No Time To Stamp?

Not my day — I just wrote this entire post, only to have it disappear into cyberspace — so here goes again –

A nice and quick card today, using just one stamped image, one stamped sentiment and layers of paper with a bit of ribbon added in for good measure!  Here it is:

• Stamps:  Butterfly Moments by Flourishes
• Paper:  Very Vanilla and Scarlet’s Letter by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black
• Accessories:  Black Sheer Ribbon, Pearls, Petite Circle Nestabilities, SU Brad, Mounting Tape

This card is 5.5″ high and 5.75″ wide and fits a 6″ square envelope, available at Action Envelopes.

A very abbreviated version of what I said and lost:

• Love my Nesties — so versatile and easy to use — you can’t appreciate them till you try them
• For a rich, lush card with little effort, use a rich, lush background paper.  If you’d like to see all the sheets in the Scarlet’s Letter pad, check out this older post.
• Check out this inteview in the FLLC Forum at SCS — tips from Leslie Miller on watercoloring.
• Vote for your favorite in the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol  Contest — our own Julie Koerber (outtoimpress) has a card in the running using our newest Stamp Simply set, Thank You (she used the little tulip) — just a gorgeous creation, Julie — thank you!  Good luck to Julie and all the other contestants!!!  You can vote here.

Thanks so much for stopping in - hope you are having a great week!!!

Here’s a real quick and simple card for today — and I used Coffee with Friends for a reason — read through to the bottom and check for links — Blog Candy, prizes — does that sound good?

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I relied on two different sheets from my  Euphoria pad to add interest to this simple little card.  My paper pieced mug was a reject from another time, that luckily I had saved.  The colors didn’t work on the other project, but they work fine here today!!!  The mug was actually stamped with gray ink onto Very Vanilla paper, colored with Copics (colors unknown) and then cut out.  It was then stamped with one of the flourish/steam stamps, then gone over with the Inkksentials Opaque White Pen.  The handle is trimmed up with brads and ribbon by SU.

• Stamps:  Coffee with Friends by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Very Vanilla, Euphoria Designer Paper by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Hybrid Charcoal, Copics to Color, Inkksentials Opaque White Pen
• Accessories:  Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware Brad and Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon by SU.  Piercing tool and mat pack.

(Editing to add a Sneak Peek of another set to be released tomorrow):

OK, now for some fun links:

• Blog Candy (Coffee with Friends) still open and receiving at Rainy Day Creations.
• A coffee themed prize offered for the Coffee Time Challenge, running through 7/10.
• Motivate Me Mondays with Julie Koerber — play when you can during the week.
• Chat and play with Faith Hofrichter Live in the Forums Tuesdays from 7 - 9 p.m . EST.
• Paper Crafts Idol Contest has experienced some technical difficultes. Voting begins on Tuesday.  Our own Julie Koerber is in the finals — YAY for Julie!!!  Check it out here.

Think there might be any new release sneak peeks today?  Well, I’m not sure — in the morning I’ll check it out and link up whatever I find!!!  Here’s two:  Susan Roberts and Sharon Doolittle.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is Flourishes release of 3 new sets — can’t wait to finally be able to show you!!!  Hope you can come back on Wednesday for the new releases and May I Suggest…

 Thanks so much for stopping in — have a great day everyone!!!

Double vision? Deja vu?  Perhaps!  10 Minute Tuesday is taking a little turn today, just because I thought it would be fun!  If you read my Blog post yesterday then, YES, you certainly did see the card on the left.  It was a card I did for Sunday’s Featured Stamper Challenge at SCS, and you may see the entire post here.  I really liked that card — the colors, the paper, the look, the vintage feel, so I decided to make a few more and turn them into a little gift set.  Well, I only got one done today, but the rest will come.  And can you see what I’ve done?  I’ve taken the original card and pared it down to make it into a really quick and simple little card to reproduce, but I still think it has some of the elements I love from the first card and bears a bit of vintage appeal!

