What's in a heart

Once again the fab Susan Raihala of Simplicity got my juices flowing. I did have to go to the dies, but only two, as I wanted the sentiment to be on the actual of the inside of the card.

It's early evening here in the Southwest so there is definitely some shadows in that heart. Not having the correct photo equipment doesn't help, but I do hope it comes across the way I intended, which is an imitation of Susan's. It is on Neenah solar white cs and the heart frame is some scrap red. The sentiment is SU's so sorry.  This comes close to being the most simple card I've ever made. Yeah! I'm getting better.

Blessings,
Erica

Simply Create Too Challenge no. 50...Give Thanks

You Betcha I'm giving thanks. Decided to start a 30 day gratitude journal on the 20th of this month.
right on my IPhone...so I have absolutely no excuse not to do it.

So, over at Simply Create Too we are doing a popular challenge at this time of the year.

I used the trendy adhesive tape technique...the one where you put your tape on an ink pad of your choice and then once it's got some dye ink on it yout lay it on a mat size piece of cs in whatever direction you want, give it a light press with your thumb and pull it up. Your left with a swatch of color. Repeat or not. Then proceed with the design of your card. Worked great with some fall colors and Spellbinders' fall foliage die cut leaves which I made using the same technique. The sentiment is from a line called My Sentiments I picked up at Hobby Lobby. I really like the two fonts. Stamped it in craft white onto SU chocolate chip cs, then SU avocado mat.

Join us it's mid-post time, so you still can.

Well, moving on with my day. We're having the most delightful weather here in AZ. I wish it were everywhere and I am sad for the areas of our country where they do not have the weather to be thankful for. I pray that they can find other things to be thankful for.

Blessings,
Erica

Nordic Christmas...Inspired Card

Hi everyone, how's your Thanksgiving lead-up day going? I was shopping yesterday, and was amazed at how crowded the grocery stores were. Looks like they're all prepped and ready to go for my fave holiday of the year.

I am doing quite well making cards for Christmas, and that's thanks to help from card-creators who believe in keeping it simply and do. One of my all-time faves is Susan Raihala who posts on her blog
Simplicity. You've no idea how many of her cards I've saved on my IPhoto app.

I knew I had a stamp that would work as a wreath...maybe that's what it actually is. It's round, but has this separate thank you sentiment in the middle. Anyway, it reminds me of Nordic stuff, so I used it.
It's a clear stamp from 2007 by Inkadinkado's Personal Impressions line.

I used green and red chalk inks by Colorbox and a red sparkly pen for the berries in the blossoms.
The sentiment is from Stampin' Up. I'm gonna finish out my Christmas cards with this card, as I now have 'cb', card boredom, from making 25 or so others. I'll begin posting those right after T-Day.

I do hope Susan will come by and leave me a comment. That will make my week.

Blessings,
Erica

Yep! A Halloween card for the Simply Create Too 48th Challenge

Well, I won't be sending this to anyone, as I don't do the Halloween thing, having decided to focus on Thanksgiving an gratefulness instead of frightfulness. Without really looking, I found this Stampendous stamp in the clearance bin at my local HL store. Since I kinda like spiders....really I do...most anyway, and I love candy corn, I decided I'd go ahead and make a card with it.

At Simply Create Too, we're having our 48th challenge and the theme is indeed Halloween, so I've linked it over there too. Go join the fun. It's the mid-post time and we have a new design team member you can congratulate and do a blog check-out.

Have a great weekend.
Erica

Fun Flip Flop Card

Hi Stamping friends,

The weather continues to cool down in my neck of the woods and I hope you're experiencing similar weather in your area.

Last week I made up my mind to get a flu shot. Since I'm over 60, I thought it was the right thing to do and last year I had actually contracted quite an awful case of the nasty bug. Nowhere on the hand-out did it say how sick the vaccine could make you and that there is no guarantee you won't get a flu of another kind that the vaccine is not engineered to prevent/lessen. RATS! I don't want to be sick this year. I don't have time! Nothing to do except frequent thorough hand-washing , and as little communication with the outer world as possible. Fat chance that.

Stampin' Up has been enjoying a love affair with dies. They call their line thin-lets. I have been accumulating quite a few and I find I'm enjoying them nearly as much as my Spellbinder Nestabilities.  They have made one that that is a card in itself. There are two styles. This is the round one. I think it's adorable when you get a bit bored with the reliable open/shut folded card. It is an A2 sized card so it will fit into the A2 envie. It's easy peasy to make with your die-cut machine, but there are lots of video tutes on ways to use them, so I won't bore you here. Just enjoy. And I hope I won't need to be sending out one of these anytime soon.

Blessings, Erica

Oil Pastels

So this morning...it seems everyone and I mean EVERYONE is beginning their sentences with this word, So, I'm betting English majors are going nuts. I don't quite get it myself.

I bought these oil pastels for $1.50 on a day when I had time to meander through my WAMA. We barely have any crafty items left these days in our local store. Nothing noticeable took over, craft items of note just slowly disappeared. Now and then you can find something in clearance.

There's a pic I took with Photo Booth of me holding said item. I need some serious training in this area. I'd rather be stamping...nuf said.

So what I did was to color in various colors across a watercolor paper on a diagonal. Then I spritzed with water and with a paintbrush, kinda' just painted. Next I put it in an Cuttlebug folder and let it dry. I mounted it on SU's baja breeze cs Next, I made a tiny tag from Nestabilities tags using Memento bahama blue ink and a Hero Arts sentiment stamp and added a bit of blue twine for some umph. Voila, you have a
uni-sex Birthday card.
Blessings,
Erica

I keep telling myself it's Autumn

Welcome to the weekend. It was a beautiful day here in Arizona. We enjoyed low 90s. This is the beginning of the gorgeous weather that we enjoy. It will last right through Christmas. Then, in my opinion, it gets a bit too chilly, but many people think the low 50s are great too.

So back East, my former neighbors are enjoying the falling leaves. I do miss that beautiful sight, but I could do without the raking. This digi stamp shows how much children enjoy this time of year.

Unfortunately, though I know it was a freebie, she is no where to be found. I printed four to a page and used them all. If you use digi stamps, you do need to keep records for blogging purposes.

Nestabilities Fall Foliage and banners, a little washi tape, some fussy cutting and lots of coloring round out my card.  I'm entering my card in the Simply Create Too  Fall/Autumn, no. 47. Why not join us?

Have a fun-filled weekend. 

Blessings,

Erica