quite honestly, a lot of wonderful coffee time with friends!!  Thank you for all of your inspiration!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Doodle Frames
• Paper: black and white
• Ink: black and Versamark
• Accessories: misc red gem, PSX Detail Platinum Embossing Powder

Merry Penguins in a Row!

I was wandering through Archivers this weekend - and this penguin just jumped into my cart!  I had just seen the challenge at Less Is More: One Layer All in a Row and knew that a parade of these penguins would be cute.

The drinks are frosty good!
{I like the little guy with snowballs!!}
When it came time to color, I figured green drinks would be appropriate for the season, so I used this week's colors at CAS - Colours and Sketches.

I definitely cannot say that this ended up being my my favorite card that I have done - but if I buy a stamp just to play a challenge - you darn well get to see the results!!!

• Stamps: Savvy Stamps Penguin (includes the present and the drink), Rubber Stampede sentiment
• Paper: white
• Ink: Memento black, Stampin' Up markers in Real Red, Garden Green and Lucky Limeade
• Accessories: Mark Richards Crystal Dome Stickers, Ranger Glossy Accents, misc glitter

LIM: Friendship in Pink

This week's challenge at the Less Is More challenge is "pink" which seemed perfect for a card for a very sick friend.

I've known this lady for 48 years(!) and in all of those years, I would have to say that she is the most deeply happy person that I know - even through trials that most of us could not imagine.  She is currently in hospice, yet still full of joy.  Just talking with her reminds me that I often need to look deeper than I do for the joys in my own life.  So I dug back through my stamp stash - at least a decade back - and found the perfect stamp...


The pink button is another happy find.  I saw this card and fell in love with the button treatment (you can be sure that I will be blatantly copying Danielle's total button/twine treatment on a future holiday card!).  The wonderful red chevron button comes from this Etsy shop.  It's such a fun place to browse and buy!!  Among others, I got a package of six sunburst buttons - one of which is pink and the perfect happy accent to this card!
Marching band update - my son's high school marching band made it through state quarterfinals yesterday.  This afternoon is semifinals - you need to get through semis in the top 8 to make it to finals.  His band is currently 10th in the state - so it is possible, but not likely, that they will make finals.  Keep your fingers crossed at 1:15 mountain time today!  Here he is during his six-note solo in full uniform. (He's the one that seems to be facing the wrong way!)
They are marching in the stadium at the Air Force Academy which is a gorgeous place.  However, I was wishing that the Air Force would stop the planes overhead so I could hear the bands!!!??? 

• Stamps: A Country Welcome
• Paper: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo
• Ink: black
• Accessories: A Flair for Buttons button, May Arts sheer ribbon, EK Success corner rounder

Hey! Hello! You're Special!

This is my third post today!

Click here for Dynamic Duos.

I was browsing the early pages of my stamp index - (yes, I stamp every single stamp that I buy into an index AND I do it by category...I've stopped buying sets with a variety of sentiments because it takes too long to stamp some in the birthday section, some in the thanks, etc!)  My early pages go back at least a decade - and I ran across a Hero Arts set that is perfect for a girlfriend.  She is in hospice care and I am trying to send a card a day.  There's so little that I can do - but I can try to give her a smile!

This set had three birds that I wanted to use so I was thrilled when I saw that Less is More is a sketch challenge with three squares.

I do have to say that this card has gone slightly beyond my personal definition of CAS.  I think it's just the kraft background.  I know that most CAS definitions say that "white space" is just "open space", but most of my CAS cards are white so this doesn't feel right to me.  However, I did try it with white and silhouetted birds but it just wasn't "warm" enough to send to my friend.  So I thought of the CASual Friday challenge to use kraft.  Kraft and yellow was my solution!

• Stamps: Hero Arts Tiny Bird Messages, Envelope background
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Crushed Curry
• Ink: Versamark, Colorbox Frost White (the background(
• Accessories: Zing embossing powder, Stampin' Up Crushed Curry ribbon, Derwent Inktense pencils

A Play Date with TAWS

Two of my favorites are getting together: The Alley Way Stamps is posting the Play Date Cafe!!

The colors in the Play Date inspiration seem very modern and bold to me, so I tried to step a little out of my comfort zone...a very little.  I kept a LOT of white, then used these bold colors in my little "cameo".

I originally just had the little cameo by itself in the corner and it was getting lost.  So I remembered this week's Less Is More challenge of "ovals".  I added a row of orders as a border.  I like the concept, but I should have popped them or something as it gets a little lost.

I am also entering at Simon Says Stamp: Emboss It as this card includes dry embossing and heat embossing.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Awesome Blossom
• Ink: Versamark
• Paper: Stampin' Up More Mustard, Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz
• Accessories: Creations Unlimited Teddy Bear Embossing Powder (brown), Sparkle White Detail Embossing Powder (no name on jar), misc sheer ribbon, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate Twine, Stampin' Up Oval and Scalloped oval punch, gems colored with Copics

LIM: One Layer Foliage

This is my second post today.  It's just a short

scroll down for my CASology and Stampin' Royalty card.

It's one layer week at the Less Is More challenge.  Normally, I am not great at one layer.  I love CAS cards, but one layer can be really tough!  However, I had Stampin' Up's French Foliage set out already and those leaves are so gorgeous they can stand alone on a one layer card!!


This is just an itty bitty card - I never used to make small notes, but as I am crafting more and more for my use (vs. the church cardmaking if you've followed my blog for the last few weeks!) - I think small cards to tuck into cookie trays or other small gifts would be very handy.
The slight color change on the leaf is actually some Champagne Mist shimmer paint.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up French Foliage, Blessings from Heaven
• Paper: white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint (made by Tsukineko), misc gems

Less Is More: Brown and Pink

This is my second post today.

It's brown and pink week at Less Is More!!  Love these colors because you could go bright and funky or sweet and gentle.  I am still working hard on swaps as I have an exciting weekend coming up as a friend's guest at the Stampin' Up Regional convention!!  I did want to use the new butterfly punch - so I went for a very gentle thinking of you card...


I think that I can make quite a few of these for swaps.  My swap card that I showed you yesterday had way too much going on - I got bored of die-cutting by the 5th card!!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Thoughts and Prayers
• Paper: Stampin' Up Pink Pirouette CS and dsp, Soft Suede dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Soft Suede
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Elegant Butterfly Punch, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Adorning Accents Embossing Folder and Edgelits, Pearls

New Release and Blog Hop for TAWS!!

It's the best time of the month as it is the new release at The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS)!!

This release includes three sets and each are so VERY different.  You really will want to do the entire hop to see the variety of stamps available.  (I also did a sneak peek of the fun floral set on Monday's post.)

Continuing on a football theme (check out yesterday's long story) - I used the #1 hand from TAWS Touchdown.  I have teen, tween and over-50 males in my house, so "cute" no longer works.  I pulled out a lot of kraft and masculine prints to put this together.  I don't know which of my men will receive this card, but I'm sure that someday one of them will do something worthy of being called "#1"!  (If they would just rinse their dishes, they might deserve this card!)

I had a lot of inspiration for this card.  The CAS-ual Fridays challenge made me pull out the flags - PERFECT for a set called Touchdown.  And the Less Is More 3-2-1 challenge totally guided me on the layout - 3 flags, 2 stars, 1 big #1 hand!

And now I have to share the new love of my life...little Frankie...

Frankie is part of the new set Ghoul-Friend.  It's a fun and charming set - not creepy or scary!  If you are blog hopping, I am SURE that you have seen some of the other amazing images in this set.

For this card, I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches:

And now the details on the blog hop:

Something NEW!! One person will win ALL 3 NEW SETS!! YEP!! So if you want that person to be you.. all you have to do is comment on the hop! 

Here are the ways you can win.. You can pick and choose which ones you want to do.. but the more you comment the more chances you have to win.. 

1-Comment on The Alley Way Stamps Blog

2-Comment on the DT girls blogs (below)

3-Post about it on facebook or your blog

4-Like us on Facebook
(leave a separate comment for each that you do)

 You have until Aug 30th 9:30 PM TAWS time to leave comments.

Here are the DT Blogs to visit

Alison

Annette

Arielle
Audrey
Barb
Danielle
Kim <---You Are Here
Lyndal
Tracy

I am also submitting this to the Simon Says Stamps Anything Goes challenge.

