No Time To Stamp?

Krafty  Black — Today’s challenge is in honor of all those who LOVE Kraft paper.  It is likewise a little push or shove to those who rarely use it (and that would be ME!)  The added element is that we MUST use black paper as well — anything else goes, as long as you have both Kraft and Black paper in your creation.  And, if you don’t own Kraft paper, do your best to use whatever you have that is as close as possible.  As always, we’re an easy bunch.  We just want you to play and have some fun with us!

Keyword ssnotime108 - 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.

Check out the great samples for the Stamp Simply Challenge today on the blogs of these fabulous designers:

• Amy, October Guest Designer
• Janine   
• Julie 
• AJ
• Tammy 
• Deb
• Barbara
• Jenny
• Barb Schram (Barb is kindly filling in for a bit as Jennifer Buck takes some much needed time off — enjoy your break, Jennifer — we’ll miss you!)

Please bear with us all as we each upload and link on Thursday night.  Everyone should be up and set by Friday morning.

You may see all SCS Gallery Submissions here.

And here’s my Krafty Black creation for today:

A Kraft card base and a Krafty type color in the LaCreme DP.  I wanted to add to my supply of sympathy cards today.  A simple style I do often using a LaCreme Chipboard Sticker flower and *hanging* my sentiment by a Cuttlebug Corner Die piece placed on top.  The sentiment and border is from Thinking of You by JustRite.  The Black Silk Bow is made on the Bow Easy.  Paper is SU Kraft, Black, Very Vanilla and LaCreme DP by DCWV.  My card is 5.5″ square.

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The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store carries the following items used on this card:

Thinking of You used on the 2 1/4″ x 3 1/16″ Oval Stamper  by JustRite.

VersaFine Onyx Black Ink.

Classic Oval Nestabilities by Spellbinders, and the Bow Easy.

100% Black Silk Ribbon by MayArts.

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Thanks much for stopping in today.  Hope you can play along if you so desire — this is a fun one!!!  Truly appreciate your visits and wish you all a wonderful weekend ahead.  My next project is a quick and easy hostess gift to have on hand — and quick and easy it is. Hope to see you soon!

CAS/BIO — So what’s THAT mean?  Clean and Simple, Black Ink Only OR Brown Ink Only.  So clean and simple in style, with only ONE ink, black or brown, and NO coloring.  We’ve done something similar before, but this time we are adding in the clean and simple element as well and allowing either black or brown ink.  ANY papers or embellishmemts are A-OK.  The idea here is to keep our effort to a minimum by doing CAS and limiting inks and omitting coloring, but allowing our papers and embellishments to give our project the POP and pizzazz.  Have fun with this one!

Keyword ssnotime105 - 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.

Check out the great samples for the Stamp Simply Challenge today on the blogs of these fabulous designers:

• Charlene, September Guest Designer
• Janine 
• Jennifer 
• Julie 
• AJ
• Tammy
• Deb
• Barbara
• Jenny

Please bear with us all as we each upload and link on Thursday night.  Everyone should be up and set by Friday morning.

You may see all SCS Gallery Submissions here.

And here’s what I created for today:

First of all let me say, I think I broke my own rule.  This is Black Ink Only, but I’m not sure if it qualifies for clean and simple.  But I have an excuse — we have another funeral tomorrow and I really NEEDED this to be a sympathy card tonight as I didn’t have time to make 2 cards, so I am just being practical and made what I needed — so if you’ll forgive me for that — then I owe you one!  My card is 5.25 x 7.75″ high.  The papers are retired SU — Soft Sky and Spring Silhouettes DP — both of which I dearly love.  Soft Sky is probably my most favorite blue paper of all time.

My image is from Thinking of You by JustRite stamped in a good, crisp black ink — VersaFine Onyx Black, my favorite black.  Though this set is sized to fit the Classic Oval Nesties, I cut mine with the Petite Oval Nesties.  I’ve done this before and I’m lovin’ the space I have on the sides to use Kaiser Pearls.  This my favorite fun and flirty blow treatment using the Bow Easy.  Read here to learn how to do this ribbon treatment.

