Revisiting My One Layer Card

Remember this one layer card post from awhile back?  If you don't, that's ok.  It wasn't that memorable except for my exasperating rant.  :-) 

The card posted that day was my fourth attempt at one layer.  Today I'm going to share with you my first three (failed) attempts at creating a "simple" one layer card.  (Who coined "Clean and Simple" anyway?)

As you will see, today's card uses an entirely different color scheme than the one linked above.  I actually like today's combination better but after three failed attempts I began to think my choices were jinxed and switched them out on my final attempt.  Ha!  (It couldn't possibly be me!)

Card #1

You're looking at this saying "What's wrong with this card front?"  Well, the sentiment position was aesthetically misplaced, throwing off the balance of the card.  Soooooo I cut the panel down substantially on the bottom edge which in the end makes it a non traditional sized card on a black card base.  (It's no longer 4.25 x 5.5.  A good save in my opinion but obviously it's no longer a one layer card.)   

Card #2

I'm sure you can all figure out what happened to this one.  I mucked up the sentiment which was originally black ink on the white card front.  I did what we all do (right???) and slapped a wide sentiment strip on top and saved the card.  (But not the challenge. That silly sentiment strip bumped it to a two layer card.)

Card #3

Yep.  Another boo-boo.  This time it was a big old black mark on the white card front.  I saved it but cutting down the foliage into a long strip, matting it to black cardstock and then adhering the whole thing down on a new card base.  By now I'm crangy (that self anger that accompanies multiple crafting mistakes) and not willing to make any more boo-boos so I took the safe way out and used another sentiment strip greeting...'cause it was no longer a single layer card anyway!

Now you know why I despise one layer cards.  :-)  And as a reminder of my original post, here was my entry into the challenge.....

You may recall that I mentioned that I flubbed this one too.  I wanted my foliage on the left (see all of the ones above) but after removing the card base from my Misti I saw that I'd stamped it upside down.  *sigh*  There was not going to be a fifth attempt. 

If you stuck around this far, thank you.  I do hope we're still friends after your glimpse in the OCD, Crangy thought process of JulieWorld.  :-)


I'd give you the supply list but I'm so over this..... *wink*
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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours and Sketches #359

The calendar says Tuesday which means it's time for another challenge over at the CAS Colours and Sketches blog.  Samantha closes out February with a very interesting sketch.

I welcomed a new to me set of stamps into my craft world recently (sounds much better than I bought another set of stamps, doesn't it?) that I wanted to christen so I adapted one of the images to fit the sketch.  

Unlike my dear friend Catherine, I can't get enough 'shrooms to eat or to stamp so when I saw this one from Your Next Stamp come up on sale, I had to have it.  (Not to mention I'll be flooding my grandson's mailbox with Miss You/Love You cards for his entire childhood.  LOL!)  

I stamped and colored the image and then used a circle die to cut it out.  I matted that onto a larger circle die from which I cut out the tiny circles using a die from the Essentials by Ellen collection at the Ellen Hutson online shop.  The cloud (which represents the triangle in the sketch) is from my favorite set made by the Ink Blot Shop.  The sentiment was heat embossed in white on black cardstock which is also part of the YNS set.  When set on the red card base it just didn't seem finished to me so I added a piece of vellum and some faux stitching using a white gelly roll pen.  

I love this little mouse and 'shroom and am anxious to play with the other images in the set.  I hope you'll find some time to come and play with us at CC&S this week!

Supplies:

Your Next Stamp Mushroom

MFT Stitched Circle Stax

Ellen Hutson Alpine Snowfall

Ink Blot Shop Get Grounded

Copic Markers

Misc Vellum

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Happy Little Stampers - February Challenge

Today's card was created with the current challenge over at the Happy Little Stampers in mind.  The theme for February is Dies.

I love cards created primarily from die cut images but don't make nearly enough of them.  For today's card I chose a fence die that "I had to have but haven't used" as my focal point. 

I die cut two of the fence panels and then adhered them to the edge of a piece of blue cardstock along the scored lines provided by the die.  I added some grass along the bottom edge and some purple foliage along the top.  I didn't want the gate to be open so I wove a small piece of black cardstock through the fence to secure it, keeping the sentiment a secret until opened. 

To create my sentiment I white heat embossed the greeting onto a smaller piece of the same blue cardstock and adhered it to the inside of the card.  All the recipient has to do is slide the black cardstock out and voila....secret message. 

