Less is More 38...Polka Dots ..Papertrey a Plenty

The challenge at Simply Less is More this week is to make a card with Polka Dots. This was an easy challenge...after all, polka dots are everywhere..on stamps, on... paper, embossing folders...well the possibilities are HUGE...which is what makes this kind of challenge a challenge, there are SO MANY possibilities!!  Papertrey Ink is one of my very favorite stamp companies, and they have lots of stamps with polka dots on them, so I chose three frames and decided to make 3 different cards with them...using only Papertrey stamps, Red, White, and Black...the same Papertrey texture plate(canvas/linen)...I LOVE this plate because it makes a card look textured and STILL gives you the ability to stamp on it unlike an embossing folder...love the "touch" of texture... and all cards have red ribbon!!  Here's what I came up with:

 This first one  I used All Booked Up for the image, For the Graduate for the frame and Beyond Basic Borders for the sentiment.  I used Mat Stack 3 and Mat Stack 3 Layerz dies.  Here's  a side view:

 This idea for this second one came from Maile Belles who made a card with this Frame and flowers last year.   I hand cut the frame and popped it up over the flowers made with Fillable Frames#1 and Asian Fusion(also dotted with black enamel accents).  Used Bow Easy to make the bow.

 Again, a side view which shows the enamel accents a bit better:

This third one I used Mat Stack 3 Collection stamp and die, for the black frame, I used Tag Its #2.  I hand cut the black circular frame and the red frame. I used Blooming Button Bits for the flower and Flower Garden for the sentiment.

 I dotted the flower with a big stick on glittery dot from Michael's and popped up whole framed piece on white card.  Here's a side view:

Interestingly...I originally made the card without the polka dotted mat...but after sitting on the card(not literally)...I tried the red polka dots and  thought the red dots looked better than bare white...what do you think???   Here was the original:

Thanks to Mandi and Chrissie for showcasing my cocktail card from last week's challenge...I am honored to be showcased by you...Less is More rocks!!!

Thanks for visiting me today!! Hugs!! Lisa

Clean and Simple 163

The house has been very quiet this morning, the laundry is done, the kitchen is clean, Noah is sleeping...STAMPING TIME!!   I haven't played many challenges of late, but this week's Clean and Simple has a DELIGHTFULLY clean and simple sketch...quick and easy, the possibilities are ENDLESS...here are three I came up with in no time!!

 Yesterday, while shopping with my daughter Emma, I found these felt leaves at World Market(what a FUN place to shop!!).  Added a Papertrey Ink sentiment( Autumn Acorns).

 For this one, I used the middle sized flower from the threesomes that I die cut the other day for a card and used 2 papertrey ink sets(Heart Prints and Through the trees) stamping the hearts and tree branches with versamark, stamping on flowers and clear embossing.  I took my Spiced Marmalade distress ink pad and kept dotting flowers with it until the patterns were formed with the orange(this was textured paper and it wasn't as easy to get solid color very quickly).  Dotted with black stick on dots and added Stampendous sentiment, rounded only bottom corner(yes, I did that on purpose...just because:)!!)

This one I used a die cut from Papertrey Ink as well as the snowflake stamp that matches it(Peace Be Still), stamped in Real Red and added a red rhinestone in center. The sentiment is also Papertrey Ink(Signature Christmas).  This one I rounded both right side corners...this one I just thought it looked better that way...oh creativity...lol:)!!
LOVE this sketch!!!!
Thanks for looking, hope you have a great weekend!!

Autumn Blessings

Just a quick post before shopping with my daughter, today:)!!...

 I was part of an online class a month ago with Jennifer Mc Guire...LOVED it!!  These birds were a part of the class...a template with the 5 birds which I copied off on Papertrey Ink cardstock and cut out.  I used a Hero Arts flower stamp(Large Open Flower) and stamped the pattern on each bird in Chocolate Chip and clear embossed.  I then swiped each bird with a different color of distress ink and wiped off(in order: Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Tea Die, Brushed Corduroy, Frayed Burlap). Popped each up over a piece of twine.  The sentiment is Papertrey Ink(Autumn Acorns) stamped in chocolate chip, too.  Here's a bit of an angled view to show the dimension. Oh...the card is 8 x 4 inches.