And here I wanted to show you that I used one of the other oval center stamps in Thinking of You for my inside sentiment.  Thought this was pretty for the inside.  And that’s about it!  Hope you can play along!

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Shopping:

The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store offers the following items used on this card:

Thinking of You Set and the 2 1/4 x 3 1/16″ Oval Stamper by JustRite

100% Silk Ribbon by May Arts and the Bow Easy

Petite Oval Nestabilities, Scor-It and VersaFine Onyx Black Ink

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Make sure you check out all the Friday players in the JustRite Font Blog Hop.  The fun is still continuing.  Read the post linked above at the JustRite Blog to learn more about the Hop, the Candy being offered and the week long Font Sale at JustRite!  And if you didn’t see the posts for Thursday, make sure you check those out too!  All are linked at the JustRite Blog.

Thanks much for stopping in today — truly do appreciate it!  Hope you can look forward to a wonderful weekend!  See you all soon - take care!

It seems I need way too many sympathy cards — I had to get one in the mail today for a friend whose mother passed away.  To save time I decided to make basically the same card that I posted yesteday, only make it a bit more feminine.  So today I have a CAS feminine sympathy card, using the same layout as the masculine sympathy card I posted yesterday.  There are a few changes that I’ll explain as I go:

Same idea as yesterday — Cuttlebug  focal background, the same image from Thinking of You by JustRite (see, I TOLD you I’d use this set a lot — LOL!).  Same large size of 5.25 x 7.75″ , same VersaFine Onyx Black Ink (my FAV for sentiments and black images).  This time I used the Petite Oval Nesties rather than the Classic I used yesterday on the masculine card.  Can you see  how when using the Petite the oval is more elongated — leaving me room on the sides to add my pearls?  It’s really not as perfect of a fit, but I like the fact that I have room for pearls.  Here’s a closeup:

I also used scallops around my oval for a more feminine touch, and I added a Black 100% Silk Bow made with the Bow Easy. 

And here’s  2 other touches to gussy up this card:

I used Perfect Pearls on my Cuttlebug embossed image.  Can you see in the photo how the raised leaf design has a pearly shimmer to it?  I accomplished that very easily with the Perfect Pearls Kit I have in the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.  I love the rich and elegant look this gives.  Here’s what I did:

• Emboss paper in Cuttlebug

• Run Perfect Medium (or Versa Mark) over the embossed paper

• Using the larger, soft brush take a very small amount of Perfect Pearls in Pearl color and brush over the embossed paper, working in small sections, until done.  In this case, I only did the raised portions.

• Using a Swiffer cloth, wipe the paper to remove excess powder — done!

• You can spray with a Fixative if you so desire to keep powder from brushing off. (I did NOT on this card).

Can you see how the large blush background panel is embossed in a diamond grid design?  Another quick and easy touch using my Scor-It Score Board and the Sliding Ruler made to attach to it.  Using the sliding ruler it is SO easy to create fun embossed or debossed lines to add texture and interest to your card — just LOVE it!!!  I thought it went so well with this sympathy card.

Shopping:

The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store  carries the following items to create this card:

• Thinking of  You Stamp Set by JustRite

• 2 1/4 x 3 1/16″ Wood Block to use with stamp set

• VersaFine Onyx Black Ink

• 100% Silk Ribbon

• Perfect Pearls Kits

• Bow Easy

• Scor-It Score Board

• 12″ Sliding Ruler for Scor-It Score Board

Thanks much for checking in again today — with summer winding down, I surely hope to be posting more regularly and more times per week — that’s my goal, anyway!  Something to work toward.  We are experiencing HOT summer weather this week — which is nice to finally get, even though a comfortable 75 degree day with breezes suites me to a T!!!!  Hope you are all having a great week!

