A Little Trip

   You might already know we have an awesome piano mentor--Eyran Katsenelenbogen--and that each week I make a card to give him for our lesson. And you might also know that he sends them to people all over the world. He collects them in a special file and chooses just the right one for each recipient. Last week he told us that he'd even sent one to Barbara.... STREISAND! Wow! That was just too cool to hear. 
   Well, this week's card was inspired by last week's using the new Hero Arts Stamp Your Story:

I really love these brushstrokes--and the giant notes in the first card came out just the way I'd hoped they would. The Kaleidacolor ink pad lends the Caribbean Sea splash and the travel sentiment was perfectly timed to a release of a new performance where you can see Rani and Tal really move along the keys!

Flutterbys

   I'm still in Mixy Matchy mode courtesy of Cath over at Moxie Fab World! Here I mixed a couple of stamps--DeNami's polka dot circle and Hero Arts' Happy Wishes along with a pair of butterfly stickers from my stash. It was so easy since the embellishments were pre-embellished themselves with glitter and rhinestones! 
   And, since we're all about vintage at our house especially in the fashion and color department, I was inspired to take these colors further with a little get well greeting:

   Just the stamps ma'am.... This couldn't be any simpler and the butterflies from Hero Arts in their new Stamp Your Story are an absolute dream....what are you dreaming today?

thought for this week...

   I just love when a picture can say it all...don't you?

Simple Summer

   Happy Summer to my northern hemisphere friends! I am smitten with sand-inspired colors of late and here's a whole set of cards I've made with yellows and greys. The new card contest over at Hero Arts is about one-layer, keeping it simple too! Pop over to check it out and enter something of your own--I'd love to see how you put your own stamp on this challenge! Me--I can always use a flat card to send in the mail to my friends and family, and Operation Write Home can always use some too!

   I think this would be fun in lots of other colors, don't you? It was so easy to stamp the shades over the owl and then just fill them in with dark grey marker! no masking, no fuss! [I tried them in red too!]

   I used watercolor and marker on the white embossed background texture stamp then punched a heart from it. Dimensionally mounted it on a dry embossed tweed background, and it's really fun to hold. I am making more physical texture cards ever since my mom told me how thrilled her blind friend was to receive them. Her husband reads her what's written inside, but she usually doesn't get to appreciate greeting cards! [another reason to love stamping our own, eh?]

   A little collage to use up some scraps!

   A monogram design for my mom! 

   I will make a notable for these and add it to mom's new stash! And now, I'm off to enjoy a summer swim in our sunshine! Thanks for stopping by--wishing you a simple summer!

Mixy-Matchy Style for Summer

   I was inspired by Moxie Fab World's Mixy Matchy Challenge to create these summer cards to fill a Notable for my sis. I adore the retro styles that are actually "in" now, and as one who grew up in the days when we didn't mix stripes with florals or gingham, I feel like a rebel! I wanted a consistent color scheme to match the notepad/folder and I enjoyed angle cutting and punching to highlight the pattern mix with the Hero Arts daisy stamp. The little gingham circles are from an old favorite Hero Arts clear set--Mix and Match! So it doesn't get any more Matchy than that! 

Light, Shadow, and Color

   One of the things I like best about stamping/creating cards is that I find them so similar to composing pictures. I am very visual and many times picture in my mind's camera the shot I want to make. Someday I would love to try doing film photography since I feel so satisfied when I create a scene I envision. I always enjoy taking the pictures of the cards I make since it just continues the creative process.  The past couple of years that has had to substitute for camera safaris I used to take. I think I need to make more time for them again.
   I have been playing with some new brushstroke stamps from Hero Arts' Stamp Your Story collection and I had fun here with my Kaleidacolor Caribbean Sea ink pad. Love how easy these are to splash out a little abstract art.