Thanks for looking, hope your Friday is fantastic!!!

EDIT:  I contacted Jennifer McGuire about the template, and it is for students of the online class only, and cannot be given out.  You can, however, still register for the READ/WATCH ONLY MODE of the classes which include these birds...you can find the link HERE if you are interested in being able to download the bird template yourself:)!!

Less is More...Cocktail

This week's challenge at Simply Less is More is to make a card with the theme  COCKTAIL.  I have never been a cocktail kinda girl, and although this challenge was open to interpretation, all forms of cocktail that I could think of  were beyond my realm of creativity, so I found this challenge really challenging!!  I googled cocktails to find some cocktail inspiration and I found this one that really caught my eye:

I thought the color was so pretty!  I tried at least a 1/2 dozen cards, but nothing seemed just right(and as a second opinion I ask my DD Emma...she didn't like any of them either).  I kept coming back to my original idea, which wasn't my idea at all but the creativity of a brilliant stamper, Jenny who made a card I just love and keep going back to for inspiration, found HERE!!
I used her idea of the MFT(My Favorite Things) die where all three flowers are attached, die cut them, added sentiment(Hero Arts) and put a piece of polka dotted embossed bright green paper behind them. Popped it up on card and added black glitter stick on dots(cool that they come in 3 different sizes like the flowers...from Michaels)  SUPER simple...but here's the thing....I first made an all white one, then thought that maybe it would look cooler on a black card...so here are both:
First the all white:

Then the black one:

It continues to be a crazy week, but I'm thankful that I got to play a little...and make some cards I like:)!!
Hope you have a great weekend...smile!!

Thankful Cards

I made these cards yesterday...:

                                          

I made this one with a die from Memory Box and sentiment from Papertrey Ink(Fall Elegance) and some distress inks.  I used Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Brushed Corduroy inks.  I used glossy paper for the tree and simply brushed the inks right on the tree from the pad and brushed off with a paper towel.  The really tough part of this card was the sentiment!!!  I wanted to use a brown that matched the tree, but all the brown dye inks I have just didn't go AT ALL!!  I tried SEVERAL times to use the Brushed Corduroy distress ink for the sentiment, but UGLY!!  Every time it looked blurry or runny...I have now discovered that distress inks are tough to use on sentiments (well at least on a finely detailed one like this!!).  But here's what I did...I FIRST stamped the sentiment on a versamark pad and THEN stamped on the Brushed Corduroy before stamping on the paper...IT WORKED WONDERFULLY...and the cool thing is that the versamark makes the ink wet enough to emboss( which I LOVE on sentiments!!!)!!  Added ribbon and "trimmed" the tree a bit. 

I made this one with a set from Papertrey Ink(Iconic Images and Fall Elegance for sentiment).  Stamped in Cajun Craze and cut out pitcher and popped up over stamped flowers(Summer Sun and Old Olive).  Framed, popped up and layererd on Old Olive card using Papertrey Ink Impression Plate(canvas/linen).

This one doesn't have the same sentiment...but has the same "idea":)!!
I made this card with a set from Hero Arts(Dots and Flowers) and Papertrey Ink Sentiment(Friends Til the End).  I stamped with versamark on black paper and white embossed.  Added cut out flower stamped on Summer Sun and Old Olive...embossed the Summer Sun card with embossing folder(Craft Concepts).
     Thanks for looking, hope you have a great day:)!!!!

Less is More 36...One Layer...Hearts

My beautiful daughter, Hannah and handsome son-in-law, Nic were in town from last Wednesday through Monday night for his brother's wedding. Hannah's bedroom has become my craft room since she got married last year, but when they are home, it becomes their room.  I squeeked out one card last week for a challenge that I hadn't been a part of for a while.  We all cried when she/they left(thank goodness Thanksgiving is in one month and Christmas quickly after... we will see them again soon), but since their departure, have had fun being  back in my haven!!
The challenge at Less is More this week is to make a one layer card with a heart or hearts on it. I came up with a few:

 For this card I used a piece of red cardstock and adhered 8 punched hearts in a row across the bottom of the card.  I place another thin piece of paper behind the red of the exact width as the red(5 1/2") and positioned it squarely behind the red.  I then punched out the 8 hearts with the heart punch...now having 8 punched hearts in the red card, and the exact 8 punches in the thin paper behind the red card.  I used the thin paper as a template and took my versamark pad and dabbed it over the 8 punched holes...on the INSIDE of the red card.  I embossed with white powder and this is what I got:

I added sentiment on inside and out(Hero Arts) with ribbon, heart button and punched holly(Martha Stewart).  Here's another view:

For the next one, I used a Stampin Up set(Thanks from the Heart) and my Stamp-a-ma-jig stamping in Real Red and black, punched holes and added ribbon:

 I added a Verve sentiment (Thankful Hearts) and a little red rhinestone heart...so small you probably wouldn't even know it was a heart...but here's a closer look:

 For the next one, made before the first one, I got the idea to use A Muse paper, it has color on one side, white on the other.  I turned the Bubblegum paper with the pink on the inside, punched the hearts and now the PINK is the color that shows.  I scored lines added sentiment(Inkadinkado) and added A Muse ribbon with another heart button and floss.  Here it is closed:

 Here it is open:

The next one used a Stampin Up heart(I Heart Hearts) and a Verve sentiment(Hundred Hearts).  I stamped the heart in Regal Rose and spayed with Ink Potion No. 9 and stamped.  I stamped the  sentiment over it and clear embossed the sentiment.  I got the idea from Kim S...to use nesties to frame...so I drew a frame with a nestie and a marker...THANKS for the great idea, Kim!!  This card is 4 1/4" square.

 For this last card, I used a Stampin Up heart punch punched through a scrap piece of typing paper and sponged  the heart with 3 colors of Ranger distress inks(Scattered Straw, Wild Honey,Brushed Corduroy) I then stamped over them with a stamp that I received from DRS Designs.  I made a card very similiar to this one last Jan/Feb before Valentine's Day on Splitcoaststampers site you can find it HERE. I realized after I put up this link, that I used VERY similiar colors to those that Birgit used on her original....must have remembered it...she DOES amazing work!!!   I stamped the stem in Early Espresso and dotted with white Enamel Accents.  Added another sentiment from the same Verve set as the second card.  Wanted something a little more "Fall" colored...I'm still not done with Fall:)!!:

Hearts are so versatile and so much fun...what a great challenge...Thanks, Mandi and Chrissie!!!
Thanks for looking, hope you have a great rest of your week!!

Clean and Simple 159

I am a couple weeks behind on the Clean and Simple challenge, how nice they keep them open for 2 weeks for people like me!!  They have 3 sketch challenges open right now...check them out HERE. Here's mine and the sketch:

and the sketch:

I made my card with inspiration from Jenny...she is so creative and makes such amazing, wonderful and beautiful cards...this is the one that inspired me(you can find it on THIS post). I'm not sure that I like MY colors too well...but used a Papertrey Ink die for the flowers.  I made 6 flowers and placed them where I wanted them and put adhesive on them on the paper.  I then placed the die OVER the cut flowers and  die cut each one out.  I placed polka dotted paper behind each cut out and used stick on dots  covered with adhesive and then covered with cut out circles of more polka dotted paper(used the owl punch...the middle eye circle for the cut outs) and put them in each flower.  I used some seam binding and a sentiment from Hero Arts(versamark with white embossing powder).  Popped up on white bazzill card...yeah...I beat the deadline!!   Thanks for looking, hope you have a great day:)!!

Less is More 35...The Color of Your Eyes

This week's challenge at Simply Less is More is to make a card with the color of your eyes.  Hope you can tell what color mine our!:

Ok...there's a touch of red...I figure it could be the bloodshot in my eye during this allergy season, again:)!!  I got my Big Shot a couple days ago...YEAH!!!!  The last two cards were made before it's arrival. Made this one with a die from Memory Box. The sentiment on this one is from Hero Arts(Very Merry Christmas), as is the tiny ornament(found in a set of sentiments - Holiday Sayings). Used a couple different Bazzill white papers, tearing one for the snow.

