I'm on the move...

Hello Blogger friends!

I just wanted to drop by to explain my being missing in action...I'm moving.

No, not your run-of-the-mill across town move, I'm moving from GA to NY! (over 900 miles!)

Anyway, all of my beloved craft items are all boxed up and ready for this loooong drive.

That means: No challenges. or anything dealing with card making fun :o(

I can however, share random crafty things that I've done...

With that in mind, I'd like to share a story:

Once upon a time, there was a girl who got her very first apartment. One of her first purchases for her new place, was a simple mirror in a simple black frame. She was satisfied with her mirror, I mean after all, it did a great job at reflecting (as mirrors should). 

All was well until the girl was sent an invite to this fascinating world called Pintrest. In this wonderful place, she found so many things that made her "ohh and ahh" and swoon...

Suddenly, her simple mirror became the ugliest thing she'd ever seen. 

Hurt, her mirror decided that it would do anything to stay in her good graces. The girl whipped out a brush and a leftover paint sample and slathered it with a not-so-attractive shade of jewel-toned blue. 

Both the girl and the mirror knew immediately that the paint had made things go from bad to worse...

(especially with the messy white trim on the inside)

Discouraged, the girl turned to the wonderful world of Pintrest where this lovely wreath inspired her. The next day, the girl went to her local craft store and picked up a bunch of yarn and a few sheets of felt. 

With all of the supplies in hand, they got comfy on the couch with a glass of wine and an evening of good television...

The process was tedious, but once they saw it coming together they were both happy to be doing it!

After a few hair-pulling relaxing evenings of work, it was all wrapped up in soft, fuzzy yarn!

The girl added a few felt flower and Voila! 

Sorry for the not-so-great photos :o(





The girl and the mirror were both very proud of the outcome...

...and they lived happily ever after.

The End.

Thanks so much for stopping by & reading my corny little story :o)

Hope you enjoyed. Have an amazing day!

Using floral stamps (S.Y.S Day 7)

Hello blogger friends!

I'm back today after taking a much-needed long weekend. I'm playing catch-up in the Stretch Your Stamps class that I'm taking. As a matter of fact, I completely skipped over day 6 (a bonus day that was given this past Saturday), so look for that post soon.

Anyway, the focus of day 7 was floral stamps. They taught some fantastic techniques including coloring on glitter, and shading with a blender pen. However, the inspiration for my card set came from another card that was linked as a sort of bonus idea. It simply floored me! It was so right up my alley, that I had to give the idea a go...

Here's my take on it:

Yes, I know, I kinda over did it with the flowers. I love the idea of it though. I know now, that with this  style, a little less is more. You know me though, I couldn't just stop at one version...

Here's the purple...

The green...

Actually, this was the first one I made (my favorite color is green)


And finally, the yellow...

The full set:

   

I thought the trendy gradient look would be lovely with the bold, black floral stamps and I love the way they turned out. I'm still learning how to work with the Copics (hence the streaked look), but I actually liked the water color type effect. 

Well that's all for now. Please take a moment to join and comment! I'm strongly considering starting a bi-weekely card challenge blog but I need participants...

Thanks so much, and have a fabulous day!

She's at it again...

...and by she, I mean me ;o)

Hello blogger friends!

I'm sure you're wondering if I have any semblance of a life when I've been blogging so much as of late.

Well to answer your question: Yes, I do have a life. I just have a lot of pockets of free time throughout the day...having no children helps too.

Anyway, I'm here again with another card for the Stretch Your Stamps class.

Just a reminder: The focus of day 5 was to stretch your sentiment stamps. I have to admit, I may have cheated a little because the main sentiment isn't a stamp, it's a rub-on. I redeemed myself by using the 'hello' & 'hiya' sentiment stamps to make custom washi tape. I really like how it came out.

Here's a closer look:

I might have been a little heavy handed when transferring the rub-on image...lol.

Please comment, join, & most importantly, be blessed.

P.S. I'm thinking about starting a card challenge blog of my very own...

Ideas? Comments? Thoughts? Please share below or email me at simisweetcreations@yahoo.com

Using sentiment stamps (SYS Day 5)

Hello blogger friends!

I'm baaaaaack! This is the most I've ever posted in a week. 

So, last night (or should I say this morning) I posted a card for 2 challenges:

The Play Date Cafe challenge #140  

& 

CAS-ual Fridays challenge #61

Well here I go again! I just couldn't resist either of these challenges...with that being said, here's my 2nd  (of at least 3) entries:

In addition to entering them in the challenges mentioned above, I'm also practicing the technique form day 5 of the Stretch Your Stamps class that I'm participating in. The focus is on using sentiment stamps. I decided to give my sentiment the starring role instead its usual supporting role. 

"Alright Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup..."

I cannot even tell you how much I LOVE this stamp!



I guess that's all for now.
As always, I thank you for stopping by to check me out in my little corner of the blogger-verse .
Please take a moment to comment...and join me!

Until we meet again...

A CASe of insomnia...

Hello blogger friends! 

(Disclaimer: I cannot be held responsible for spelling/grammatical errors and/or babbling because as I type it's 3:08 a.m.)

I had energy until the very second I sat down to create this post, so I won't be long.

Surfing the internet a.k.a my favorite card making blogs, I came upon two challenges that instantly inspired me so I created a card.

 CAS-ual Fridays #61 challenge  & The Play Date Cafe Challenge #140

Let's strip...lol

I so adore the color combo!

Here's my creation:

The challenge was to use 'strips' of color or pattern in your card design & the color choice is pretty obvious.

Here's a close up of the detail on the banner...

I really love the look of stamping with the VersaMark watermarking ink pad! It's such an easy way to add a little detail without over powering your clean & simple look.

Ok. I'm officially about to pass out, so it's off to bed I go...

(AFTER I post my cards to the challenge galleries!)

I really hope you enjoyed my late night/early morning ramblings.

Please leave a comment and/or join! I'm really a lot of fun :o)

Have a great day!

Using Graphic Stamps (SYS Day 4)

Hello blogger friends!

I've just come up for air from my craft area to share my creations for day 4 of the Stretch Your Stamps class. Today's lesson was using graphic stamps, which I must admit is my favorite style of stamp. They really work for the clean and simple style that I tend to enjoy.

Here's my creation:

I used a piece of vellum card stock to emboss my graphic print onto and layered it onto a shimmery eggplant colored card base. I embellished it with 2 different shades of purple bling and popped a sentiment across the bottom. 

I really liked how it came out...so much so, that I created a few more...

Here it is in Shades of green...

...shades of pink...

...and shades of red.

I'll be rummaging through my stash to find supplies to create on in shades of "Grey"...lol.

(I know at least ONE of you will get that joke!)

Anyway, here's a group shot for good measure:

P.S. I wanted to share a couple of tips/tricks that I discovered while creating this set.

I'm sure you noticed the wayward embossing powder on the purple birthday card in the set...

Trust me, it was much worse before I did a little work to it, which leads me to:

Tip #1: Use a white gel pen to fill in missing spots on images that have been heat embossed in white.

The solid petal shapes on the purple card were full of holes and spaces! All I did to fix it was go crazy with a white gel pen.

  (I was looking for a crisp bold image, not a distressed one)

Tip #2: Use a VersaMarker watermark pen to fill in any holes/spaces before you apply the embossing powder.

Before filling in

After filling in

Can you see how nice and solid the petal shapes look in the after photo?!?

It really made a HUGE difference in the end result...just check out the green, pink, & red cards.

Lastly,

Tip #3: Removing wayward embossing powder is a "breeze"!

(Excuse the pun...lol)

Don't you hate it when you've used your powder tool, inked the stamp ever so carefully, took care not to press too hard, and STILL end up with embossing powder in unintended areas?!? I know I do! Well I have a solution...use a dry paintbrush to brush it away.

 I'm sure you're saying "Duh, I already knew that! Tell me something new!" 

Well here it is...gently blow on it at the same time! (Hence the breeze pun above) I found that just using a dry paintbrush was just moving the powder around versus actually getting rid of it. A gentle blowing while moving the paintbrush over the loose particles works wonders. YAY!

That's all for today folks! Thanks ever so much for checking me out. I hope you learned something from my long-winded post today.

*Please comment/join*

Hope your day is marvelous!

Stretch Your Stamps: Day 3

Hello blogger friends!

The response to my card from day to was overwhelming! I thank you all so much for your kind comments...

Now on to day 3(although I 'm posting it on day 4)

 Day 3 was all about using your alphabet stamps. I have to admit, I have at least 5 different alphabet stamp sets and they rarely get used. I'm just not that into them. With that being said...

Here's how I decided to use them:

You know how they say "You're your own worst critic"? Well let's just say these cards aren't my favorite...but we ALL have our creations that we'd rather not see the light of day...lol

Here's the other card I did:

Because of the more muted tones in the first card, I tried to make this one really bright and cheery...I'm thinking it might have been overkill.

In any event, I got them done. The silver lining around this cloud is that the lessons from day 3 did teach me something new...I just have to work on the techniques. 

Thanks for stopping by! Please comment and let me know what you think.

Have a wonderful day :o)