You're #1:

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Touchdown
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Classic Kraft, Stampin' Up Night of Navy and red glitter paper, My Mind's Eye Kraft Funday Happy Days 6x6 pad
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate, copics just for shadows
• Accessories: Spellbinders squares, Stampin' Up and My Favorite Things pennant dies, miscellaneous twine, star punch and star brad

Monster Crossing:

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Ghoul-Friend
• Paper: Doodlebug Design Haunted Manor and a bunch of retired Stampin' Up: Eggplant Envy, Only Orange, Going Gray
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics
• Accessories: Memory Box Graveyard Landscape, CC Designs Cutters Bats, Doodlebug Twine, Stampin' Up Adhesive Eyes

Celebrate with the Turkey!!

I absolutely love the Cover Ups set by The Alley Way stamps and this little turkey has to be at the top of my favorites!!  The little "cages" he is standing on are actually big enough to be candy wrappers for little candy bars.  I put this little turkey outside of the cages - thus the reason he is willing to celebrate!!


I LOVE square cards so I HAD to play along with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  These little 4 1/4" are so sweet and it's so easy to fill up the card!

I actually started out my square card playing with the rainbow and the heart in the Cover-Ups set, but I kept thinking about the challenge at Less Is More which is a One Layer FUR or FEATHERS card and knew it was a perfect excuse to pull out my turkey.  (This card took a little more work than it should have.  To make it one layer, I had to stamp the oval for the sign, create a mask, sponge inside and outside, poke holes for the twine, etc. - all of which make ruined the "simple" part of "clean and simple"!)

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Cover-Ups, oval from Get The Point
• Paper: white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Basic Gray (cages), Memento black and copics (turkey), Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs, Tumbled Glass and a hint of Old Paper and Barn Door on the sign
• Accessories: twine

Less Is More: Happy x3

I LOVE this week's challenge at Less Is More - "Three".  Three is such a good cardmaking number!!  Of course, they had to add a little complexity by making it a one-layer card, so I found some FUN stamps and make a happy, happy, happy card (with three little treats!)




To add interest to this simple card - I did add some glitter and gloss...

Then, because the arrow is a paper clip and is also pointing inside - I had to give it something to point at!

I also used the colors from this week's color throwdown challenge.  It is their 200th challenge!!!  They are celebrating with FIVE colors - way out of my comfort zone - but it worked perfectly for these little treats!

I hope you have a happy, happy, happy day.

Mine will be great in about THREE more hours.  Today I am beginning my stint as the temporary, full-time pianist at church since our amazing pianist of the last six years has moved on. I love giving to my church.  I love music.  But  I am a very, very, very nervous pianist and I want so badly to make it a meaningful worship service that I feel I cannot make mistakes.  And I DO make mistakes.  It's a bad combination which leads to shaky hands and utter exhaustion when it is over.  I'm hoping as the weeks go by, I will settle into this position and begin to feel the sheer joy of lifting up my music!!  Say a prayer...  (I'll be fine...but I'm writing this 15 minutes before I head to church and my nerves are starting to act up!)

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps bite size, jibber jabber, mad gab
• Paper: white
• Ink: Memento black and copics (see the side bar for my charts of Copic colors that match Stampin' Up and Papertrey Ink)
• Accessories: arrow paper clip from Hobby Lobby, Ranger Glossy Accents, Art Institute Glitter

Less Is More: Three

If you are here for the Dynamic Duos post,

it's just a short scroll away!

This week's Less Is More challenge is EASY - - "THREE" - - and there is no better number to use for cardmaking. Of course, to counteract the easy theme - it had to be ONE LAYER week.  I really do like CAS cards, but one layer is hard.  I always at least want to put one layer at the back as a frame.

I am seeing a lot of cards out there that are a stamped solid image, highlighted with Copics or other pens.  I decided to give it a try on this very simple card.  There is just a touch of darker color near the bodies of the butterfly.

You can see it a little better on this card that I rejected because the top butterfly was just too "heavy".  (For the record, I'm not in love with the first card either, but it's hard to go too wrong with the gorgeous sentiment and sweet little butterflies!)

Notice that I used THREE butterflies, THREE little blings and, I just noticed, there are THREE words in the sentiment (or maybe that's stretching it a little bit!)





My butterflies are the colors from this week's Play Date Cafe challenge

You'll have to read on to my next post which was an attempt at a card for LIM - but after I got done with it, I noticed the big bold "ONE LAYER" on their challenge!  Oops.

• Stamps: DRS Designs sentiment, PTI Beautiful Butterflies
• Paper: white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, So Saffron, black, Copics to match
• Accessories: tiny bling

Less Is More: Never Give Up!

I have reached a high point in my crafting career!

Chrissie and Mandi from Less Is More asked me to be a guest designer!!

When they asked me a few weeks ago, I wanted so badly to tell someone.  Since it was a secret, I could only tell my husband and two boys...they looked up from their manly pursuits, said "good job" and went on with their lives.  Not quite the reaction I had hoped for.  How could I explain to them how wonderful Less Is More is??

I missed the first two weeks of LIM challenges - but I was there on week three!!  It was fairly early in the life of my blog.  I would like to say that we "grew up together" - but the reality is that they came out with a bang.  From the first, they were getting hundreds of participants in their challenges.  Does everybody remember Week 33 - with 782 entrants??  It's all due to Chrissie and Mandi - they think of fun challenges, create fantastic inspiration cards and motivate us each week with their comments!  Thank you so much!

This week's challenge is to be inspired by their logo.

Happily, the light bulb came on right away - this was literally a five minute card!  The die cut floral was inspired by the flourished frame (with a hint of flower and leaves).  Then the main sentiment box edged in brown, followed by a small tan item to the right.  I had originally envisioned very lightly embossed music (because that is my favorite part of the logo), but just didn't have the right tools to do it!



The recipe is simple...a lovely Memory Box die (Honeyblossom), a graphic butterfly (Stampin' Up Papillon Potpourri and punch) and a bold sentiment (Verve Believe).
Thank you again to Chrissie and Mandi for featuring my card and for bringing us their challenges each week!

Less Is More: Paper Piecing

This is my second post today.  It's just a short scroll

down for Dynamic Duos.  (But keep your eyes closed if you are hungry!)

I had no intentions of posting this morning.  I already had a post pre-scheduled and it's up - so my morning was going to be devoted to cleaning.  But a number of completely random circumstances came together and caused me to make a card.

Here's the card...it's for the Less is More challenge which for this week is paper piecing...



You might be wondering - why a hamburger?  Until last night, it would have been one of my bottom choices of an image for a card.  Then my family had an amazingly fun and utterly decadent dining experience. Nothing fancy - my youngest picked it as a special treat because we hadn't seen him two weeks due to lacrosse and church camps.  After a huge meal, we have decided that it's going to be our celebration place - birthdays, etc. - so I am going to tuck this card away until the next birthday.  Let me show you why.  If you are hungry, you are going to want to look away.  If you live in the Colordo area (and particularly if you have hungry teen boys), put this on your MUST-DO list! It's Crave Real Burgers in Castle Rock and Colorado Springs.

The Luther:  bacon, cheddar, egg and onion with 2 glazed donuts as the bun

My 6'4", 200 pound, 16-year old TRYING to eat The Luther.

My husband staring in awe at The Slopper:
a green chili smothered cheeseburger
OVER a grilled cheese sandwich, topped with
onion, poblanos, pico, sour cream,
avocado, lettuce and tomato.

Erik doing battle with New Mexico Relleno:
fried queso fresco, roasted poblano chiles, avocado and green chile

My children chose this one for me.  It's the Drunken Onion.
(Wonder what they meant by that?)  It's cabernet caramelized onions,
Gruyere, Swiss, and French onion soup for dipping.

I don't even have pictures of the most amazing things.  We started with green chili fries.  My husband - who despises the expense of eating out and rarely finds anything positive to say, commented that the green chili could make cardboard taste good!  And the strangest thing we had was the Strawbanero shake - a strawberry shake with Habanero Caramel.  Strange but oddly wonderful!!

Hmmm...it is lunchtime yet....because I brought home leftovers of my burger!

• Stamps: picnic digi set at the Graphics Shoppe (never shopped there before, I just needed a burger image), Stampin' Up Crazy for Cupcakes (the candle), Close To My Heart Card Chatter-Birthday.
• Paper: Stampin' Up dsp in Pacific, Mustard, Poppy, Pumpkin, Expresso and Celery
• Ink: black, copics for border