OLW104--2012 Gratitude Campaign

I'm proud to share that I've joined Susan's 2012 Gratitude Campaign. One Layer Wednesday #104 is to create (and eventually send out) one layer thank you cards. It's Susan's annual event leading up to Thanksgiving. I have so many people to thank and so much to be thankful for that joining the challenge was a no brainer.

Here's my Asian themed thank you card. I "discovered" an old Hero Arts stamp set while I was organizing my stamps. The set was (gasp!) never inked so I decided to initiate it for the challenge.

I stamped and colored the image with Copics and found the perfect sentiment (which, you may know, means "thank you" in Japanese) to go with it. I added some gemstones to the center of the flowers and a few score lines for visual interest. The corners were rounded off to complement the circular design.

One layer cards are so relaxing to create and can be easily mass produced. And thanking people, even unexpectedly, is always a good thing.

As always, thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comments as well.

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CASology #8--Relax

This week's cue card at CASology is RELAX. What better way to relax than with a refreshing drink, especially on a warm sunny day. I chose some Purple Onion Designs stamps for my card.

I thinned out some Distress inks and colored the drinks to resemble tall glasses of iced tea. The sentiment is also from Purple Onion Designs. I rounded off one corner and added some score lines on the top.

And since I added the score lines, I'll also enter this in One Layer Wednesday #103 to add some scoring on your card. Yay!

I hope you're having a relaxing weekend and Happy Labor Day to my American blogging friends!

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OLW100--Transportation

One Layer Wednesday reached challenge #100 and the theme is Transportation. I reached for my Going set from Hero Arts and chose the motorcycle because I liked the direction it was facing.

I used Lemongrass cardstock as the base and a sentiment from the Heydey Sentiments set. For a bit of interest, I scored three lines on the top and rounded off the right bottom corner.

One layer cards are challenging. It's not just a matter of stamp and go. And you have to resist the urge to add a strip of patterned paper or a button....or some twine. Keeping it simple is not so simple and I admire Susan's knack for coming up with her one layer wonders.

Congratulations to Susan and her design team on reaching number 100, and here's to the next 100!

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OLW99--Pure Inspiration

It's been a while since I played along with One Layer Wednesday and I decided to join since it's their 99th, and a fun one.

We were directed to Susan's Pure Inspiration board over at Pinterest and be inspired by what we saw to create a one layer card.

Here's the photo that I chose. I think I took it too literally, but the doily stamp was still on my desk for an earlier card, so I went with it.

The challenge was finding the perfect shade of pink for the sentiment that would stand out on kraft. Luckily, a combination of chalk and pigment inks did the trick.

I loved how quickly this card came to be. Note to self: Visit Pinterest more often for quick card inspiration.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a great week.

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OLW55 -- Cats n' Dogs

It's been a while since I've participated in One Layer Wednesday challenges. I was so surprised that it was already up to #55!

Challenge #55 is to create a one layer card and use a cat or dog image on your card. I've had several Paper Smooches stamp sets for a while now, still waiting to be inked.

I stamped the dog and sentiment from the Birthday Buddies set and colored the dog with Copics. To "ground" the pup, I stamped a (discontinued) ribbon stamp by Hero Arts. Done!

Here's a close up view of the stamped ribbon. Doesn't it look like real ribbon?

I'd forgotten how fun it is to create one layer cards--and they're quick, too. If you want to play along, you can find out about the challenge details here on Jennifer's blog.

Stamps: Paper Smooches, Hero Arts
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Versafine, Colorbox chalk
Other: Copic markers, corner rounder

31 years!

Here's my One Layer Wednesday entry for last week's challenge which was "repetition". I finally got to use my Ali Edwards' sentiment stamp and the repetition was the little heart. I gave this card to my hubby yesterday--our 31st wedding anniversary!

He appreciated the simplicity.

And here's a share of the awesome flowers that he brought home.

Ahhhh, love! ♥ 

One Layer Wednesday #8

Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge #8 is "masking". Create a one layer card with a masked background. Sounds simple, right?  Well, it took me almost a week to come up with this, and two other ideas got a thumbs down from my hubby.

I chose a Nestabilities circle and die cut a piece of cardstock to use as my mask. Then I grabbed my favorite spongy Nerf ball and sponged the sun.

I love the bird and branch by Savvy Stamps. Originally, I stamped the branch coming in from the right side of the card, and it didn't look right with the bird facing inwards. Then I had an Aha! moment and turned the branch, not the bird. Duh!

Ever wonder where to put a sentiment on a card? Susan shared the "sweet spots" on a card face and what is most pleasing to the eye. On the drawing, the two sun symbols are the spots.

This is just a guideline, not a cardmaking law. Sometimes a sentiment looks great centered. Sometimes I like to leave it off altogether. But on my card, I think the sweet spot worked.


Thanks, always, for visiting. Hope you're all off to a great week!

Stamps: Savvy Stamps, Hero Arts
Cardstock: Gina K
Ink: Memento Cantaloupe, Versafine Onyx Black
Nestabilities circle die

One Layer Wednesday #6--Overlapping

I love Wednesdays.  Time to visit Simplicity and see what Susan has in store. This week's OLW is overlapping.  Create a one layer card and overlap the image and sentiment.

I had a lot of ideas and decided to use Hero Arts' Traditional Butterfly. Thankfully, the sentiment is a clear stamp, because I knew that I wanted to curve the sentiment to mimic the butterfly's movement.

I had two more cards but felt they weren't "publish worthy". This one was my fave and I'm sure I'll use this design again, if ever I need a quick all occasion card.

Visit Susan's blog and give her one layer challenges a try. Next to a glass of wine, it's a great way to decompress after a week of coloring, layering, trimming, embellishing....

Stamps: Hero Arts

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black,  Memento Cantaloupe

Cardstock: Georgia Pacific

Other:  corner rounder

One Layer Wednesday #5

Susan's latest One Layer Wednesday challenge is to incorporate faux embellishment stamps on a one layer card.

According to Susan, a faux embellishment is any stamp image that "pretends to be a real embellishment, like a button, ribbon, paper clip, eyelet, brad, fabric or stitches".

I happened to have some faux stitching stamps and made these cards in a jif.

Close zigzag stitching,














a stitched flower,

and fancy zigzag stitching.

Once again, it took all of my willpower not to add anything more.

Hope you all have a great weekend!  Thanks, always for visiting my blog!

Stamps: Sassafras  stitchery, Skipping Stones Design

Cardstock: Georgia Pacific

Ink: Memento Bahama Blue, Grape Jelly, Lady Bug ink,

Versafine Onyx  Black