This card was a lot of fun to make.  I'm so happy to have the right challenge to push me to use those "gotta have" supplies that are gathering dust.  (Tell me I am not alone!)

Supplies:
Mama Elephant - Gatefold X Fence
MFT - Tucked in Turf
MFT - Get Well Wishes
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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

The Flower Challenge #41

I swore 2020 was going to be the year of florals and watercoloring but I'm doing a sad job of keeping up with that crafty resolution.  Today I'm giving at least one of them another go.

The current theme of the Flower Challenge is "add leaves."  I'm not exactly sure what that means as most of my floral images do indeed have leaves so we'll leave this up to their interpretation.

Kathy Racoosin did such a beautiful job coloring this stamp while at the MFT Boutique last December so of course I HAD to buy it.  Now if only I could remember her tips.  (I plan on purchasing her Online Classes course soon to refresh my memory.)  

This particular stamp is HUGE.  I only used part of the image for my card.  

Dare I show a closer look at my coloring? 

 Disclaimer...I am not an expert.

Baby Steps.  It's still only February.  :-)  

Supplies:

MFT Floral Focus

MFT Bitty Birthday Greetings

Copic markers

Sparkle gelly roll pen

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

A Two Challenge Card

Maybe some of you can relate.  I don't really feel my age until my eldest's birthday comes around.  Then I feel darned old.  I mean, how can I be old enough to be his mother when in my mind I'm still his age?  *sigh*

Today is my son's 37th birthday and I made this card with him (and two challenges *blush*) in mind.

Challenge 1

Challenge 2

I wanted to come up with something really clean and simple that wasn't overly girly.  Green is is favorite color so I pulled out some cardstock scraps and put on my thinking cap to come up with something that would fit the shapes theme.  Here's the result....

It meets the "shapes" requirement as well as the white space/birthday requirement.  I thought the sentiment was appropriate for how I'm feeling today.  ('cause in the end, it's still all about me.  ROFL!)

I cut the rectangles out with my paper trimmer, added the stitched stamp line and sentiment and called it good. 

Happy Birthday to my first born!

Supplies:

MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes (sentiment)

Simon Says Stamp Crafty Friends (stitched line)

The Stamp Market (card stock scraps)

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours and Sketches #358

It's Tuesday which means I'm back with a new color challenge for the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge blog.  Samantha has chosen a great trio of spring colors for us to play with this week.

Our blog uses Stampin' Up colors as a guide but remember, you can use any brand or type of coloring materials that you own as long as you stick to this color trio and neutrals. 

Here's my card....

I took the liberty of creating my own genetic color variation to traditional lavender by creating a gradient effect with dye inks.  I stamped a trio of the florals, added the sentiment and then double matted the piece onto a piece of diagonal b/w striped paper and white cardstock.  

If you live in a cold area of the world these colors may be just the ticket to bring a bit of sunshine into your February.  Me?  I'm in Florida where the weather is gorgeous right now.  :-)  Whatever your weather, I do hope you'll find some time to join us at the CC&S blog this week. 

Supplies:

Altenew - lavender stamp and sentiment

MFT Stamps - diagonal striped pattern paper 

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS(e) This Sketch #359

True confession time once again.  (Dang, I am letting you guys know all my secrets!)

I stamped and colored an image last week for the previous CAS(e) This Sketch challenge but as I started to put my card together I noticed I'd missed last week's deadline. Oops!  Fortunately for me the size of my image was perfect for the current challenge so I switched gears and created a card with this (current) sketch in mind....

Here's my card....

My original card design didn't include die cutting out the coffee girl but it was an easy switch.  

I used a gingham stamp to create the background and matted it onto a scalloped tag cut from white card stock and colored in with the same green Copic I used for the cups.  (One for me, one for a friend.)  I heat embossed the two sentiments in white onto black card stock and called it good.  

I think I love this card more than the other one that now shall remain in my head.  LOL!

Supplies:

MFT Miss You Latte

MFT Scalloped Bookmark

MFT Bitty Thanks

Waffle Flower Simply Plaids

Taylored Expressions Banner Stacklet 3 

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

The Library Challenge #52

There is some cute inspiration over at Marina's alter ego at The Library Challenge Blog.  My dear friend Michele is the guest hostess this time around and she's chosen a really fun and colorful book cover for us to play with.   (And if you look at the direct link I provided you will see that she made a card with my little grandson in mind.  It's soooo awesome!  Love you Michele!)

I have not personally read this book but I'm thinking you can definitely 

judge this book by it's cover and I'm definitely going to seek it out.

