I have two simple cards to share with you today. The first card was my make and take card from my May open house. I wanted allow everyone to make a simple card for free, but not make it too complicated. Enter the joys of monochromatic cards. I found this example on Pinterest. The original can be found at My Creative Corner.

And decided to recreate it using retiring colors and papers. I have to use them somehow! Each guest had the choice of making their card in Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, or Raspberry Ripple.

Supplies:

Stamps: Wacky Wishes (retired)
Cardstock: Gumball Green (retired); 2012-2014 In Color DSP (retired)
Ink: Gumball Green (retired)
Accessories: 2012-2014 In Color Dahlias (retired)
Tools: Patterned scissors; Snail; Paper Trimmer

The second card was my May stamp club homework. Our host is such a task master! We have to do homework every month! Oh, who am I kidding? We love it and usually end up making more than one example. I was distracted with other crafts this past month, so I only made one. Here's the sketch from Operation Write Home:

My interpretation uses a ton of current in colors and some retired DSP. I love the cool colors and pattern play. I played with the dimensions a bit (i think they are a bit off), but kept the design just like the sketch.

Supplies:

Stamps: Vintage Verses (retired)
Cardstock: Sweet Sorbet DSP (retired)
Accessories: Pistachio Pudding Ruffle Stretch Trim (retired)

Smoky Slate 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

$6.95

Crisp Cantaloupe 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock

$6.95

2013-2015 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack

$21.95

Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad

Craft & Paper Scissors

$29.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Originally published on February 8th, 2014

Reorganizing my Pinterest boards to include one for "This Week's Project" ideas has really motivated my crafting. Now I pull some random ideas over on Sunday night (recipes, cards, sketches, crafts, books, projects) and use that board for inspiration when I want to craft. I spend less time thinking of what I want to do and more time just doing. Love it! If you want to check it out, click here. It turns out I was crafting fool this week. Let's see what I made:

Card #1

My first card combines a color challenge and a sketch to create my homework for February Stamp Club. Again this week, I tried to use as many scraps as I could and not cut up whole sheets. It was a success. The only full sheets I cut were those used to make the card bases. I love the play of patterns with this card. I also added my own sentiment design. I didn't want to stamp over the floral patterned paper so I used some layering framelits to highlight the sentiment. The dimensions of the paper scraps are 4" x 3", 1.75" x 1.75", 0.25" x 1.75", 0.5" x 4"

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Best of Greetings
Inks: SU Primrose Petals
Cardstock: SU Primrose Petals, SU Gumball Green; various scraps
Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eight; Dimensionals; SNAIL; Big Shot

Card #2

My second card used the same sketch as the first but I used different scrap papers. I also changed up the sentiment design in favor of an oval scrap I had laying around. While it's not a traditional sympathy card, I think the cool blues and greens are soothing and the patterns are completely distracting.

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Best of Greetings
Inks: SU Midnight Muse
Cardstock: SU DSP (don't know the name), various scraps
Tools: SNAIL

Card #3

My third card is straight from a card on my Pinterest boards. I love the simplicity of the squares but with the fun coordinating patterns. Robin used the SU Festival of Prints paper stack (which I have), but I decided to use more of small scraps. If you look closely, many of the papers used in this card were also used in card #2. Way to make double use of scraps!

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Best of Greetings
Inks: SU Marina Mist
Cardstock: SU DSP (can't remember name); various scraps
Tools: 1″ Square Punch; SNAIL

Card #4

My fourth card used a sketch (that has since disappeared from Pinterest, odd...) and my new SU Smoky Slate cardstock. I am in love with this shade of gray. It's light and not overpowering but such a fun departure from white bases. I also tried to again use a ton of scraps for this card and succeeded!

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Stacks of Wishes
Inks: SU Basic Gray
Cardstock: SU Smoky Slate; various scraps
Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eight; SNAIL; Big Shot

Card #5

My fifth card came from the need to use these specific papers. So I scoured my techniques and sketches board and pulled this sketch out. The picture is horrid, but somehow I couldn't take a non-yellowed photo. Something about these papers just threw off the picture. Anyway, I am loving how geometric and layered this card is and yet it's still very nice and simple.

Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
Inks: SU Pumpkin Pie
Cardstock: SU Pumpkin Pie; various scraps
Tools: 1 1/4" Circle Punch; SNAIL

Card #6

I adore the simplicity of the original butterfly card. I had to try and make my own. Looking at the finished project, I love the design and my pattern choices. But, the butterflies are all crooked... Next time, I need to use a ruler.

Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
Inks: SU Primrose Petals
Cardstock: SU Print Poetry DSP
Tools: 7/8" Scallop Circle Punch; SU Bitty Butterfly Punch; SNAIL

Card #7

I wanted to try out a different interpretation of the butterfly card. For this one, I decided to make everything bigger and see what happened. I love the asymmetrical design of this card. I was going to just do a straight line of butterflies down the middle, but at the last minute I change up the placement. I like this look much better. Also, I repeated the use of the Print Poetry DSP but chose only papers featuring Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, and Crumb Cake. I love the color play!

Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
Inks: SU Raspberry Ripple
Cardstock: SU Primrose Petals
Tools: SU Elegant Butterfly Punch; 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch; SNAIL

Card #8

My last inspiration card was this gorgeous play of circles and patterns. To help me narrow down the choices, I used only paper from SU's retired Festival of Prints DSP stack. For the first card, I ended up using the Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, and Cherry Cobbler pages. I had to make it an actual Christmas card after seeing the results. My only issue is the placement of the circles. It was much harder than I thought it was going to be. Now I know how to place the first (bottom) row to get a better placement overall. Also, next time I will probably use a smaller size circle punch.

Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
Inks: SU Cherry Cobbler
Cardstock: SU Festival of Prints DSP; various scraps
Accessories: 3D flower sticker
Tools: 1 1/4" Circle Punch; SNAIL

Card #9

My last card of the week is another version of the circles card. This time, I used the Island Indigo, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, and Crumb Cake papers from the stack. After putting it all together, it didn't look like a Christmas card so I made it a Congratulations card. Also, I did a bit better with the circle placements. I'm sure that I will revisit this design in the future.