
I am a fan of clean and simple cards so I was delighted to be the feature artist for Pals Paper Arts' KISS Challenge this week. The new Pretty in Pink brads and ribbon look wonderful against a Basic Gray background. A bit of punching, a tiny stamp and I was done........ahhhhh the simple life!

My favorite commercial during the Daytona 500 this weekend was a Sprint commercial in which a family was trying to call the "real" Jimmie Johnson. I liked its humor and clean colors of gray, yellow and white. So when I put this card together for Stamping411's weekend sketch challenge, I combined Crushed Curry, Basic Gray and Going Gray. The birdcage from Happy Moments is embossed in silver. And it was certainly a happy moment for Jamie McMurray when he crossed the finish line just ahead of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Yep I'm a NASCAR fan.........

Margaret Moody's designed a terrific layout for Pals Paper Arts Sketch Challenge this week. Her layouts are very versatile and easy to dress up or dress down. I opted for the dress down look since my card is for a guy. Some new Sweet Pea Designer Paper along with some "old" Chocolate Chip ribbon and my card came together. I didn't want the card to be real flowery so I added striped paper and used brads instead of the scalloped edge to give the card a masculine feel. Head on over to PPA and play along - dress that design up or dress it down..........there's blog candy this week :)

The Clean and Simple challenge at SCS this week was an inspiration challenge based on this beautiful card designed by Kelly Landers. I used a black and a ruby red marker to color various parts of a stamp from Of the Earth. Then I turned a roof stamp from Good Neighbors upside down to make the pots and popped up the center image panel on dimensionals. I based the layout of the card on this week's Saturday's Sketch Challenge at Stamping411 but I used the scallop trim border punch in place of the ribbon. Amazing the debris a "clean and simple" card can leave behind - not to mention inky fingerprints everywhere!


Friends of ours welcomed a new grandchild yesterday - a beautiful baby girl! Hmmm, the colors for this week's PPA challenge just happen to include shades of pink. These colors are oh so glamorous together so I kept the card simple to let the colors speak for themselves. The dotted window sheet from Night and Day Designer paper reminds me of the veil worn on a lady's hat back in the day. Love those old movies where the star wears that veil down over her eyes. A perfect card to welcome a new star in the family!
The Stamping411 gals came up with another wonderfully versatile Saturday Sketch Challenge. The card came together quickly and then I hit a roadblock. Bashful Blue certainly lived up to its name - it seemed to be impossible to photograph its true color. All of the ensuing adjustments made me look at this card in a new light - in more ways than one! Now I'm thinking this sweet little Valentine of Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip could also be used to welcome a new baby boy.......