My interpretation was pretty straight forward using the reds and purples along with a little monster.  

To create the background I used one of the purple Distress Oxides to stamp onto the large swirly thing-a-ma-bob.  I embossed it with some sparkling clear powder and then did a bit of ink blending with several pink/red shades of original Distress Ink.  I used the same purple ink and sparkling clear embossing powder to stamp out my little monster.  The sentiment was done with white embossing powder.  I added the little white dots around the heart's perimeter and adhered some black and white clay hearts as the final touch.  

I'm sure you all can guess who the recipient of this card will eventually be.  Do you think he'll notice that this monster has no arms???    (Just how did I manage to choose the only armless monster in the set to give him a hug? ROFL!)  

Supplies:

MFT - Abstract doodles, pierced stax heart, monster stamp set all are from MFT.  

Ranger Distress inks

HoneyBee Stamps clay hearts

Wow sparkling clear embossing powder

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers #153

I'm back with one of my favorite challenges - The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers where the prompt is C is for Cats. 

I wonder if Edna sheds?????

I really had to dig deep into both my memory bank and my stamp stash to find a cat stamp.  Yes, I own a cat.  I also own three dogs.  I do not however own many cat/dog stamps, much to the amazement of my friend Lindsey.  (Am I supposed to?)  

Somewhere I had a few firing neurons (I'm still in sad grandma mode here) that recalled an old Christmas set from Simon Says Stamp that featured a cat.  I paired the kitty with a couple of small images and sentiment from an awesomely snarky set made by Hero Arts and came up with this lovely card.

I think he rather looks like a butler, don't you?

In the original stamp set the kitty's arm is outstretched to hold a pile of wrapped Christmas gifts.  I thought it was purrfectly designed ;-) for serving some wine and cheese.  

I created the soft background using one of the newer masking stencils made by Taylored Expressions.  I must say that little mask set is very handy indeed.  The weight is quite substantial and the embossed marks make it very easy to not only center my image but also serve as a border for my (subtle) ink blending.  I will be using this little guy A LOT.

Look at that nice crisp edge to my border.

Supplies:
Simon Says Stamp Gifts of Love Stamp Set
Hero Arts Irreverent Birthday Stamp Set
Taylored Expression Rectangular Masking Stencil
Simon Says Stamp Fog Ink
Copic Markers

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours and Sketches #357

It's Tuesday once again so it's time for another sketch at the CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge Blog.  Samantha is our host for the month of February and she's created this fun sketch for us, just in time for Valentines Day.

True confession time.  This is a Clean & Simple challenge blog.  Well over half of the cards I create follow this approach as it is truly my favorite but when I made my card for this challenge it didn't seem CAS enough.  So I made a second one.  And that one seemed rather blah to me.  Too exact to the sketch.  (Can you guess my personality type??? Ha!)  Sooooo yes, I made a third card.  And as I'm typing this I'm debating on which one to show your first.  LOL!

We'll start with what's up on the CC&S blog today.  

(In other words, Card #3)

To me, this one illustrates the versatility of the sketch 

with just the right amount of white space for the eye  

Compare the card above to my first attempt (Card #1) below. 

Same sketch.  More layers.  Less white space.
It just didn't feel CAS enough to me.

Now on to Card #2.   

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this version other than the fact 

that it's exactly like the sketch.  (I think I was feeling pressured for time.) 

I prefer to mix things up and put my own spin on things so when more 

time presented itself I made my third (and official) version of the sketch. 

It's nice when your OCD results in three great cards instead of just one, don't you think?  :-)

I'd love to know which one is your favorite?   

Supply List....
Memory Box Pinpoint Heart Circle die, Heart dies
Impression Obsession Heart Background stamp
The Stamp Market Pattern Paper
Ellen Hutson Totally Random Saying stamp
MFT Pierced Heart Stax
MFT Pattern Paper
Altenew Best Wishes stamp
Reverse Confetti Word Up stamp
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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers #152

Another "drive-by" post this morning.  I made a super simple card for the current challenge over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers blog where the theme is Anti-Valentine.

I

Let's get straight to the point with the sentiment, shall we?

Am I right?  You know you feel the same way.  LOL!  I've actually used this sentiment quite a few times and it just never gets old.  :-)

Supplies....

