CAS121 - Playing Along...

I thought I'd play along with the Splitcoast Stampers CAS challenge this week.  The challenge is to create a CAS card and used scrunched or folded ribbon.  Now normally, I would never scrunch or fold my ribbon...mostly because I like it flat with maybe a small bow attached, but I'm game for a challenge and I'm on vacation and have the time to play a bit. I decided to ink up a PTI stamp that I've had for a while and haven't used.  I believe it's the Mat Stack 3 collection.

The card size is 4.25 x 5.50 inches.  I rounded the corners with my corner rounder.  The image is stamped in SU Tempting Turquoise.  The frame for the sentiment is also stamped with the same color.  The sentiment was then stamped in the frame and the frame was pop dotted on the die.  I decided that for my "scrunched" ribbon, that I'd make a ribbon flower.  I couldn't find ribbon to match my ink color, so I got out my white sheer dotted ribbon and just colored it with my Copic marker.  For some reason, it looks a little dark here in the photo, but it's really a perfect match to the ink.  To make the flower, I simply folded the ribbon in half and loosely hand-stitched down the fold stitching the sides together. Then I gently gathered the ribbon up...not too tight.  I had prepared a 3/4 inch circle punched from card stock with some strong double-sided tape.  After tying off my thread (with the ribbon gathered), I simply started at the outside of the circle and stuck it down as I turned the circle.  It ended with a little bare spot in the middle, so I added a small flat-backed pearl to finish it off.  I also pierced around the circle.  Then I layered the die cut onto a darker teal card stock and trimmed it to a narrow border before pop-dotting the whole thing in the center front of the card base.

A fairly quick and easy card. I think it took me longer to decide what I wanted to do than it did to make the card! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time....

Hugs!

LIM17 - Pick a Square

It's been a busy weekend for me here in Florida.  Yesterday, we had a big Memorial Day celebration (a little early as Monday is actually Memorial Day).  My youngest daughter came for the weekend and a big group of the people decided to go tubing down the Blackwater River.  I volunteered to keep my youngest granddaughter, Maggie, who is 18 months old and get things ready for the Low Country Boil we were planning for the late afternoon.  Needless to say, I am totally exhausted today! Whew! I believe the final count was 28 people....in and out of the pool...in and out of the house...and plenty of food for everyone!

This is Maggie...isn't she adorable!

Low Country Boil....Yummy!

Now....on to my cards for this week's LIM Challenge hosted by the talented Chrissie and Mandi!  This week our challenge is to create a card with the following instructions based on this layout:


You can choose which of the 5 SQUARES from our plan you wish to use to place the image of your card, leaving the rest as PURE WHITE SPACE! The image may overflow the area slightly if necessary and the sentiment, should you choose to use one, may extend outside the area also, but it should be obvious exactly which area of the card you have chosen to fill. We will allow a rectangle, but, following the strict guidelines as the squares

I couldn't seem to make up my mind where I wanted to put an image, so I decided to just do a card for each section!  For this first card I stamped in the lower right hand corner. (BTW, all but one of my cards ended up being one layer cards...hmmmm).  I chose to make my cards 4.5 x 4.5 inches, just so I would have an envelope they would fit into...which in turn made it more difficult to get an image that would fit in the designated area!

For this first card, I stamped an image from Flourishes Spring has Spring collection.  The sentiment is a SU sentiment that I've had for a while.  I colored the image with Copics. 

Now stamping in the upper left corner, using Flourishes Berry Sweet collection.  The sentiment is from the same set.  Colored with Copics....done!

Now for the card with the stamping in the lower left corner.  Once again, it Flourishes stamps....I seem to reach for my Flourishes stamps quite often.  This image is from the From the Desk Of collection.  Colored with Copics and added a little gold smooch on the book bindings. The sentiment is from the same collection.

For the top right corner, I chose to stamp part of an image from Flourishes Humming along collection.  The image is colored with Copics and the tiny hummingbird was colored, cut out and then pop-dotted for a little dimension.  Sentiment is from the same set.

And, last but not least, here's my card with the image centered.  I decided to practice my heat embossing (don't ask me why!).  I stamped my image (a very old set from SU) in Versamark and SU's Tempting Turquoise.  Then I added some sparkling clear embossing powders and heat set it.  I pop dotted the dragonfly on the first layer, then added the additional layers behind that.  The sentiment is computer generated and then punched with the slot punch from SU, layered on the teal, and pop dotted on top of the embossed image. 

Basically, I've spent most of my afternoon playing in my craft room and making cards.  I should probably come up for air sometime soon!

 

 

Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments last week.  I appreciate each and every one of them!  Thanks for stopping by! Until next time....

Hugs!

OLW55 - Cats and Dogs

It's time once again for the OLW Challenge.  This week the challenge is hosted by Jennifer Styles at Styles Ink.  We've been challenged to make a one-layer card with a cat or a dog on it.  Well, I kind of struggled with this a bit, thinking that I didn't even own a cat or dog stamp, but after a great deal of searching through my stamps, I discovered that I have one of each.....one cat (from a Flourishes Halloween stamp set) and a dog from Paper Smooches.  So, since I had both, I made two cards for this weeks challenge.

The first card is made with the Paper Smooches pup and sentiment.  I stamped the dog, then cut out a mask and using a very old grass stamp, I stamped him a little "yard".  I stamped the sentiment and colored the little cutie...all done!  Fifteen minutes -- Wow! Easy Peasy!  I didn't even have to make this one but once.  Can I just tell you how awesome that was!! LOL!

This second card took me two tries to get it right.  The fences is a Magnolia stamp.  The grass is only on the portion of the card with the fence, so I just doodled some "extra" grass across the card to help with the balance.  The cat is from a Flourishes Halloween set that's never seen ink.  Since I didn't seem to have an appropriate sentiment to go with this scary cat, I decided to try a computer generated sentiment.  After a couple of times printing it out on plain paper, I got it where I needed it to be so that I could fit my fence in between the lines. (I just made the sentiments in text blocks and moved them around until they were properly spaced to allow room for the fence stamp.) Then I colored the images with my Copics....all done.

I'm actually kinda pleased with what I finally came up with for this challenge.  I sure hope they get blogger fixed so that we can all get around to visit and leave comments for all the cards.  I, for one and extremely frustrated with the blogger issues! 

That's all for today, folks! Thanks so much for stopping by! If you are one of the lucky ones who can leave a comment, thank you!  Until next time....

Hugs!

LIM16 - Butterflies Galore!

So when I logged on this morning, I see that the Chrissie and Mandi at Less is More have challenged us to create a card with a butterfly...or several butterflies. I love butterflies, so this challenge is right up my alley...so to speak.  Or, so I thought! LOL!  I thought and thought. Everything I could think of, I've done before.  I wanted to do something different!  Well, unfortunately, that wasn't as easy as it sounded.  Here's the first card I made this morning.

I used a white card base.  The butterfly was printed on card stock and cut out.  I punched a scalloped edge on the orange and blue layers, then I embossed the orange layer with a SU embossing folder.  The sentiment is a Flourishes stamp that I stamped on a tag cut with a Spellbinder die.  Then, because the tag was too big, I cut the ends off and sponged a little blue on it, using the die to mask the edges.  The bow was tied using a cool little thing my hubby made for me (basically a peg board with movable pegs).  I layered the ribbon and then attached the bow with glue dots.  I added a little glitter glam to the butterfly for a little sparkle and the trail is some Prima bling I had left over from another project. Not being totally satisfied, I decided to try again. Here's my second card:

The card base is the one I made a few days ago when I was posting a tutorial here on partial embossing, so I thought I'd go ahead and use it.  I cut another mask and stamped the flowers using a stamp from Inkadinkado.  I colored them with Copics (some yellow and oranges).  The butterfly is punched with a MS punch.  I doodled some lines with a gold pen, then colored the butterfly with the same colors as the flowers.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts. Moving on to the third try.

 

Super simple card. I embossed a white background. Cut three 1.25 inch squares, and 3 squares measuring .75 inches (which I then backed with a dark brown card stock).  I stamped another piece of white card stock with text from PTI, and punched out the butterflies with a MS punch. The large embossed layer is pop-dotted and the brown edged layer is pop-dotted, as well as the butterflies. Lots of dimension on this card. No sentiment...thought I could use it for several different occasions.