Think it has the same feel as the original card?  I think so.  I used the same Euphoria pad by Basic Grey, the same lace, ribbon and monogram.  I just left off all the other embellishments to save time, giving it a bit of a cleaner look.  On yesterday’s post I showed you how I sewed on the lace.  Well, for today’s card, to save time, I glued on the lace.  Take a look:

My Rose Red cardstock is cut 2″ wide.  The piece of DP from the Euhporia pad is cut 1.5″ wide.  I adhered the designer paper, leaving about 1/8″ of the Rose Red exposed on top.  Then I ran a line of the 1/8″ Scor-Tape (sold by Scor-Pal) across the bottom of the designer paper.  I could then just lay my piece of lace on top of it, and again, just like yesterday, I wrapped the lace around the back, but this time we don’t have any thread tails to deal with!  Just tape the lace on the back.  Done!!!

My monogram is made exactly the same as yesterday.  Using the JustRite DIY Monogram Stamper with Damask Borders I inked the rubber with the Rose Red and Going Gray SU markers, stamped onto white cardstock, and cut and embossed with my Petite Circle Nestabilites.  I then cut and embossed a Basic Gray mat and a Rose Red scalloped frame.  Quick and fun!!!

With all my pieces made, I adhered the designer paper panel to the card, wrapped with Pink Sheer Ribbon, tied a pretty bow and mounted my monogram on with mounting tape.  Done!!!  Ooops, almost forgot — I added these pretty Pearls to the monogram — just gives it such a nice pretty and feminine look!!!

• Stamps:  JustRite DIY Monogram Stamper with Damask Borders
• Paper:  SU Textured Soft Sky, Rose Red, Basic Gray.  White.  Euphoria DP by Basic Grey.
• Ink:  SU markers in Rose Red and Going Gray.
• Accessories:  Pink Sheer Ribbon, Pearls, Lace, Petite Circle Nestabilities, Mounting Tape.

Thanks so much for stopping in!  Hope you enjoyed today’s version of a quick remake of a card that has a bit more detail work.  I think it works!!!  Tomorrow is my regular Wednesday May I Suggest…and I’ve got so many pretty new things to show you — I can’t wait!!! Have a wonderful week ahead!!!

Keyword ssnotime41 - There is no time limit. You can play this challenge and upload your project at Splitcoast and/or your Blog, anytime at all!  You (and that means anyone and everyone, blogger or not!) can play as many times as you like!!!  The point is to keep it simple, quick and have fun!!!  Please link back here.

The challenge this week is to make a 10 Minute Tuesday card.  For those who may not know what 10 Minute Tuesday is, each Tuesday I do a Blog post showcasing a card that can be reproduced in about 10 minutes.  I realize the designing and making of most cards does take more than 10 minutes, but try to come up with something, that if you were going to reproduce it, you could do so in about 10 minutes — OK?  So, in other words, keep it really simple!   Most importantly — have fun!!!

Here are some samples:

Check out Julie Koerber’s sample here . 

Check out Dee Jackson’s sample here.

Check out Tammy Hershberger’s sample here. 

Check out Jennifer Buck’s sample here.

Check out Janine Orchard’s sample here .

What a fabulous Stamp Simply Team!!!   Thank you girls!!!  Much appreciated!!!

And here’s my sample:

This time I made my Coffee, from Coffee with Friends, of the iced variety!!! A great summer drink!!!  My cup was paper pieced, my straw was just cut by hand, and my foam or whipped cream is Liquid Applique by Marvy.  All the pink and patterned paper is from the Sultry pad, while my brown matting is from Sugared.  My Basic Grey pads are pretty well used up and I’ve been combining a lot of the pads to get the colors I need, and it works!!!  I LOVE the combination of these 2 prints from the Sultry pad!!!  The bottom pink is stamped with one of the steam stamps from Coffee with Friends and it makes a quick and fun background.  And here’s a closeup of the tag detailing:

The tag is die cut on my Cuttlebug using the Tag Trio by Spellbinders.  I just ran a length of the sheer dotted ribbon through the hole and then inserted my pink brad.  The tag is mounted on dimenstional tape and the little dotted tails are neatly held in place with a Zot. 