Studio Calico patterned paper

Concord and 9th heart die 

MFT heart pierced heart die

Unity Stamps sentiment

clay hearts 

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CASe This Sketch #357

This is my second post of the day  so scroll down if you missed my earlier card.  (I know, right?  It's either feast or famine with me. LOL!)

I'm bringing it down to the wire with my entry in the current CASe This Sketch Challenge.  Without further ado, here's the sketch. 

I played around with several ideas before coming up with the one I chose for my card.  I used the trio of horizontal lines as my guide to create some gradient ink blending over a white embossed background.

You may notice that I am using my new favorite ink color combo from Altenew.  (Misty Morning, Nimbus and Dark Night.)  The background diamond stamp, the sentiment and the small heart are all from The Stamp Market.  

I promise that's it for me...for today.  :-)

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Inspired By Challenge

I'm playing along with Laurel once again at her Inspired By Challenge blog.  This week's prompt is XOXO....

I remembered a black and white paper pack from PaperTrey Ink that I knew I wanted to use for this challenge.  I loved it so much I bought multiple packets of the card sized prints.  (I'm fairly certain that these are discontinued.)   As you can see, the XO was perfect.

I cut it down a bit to give the card a bit of an outer border.  I used a pink Copic marker to color the back of the vellum which I adhered with a full backing of sticky tape.  The die cut floral is from MFT Stamps.  I added some bling but decided against a sentiment to make it more versatile in my stash.  

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

CAS Colours & Sketches #356

I'm not sure where the month of January went but it's the first Tuesday in February already and that means it's time for another color challenge over at the CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge Blog.  Team member Samantha is our hostess for the month and she's chosen this wonderful Valentine inspired color combination for our first challenge.

Remember, you may use any brand of inks, markers, cardstock, paints etc for the

 challenge as long as you stick to this color palette and neutrals.  

I used this opportunity to create a Valentine for my five year old grandson.  It will come as no surprise to those who follow me that I chose a shark as my focal image.  :-)

I had the darnedest time photographing this card.  The reds were throwing it all off.  

It's much brighter in real life but you get the idea.  

A closer view of the coloring.

I used the newest shark set from Avery Elle stamps.  Isn't it so cute? I think I own every.single.one of them.  (With a shark loving grandson named Fin, it's hard not to buy them all.)  I adore this sentiment too. 

I used Copic alcohol markers to color in the image as well as the cardstock that I used to die cut the heart embellishments.  (For those interested, I used R46, R22, T0 and T1 to match up the Stampin Up colors for this challenge.)

I know my little Fin is going to love his Valentine.  Maybe I'll even get it mailed it time.  (Wishful thinking.)

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Reverse Confetti Stock Your Stash

I recently purchased a really cute and unique set from Reverse Confetti that I was itching to use.  (I'm placing all of the credit/blame on my friend Michele.)   LOL!  I went to the RC blog to see what sort of challenges they had going and lo and behold, they had just the right one for the stamp set I bought. 

Here is their current challenge...

This is the stamp set Michele made me buy *wink* ....

And here is my card made with said stamp set....

I cannot possibly LOVE those huge OMG shadow letters any more than I do.

To create my card, I ink blended the background onto Bristol Smooth cardstock using a new(er) dye ink collection from Altenew.  I can already tell that these ink colors are going to be some favs.  I then cut the background with the Big Stripes Cover Panel Confetti Cuts (also a Reverse Confetti product).  I removed the stripes and inlaid the background with Neenah 110 lb Solar White cardstock.  The sentiment strip is heat embossed in white onto black cardstock.  The matte dots are from Gina Marie designs.  (Love these and they are very affordable.)  

A little closer look.  I debated on whether or not to color 

in the shadow but in the end I liked it in all white.  

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Before I go, a little self-pat.  I just received an email from the Inspired by Laurel blog challenge and was surprised and delighted to see that my recent garden card was chosen as last week's winner for the Clusters challenge.  It's always fun to get a little shout out.  Thanks Laurel!

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

MFT Sketch Challenge #474

Today I'm playing along with the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge.  I used to be an active participant in their challenges (as well as those put on by Simon Says Stamp, Ellen Hutson and Taylored Expressions) but lately the online card challenge groups have taken precedence.

Here is the sketch for this week....

And here's my take ...

All the stamps and dies are MFT products.  Those Bitty Bears are one of my all time favorite sets. As far as the sentiment goes, I have a feeling I'm going to be making lots of Miss You cards now.  (My son/daughter in law/grandson are going from being 10 minutes away to 10 hours away.)  *insert very sad emoji face here* 

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules