Seven Variations on a Theme

I decided to make variations of the same card, hence the name "Variations on a Theme". Here is the basic card.  I will be entering the first card in the Stampin For the Weekend for their 3rd year anniversary Blog Hop and Layers Challenge. I will also enter it in the Sentiment As Focal Point Challenge hosted by the Creative Card Crew. As a bonus, I will enter the Challenge #2 and Travel Stories at Just Keep On Creating.

I took the same basic elements, used different stamps, and used slightly different layouts.

The elements I used were:  white cardstock, a piece of designer paper (all of them used the same paper - some were from one side and some from the other), a piece of Sahara Sand matted with a piece of Cherry Cobbler, a piece of white (with a stamped image) matted with Not Quite Navy, and a sentiment stamped on a punched piece (although one was stamped below the sailboat). Most had a piece of ribbon tied with a "cheaters" bow.

So...have you thought about making many of the "same" card - just making variations?  These all turned out so different.  I think it's interesting that I didn't choose to make any of these a vertical card. Strange...it would have seemed like such a logical choice!

Nautical Variations

For some reason people seem to have difficulty making "guy" cards.  Looking through my cards, it seems like almost a full half of my cards would qualify to be "guy" cards!  The cards I am posting today are no exception.

The challenge I will be entering will be from Stamp n Doodle for their Masculine Challenge.  I will also be entering Challenge #2 & Travel Stories from Just Keep On Creating.

I am still enjoying the nautical cards but I am probably about ready to put them aside because I have a bunch of other cards in my head waiting to be made.

Do you ever get into a "rut" where you keep making more and more projects from the same set of papers or same set of stamps? I don't know If I'd really consider it a "rut" but maybe more just a "wealth of ideas" that need to be explored!  LOL ;-)

Monochromatic Lighthouse

I had a lot of fun with today's challenges.  I had some of my nautical stamps out (The Open Sea and Uncharted Territory) and the awesome Nautical Expedition paper.

I will be entering Mojo Monday's Sketch Challenge #240:

I was also going to enter this in the Divas By Design  Monochromatic Challenge #33  but, again, I missed the boat.  ;-(  HOWEVER...this week's challenge is "One for the Boys" - Challenge #34 and I think this card perfectly suits that category too!!!  Woohoo!!

I stamped the lighthouse and then masked it so I could get the sponge effect that I wanted.

Since the Mojo challenge was looking for a circle (but I really had a tall image) I used the Oval Scallop Frame Bigz die.  I used Dotto (a temporary adhesive) and attached a square of paper the size of the die on the die and then cut it out.  I left the outside square attached to the die and used the scallop frame to find the placement of the image.  Since I stamped n on a rectangle I had a little space at the top and bottom so that I could see where the cutout of the die was.  I used a bit of Dotto to hold the image in place and cut out the oval.

What is your favorite technique? I haven't done any masking in some time and after seeing the results here I will probably do more.

Do you usually use a lot of color or are you a more "neutral" type person?  I don't usually use bunches of colors and seem to like the regal color shades best.

Do you like the monochromatic look? I don't do it much, but every time I do I really like the results I come up with!

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Gymnast - Aspire!

I have a friend whose daughter just graduated from high school. She will also finish her Associate's degree in August and go away to the University of Wisconsin for college. She's a gymnast so I thought that giving her a set of "Thank you" cards with a gymnast on it would be very appropriate.

Of course, I had to find a challenge for inspiration.  The challenge I am doing is from Totally Gorjuss for Challenge #130 - It's a Sketch.  

Here is the sketch:

I didn't have any gymnast stamps so I found this great set from CTMH (Close To My Heart) called Aspire.  I did a set of a baker's dozen.  If you notice the left paper is different on each card.  My friend had given me a book of wallpaper samples that she had planned on using but never had and thought that perhaps I could find a use for them. I did.

I did find that attaching the wallpaper wasn't as easy as I expected.  I ended up using red line tape on the sides (which also held the strips of ribbon in place) and a Scotch liquid glue around the rest.  I tried several different adhesives and they either bled through (the liquid ones I tried) or they didn't adhere the wallpaper to the cardstock base.

I also found that I really needed to glue almost all the way to the edges because the paper had a tendency to curl. 

I sprayed a bit of Glimmer Mist spray on the "thanks" circles and the gymnast panels, let them dry, and then stamped the images.

Here is how I presented the cards to her:

The bottom white part is where I included the envelopes.

I figured that I like making cards and it was the logical choice for a gift. She will be writing thank you notes and this way she has some specialty gymnast ones she can use. Not a gift she will keep but a gift she will use!

So...what do you do for gifts?  Store bought or custom "art"?

Nautical Mojo

Time to get back to challenges.  This is actually a challenge that has already been concluded but I will be going to do some stamping with some people down in Naples and this is the challenge that that we will be tackling this week.  It is from Mojo Monday and the challenge is #237. I will also enter this one in the Just Keep on Creating monthly challenge - Anythng Goes #2 and Travel Stories. I thought this would qualify as a travel-related card (even though they only wanted travel stories and the card could be anything!).

I decided to go with a Nautical theme (after all, my son IS a Sea Scout!).

This uses the Nautical paper that was in Stampin' Up's Summer Mini in 2011 and is currently on the clearance rack (one of my favorite papers ever!).  The circles use a set called Open Sea and the sentiment is from Service and Sacrifice (which is also to be discontinued at the end of May).

This card came together very quickly - my only "false starts" were deciding if I wanted to use the Cherry Cobbler and if I did what would be in that shade. I tried all Not Quite Navy, all Cherry Cobbler, circles with one color inside and distressing with the other color and decided on the combination you see above.

I hope you enjoy it!  Let me know what you think.