I can't say that I'm jumping up and down happy with any of these cards...but these are my cards for this week's challenge. 

I also finished a layout today. This is a photo of me and my two girls, when the youngest was about a week old.  I used Crate Paper for this layout.  I added some flowers with bling centers, a little rickrack, and some hand cut hearts.  I backed the hearts with yellow card stock then trimmed around the heart with some scalloped scissors.  The red swirls were hand drawn with a red pen.  Title work was cut with QK Frankie alphas.  The yellow circles border down the right side of the red dot paper was cut with a QK die and then I layered red rickrack down the center of it.  I added lots of doodling on the edges.

Journaling was printed on the computer and added to the bottom. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Thanks for all the wonderful comments! Until next time....

Hugs!

OLW54 - Baby Cakes

Our challenge this week at Simplicity is to create a one-layer card using one of the photos from Cake Wrecks: Sunday Sweets.   Can I just say that I really don't like inspiration challenges like this! I have the worse time trying to design a card from a photo that "inspires" me!  I know...it's a challenge and it's not suppose to be easy...but why do I always struggle with this!  Here's what I finally came up with for this week's challenge:

The sentiment is from PTI Signature greetings.  The booties are a stamp I've had for a couple of years that I bought just to make my youngest granddaughter's birth announcements, and I believe it's by Susan Branch, All Night Media.  Of course, I don't have a stamp with buttons on it so I had to make my own buttons.  I used PTIs polka dot basics collection to make the buttons.  First, I stamped the circles with brown Memento ink, then I used a tiny little solid circle in the set to stamp each of the four "holes" in each of the buttons.  I just eyeballed the placement, so they're not all identical...but most buttons aren't identical either. I stamped the shoes on first, then masked the shoes (and strings) and stamped all the circles. Next I added all the button "holes".  Then colored each of the buttons with Copics.  I also shaded the shoes a bit with the Copics.  Finally, I stamped the sentiment.  Of course, I might add here...I made this card about FIVE times before I managed to make one without ink smudges! I can't say that I was inspired by just one of the cakes...it's more of a combination of two different cakes.

I loved the buttons on this cake....

And the colors and the booties on this cake....

NOW do you see why I have a difficult time with "inspiration" challenges!! LOL!!

Thought I'd also share a new layout while I'm posting. I can't believe this will be my fourth post in a week! If you haven't visited in a while, I've posted two tutorials this week. One tutorial on how to make a cheap light box to take better photos of your cards/layouts, and another tutorial to show you how to make a mask to emboss only part of your card front - leaving a clear space in the center of the card for stamping.

Now...about this layout.  Photos are of my grandson, Jacob, being his usual silly self!  I used the Echo Park Little Boy Collection for this layout.  I cut the little sailboats out by hand from some of the papers.  The airplane is a stamp that I stamped in black on the blue dotted paper, then cut out and put on pop dots. I added the trail by making dots with a black pen.  The red "stitching" is actually where I pierced the paper and then connected the piercing with a red pen.  The title letters are from the same collection, as is the sailboat sticker on the bottom.  The waves were cut with my large scallop scissors....I thought they turned out kinda cool!  I also added to little stickers on two of the photos.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate the visit...and I love it when you leave me a comment! Until next time...

Hugs!

You Asked for it...Here it is! - Partial Embossing

I've had several people ask about my partial embossing with the oval center that I did on my orchid card found here, so I thought I'd try to put together a little tutorial of how I did it.  There are several tutorials on the web for this technique, but here's how I do it.  You'll need some thin cardboard. I use the cardboard from a cereal box.  I just cut one side of the box off, then cut that piece in half.  Nothing exact here, just eyeball it.

Figure 1

Figure 2

After I cut my cardboard into two pieces (they're about 5.25 in wide and about 6.5 in long - in figure 1), I decided which Spellbinder die I wanted to use for my middle.  You could use any of the dies as long as it leaves enough room around it to emboss the card.  The die I chose is the next to the largest one in the petite oval set.  Position the die in the center of one piece of the cardboard and cut it out with your Cuttlebug. (Figure 2)  Then position the die on the other piece of cardboard and cut the same way.  It's important to keep your die facing the same direction each time you cut, because I've found that the die might not be perfectly shaped.

Figure 3

Figure 4

Once you've cut both pieces of cardboard, adhere the two pieces together with a strong adhesive, making sure you've lined up the ovals in each piece.  You'll also want to glue the two ovals together, making sure they're lined up too. (Figure 3)  After adhering the pieces of cardboard together, I traced around one of my card bases to get an idea where the oval would be on the center of the card.  As you can see on Figure 4, I was a little off-center, so I just cut a little outside the lines.

Figure 5

I trimmed the edges of my cardboard template until it was about the same size as my embossing folder (Figure 5) which is approximately 4.25 x 5.5.  The most important thing to remember is that the oval must be centered in the cardboard.

Now it's time for the embossing.  Use a fairly heavy weight card stock if you're going to emboss directly onto the card and not just making a layer to add to a card base.  Here's the recipe for the embossing stack using the Cuttlebug:

A plate

Folder with the card front inserted in the direction you want (either embossed or debossed)

The negative template we just made

C plate

a few pieces of card stock as a shim (I use 3 pieces - of printer weight card stock) cut the size of my C plate)

 

Roll it all through the Cuttlebug one time.  There you have it...everything is embossed except the center oval.  Now, to finish it up, let's make an oval frame inside the embossing.

You need to make sure that the oval nestability is perfectly centered in the un-embossed oval on the card front.  Then, layer the cardboard ovals (that we glued together earlier) from the cardboard embossing template we made.  Here's the recipe for stacking:

A plate
B plate
Rubber mat (I use a Spellbinder mat)
Card front (embossed side facing up)
nestability (facing down)
cardboard ovals (centered on the nestability)
B plate

Roll it through the Cuttlebug

And, there you have it! Your card base if ready for you to add your stamped image or sentiment...or both.  I will say that when I did this on my orchid card, I practiced a few times on scrap paper before I stamped on my embossed card.  You want to make sure you get your image and sentiment just where you want them, so practicing first is always a good idea.  I know I had to rearrange my sentiment several times on my orchid card to get a good balanced look.

Hope this little tutorial is helpful and that you make lots of pretty cards!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'd love to see what you do with the tutorial...so give me a shout when you've posted a card.  Until next time.....

Hugs!

A New Challenge for Me

My sweet friend Cheryl is a design team member for City Crafter Challenge Blog and I just happened to notice that the challenge this week was to make a card using stripes and polka dots.  I haven't participated in this blog challenge before, but I love stripes and dots, so since I had a few extra minutes on my hands, I decided to give it a whirl.

I made this entire card (well, except for the card base) from paper I found in my scrap bin.  It always makes me feel good when I can use up some of my scraps!  I layered the striped paper on a solid green, then again on a dark blue and adhered all of that to my card base which is white.  I punch the red and white polka-dotted border with a Fiskars border punch, added a dark blue ribbon and then adhered it to the background stripes.  The flower was made by punching a large green scalloped circle, a smaller red circle, then a smaller white circle.  I stamped "just saying hello" on the white piece and doodled a few polka dots in red around the edges of the white.  The red is adhered to the green and then I pop-dotted the white sentiment over the red.  The stem and leaf were cut free-handed and layered under the flower.  Topped it all off with a pretty blue bow....and it was all done! Love how this turned out!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments are much appreciated! Until next time....

Hugs! 

How I Photograph my Cards and Layouts - And YOU can too!

I've been asked several times how I photograph my cards and layouts, so I thought I'd share a quick tutorial on how I do my photographing.  Nothing fancy for me.  I usually do my scrapping/cardmaking in the evening, and don't always have time to take a picture of it in natural sunlight, which is really the best way to take a photo of your work.  So...looking for a low cost way to remedy the problem, I devised my own "light box" of sorts.  I've tried scanning my cards, but I find that scanning usually give the card a washed out look and the true colors can't be determined (nor have I ever been able to tweak it in Photoshop to make it look right!)