And you know what made this a 10 minute card? 

• Remember when we talked about making up card bases ahead of time?  Click here.
• Remember when we talked about making up tags ahead of time?  Click here.
• Remember how quick and easy it is to paper piece this large mug?  Click here.

So, with a few things done ahead of time — this card truly did come together in short order!!!

• Stamps:  Coffee with Friends, Siberian Iris (sentiment), both by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Sultry and Sugared Designer Pads by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black, SU Pretty in Pink
• Accessories:  1″ Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Chocolate Dotted Sheer Ribbon, Tag Trio dies by Spellbinders, SU Brad, Liquid Applique by Marvy, Mounting Tape, Zots

Editing to add another card — did this for the LSC at SCS today — the challenge was to limit your embellishments to brads ONLY, and they had to be a part of your main image, not just tacked in a corner.  I thought this LSC would go perfetly with this 10 Minute Tuesday type of challenge here today,  so I did another this morning:

Clean, sleek, modern, simplistic!  Love it!!  This is 9.25″ x 4 1/8″ and fits a business sized envelope.  Fits the LSC to use brads as your only embellishment, and it was a 10 minute card for me because this main image panel with 3 paper peiced mugs was in my rejecto pile from another project gone awry!!!  But it works here!!!  And that’s a good thing!!!!

• Stamps: Coffee with Friends by Flourishes
• Paper:  Black, White, Two Scoops by Basic Grey
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black
• Accessories:  Black Brads by SU and Mounting Tape

Remember when you upload to use the keyword above, followed by a comma.  Please come back here to post (as a comment) that you’ve played, and provide a link so we can check out your card right away. You can find all cards uploaded for this challenge by clicking Gallery Submissions Here.

Some wanting to play said they have never uploaded before.  If that’s you and you need help uploading,  just go to my Challenge No. 1 here.

Thanks so much for stopping in everyone — I truly appreciate it!!  Hope you can find some time to play!!!  Thanks much!!!

And I have a fun human interest story to post on the weekend.  I’ll try to get it up on Friday night, so please check back!!!!  It’ll make you smile!

This is my favorite post to write each week — I LOVE quick cards and this is a real quick one today.  Since my post is about  8 hours behind my normal posting time today, I was able to catch the colors for the  Color Challenge over at SCS, so I thought I’d try them out — White, Taken with Teal and Wild Wasabi.  Not what I probably would have chosen to use on my own, but it works!!!  Here it is:

This card is 3 3/8″ x 6 1/2″ and is made to fit the small open end envelopes by SU.  I really enjoy this size from time to time!  It’s small and easy to work up quickly, but yet with it’s height it allows you more room than a small square does.  I like it!

Anyway, this card is simply done by paper piecing the large mug from Coffee with Friends.  And on the photo below, can you see how I used the print in the Two Scoops pad by Basic Grey to work to my advantage?  I wanted that row of dots on my saucer, and using clear stamps it is so easy to stamp  the saucer over the dots, exactly as I had in mind.

I just wanted to show you, too, that I use my little Xyron X to adhere all my mugs in Coffee with Friends.  They all fit nicely in this small Xyron sticker maker — takes all the fuss out of adhering them — quick and easy.  These can be purchased at just about any store that sells craft items — Wal-Mart, Michaels, etc. — they are very inexpensive and work wonderfully for adhering small pieces.  The feed opening  is 1.5″ wide, so anything under that works great!

To do the ribbon on this card - I merely ran 2 lengths of SU gingham along the side of my card and then took a length of Black Sheer Ribbon, ran it under the gingham and tied my fluffy little bow.  I just adore these fluffy bows the Sheer Ribbon allows you to make.  To get this puffy, fluffy look — just tie your bow tightly, make it rather small, and cut your tail ends rather short, no longer than the bow is big.  Fun little bow!!!

• Stamps:  Coffee with Friends by Flourishes
• Paper:  White, Taken with Teal, Two Scoops by Basic Grey (my sheet of DP has a bit of Wasabi in it)
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black and Charcoal
• Accessories:  Black Sheer Ribbon, SU Gingham Ribbon and SU Brads, Xyron X

Thanks so much for coming to look — I truly do appreciate it, as I always appreciate all your comments and feedback as well!! Thank you so much!!! Wishing you all a wonderful week!!!  See you tomorrow for my Wednesday feature — May I Suggest …

It’s time for 10 Minute Tuesday again — 0h, where do the weeks go!!!  I did a Christmas card again today as it is getting near (kind of - LOL!) the 25th, which is the day that reminds me of the Christmas Card Challenge in the Flourishes Forum at SCS.  It is a continuously running challenge to make Christmas cards with Flourishes images, and we use the time around the 25th merely as a reminder.  Please feel free to check it out and play along.

This card is 5.25″ square.  The base is black, as is the Black Velvet Ribbon.

The Very Vanilla panel is 3.75 x 4.75 and is Cuttlebug embossed with the birds and swirls folder.

The tree from Flourished Christmas is gold embossed on a Very Vanilla panel that is 3 1/8 x 3.5.  The corners are ticket corner punched, mounted on a Cranberry Crisp panel, brads added.   It is mounted with mounting tape.

A very quick and easy card, and I love the interest the Cuttlebug embossed panel adds!!!

Thanks so much for looking!!!  Hope you are all having a great week!!!

Since today’s May I Suggest… is being combined with yesterday’s 10 Minute Tuesday, what I would like to suggest is that you… Stamp Simply.  Yes, of course!!!  And I’d like to suggest paper piecing as well.  It gives your card a lot of punch for very little effort.  And here are two simple cards that fit this Stamp Simply concept well:

These two cards are made pretty much the same, using Coffee with Friends, and a very simple plan of attack!  We start with

• A simple design.
• Use of  designer paper for interest.
• A large main image panel with a simple image, paper pieced, and elevated for dimension.
• The addition of  ribbon or an embellishment.
• In this case, the omission of a sentiment, though we would often add one.

I rely on this simple layout a lot.  I love playing with designer papers, putting them together in coordinated pairs.  And sometimes it’s just fun to make your card base, even if you don’t have time to stamp.  To make these card bases, in line with the Stamp Simply concept, I adhere the designer paper right to the card base to avoid any extra layers.  And I really like the look of minimal layers at times. These are the card bases with only the designer paper adhered.

If you have time to make bases like this and just keep them on hand, it’s a real time saver when you’re in a rush.  To make these I cut my bottom strip 2.25″ inches high.  I just like that measurement — it works for me!!! The card on the left only has a bottom piece, topped with a scallop made with the Long Rectangle Nestabilities, as shown on this post.  The card on the right has the bottom piece topped with a strip of solid paper.  On this card, I cut the top piece 3.5 inches high and I adhered it to the card first.  Then I overlap the bottom piece when I adhere it.  All the designer paper above is from Scarlet’s Letter by Basic Grey.

OK, with your bases made, now you need your focal image, and for both of these cards the white panel was cut 2.75″ x 4.5″ and the framing was cut 1/8″ larger, giving you a very narrow frame.  I used the simple tall coffee mug image from Coffee with Friends to paper piece both of these images. I love the look of paper piecing.  For very little effort it adds a whole lot of punch to your card!  Let’s take the card on the left first. 

The Lily of the Valley from Peony were first stamped onto the panel, making sure you stamp high enough to allow room for the vase.  I colored the flowers with the Inkksentials Opaque White Pen and it sure does a wonderful job on these — the white just pops, even off of this white base.  The leaves were colored with 2 green Copics and then I outlined the entire image with the Cool Gray Copic.

Next you have to make your vase.  Stamp the tall coffee mug from Coffee with Friends onto your designer paper, then cut out ONLY the portion that would be the vase — not the handle or the saucer.  Then, as you can see, I turned it upside down for this vase — the narrow part is on top.  I did a card yesterday making a vase with the narrow part on the bottom — it is versatile.  Then for the stripe on the vase — I just picked up a scrap strip of paper from by my paper cutter, cut it to width, and adhered it.  I run all these small pieces through my Xyron X — really handy!  Attach your vase to the panel, frame the panel with black, tie a little bow with the Black Dotted Sheer Ribbon and attach it with a little glue dot. 

All that’s left is to attach your newly created main image panel to the card.  I do this with either mounting tape on a roll or mounting squares.  It adds just a bit of elevation to the card and it just gives an air of elegance, I think, when that main image just kind of floats above the card — love that look.  (I get these products at Wal-mart, it’s my only shopping source here.)  But it may be enough to pop you up into the extra postage category, so that is a consideration!  Here’s another view of the same picture from above, just so you don’t have to scroll:

Now for the card on the right with the coffee mug from Coffee with Friends – this, too, is paper pieced, using 2 colors.  You’ll have to stamp it twice on designer paper, stamping the mug on brown and stamping the saucer on the greenish/goldish color.  Then you can stamp a flourish from Coffee with Friends onto your mug.  In this instance, you have to stamp the coffee mug onto the main image panel, and you can also stamp on some steam.  Now, take your mug and saucer pieces cut from the designer paper and adhere them over your image stamped on the white panel.  Instant appeal — isn’t it great?  I added brads on the handle and a photo hanger to tie on a piece of Chocolate Velvet Ribbon.  These colors and the visual weight of the mug just demanded a heavier weight ribbon up there.  Ok, attach this main image panel onto the card base with mounting tape, as above, and you are done!!!

And you’ll notice there are NO sentiments on these cards.  I like to have cards made up ahead that I can grab when needed, no matter what the occasion, so I often make my cards in this generic fashion.  When you decide you need to use one of these cards, you will have room to add on a small circle or oval die cut sentiment, or you can just use the inside for your message/sentiment. 

About the Basic Grey 6 x 6 pads — they often work together very well for mixing and matching — though each pad has it’s own design line, the sheets of solid color often transfer well to another pad.  My pink vase is from Sultry, while the black/white bottom is from Scarlet’s Letter.

About ribbons — two of my stand-by must have ribbons that I’d like to suggest to you today are the Dotted Sheers and the Velvet Ribbons.  They both come in a wide range of colors and are so easy to work into your projects.  I LOVE the bit of fun and whimsy that the Dotted Sheers add, and nothing can beat the elegance of velvet. And even on the coffee card above, I used the velvet not because I necessarily needed elegance, but because it was the weight I was after — and I needed such a little piece, but it was perfect!!!

About Coffee with Friends — I’ve had so much fun working with this set this week.  It is a paper piecers dream!!!  Perfect for piecing — fun and easy!!!  These images also can easily be colored in by any means you prefer.  And I love the versatility of the tall coffee mug — as you’ve seen I’ve made it into a couple different vases — and I have one more idea up my sleeve with this mug that I’ll save for another day!!!  (Unless someone out there beats me to the punch — LOL!!!)  I also need to move on and play with the small cups some more — I have ideas for those as well!!!  Just LOVE the simplicity and ease of working with this all-purpose set!!!

Gosh, I feel like I’ve rambled on, so what DID I recommend today?  Let me see –

• A simple card design, using Coffee with Friends (and Lily of the Valley from Peony)
• Paper Piecing using Basic Grey designer paper
• A large main image panel with a simple, pleasing image, elevated for prominence
• Using ribbons as embellishments
• Making your cards sentiment-free, allowing for versatile uses when needed

Yes, I guess that would wrap it up.  Hope those of you in need of some quick and simple designs will give this a try!!!  It can’t get much easier!!! Oh, and enjoy a cup of coffee while you’re at it — LOL!!!

Thank you all so much for stopping in today — I truly appreciate it!!!

I LOVE Tuesdays — I have complete permission to do a super simple card!!!  How fun!!! 

And here we have it!!!  I know I sound like a broken record sometimes, but WHAT makes this card a 10 minute, or simple, card?  Well, many things:

1. The use of coordinating Designer Paper.  Once you choose your DP sheets, your cardstock colors are somewhat decided for you, so there’s not much thinking there!  Also, your patterned paper adds SO much interest to the card, you can get away with little else.  These Designer Papers are from Scarlet’s Letter by Basic Grey.  A WONDERFUL pad of deep, rich and neutral tones in elegant patterns.
2. Minimal stamping.  Yes, minimal stamping — LOL!!! — and that’s OK!!!  Here I stamped one solid image that could hold its own against the strong print of Scarlet’s Letter.  I used the newly released Spring Ephemerals by Flourishes.  I think the new Spring Ephemerals is just a perfect pairing with Scarlet’s Letter — love them together!  I stamped this bleeding heart in black so it would have a silhouette effect and coordinate with the designer paper used.
3. Simple sentiments.  All the sentiments from this set, which are the flower’s name, fit just perfectly into the smallest of the dies in the Labels Trio by Spellbinders.  Using dies to cut and and emboss your sentiments makes life super easy — just stamp your sentiment, with no need to worry about proper alignment, as you are going to cut it with the die. After it is cut and embossesd, just attach wherever you’d like — easy and quick!!! 
4. Add a little *pretty* with easy to use ribbon.  Here I used both Black Sheer and Dark Red Sheer ribbon.  I LOVE this light weight, wispy ribbon.  It ties into these pretty fluffy little bows and it handles so well, being so soft, pliable and light weight.  And being so light weight, even having 2 bows on your card doesn’t over power it. 

To add a little interest to my red bow, I first attached an S shaped clip from SU’s Hodgepodge Hardware to the corner of my card with a glue dot in the center.  Then I punched holes with the Cropadile where the centers of the S curves were.  Then I just ran my ribbon trough and tied it into  a bow — just for fun and to add a little something exrtra of interest up in that corner.

• Stamps:  Spring Ephemerals by Flourishes
• Paper:  SU Very Vanilla, Black.  Prism Blush Red Dark.  Basic Grey’s Scarlet Letter DP.
• Ink:  Palette Noir Black
• Accessories:  Black and Dark Red Sheer Ribbon,  Label Trios by Spellbinders, SU Brass Hodgepodge Hardware, Mounting Squares

Thanks so much for stopping in for 10 Minute Tuesday!!! I truly appreciate it!!!  Tomorrow is Wednesday, and that brings *May I Suggest…*, so if you’re interested, come to see what I’m suggesting tomorrow!!!

And the Blog Candy post is still open and receiving comments at Running With Scissors.  Go and check it out if you haven’t already!!!  Hope you are having a wonderful week!!!

Hi everyone — I made it for 10 Minute Tuesday today — sorry about the lapse last week!!!  And I am multi-tasking today as my card not only works for 10 Minute Tuesday, but also for the Christmas Card Challenge I am running in the Flourishes forum.  Check it out — all are welcome to play!!!  Here’s my card:

I used what I consider one of the easiest Christmas sets ever to use — Flourished Christmas.   It features this gorgeous, flourishy tree as well as a reindeer with antlers everyone loves!!!  He is my kind of deer!!!  I love this tree as it is so simple to use — stamp it, and be done if you like.  It also looks great embossed, and on today’s card I merely stamped it in brown ink and accented it just a bit with the Quickie Glue Pen and SU Dazzling Diamonds.  I have also decorated it in the past with Dew Drops!

My Merry Christmas sentiment is in the same set, as is my inside verse, which reads:  May your Christmas flourish with peace and good will.  My Merry Christmas is stamped on Very Vanilla and then cut and embossed using one of the new Nestabilities tag dies by Spellbinders.  This one is a slider for ribbons — how fun!!!!  My velvet ribbon is run through it and attached back to itself with brads — quick and easy and I love the rich and elegant look it lends!!!

My tree and sentiment panels are outlined with a Sharpie Metallic Gold pen. The tree is then framed with a scrap I found of gold mirrored cardstock.  The background paper is from Scarlet’s Letter by Basic Grey.  LOVE this pack.  Although it is not one of the newest packs out by BG, it is new to me and I just love the rich colors it has.  I LOVE browns and just haven’t used them as much lately as I used to, so I am really enjoying the brown tones and other dark neutrals in this paper pack.  The sheer ribbon is run through 2 holes punched with my eyelet setter and hammer and as I’ve said before, I really like the delicate feel of this sheer ribbon — superior to any I’ve used before — it is by May Arts.

• Stamps:  Flourished Christmas by Flourishes
• Paper:  SU Very Vanilla, unknown Mirrored Gold, Scarlet’s Letter by Basic Grey
• Ink:  SU Basic Brown
• Accessories:  Velvet and Sheer Ribbon, Gold Brads, Nestability Tags by Spellbinders, Gold Metallic Sharpie, Quickie Glue Pen, SU Dazzling Diamonds, Dimensionals, Eyelet Setter, Hammer, Piercer, Mat Pack

Editing to Add:  Let me address the issue of 10 Minutes — LOL!!! Do I design and make these cards in only 10 Minutes — NO!!! I am slow at design; however, once the design is there to follow, do I feel this is a really quick card to reproduce — Yes, absolutely!!!  The paper cuts are all easy, the stamping is minimal.  And, OK, perhaps on this card using the Nestability die and then putting the brads in the velvet (really easy and quick), may push this a bit beyond the 10 minutes to reproduce, but I love the look and feel it’s worth the extra couple minutes.  But if 10 minutes is important, then change the sentiment slider with ribbon/brads to a simple oval punched sentiment — it would still look great and save a couple minutes!!!

Thank you so much for stopping in — I truly appreciate it.  Tomorrow I plan to start a new regular (I hope) feature for Wednesday’s called — May I Suggest….  Hope you can stop by to check it out!!!  Have a wonderful week everyone!!!

Gosh, it’s Tuesday again — where does the time go!!!  Good thing Tuesday’s call for only a 10 minute card!!!  Before I get into any details, I’d like to itemize all the things about this card that contribute to it being just a 10 minute card:

1. No stamping
2. Use of tools (Heart shaped Nestabilities)
3. Use of a scrap (that happened to be pre-stamped)
4. Use of ribbon for a scalloped edge (no need to make scallops)
5. Use of designer paper (rather than stamping a background)
6. A CASED design (YES, it is OK to CASE!!! LOL!!!)

This 4.25″ square card is a design CASED from Tracy Durcan.  You can see her darling card here.  As you can see, I only changed the focal image from her sentiment scallop to my heart.  Though the colors and patterns are different, the basic design is the same.  Taking someone else’s design and making it your own, is a sure-fired time saver.   And those of us who take the time to upload and share our work, generally don’t mind being CASED.  After all, isn’t imitation the highest form of flattery?  We just must always be careful not to submit the work of another for contest or publication, and if we upload work CASED from another, we must remember to credit the original designer.  Very simple rules.  And most Blogs do have their own statement in the sidebar as to their feelings on being CASED, so it’s always a good idea to check there.  Gee, I didn’t mean to get side tracked — back to the card –

The designer paper I used is from the Sugared 6 x 6 pad by Basic Grey.  Love the colors and fun prints in this pad!!!  I took my Classic Heart Nestabilities and first cut and embossed the smaller  heart, then found the scrap of So Saffron with the retired SU French Script already stamped on it  — how handy — so I thought I’d use it for the larger heart.  I often use corsage or stick pins in my work, but I always insert them at an angle — don’t know why — it’s just what I do — LOL!!!  I recently saw this card by Velta where she inserted the pin straight up and down into the heart and I loved it — so, another CASE!!!  My corsage pins are from Michaels and the tiny pearl beads are from Wal-mart.   I then tied on a little piece of the Pink Velvet Ribbon by May Arts.  Love the richness just this little bit of velvet adds!

Once again, I have used the Scalloped Edge Satin Ribbon by May Arts to create a scallop along the border of my designer paper.  Now, had I been thinking, I could have cut this ribbon down the center and done this with only a bit over 4″ of ribbon; however, I wasn’t thinking, and I put a full strip of ribbon on both top and bottom — oh well, next time!!!  Also, I ALWAYS wrap my ribbon, either behind a panel or around the card front.  Well, this is one of the few times that I actually cut my ribbon and it doesn’t wrap around anything, but with it being tucked under the paper, we are not seeing any ragged or frayed edges, so I’m OK with that in this situation.

• Stamps:  None (SU retired French Script on So Saffron scrap found)
• Paper:  Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Sugared by Basic Grey
• Ink:  None (More Mustard was used on the French Script scrap)
• Accessores:  Scalloped Edge Satin Ribbon, Velvet Ribbon, Corsage Pin, Pearl Beads, Dimensionals, Classic Heart Nestabilities by Spellbinders

And I guess that pretty well sums it up — gee, took me tons longer to write this post than it took to make the card — LOL!!!  I encourage you all to try a 10 minute card, employing some of the hints I’ve listed above.  If you do, let me know how it turns out!  If you care to link back here, I’ll take a peek!!!

Once again, thanks so much for stopping in!!!  Tomorrow (Wednesday) is Flourishes release of 2 new stamp sets, so hope you check back in.  And I’ll give you a little hint — there are some other fun activities planned in the Flourishes forum at SCS for tomorrow, so stop in over there, too!!!  Hope you all have a great day!!!

Editing to Add:  I was reminded by a comment that not eveyone knows what Nestabilities are.  Nestabilities are thin metal dies, made to run through a die cutting system.  I use mine in my Cuttlebug.  They not only cut out your shape, but they can also emboss the edge for you — a very cool feature.  My photography skills are not the best, but here’s a card that shows the embossed edges on the hearts.  And below is a photo of a complete set of Nestability Circles that I just got in the mail and haven’t openend yet:

The shapes come with a standard straight edge and also with a scalloped edge.  See how there are two pacakages of each?  There is a large and small of each.  They come in graduated sizes which nest together, which is great for layering and matting.  If you only have one size of a shape, it will mat to about 1/4″, but if you have both sizes of the shape, the matted layers will be about 1/8″.  Here’s a card with the narrower matting, using dies from both the sets.

And here’s a link to a video tutorial by Nancy Kirk from Flourishes showing you how to use the Nestabilities in your Cuttlebug.  A very helpful tutorial if you’ve never seen this done before!  I have purchased all of my Nestabilities from Flourishes.

If you’ve got an inkling to take the plunge and try them out, I GUARANTEE you will love them — no doubt about it!!!  And we didn’t even touch on the discussion of storing these as opposed to storing large punches, or the tremendous cost savings when comparing a similiar number of punches to  Nestability dies.  This conversation could go on forever, but I think you get the idea — I LOVE my Nestabilities!!!

Hope this helps those of you who may be unaware — again, thanks for stopping in!