Jawhol, Mein Kommandant!

My crafting buddy and all-around pal, Ann, and our dealer, um, demonstrator, Karen, and I were joking about giving each other challenges.  Or so I thought.  Ann was bemoaning that, while searching for a challenges,  she found many ways to spend her crafting dollars.  Thus, the challenges joviality began.

So I told her, my clean and simple friend, to create a card with at least 3 layers and 3 embellishments.  She threw in that she would do that AND make it a masculine card!  Well, she whipped that challenge off pretty quickly.  My challenge from her: pink.  I had to use pink.  I rarely use pink (except I sure did use it for a little six year old's birthday card just last week, but did I take a photo?  Why no, I did not.).  Then, the day after we discussed this challenge, CAS-ual Fridays announced this week's challenge: to use pink in honor of National Pink Day (Saturday).  Oh my.  All roads were leading to pink.  

It is my last, YES LAST, week of taking two classes at the same time (insanity).  I have two papers due this week.  Yes, that's right, time to procrastinate.  While doing very important business on Facebook and Pinterest, I get a wall post...a demand that my challenge be tended to, by--yes--Ann.  Suddenly, I am flashed back to one of my dad's favorite shows, Hogan's Heroes, where Sgt. Shultz (shown right) is known for his buffoonery and his cheery and bellowing, "Jawhol, Mein Kommandant!" to his leader, Col. Klink.  So, for you, "Mein Krafty Kommandant," here is my pink card.

I first started with patterned paper, as I figured that's where I could sneak in some pink.  I found this sheet from SEI that had pink as an accent color.  I saw a very cute scrapbook page design today using circles, but they were hand cut and full of whimsy, and I was not feeling that way, so I used circle punches.  {A side note: holy cow, do I have a large amount of circle punches!}  I decided to ink up my PTI Signature Greetings set and I wanted to do two colors of the "So Sweet of You."  That was interesting.  The SU! Pretty in Pink marker did not want to work well with that, but Baroque Burgundy did.  So,I ended up using the Pretty in Pink stamp pad and coloring over the "of You" with a marker.  I am not 100% in love with the sentiment treatment.  I was going to stamp in white without a panel, but I wanted to add that one more kick of pink.  I did an accordion fold above the sentiment panel.  If I could work my sewing machine, I would have added some stitches to that for good measure.  

So there you have it, a circuitous explanation (ha! get it?) of a pretty simple card.  Thank you for reading this far.  Challenge complete! :)  Now, back to my comfort zone...

To the Moon and Back

Today's Inspiration Challenge asked us to go to Posters.com for inspiration. The site has tons of Rolling Stone covers as poster-sized images, so I decided to browse them to see what would come. It's funny how inspiration can come from the simplest of places.

I love Tom Hanks. I think he's brilliant. So, when I saw his RS Cover poster, I stopped just to see which era of Hanks it was showcasing. Looks like his Big era. I love how they kept this cover very simple. Black, white, blue. Works well. So I went with that.

From there I decided to pull together the black paper and blue paper that would best flow with the inspiration. I had just downloaded some free (yes, free) digital packages from Summer Driggs, and I remembered a piece of black and white patterned paper that caught my eye. I accidentally printed it out on photo paper, but I think that was one of those "happy accidents."

I chose the A Muse sentiment for a few reasons. First, one of my FAVORITE movies with Tom Hanks in it is Apollo 13. Second, it fit the simplicity I was going for and matched up with the white-on-blue of the words "Rolling Stone" on the cover. And third, a shoutout to the 40th anniversary this month of the lunar landing.

Size: 5.25 x 4.25"

Paper: Summer Driggs Limeade; SU! Blue Bayou; white

Stamp: A Muse To the moon and back

Ink: SU! Kraft White

Accessories: Offray black grosgrain; jumbo silver brads

Sparkle!

OK, for those of you who watch HGTV, you will totally understand where my mind went when I saw that this week's Clean and Simple challenge was to use sparkle on a card. If you watched Design Star last season, you know who was thrust back into my mind like a bad 70's perm...SPARKLE JOSH! Shown here with Kim Kardashian, Sparkle Josh was known for his thrift store flair and his ability to, well, add "sparkle" to his designs. Since there were two men named Josh on the show, he decided to give himself the name "Sparkle Josh" so they could be told apart (yep, UNnecessary).

OK, enough tangent! Now onto the challenge. I love the Clean and Simple challenges because I can stop where I usually want to stop. I have been wanting to use these stamps for the past two weeks, but just haven't fit them in to a project. How perfect since AMuseapalooza is getting underway. I am a constant user of this somewhat jaded phrase, so when I saw a stamp with it, there was no hesitation before buying it.

This card went through several transformations. At first, I had several circle punches out and was trying to layer. It quickly turned into a Dirty and Complex card, so I scratched it. I knew I wanted to use Kraft and black, and I was trying (badly) to incorporate white so my sparkles could jump out a bit more. I settled for inking on the Kraft.

My sparkle for the card was created using Spica markers. I colored "da bomb" with black and yellow, and I outlined the words with yellow. I underlined "bomb" with black Spica. It's a lot more sparkly in person.

Card Size: 4.25 x 5.5"
Paper: SU! Kraft, black
Stamps: Bomb and Da Bomb! from A Muse
Ink: SU! Basic Black
Markers: Spica

Clean and Simple Thanks

Today's Clean and Simple challenge was paper piecing. My middle name, yes?

I paper pieced the wrench from SU!s Totally Tool. I stamped the wrench onto metallic silver paper using StazOn, then I cut it out and adhered it to a 3.5 x 3.5" card base of SU! Not Quite Navy textured paper. I used some Walk in the Park DSP scraps I had from recent cards that I used for one of my layers. The other layer unites the metallic feel of the wrench via jumbo silver eyelets. I thought some twine would make a pretty cool look to this very manly card. I also rounded the corners with my corner rounder.

Clean and Simple Squared

Here's a post with not one, but TWO, clean and simple cards. I know! I am also excited. Hee hee.

Card for CAS03: For this Clean and Simple challenge, we were asked to use this sketch. I was thinking how spring-like the weather was today, and how, soon, we would spot some growth. So, that's how I decided to handle this sketch. This card is for my friend Marilyn. She battles brain cancer, and is a living, breathing testament to this verse. It's also one of my all-time favorite verses. The context from the Bible is when the angel Garbiel visited Mary to announce that she would be the mother of Jesus. He explains to Mary that her cousin, Elizabeth, is pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth was thought to be sterile. In so many ways, on so many levels, this verse has rung true. It is a verse of hope for me, even in the midst of despair.

Size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches

Cardstock: SU! Kraft, white

Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip and Almost Amethyst

Stamps: Stampabilities Luke 1:37 and SU! Season of Friendship

Other: Dimensionals; Scor-Pal

Card for CAS04: OK, now this one cracks me up. It's so much fun to make yourself laugh. Well, for me it is. :) This challenge asked us to use dots. As with all Clean and Simple challenges, we were also asked to keep the design and layers minimal. I decided to use scraps that I had lying around for this one, so I am not 100% sure of the specs for the papers I used. Isn't the sentiment hysterical? Again, as long as I am amused, I guess all is well.

It looks like I cut the patterned paper, when in truth, I used the scrap from today's previous card as a frame for the patterned paper.

Size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches
Cardstock: SU! Basic Gray, Bashful Blue (textured)
Ink: SU! Basic Gray

Stamps: SU! Smarty Pants

Brads: Basic Grey glazed

Die: Sizzix Top Notch

Clean and Simple: Enjoy

My submission for this week's Clean and Simple challenge is one that I really "enjoy." Get it? Ho ho he he. I crack myself up.

The challenge asked us to use one button. Just one. So, I decided to use one of my favorite techniques: a clear button with patterned paper underneath.

I also decided to only use scraps that I had in my scrap pile. Well, the patterned paper was new and waiting to be "filed," but I made good use of it. The green is the flipside of the patterned paper, therefore matching the green in the pattern perfectly. Guess which blue I used? Oh, come on. Guess. Yes, Baja Breeze, ladies and gentlemen. What a shocker. The patterned paper was... come on... come on... I'm absolutely that transparent... yes! American Crafts a la Carte Avocado.

To see other Clean and Simple button cards, click here.

Specs:

Size: 5.5 x 4.25 inches

Paper: SU! Baja Breeze, American Crafts a la Carte Avocado

Stamp: SU! Enjoy Every Moment

Ink: SU! Basic Black

Thread: Paper Wire

Also: Dimensionals