I am jumping in at the last minute to play along with The Card Concept challenge.  Life has been a bit chaotic over the last week and I didn’t think I would even make the deadline!

Today’s card falls in the clean and simple category.  I find these cards the hardest to make of all.  Do you?  I used to think I was a CAS but after making cards for a while now, I see I really am not.  I tend to like layers and buttons and twine and ribbon.  So when I play along with this challenge I like to choose the clean and simple.   There are so many people out in blog land that do such a beautiful job with CAS.  And I think, I can do that.  And then I do and it is like a little kid playing dress up.

I started off with PTI white and used a variety of Stampin’ Up! inks that I stamped off several times before stamping on my project.  I used an old circle frame to make a soft circle of images on the card.  I really liked this card and felt like I was grown up at last.  And then I added the hello.  And there I was back in my mom’s high heels with her dress dragging on the ground.  Oh well. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white.  Inks:  SU! pear pizzazz, so saffron, pumpkin pie and pool party.  Memento rich cocoa.  Stamps:  SU! endless wishes and retired french foliage.

I combined the Merry Monday Challenge with the Paper Players sketch challenge.  The Merry Monday challenge required making a card with a wreath on it and the Paper Players had a circle with a banner.  Perfect!

I started off using the My Favorite Things winter wreath die to die cut 5 different wreaths out of various shades of green and one brown.  I stacked them and set them off by adhering them to white CS.  I added a layer of designer series Christmas paper behind the white.  A quick sentiment and a button and I was done.  I love the texture that I got from the layers of wreaths. 

Happy all around with this card.

Enjoy!!

Supplies:  CS:  SU! pear pizzazz, old olive, garden green, always artichoke and Letters to Santa (retired) dsp.  PTI kraft paper.  Dies:  MFT winter wreath.  Stamps:  PTI beautiful blessings – holiday.  Ink:  memento black.  Embellies:  SU! linen thread and red button from my stash.

I got a few minutes to play around in the craft cave and whipped up two cards to meet four challenges.  Today I am sharing the card for the Sweet Sunday Sketch and the Festive Friday.

My card really doesn’t look very holiday-ish.  The requirements for the Festive Friday challenge was to use black, kraft and white for the card.  I used the northern flurries embossing folder from Stampin’ Up! to texturize the paper.  I used creamy white and kraft felt for the flowers.  I added a little flair to the flowers by using jingle bells for the center of the flowers. 

After I finished the card, I wished I had added a sentiment but I had already taken the pictures and was too lazy to re-photo.  Oh, well!

Supplies:  CS:  PTI white, kraft and true black.  PTI kraft and cream felt.  Dies/EF  PTI 1940s flower die and SU! northern flurries.  SU! 2” circle punch.  Embellies:  SU! white twine and retired jingle bells.

Wow!  I was selected as an honorable mention in the Merry Monday Challenge #122.  The challenge required the use of black, gold, and silver for a Christmas card.  This was a fun challenge and a HUGE thank you to the everyone at the Merry Monday Challenge for selecting my card!  See my card here. 

Thank you!

So, I actually had a trapper keeper in high school and loved it!  It was a goldish color with black images on it, which is about all I remember about it.  So in honor of my high school days, here is my trapper keeper…

This has been a great weekend, with lots of new techniques tried, some I will do again and some I won’t.

The blog will probably be quiet this week since I don’t have any cards made up to post.  I hope to find some time crafting later this week and get posted.  If I don’t I will be back posting over the weekend!

The second challenge was the rad ad challenge which required quite a bit of inlaid die cutting.  I pulled out some colors from the papers we were given and created this card.

Again, I added some bling and it was done.  Love, love, love this card.

The 60s were my favorite era of all of them for SAF.

Last up, the 80s!

I LOVED this challenge.  This was the one I was waiting for and it did not disappoint.  I did both of the challenges in the 60s but would say that I interpreted this first challenge to something else. 

The challenge called for stenciling layers.  Instead, I die cut four colors of the same shape and then used black ink to stamp the hatching on the die cuts.  I placed them in a groovy pattern, added some bling and I was done.

Love, love, love this card.

After letting the Renaissance challenge roam around in my brain all night, I finally found the colors I was looking for to make the red velvet shine.  I used a natural ivory cardstock and paired it with black and brushed gold.  I love how this went together. 

I will probably never use the velvet technique again but it was an interesting challenge to try out.  This card does not translate well when I took the picture so you will just have to trust me!

Now, back to the future – it is time to head to the 60s!

I finished the 1940s challenge last night but was too tired to get it posted.  Katie left about 8:30 and had all the challenges done except the 1980s.  I see from her blog this morning that she finished the 80s last night!  Yay..she got thru all the challenges in one day!  Katie can craft like nobody’s business.  She was ahead of me by a challenge most of the day.

I plan to finish my last three challenges today – the Renaissance, the 60s and the 80s.  This has been such a fun weekend.  I have enjoyed all of the challenges!

So to the 40s…I chose to make the background card using a tablecloth (pictured below) as my inspiration.  This was a fun challenge and I loved how it looks done.  I do wish, after seeing it today, that I would have put less yellow in the card and used a red layer rather than the yellow.  As you can see from the tablecloth there is no yellow but I added it for a pop of color...maybe too much of a pop!

I am not one to create my own backgrounds but I am going to start challenging myself to do this more often.  I hope to complete the flower challenge as well but I will see what I accomplish today!

Here is the tablecloth...and a fun fact...mom just told me she got this tablecloth for her wedding almost 59 years ago.  So more 50s than 40s but I still love it!

Now, I am going back in time to the Renaissance era and get that done!

OK, here is the second one I did.  It involved glitter.  Umm...not sure I dig glitter too much based on how much I will continue to wear over the next few days.  BUT  I totally loved this challenge.  Fun fact, I was getting ready to put my card together and Katie showed me hers and we had chosen the same background paper.

I struggled at first with putting this together and finally decided to do a banner.  I think that made the difference and me a happy stamper!

Next up...the 40's.