 Made this one with Papertrey Ink's Larger Than Life...stamping in Chocolate Chip ink the Papertrey Ink sentiment as well(Signature Greetings).  I used Ranger Stickles Walnut Stain color to dot the stems.  Here's a close look:

 This last one has colors other than just brown, let it be known that I tried to make a brown owl...it just didn't work.  I'm adding it to this post, anyway:)!  I have had the hardest time making an owl that is the "cutest thing ever" with this punch...so after googling pictures of owls, I found that many of them are grey and white...but almost all of them have bright yellow in their eyes...so this is a more realistic owl than cutesie!

I used a background woodgrain stamp by All Night Media, the Stampin Up owl punch and a sentiment from Stampendous.  I stamped the woodgrain and cut the paper with slight curves so it looked like a tree, cut a hole out and used another stamped piece to put behind the owl.  Popped up on bazzill white card.  Used Chocolate Chip paper and ink.
Thanks for looking, I hope your day is wonder-filled!!!

Inspired by Janelle

One Layer Wednesday, hosted by Susan at Simplicity this week is challenging us to make a card based on inspiration from Janelle's blog.  I was inspired by the opening post and the cards she made with Papertrey's Mat Stack 3 in THIS POST.  I used Papertrey's All Booked Up and Round and Round to take her layered card and make it one layer(and my first Christmas cards...I'm still loving Fall, but making these were fun:)!!).  Janelle's cards are inspiring, but her life is the most amazing inspiration...what an incredible woman!!  Janelle, you are a treasure!!!   Here are my cards:

Stamped in Old Olive and used a red gel pen for the dots between the leaves on the first one and the dots between the sentiments on both.  Used nailhead stick ons on the second, the sentiment is Hero Arts(Holiday Sayings).  Put ribbon where the sentiment is usually stamped.
Thanks for looking, hope you have a great weekend!!

The Five Minute Kiss

Well...the title got you thinking??!! Sorry to disappoint those of you who hoped for some literal deets...this is a card made with a very old PSX stamp(E-10460) that took me 5 minutes...or maybe less to make, and uses the Kiss technique:):)!!.  I'd had this stamp on my desk for the last couple weeks, and would not put it away until I made a card with it...

I inked the stamp with distress ink(Mustard Seed) and "kissed" it on a scripted stamp(Tim Holtz Reflections). The really cool thing about this script is that the stamp is backwards, so is made for kissing, that way the script stamps the right way when stamping...hope that makes sense.  Here are a couple pictures to show what I did:

 I stamped the stamp with mustard, the script with suede and then put the mustard on the sueded script:

Then I stamped the image...super easy...super quick.  Added Papertrey Ink sentiment(Through the Trees).  Rounded corners and finished.
Just a quick one to share:):)!!

Still Loving Fall!!

My Big Shot broke, big time!!  I am totally lost without it!!!  I didn't realize how very much I used and depended on it for card making...I am definitely one who loves dimension on my cards that only embossing and die cutting can bring about...I have been so lost this week without it. I am having to rethink what I make, forget blog challenges, I am totally challenged by this, alone!!   I ordered one on ebay for 1/2 the price of the stores, but am waiting on it to arrive...waiting is hard. But it's all good!
I was looking at a card on a blog whose challenge I will probably not get to this week, and this card maker said she is over Fall...and the cards in that post would be her last Fall cards.  Well...where I come from, apples are just being picked, we bought our first  pumpkins, the weather is just now getting cooler, not cool, just cooler...I LOVE Fall...and Fall is just starting for me.  I have made quite a few Fall cards, but am not ready to put my leaves away!!!  So here are a couple more:

 Used a Stampin Up set from last Fall (Day of Gratitude) and Papertrey Ink(Beautiful Blessings).  I Versamarked  four colored papers with leaf(Old Olive, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie) and clear embossed.  Cut them out and scattered around sentiment and popped up on bazzill java paper.

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For this one, I randomly stamped sunflowers  and their centers all over the card(Papertrey Ink Simple Sunflower) and added ribbon and two A Muse stamps(Vintage Labels and Avian Notes-sentiment).  The colors are Summer Sun and Soft Suede. Random ribbon, popped up framed sentiment.
I  STILL love Fall!!!
Thanks for looking, hope you have a great day:)!!

Less is More 34...Sketch

This week, at Less is More the challenge is a sketch:

My son had his wisdom teeth pulled on Thursday(spent almost the whole day at the hospital) and he slept most of Thursday upon our return, but Friday and yesterday were tough.  I opted to remain home from church this morning and care for my "baby"...he woke early, but went back to sleep a couple hours later, so I watched him sleep and made a couple cards.  One fits the challenge....the other...well, a little bit of a stretch(flipped, anyway).

I took part in the recent Inpiration Showcase, a 2 week online course in techniques with Jennifer McGuire, and have been trying to impliment some of the things she demonstrated.... it's going to take a while, but I learned a lot!!  On this card I used bazzill white paper for most of the card, but the butterfly is watercolor paper colored with distress inks and water.  I used the same blue for the sky, but used more water (regular bazzill paper for that piece).  Popped up the panel on card.  Used a bunch of stamp sets(Papertrey Ink Giga Guide Lines-sentiment, Mat Stack 1 Collection-frame, Butterfly Dreams-butterfly, Annabelle Stamps All Things Grow-brush).  Used Broken China and Dusty Concord distress inks.

Used a branch die by Memory Box and Martha Stewart maple leaf punch.  I punched watercolor paper leaves and painted, again, with distress inks.  Papertrey Ink senitment(Signature Greetings) and Fired Brick, Orange Marmalade and Mustard Seed distress inks.
Thanks for looking, I hope you all have a great week:)!!

Autumn Acorns #5

I was playing with the Autumn Acorn dies the other day, and made a bunch of leaves and acorns...knowing I wanted to make something with them, but not sure what to do with them or how to use them...but here are 5 cards I came up with(I ran the acorns through 3 times for brown and one each for each color of polka dot paper.  Ran glossy paper through the leaf dies 3 times each as well.  I will be adding these to the over700+  cards already up on the Less is More blog...the challenge to have 1000 uploads this week...anything CAS goes...and with almost 800, I'd say that is AMAZING!!!  I'm not sure any of these 5 were quite what I had in mind, but here is # 5:

Used dies and stamps from Papertrey Ink Autumn Acorns.  Cut out leaves and used distress inks to stamp on glossy paper.  Layered and popped up on Always Artichoke card.
Used Fired Brick, Orange Marmalade, Peeled Paint and Mustard Seed distress inks.
Thanks for looking:)!!

Autumn Acorns #4

I was playing with the Autumn Acorn dies the other day, and made a bunch of leaves and acorns...knowing I wanted to make something with them, but not sure what to do with them or how to use them...but here are 5 cards I came up with(I ran the acorns through 3 times for brown and one each for each color of polka dot paper.  Ran glossy paper through the leaf dies 3 times each as well.  I will be adding these to the over700+  cards already up on the Less is More blog...the challenge to have 1000 uploads this week...anything CAS goes...and with almost 800, I'd say that is AMAZING!!!  I'm not sure any of these 5 were quite what I had in mind, but here is # 4:

Used the leaf dies and sentiment and leaves stamps in Autumn Acorn stamp/die set and stamped leaves on glossy cut outs with distress inks.  Craft and brown papers, with twine and button.  Sentiment stamped in Soft suede.
Thanks for looking:)!!

Autumn Acorns #3

I was playing with the Autumn Acorn dies the other day, and made a bunch of leaves and acorns...knowing I wanted to make something with them, but not sure what to do with them or how to use them...but here are 5 cards I came up with(I ran the acorns through 3 times for brown and one each for each color of polka dot paper.  Ran glossy paper through the leaf dies 3 times each as well.  I will be adding these to the over700+  cards already up on the Less is More blog...the challenge to have 1000 uploads this week...anything CAS goes...and with almost 800, I'd say that is AMAZING!!!  I'm not sure any of these 5 were quite what I had in mind, but here is # 3:

Used a thank you from a card that I never made, using a Stampin Up die and same acorns as the first two from Papertrey dies.  Bazzill white and Java papers.
Thanks for looking:)!!

Autumn Acorns #2

I was playing with the Autumn Acorn dies the other day, and made a bunch of leaves and acorns...knowing I wanted to make something with them, but not sure what to do with them or how to use them...but here are 5 cards I came up with(I ran the acorns through 3 times for brown and one each for each color of polka dot paper.  Ran glossy paper through the leaf dies 3 times each as well.  I will be adding these to the over700+  cards already up on the Less is More blog...the challenge to have 1000 uploads this week...anything CAS goes...and with almost 800, I'd say that is AMAZING!!!  I'm not sure any of these 5 were quite what I had in mind, but here is # 2:

Used Autumn Acorn dies and Woodgrain impression plate from Papertrey Ink.  Thanks for looking:)!!

Autumn Acorns #1

I was playing with the Autumn Acorn dies the other day, and made a bunch of leaves and acorns...knowing I wanted to make something with them, but not sure what to do with them or how to use them...but here are 5 cards I came up with(I ran the acorns through 3 times for brown and one each for each color of polka dot paper.  Ran glossy paper through the leaf dies 3 times each as well.  I will be adding these to the over 700+  cards already up on the Less is More blog...the challenge to have 1000 uploads this week...anything CAS goes...and with almost 800, I'd say that is AMAZING!!!  I'm not sure any of these 5 were quite what I had in mind, but here is # 1:

Used Bazzill white, Java and Papertrey Polka dotted paper. Stamp set is Papertrey Ink Autum Acorns.  The card is 4 x 8.

Dad's Birthday...Charlie Brown Style

Less is More challenge 33 is to have 1000 uploads by the end of the week's challenge...anything CAS goes!!!  I have yet another...yes, another... the card for my dad's 82nd birthday last week!!  I have to thank my friend,  Emily Keaton for the idea!!  She made a WONDERFUL Charlie Brown card that I absolutely loved and knew that I had to make for my dad's birthday as he is a crazy Peanuts fan!!!  I even downloaded the Peanuts script to my microsoft from her site where she kindly gave the link to it:)!!  The card is with my dad now, and I didn't get to take a picture of the inside, but it said,"I love you, Dad!"  Happy Birthday! also in the Peanuts script:

Thought I would give you a picture of Charlie Brown, just in case you aren't familiar with him:)!!
The only difference is that I didn't have the ability to computerize the stripes, so printed off some chevron stripes I found HERE (I used the small/thin chevrons) and cut with a piece of textured black paper behind the template.  I used Summer Sun paper.  Sooooo, there was no stamping on this card, but it is clean and simple!  
   Oh, and just for the fun of it, here's a picture of me, my dad and sister when we had lunch with him and my mom on his "day":)!!  I flew 600 miles to surprise him last Monday...what a wonderful day it was!!!

  Thanks for looking, I just may have to make a few more by week's end...anything goes is alot of fun:)!!

Fall Leaf 2

Less is More challenge 33 is to have 1000 uploads by the end of the week's challenge...anything CAS goes!!!  Well, I've got a few!   I have made several cards over the last number of weeks that for a variety of reasons, I never posted. You need to put each card in an individual post to count towards the 1000...so I will have quite a few posts! SOOOO....here we go!!   
This is my last post today....WOW...hope I helped Less is More reach the 1000 card goal!!!

Used the same everything as the last except the color...inks.  The leaf is Orange Marmalade and Fired Brick... the cardstock Pumpkin Pie... Oh...and the sentiments were both done in Early Espresso.
THANK YOU FOR LOOKING!!!!  Hope you have a great beginning to your week:)!!!!

Fall Leaf 1

Less is More challenge 33 is to have 1000 uploads by the end of the week's challenge...anything CAS goes!!!  Well, I've got a few!   I have made several cards over the last number of weeks that for a variety of reasons, I never posted. You need to put each card in an individual post to count towards the 1000...so I will have quite a few posts! SOOOO....here we go!!  These last 2 cards are also for Splitcoaststamper's Clean and Simple challenge 136, too...Leaves.  Here's the first:

Used a Spellbinder's leaf die...embossing on Bazzill white.  I cut another leaf on printing paper and used the cut hole to mask the leaf on the bazzill.  I sponged in Distress inks(Peeled Paint and Mustard Seed) and used a stamp from W Plus 9 Design for the script over the leaf.  The sentiment is Papertrey Ink(Fall Elegance) and popped up on Papertrey Ink paper(Ripe Avacado). 
Thanks for looking....one more....whew!!