And be sure to check out all the fun with the new Christmas releases being revealed this week at the JustRite Blog.  There are blog candy giveaways and fun all week long. And if you need any of the new Christmas sets, just let me know, I’d be happy to supply them for you – they all release next week!  Lots of fun stuff and I can’t WAIT to start sharing some projects with you!!!

I often think clean and simple is the way to go with sympathy cards, and even moreso when it needs to be a masculine sympathy card.  That’s what I did here today — clean and simple, black and white.

This card is a favorite size of mine of late - 5.25″ x 7.75″.  I have envelopes to fit, so all is well!  I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and added just one tiny black pearl for the bird’s eye.  My sentiment is from the Thinking of You set by JustRite, which is a sympathy set I just love and I know I’ll get tons of use out of it for years to come — and that’s exactly why I chose to carry it in the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store — it’s a keeper in my book!  I stamped my image with Versa Fine Onyx Black ink, which has long been my favorite ink for crisp, true black images.  I cut the image with my Classic Oval Nestabilites by Spellbinders.  My bottom border is THE most sumptuous Velvet Zig Zag ribbon by May Arts — just love it — another new find and now included in the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.

Shopping:

The Stamp Simply Ribon Store carries these items to make this card:  Thinking of You Set, 2 1/4″ x 3 1/16″ Oval Stamper, both by JustRite, Versa Fine Onyx Black Ink, May Arts Black Zig Zag Ribbon, Scor-It.

Thank you so much for stopping in today.  We have out of town relatives visiting and have been busy with them.  It’s so fun to see everyone, and we are enjoying nice warm summer weather as well!  Hope you are enjoying some pleasant summer weather and fun activities as well!!!  See you soon!!!

There are times when you need a card to be just a little more special.  This is one of those times, most unfortunately.  One of the girls in our stamping group, very suddenly and unexpectedly, lost her husband just a few days ago.  The funeral is tomorrow.  Trish is a stamper who enjoys beautiful cards, so I tried to make this one beautiful, especially for her.  The sentiment says…  May your Heart and Soul find peace and comfort.  That is my prayer for Trish and her young children.  Here’s the card I made:

I used the new sympathy set by JustRite, called Thinking of You, available for purchase on July 7.  It is made to use with the Harmony Classic 2 1/4″ x 3 1/16″ Oval Stamper.  It has 6 different centers and borders, all very lovely for a sympathy card.  I simply gold embossed my sentiment and border, then cut with a Petite Oval Nestability, layering it on top of a Labels 1 Nestability.  I used Cuttlebug die cut corners and edged with a gold pen.  Some elevation, a silk ribbon and bow made on the Bow Easy, and I’m done!

You will notice I also made an envelope to match, and it only took me a couple of mintues, truly!  I used my brand new Envelope-It template by Scor-It.  I was so pleased with how easy it was.  It’s an aluminum template with the instructions printed right on it.  You can either cut your paper with a craft knife or trace and cut with scissors.  I think adding a matching envelope just really sets off a card and makes it all the more special.  Having my new Envelope-It to use, I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot more matching envies for my cards!

Another thing I’d like to point out – about the Oval Nestabilities.  This stamp set by JustRite, like the previous ovals in this size, were made specifically to fit the Classic Oval Nestability dies.  Well, I don’t own them (but they are on order).  What I do have is the set of Petite Oval Nestabilities.  If you look again at my card, you’ll see that my die cut oval is not the exact shape as the stamped image.  The Petitie Oval Nesties are more elongated, whereas the Classic Oval Nestabilities are the ones that fit these JustRite stamps much more accurately.  Just wanted to point that out as I realize this can be a confusing point!  Check out these cards made by Kellie Fortin.  She has used the Classic Oval Nesties, and you’ll see how they fit her stamped images, as compared to mine done with the Petite Oval Nesties.  Such gorgeous cards!

Please also check out Heidi’s Blog. She shares a lot of wonderful photos of this set and you can see exactly how the Classic Oval Nesties fit these images.  She’s got a beautiful project and some great photos.

Here’s a look at all these beautiful sympthy images, sentiments and borders from Thinking of You.  I LOVE this set and know I’ll get a lot of good use out of it over the years.  I always like to have a variety of sympathy cards made ahead and on hand, so that is definitely on my *to-do* list for real soon!

Have you signed up for the FAB Blog Candy yet at the JustRite Blog?  If not, check it out!

And here’s a couple more blogs to check out using NEW JustRite products, available on July 7:  Michelle - What is in Mish’s Mason Jars??? and Becca - Great Expectations.

Stamps:  Thinking of You Set used on 2 1/4 x 3 1/16 Harmony Classic Oval Stamper II by JustRite

Paper:  SU Very Vanilla, Soft Sky, Soft Sky Prints DP

Ink:  Versa Mark

Accessories:  1.25″ and 1/4″ Silk Ribbon by May Arts, Bow Easy, Scor-It, Envelope-It, Petite Oval and Labels 1 Nestabilities by Spellbinders, Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug Corner Dies, SU Detail Gold Embossing Powder, SU Corner Rounder, Marvy Gold Calligraphy Pen, Glue Glider, Xyron X, SU Dimensionals, Lick & Stick Envelope Glue

Thanks much for stopping in today.  I truly appreciate all the visits you make!  I’ll be back on Wednesday morning with a project using some more new product, so please stop in again!  Thanks much and see you soon!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope you enjoyed a Blessed Day!!! Tonight I have a card to share that I consider so *me*, so what I love — black ink only, soothing and minimal colors (but yet striking colors), beautiful patterns and gorgeous ribbon — Stamped Simply! And following a sketch made it simpler yet. I followed this week’s Weekend Sketch Challenge hosted this week by Laurie Schmidlin — LOVELY sketch!!! Here it is:

I both rotated and flipped the sketch — if that makes sense — essentially it is backwards in every direction, but it’s there! You can seethe sketchhere. This card went together very quickly. As I said above, all my decisions were made before I even started — I had the sketch, I chose the paper, which dictated the ribbon, and I knew I wanted to do black ink only and that it needed to fit into the round focal image — so all I had to do was find an image to work — easy as that!!! When I go to make a card, typically the first thing I select is my paper. Once having the paper I am in the mood to use in hand, it usually sets the tone for whatever is to be and then things just move along smoothly. This card is large, at 5.25″ wide x 7.75″ high. I’m really enjoying this larger size of late.

Isn’t this Silk Ribbon perfect with the Sublime paper by Kaiser? I am totally ELATED with the match — TOTALLY!!! The image is an Inkadinkado stamp from the Nostalgia set, andmy birdhas a Snow White Kaiser Pearl eye. Birds always need eyes!!!

The beautiful and delicate With Sympathy is from a Papertrey Ink set, cut with a Ribbon Slide die by Spellbinders. I have used just a bit of my 1/4″ Silk Ribbon run through the openings on the end — just a little touch, but it really sets off the sentiment!

Stamps: Nostalgia by Inkadinkado; Out on a Limb Sentiments by Papertrey Ink.

Paper: PTI White, SU Black, Kaiser Sublime DP.

Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, ColorBox Chalk Lime Pastel (to DTP the edges)

Accessories: 1.25″ Celery and 1/4″ Black Silk Ribbon by May Arts from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store; Petite Circle Nestabilities and Ribbon Slide Dies by Spellbinders; Kaiser Snow Pearl; K & Co Green Rhinestones; SU Corner Rounder; Glue Glider, Mounting Squares.

Shopping:

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store carries the May Arts Silk ribbons and more.