As you can see I've used a large cardboard box (approximately 12 inches wide) for my "light box".  I covered the inside lower portion with 12 x 12 sheets of white cardstock.  I'll probably cover all of the inside eventually, but for my purposes right now, the 12 x 12 sheets work just fine.  I turned the box on end and adhered the white cardstock to the sides, the bottom, and the back of the box.  The teal paper you see in the box is just pushed in the back and on the bottom and not adhered.  I change the color of that paper depending on what color card/or layout I'm photographing.  A white card will not photograph well with an all white background, so always use something with color behind and below the object you're photographing leaving the sides covered with the white paper.   

Then I turn my Ott light (which clips to the edge of my table) around and twist it so that the light is shining directly on the card/layout.  I just adjust the light until I have the least amount of shadow behind or beside my card.  For a layout, if you're working on a 12 x 12 size layout, it will just slide right into the back of the box and you can adjust the lamp accordingly.  If I had two lights, I would direct them on the subject from either side.  The white sides seem to be a great reflective surface and help to get a truer color in the photo.

 

 

But...it doesn't end there.  I use Photoshop Elements 8 (but I've done the same thing in Picasa which is a free program you can find here).  Using your photo editing program, adjust the levels of white balance.  In Photoshop Elements you can use the Auto Smart Fix button and in Picasa you can use the "I'm feeling lucky" button.  Picasa  and Photoshop Elements also give you the option to crop your photo to get rid of unnecessary background. 

I don't usually zoom in really close on my card, I use the crop tool to cut out the area I want to show, and doing that makes it look larger.  Don't crop too close to the card...it's good to leave a little area around it.

You do need to take a photo of the card/layout from a position below the light source because you don't want to get a picture of the lamp!

Hope this tutorial is helpful for you.  I've also given my blog a "facelift" to try to make it not look so crowded...still trying to decide if I like the new look! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time....

Hugs!

LIM15 - One Layer - Embossing

This blog post is two fold. I've got my card finished for the LIM challenge and I have another card that fits both the Less is More challenge and the One Layer Wednesday challenge

With blogger being down last week, I didn't get to finish my comments to all the wonderful entries for the LIM challenge - which was White on White. Hopefully, this week will be a much better week and I can make it around to all the beautiful cards and leave a little luv!  I did leave a lot of comments, but I think blogger wiped them all out.  AND....I hope to get to all the OLW girls and leave a little luv too!

Our challenge from Chrissie and Mandi this week at Less is More, is to create a one layer card with embossing - either dry embossing or heat embossing.  Well, I chose dry embossing - mostly because I always mess up everything I try to heat emboss.  With practice, I'm sure I'll get it eventually, but this week, I decided to try a different technique for me.   I embossed my card front with the exception of a large oval in the center.  I believe there are some tutorials online telling how to do this, so I won't go into it right now.

I used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the outer edges of my card front, then used the oval nestability in the center to emboss the circle.  The image is a stamp from Flourishes Orchid Collection which came out in April.  The sentiment was part of a sentiment from Hero Arts that said Just For You, and I only inked up for for you - mostly because all of it wouldn't fit in my oval. LOL!  I colored the image with Copics. Not too sure I got the color just right, but it'll do.

This next card is also for the OLW challenge which is hosted this week by Jennifer Styles.  Jennifer challenged us to make a one layer card for a new home.  This card also works for this week's challenge at Less is More - to use embossing on a one layer card.

I used a top fold card so that I could hinge my card on the roof of the "house".  I cut the roof shape, and then cut some off the sided for the "house".  I stamped the window image from Flourishes Windows to the World collection.  I highlighted with a little Copics B0000 and C1 markers.  The roof was embossed with a folder from Stampin Up that I just got the other day. I couldn't figure out any way to emboss just the front of the roof, so I ended up embossing both the front and the back!  I also scored lines down the front of the card to make it look like boards and added a little highlighting to the boards too.  The Home Sweet Home sentiment is from a Maya Road stamp set.  The tulips in the window box were colored with Copics. Then I tried to heat emboss the tulips and made a total mess, but I did try to salvage them by drawing my outlines back with a black pen.  The heat embossing covered all my stamped lines.  I probably should have heat embossed the entire image with clear embossing powder, THEN tried to emboss/color the tulips. Oh well, lesson learned.

Since I was already posting, I decided to share my newest layout.  This is a photo of my first Mother in Law taken sometime around 1945.  I used the Gabrielle Collection from Bo Bunny for this layout.  I did a little faux stitching, by piercing the edges of the paper and connecting the holes with a black pen.  The flowers were punched with 3 different sized flowers punches and layered.  I added some glitter glam to the flowers, and the center are done with Perfect Pearls.  The large butterfly was cut from the patterned paper.  Title letters  "her" were cut with a Quikutz font.  The large diamonds were cut with a Lifestyles die, and the large scallops across the bottom were also cut with a Lifestyles die.  I threaded ribbon through the holes the die made, then added bows at the top of each scallop. The branch the flowers are on is a QK die.  The butterfly trail is Prima bling.

Journaling is tucked behind the peachy mat at the top (the scalloped piece).  I wanted to share some of my thoughts about my first husband's mother with my children (their granny).  Journaling reads:

This is a photo of your Granny Bellew made sometime around 1945.  This year (2011), Granny will be celebrating her 86^th birthday.  I met Granny Bellew just a few months before your Daddy and I got married in 1970.  Granny made me feel like part of the family from the very beginning.  She was always nice to me and tried to do things for me when they came to visit.  Back then, I would get upset when I came home from work and found that she had finished the laundry and cooked supper, because I thought she was trying to tell me that I didn’t know how to be a good wife.  Now that I’m older (and much wiser), I realize that she was only trying to help me out because she thought I had so much to do and she was trying to lighten my load.  How foolish I was at 20.  Your Granny Bellew is a wonderful woman and I am so thankful for her love and support.  She’s a strong and courageous woman…a woman who has now buried two of her children and her husband…and still she has a strong faith.  She is a woman to be greatly admired.  I’m just sorry for the years that I was an ungrateful daughter in law and I wish I’d realized what a wonderful person she is much sooner than I did.

Long post...if you made it all the way...you deserve an award! Thanks so much for stopping by! I love your comments! Until next time...

Hugs!

OLW53 - Home Sweet Home

This week for the One Layer Wednesday challenge hosted by Jennifer at Styles Ink, we've been asked to make a one-layer “New Home” card using at least two different coloured inks.  Sounds easy...right?  Well, it probably is if you're not in a hurry! LOL!  I immediately thought of these cute house stamps I've had for quite a while (and unfortunately, they've never been kissed by ink! Shame on me!!).  However, translating them to a card was not as easy as I thought it would be! Anyway, here's what I came up with in about 15 minutes.

I stamped each of the little houses separately. For some reason, I really thought I had them all lined up, but when I looked at them after stamping, I realized that they weren't exactly level.  Well, if you visit my blog very often, you know that I have a "thing" about grounding my images...and I really had to ground them. Using a straight line just didn't work - mostly because the houses are all different sizes and they weren't stamped level...so I just drew a "hilly" horizon!  Then without thinking, I decided to add a few hand drawn trees...oops! Probably shouldn't have done that! I think it was much better without the trees, but once they were there, I just colored them in and moved on.  The Home Sweet Home sentiment is also included in this tiny stamp set, so I stamped that in aqua.  I colored each of the house a different color...you know, kind of beach feel coloring (at least here in Florida that's what you'd see!).  Can't say it's one of my best cards, but I believe I'll think on it for a while and maybe give it another whirl later in the week.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  What would you have done differently with these little houses? Your comments are truly appreciated! Until next time....

Hugs!

Less is More 14 - White on White

So, first thing this morning, I checked out Chrissie and Mandi's new challenge at Less is More.  Here's what I found:

So it's week 14 and the first challenge of the month which means 'Colour'

This week we want to see

WHITE ON WHITE

You will have come across this before, but we want to stress we do mean WHITE on WHITE, no

coloured images or additions, with the exception of outlines!

 

Well, it just so happens that I've actually done several white on white cards and layouts in the past, so hey, I knew this challenge would be easy peasy!  Ha Ha!!  Once again, it's a case of, if you don't have to do a specific "thing" it just seems to flow...when you are asked to do a specific thing, you mind goes totally B.L.A.N.K.  Yep, that's exactly what happened to me.  I made this first card, and frankly I find it kind of boring. 

