Variety Is the Spice of Life

I found just a few minutes to pull a card together and make it under the wire for the OWH Design Boot Camp deadline this month.  The theme is Variety Is the Spice of Life - with tips on varying value, texture, color, shape, or size.  I really liked the sample card by Lee Mae with 3 different colors of the same flower, so I CASE'd her idea.  It's a pretty simple card given my lack of time, but I hope you like it!

Supplies:
sentiment stamp - Hero Arts
patterned paper - SU! Twitterpated
cardstock - SU! Blushing Bride
inks - SU! Riding Hood Red, Island Indigo and Baja Breeze
flower stamp - SU! Secret Garden
die - SU! Secret Garden

April SU Stamp Club

This month I was excited to try the chalkboard technique that I've been seeing all over blogland.  This is not something I would have tried on my own which is why I really love going to Christi Beck's Stampin' Up! Stamp Club.  She always gets me to do something outside my comfort zone.  This wasn't bad at all!  We used white embossing powder to create the sentiment on black paper and then rubbed white craft ink across the whole thing to create the chalkboard feeling.  I liked the white embossed image on the black paper but didn't really think I achieved the chalkboard look as well as I've seen some people do it.  But, I absolutely LOVE the black, white and yellow color combo on the card - very crisp and clean!  Mom, I chose the polka dots for you.  :-)

I'm submitting this card for my Operation Write Home Design Bootcamp assignment this month.  Our lesson was to use odd numbers in design.  See my three little yellow flowers!

The second one is a very masculine card - YEAH!  I sometimes have trouble doing masculine cards on my own.  I really like the watch image which is part of a larger stamp set that I didn't like when I first saw it because I noticed the shoe and tie in the set and not the watch - funny what your eye is drawn to, isn't it?!  The sentiment on the inside says, "Happy Birthday."  Everyone always needs masculine birthday cards and this is a perfectly simple design that can be used over and over again.

I'm entering this card in Operation Write Home's Midweek Throwdown Challenge - It's About Time. Perfect, right?  And, in all my cleverness, I thought I would enter it in the Operation Write Home ODBD Monthly Challenge - Things That Fly.  We all know that "time flies!" In fact, it flies by whether we're having fun or not.  I can't believe that April is almost over and there are only a few more weeks of school left!

OWH Design Bootcamp - March

This month's OWH Design Bootcamp class was called Anyway You Slice It and dealt with composition and the rule of thirds.  Here's my card which you will see and learn more about on April 4, but I needed to post it in March for the Bootcamp Challenge!  I made this card for the Pattern Play class at Online Card Classes.  I saw someone else's idea to make an overlay with the rule of thirds and thought that was pure genius, especially for someone as OCD as I am.  So, of course, I had to make my own.  I actually completed this card and THEN put the overlay on top of it.  I thought it was interesting that I did pretty well.  Maybe next time I'll put the overlay on the card BEFORE I glue everything down!  :-)

SU Set Sail | Connie Stewart Flash Cards

At our January Stamp Club, we made a card using Connie Stewart's Flash Card measurements.  To learn more about this technique, go to YouTube and search "Connie Stewart Flash Card."  She has lots of videos!  Christi challenged us to make cards using this technique and bring them to the February Stamp Club.  Here is what I created using the Set Sail stamp set and Nautical Expedition DSP.

I'm submitting this one in the Operation Write Home February Boot Camp - Create a Strong Focal Point. By combining two stamps and the ribbon together, I've grouped items to create my focal point.  I also try to join in the challenge every Wednesday at Cat's Creations Scrapbooks blog called WOW Wednesday.  Just create anything you want and join in the fun - you can also win a prize just by commenting on the entries.  What are you waiting for?  Anything goes!

Card Supplies:
stamps - SU! Set Sail
punch - SU! hearts
patterned paper - SU! Nautical Expedition
card stock - SU! Cherry Cobbler
ink - SU! Cherry Cobbler
ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon