Ten Minute Monday

I also did the Verve sketch that Natasha did. It is a great sketch for putting together a quick and easy card and I will use this layout to make several of my Christmas cards this year. Supplies: Stamps - GinaK; Ink - Memento; Paper - PaperTrey Stampers Select, Basic Grey Figgy Pudding; Misc - ribbon, Nestabilities, Amuse Micro Twinkler sticker

Ten Minute Monday

I made this card for a sketch for Verve Stamps. As soon as I saw the layout, I thought of this blog. This layout is perfect for this style. I did all 5 sketches Saturday, but that's why I saved this one for last, I knew it would come together quickly. Here's my card: You can check out the sketch here. I don't have a lot of starry patterned paper, so I made my own with a bit of stamping and clear embossing powder. I had originally had the orange star just flatly stamped, but it didn't seem special enough, so I stamped it again, cut it out, and popped it up. Supplies: Stamps: Swirling Stars, Birthday Basics Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart Ink: Versamark, Pumpkin Pie Accessories, etc.: Orange ribbon, clear EP, nestabilities, pop dots

Layout #19

Today's sketch was inspired by this cute collection by Kristina Werner . It seemed like the perfect type of layout for keeping it clean and simple!

Here's my version of the sketch. I really liked how the snowman looked, so I used that idea, and place him on a heap of patterned snowy paper. I'm not nearly patient enough to sketch out a snowman, clean him up with the computer, then reprint and paper piece together. I found that PTI's Made of Snow worked for me. I chose my patterned paper first and drew my colours from there. For the rounded part, I cut my paper to 3-3/4 wide, then I used one of the long, large oval nestabilities. I tried a circle first, but I didn't have one big enough for to get the curve exactly as I wanted. Ovals, however, worked wonderfully!

Supplies:

Stamps: Made of Snow, Take a Bough

Paper: Kraft, Holiday Thyme, White

Ink: Tuxedo Black

Accessories, etc.: Copics, pop dots, oval nestabilities

Threes & Triangles

A concept I'm sure many people are already familiar with, but is always worth talking about is the concept of the rule of threes and using visual triangles in your designs.

When talking about the rule of threes and card making, I typically apply that to grouped items. If I'm stamping a few flowers for instance, I try to either have a group of three, an odd number, or in some cases, multiples of three. I have found that a grouping of 6 can work, simply because it's 2 groups of 3. Basically, it's just tends to be more interesting to the eye to work in odd numbers, especially threes.

Now, when I talk about the visual triangle, I usually refer to the actual layout or placement of elements. Any 3 points (there's that number again) can form a triangle, the shape of the triangle doesn't usually matter. I find that this triangle is achieved easiest by using similar items or colours. Something as simple as a black outline of an image stamp, a black sentiment, and some black ribbon or matting; or repeating a visual item, such as flowers in pattern paper, in your images, and in your embellishments. Once you start to look for these triangles though, you really start to see them everywhere!

The only problem with these concepts are that they seem overly technical and stamping is about the fun and the creativity. So try not to overthink it. However, if you come upon a design that just isn't coming together, step back and assess things. Once you get used to this idea, it starts to come naturally.

Okay, so here's my card. I went with some of my favorite paper and this fun font- it's a Quickutz die called Chocolate. Love it!

In case you are having a hard time seeing the triangles, or what exactly I mean by visual triangle, here's a diagram. I'm using the colour orange as my triangle/group of 3. You could even draw a triangle based on the vanilla items (the ribbon, the paper behind "you rock", and the background part of the flower).

Supplies:

Paper: Haiku DSP, So Saffron, Tangerine, Vanilla

Accessories, etc.: Chocolate Alphabet, Vanilla grosgrain

Ten Minute Monday

Although this layout is nothing unusual for me, it was sparked by someone's card. Every so often, I mention other stampers that showcase the clean and simple style quite nicely. Tracy Durcan is one of those stampers, I just love everything she does. You can check out her blog here (this is the post that sparked this card, scroll to the end for the specific piece of inspiration). I was going to use glitter on my card, but I found it actually took away from it, go figure!

Supplies: Stamps: O Christmas Tree (gelatins), Ink: Pure Poppy, Old Olive Paper: Old Olive, Pure Poppy, Kraft, White Accessories: Nestabilities, Pop Dots