 

I embossed and pop dotted a panel with the "plants" and using an technique from Chrissie for a faux nestie, I added a small embossed edge around my panel.  The butterfly is a Spellbinder die that I've had for several years. In fact, I actually bought it before I had any idea how to use a Spellbinder die!  I've learned a lot in the past several years!  I don't know if you can see it, but I embossed "thinking of you" as the trail on the butterfly with white embossing powders.  I did add a little glitter and some pearls to the butterfly.

Since I wasn't really crazy about my first card, I decided to go ahead and make a second card. 

For this card, I used a Tim Holtz brick wall embossing folder adhered directly to the card base.  The stems and leaves are a Sizzix die, the small blooms are a EK Success punch, and the butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.  I added a small pearl to the center of each bloom and the butterfly.  I also added a little clear glitter to the butterfly, but for some reason it photographed with a little color in it.  I only adhered the leaves and branches in spots so that parts of it would be raised slightly.  I didn't add a sentiment to this since I really didn't see a good place to add one...and I didn't want to add another layer...so, this card can be used for any occasion I chose...birthday, thinking of you, hello...maybe even a sympathy card.  At any rate, I'm much happier with this one. (HA! I just realized...not one stamp was used on this card! I think that's a first for me!)

Earlier I mentioned that I have done white on white before, so I thought I'd include a layout that I made in 2008 of my precious little granddaughter, Helen Grace.

The black border was added digitally so that the edges of the layout didn't disappear when posted.  Some of the white here has a yellow cast...but it's all definitely white.  I used lots of buttons, some chipboard flowers and chipboard letters for the title.  The big scroll is a quickutz die.  I even added a bit of lace and ribbon. 

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments you've left for me this week.  Many of you even came back when I posted a second card for last week's challenge...and I truly appreciate you coming by twice and leaving me some luv!! So...once again....THANK YOU!!  Your comments brighten my day and encourage me!  Until next time....

Hugs!

OLW52 - Round and Round We GO

Edited to Add: I rarely combine two challenges, but after I posted this card, I realized that I could also submit it for this week's Less is More challenge - to make a Thank You or a Congratulations card.  Since it definitely fits the challenge, I think I'll post it there.  I promise I won't do this on a regular basis....I'll try to get all my cards for submission to the LIM challenge in one post! 

NOW....back to the OLW challenge...

Week 52....WOW! We've been playing along with the One Layer Wednesday challenge for a whole year!  I might have missed a couple of the challenges, but I didn't miss many. Susan (and Jennifer) always make me stretch my creativity...and I actually have to think!  This week, the challenge at Simplicity is to use a circle or multiple circles on your card. You can get really creative with this. For instance, the centers of some flowers are circles, brads are circles, pierced holes are circles. All those would count. Or you can make a round card, punch a round window into a card, or accent your card with bit of polka-dot ribbon. I'll bet y'all can think of LOTS more creative ways to incorporate circles into a ONE-LAYER card.

Well, I took the easy route.  I just got these circle stamps from Papertrey Ink - Boy Basics collection about a week ago, and this is the first time I've had the chance to ink them up!

I used SU inks (Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, and Real Red), and the green is memento ink.  The sentiment is also from Papertrey Ink's Signature Greetings collection.  I think it took me about 10 minutes from start to finish...and I am delighted with the outcome.  I don't often say that, but this time, I'm really pleased!

If you've never played in the OLW challenge, pop on over to Simplicity - check out all the great cards - and get one of your own submitted! 

Did I mention that there's a prize this week? 

Here's what Susan said: "To make this more fun, and to celebrate A WHOLE YEAR of One-Layer Wednesdays, I'll give a $20 gift certificate to one random participant in this week's challenge. The electronic gift card will be to the online stamping vendor of the winner's choice (US dollars, but open to all participants regardless of country of residence--hey, it'll help pay the shipping on a PTI order, LOL!)."

Now...who can resist?!?

Have a great week...see you soon! Until next time...

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