Joan’s Garden carries Spellbinders, Inkadinkado and Kaiser products, as well as the Glue Glider and mounting squares. And Joan has a lot of fun new things listed today (Monday), so check her out. (SSshhh — but she actually posts late on Sunday night if you are still up — LOL!!!)

Thanks so much for stopping in today. It was relaxing to come home this evening and make a fairly quick card - hope you enjoy it and that you, too, have some time to do whatever it is that pleases you! Thanks so much — see you soon!!!

Today I made a masculine sympathy card using silk ribbon and I think it works perfectly! I combined SU’s Kraft paper with retired Soft Sky and my Taupe Silk Ribbon by May Arts is a perfect compliment and, I think, very suitable for a sympathy card for a man. Here it is:

I used 2 Verve sets, Serenity and one of the Plain Jane sentiments, and I followed the sketch for the Sketch Challenge over at SCS today. Fun one as I always love panels placed askew! See my background stamping on the Kraft? It is done with a new ink pad called Castaway — sort of a bleached effect but done with this ink pad. After stampingyou iron it with your iron and the bleachy effect occurs — fun!!! This is my first use of this pad, but I think I’m going to like it! Using 3/8″ Gingham Ribbon I made a little hanger for my sentiment panel. The 1.5″ Silk Ribbon knots so easily and if you get your tails kind of *wrong* — LOL — you can easily manipulate them with this ultra fine Silk Ribbon. And that’s a good thing!

Stamps: Serenity and Plain Jane Matthew 11:28 by Verve; retired Warmest Regards by SU

Paper: SU Kraft, retired Soft Sky, Black, White

Ink: Versa Fine Onyx Black, Castaway by Jacquard, retired SU Soft Sky

Accessories: May Arts Ribbons from the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store, Brad, Spellbinders Rectangle Nestabilities, Glue Glider, Mounting Tape

Shopping:

The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store (above my blog header) has these, as well as other, May Arts Ribbons.

Joan’s Garden has products used by Spellbinders, Glue Glider and the mounting squares, as well as this Castaway ink pad.

Thanks much for stopping in again — truly appreciate your visits! We are still battling crummy, chilly weather — not much sign of spring — but it WILL come!!! Thursday evening I will be posting our Stamp Simply Challenge for this week, and to give you a hint, let’s just say it is *appropriate* for the season and something anyone can play (with just a bit of imagination!) Hope you come back to check it out! Thanks everyone and see you soon!

I needed a feminine sympathy card today and I chosefresh Eastercolors with my new Lavender Silk Ribbon. It is 1.5″ wide and works up like an absolute DREAM — so soft and lovely! It is available in 10 colors and 2 widths at My Ribbon Saleabove my blog banner.

Another simple card to put together! I used a favorite old stamp by Penny Black, inking it with ColorBox Chalk inks and stamping it 3 times without re-inking — easy! I cut the image with my Curved Rectangle Nesties and left the image in the die so I could sponge on the yellow shades, leaving my white border. My fancy corner is from my new Flourish Accent dies by Spellbinders. There is another corner the same in the lower right, but it’s not showing. I added a border punched with a Martha Stewart punch, a PTI sentiment, wrapped on my beautiful ribbon and called it done! Oh, almost forgot my rhinestones! Can’t forget those — the finishing touch!!!

Stamps: Blush by Penny Black. Sentiment from Out on a Limb Sentiments by Papertrey Ink.

Paper: PTI White, SU So Saffron and retired Uptown DP.

Ink: Color Box Chalk: Olive Pastel, Warm Violet, Dark Peony, Chestnut Roan, Yellow Citrus; SU (to sponge) Barely Banana and retired Marigold Morning; Versa Fine Onyx Black for sentiment.

Accessories: May Arts Silk Ribbon from My Ribbon Saleabove my blog banner; Spellbinders products: Petite Oval Nestabilities, Curved Rectangles, Flourish Accents; Martha Stewart Border Punch; SU Corner Rounder, Spongeand Dimensionals; Kaiser Rhinestones; Glue Glider.

Shopping:

My Ribbon Saleabove my blog banner has the Silk Ribbon anda variety of the May Arts Ribbons.

Joan’s Garden carries products used on this card by: Spellbinders, Kaiser, Martha Stewart, Glue Glider.

Thanks much for stopping in today! I also need a masculine sympathy card by Friday, so that should be up soon. Masculine sympathy cards are definitely harder for me — I have less appropriate stamps for them, but I’m sure I’ll dig something up!!! I’ll probably focus more on the sentiment than on an image — yes, that’s a good idea! Thanks for listening while I figured that out - LOL!!! Hope you’re having a great week!!! See you soon!!!

I’m still in my white mode!!! This trio of masculine cards uses a bronze metallic cardstock along with copper and silver embossing. But my photos do NOT do justice to the pretty bronze paper. It looks so dark in the photos and IRL it is actually quite close in color to the copper embossing, but you’ll get the idea anyway. Here’s the group.

Two are masculine sympathy cards and one is a Christmas card. The layouts are different, but that’s about it. The trees were embossed mostly with copper, but the tips of the trees were embossed in silver to make them appear frosted in the cold air. My image panel is matted onto plain white cardstock for a clean look.

This sympathy card and the Christmas card below were made for the Featured Stamper Challengeat SCS today. This layout was taken from this card in ebethneu’s gallery. Great gallery!!!

As with the main image, the sentiment is matted white on white.

The layout for this card is from Beate’s Weekend Sketch Challenge. A great sketch!!! Although embellishments were kept to a minimum on these cards, the image panels are popped up withmounting tape.

Stamps: Winter Woods by Rubber Stampede; With Sympathy by Stampendous, SU Hope for Comfort and Star Studded Christmas Paper: PTI White, Bronze Brushed Metallic Ink: Versa Mark Accessories: Copper and Silver Embossing Powders, Brad, Mounting Tape, Petite Circle Nestabilities by Spellbinders.

So glad you took the time to come and look — MUCH appreciated!!! I plan to continue all this week with these very simple cards, so if that suits your fancy, hope you can come back!!! Thanks so much everyone!!

This sympathy card uses 2 embossing folders, theCuttlebug and some new cardstock. This card was made with inspiration from today’s Inspiration Challengeat SCS. The work of Don Li-Legerwas showcased, and rather than take any specific piece, I took inspiration from his overall use of square and rectangular shapes, the delicate florals he incorporates in his work, and his often used rusty type tones with a POP of blue that is in a great majority of his pieces. Here’s the my card.

This is a large card, measuring7.75″ x 5.25″. I used one large and one small embossing folder with SU’s retired Soft Sky paper. And for the card base I used a paper new to me.It is a double sided paper (a different color on each side) that is textured quite beautifully. Made by WorldWin, it is called Double Mates. This particular sheet is kind of a soft peach on one side and a rusty/coppery color on the other, called Desert Dune. It is fairly heavy at 90#. I really loved being able to accent my card with the peach color on the outside, then to open the card and have all the peach revealed on the inside. Really, quite a lovely feature. The perimeter ofthe blue panelsare outined witha copper leaf pen. TheWith Sympathy iscopper embossed. Here’s the inside.

This paper has such a rich and lovely texure and I’m hoping you can see it a bit in these photos.

Stamps: SU retired Hope for Comfort

Paper: SU retired Soft Sky. WorldWin Double Mates Desert Dune.

Ink: Versa Mark. SU Basic Brown. Copper Leaf Pen.

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Embossing Folders, Brads, Copper Embossing Powder, Mounting Tape.

Editing: I’m getting requests on where to findthe Double Matespaper — it is available here. Thanks, Mary, for providing that information!

Thanks so much for stopping in again!!! Truly appreciate it!!! It looks like wonderful weather is predictedfor us — hope you have the same on this fall weekend!!!