Clean and Simple Cards

I finally made some time to get back into the lab (the name we gave our office/crafting space) and make a few cards.  I used a few techniques I learned in the Clean and Simple Card Making Class by Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner and Julie Ebersole.  I often have trouble getting started on a card and I want to stop "overthinking" it.  There is a time and place for lots of embellishments, and then there is a time for clean and simple.  Here are a few of the cards I have worked on recently.

This card is inspired by both Shari Carroll's layout in the online class and Julie Ebersole's Flower Trio on Kraft card here. I used a Stampin' Up wheel (Classic Stars wheel - shown above) with Versamark ink and white embossing powder (also on the sentiment from Hero Arts).  I used markers to color in the stars and I think they stand out nicely against the kraft paper and white stars.  This was my husband's birthday card.

In this shot you can see the striped paper added to the inside of the card.  The front right part of the card is cut shorter and a thin strip of blue paper added to the front edge to contrast the stripe.  Makes me think of baseball - and he's an Astro's fan, so I thought it was a great theme.

This next card is one I made for my cousin Candy.  I used the same layout/technique on this card but added a scallop punch (Stampin' Up!) to the paper on the inside of the card. 

Here is a close up of the card - I really like the "ice cream" colors put together with the kraft paper. I had this one scrap of paper with the cute cupcakes and they were already glittery, so I decided to cut those out and mount them with pop dots.

The last card I have has a different layout, but still a clean and simple look.  I had this stripe paper that I really like and wanted to use it on the card, but didn't know for sure how I wanted to tie it in to the cupcake, so I paper pieced the cupcake wrapper with the same paper.  I sent this card for my friend Shay - and the stripe reminded me of her - she likes those aqua's, greens and greys for sure! Then I found some scrap hot pink paper that coordinated with the stripe and used my trusted Marvy scallop and circle punches to set up the focal image. I also used the We R Memory Keepers corner rounder - I don't use that enough and I really want to get the new one - I think I might have to do some online shopping :)

I had fun with the icing on this cupcake - I used some watercolor pencils from SU! and a blender pen to color with and then, the best stickles to date -- ROCK CANDY --Love it :)  It gives you sparkle with out being too glitzy, and in this case, makes me think of the large sugar crystals you see on some bakery goodies.  YUM!  I want to eat that cupcake!!!

These were great fun!  Now, I'm looking forward to testing some new stamps in my "lab".  I've had all sorts of good ideas today - now it's time to put them into action.

Hope these cards inspire you to get crafty this weekend!

Julie