My Clean & Simple Style.

Good Saturday morning, everyone!

Hope you are all having a great weekend so far.

My BFF'ers asked me last year, "Do you think we'd be blog friends if we weren't already best friends?" And I was confused, "I said, of course!"

You see, we differ when it comes to our crafting styles (I tend to be ecclectic at times, she likes a cleaner approach). But that's what I love about the stamping world -- I am a follower of blogs in which our techniques are similar or blogs where the crafter mostly use die-cuts (& I've never own or used a Cricut or a Sizzix). I follow those who use the CAS (clean and simple) method and the ones who have a vintage aesthetic.

I find so much inspiration in ALL the blogs that I follow. And what I really admire about the stamping blog-o-sphere is that EVERYBODY is so friendly & nice. Everyone comments on everybody's blogs. From the most famous of them to the shy beginners!

Take it from me who have been scrapbooking for more than ten years and who was a scrapper before a cardmaker -- there's so much drama in the scrapping world, LOL! (But I am always gonna be a scrapper at heart and there are a lot of scrappers out there who are so kind as well and who I am always going to look up to).

Anyway, I have a point here. What was it again? (LOL!)

Oh yeah: Sometimes I get so inspired that I try to think outside my usual box and try a different style. My usual?? I love to layer, layer, layer and embellish, embellish, embellish. And I like to be different from everyone else, hence the ecclectic side comes through.

But lately, I have been drawn to the CAS style. Especially when I saw the winners of the Paper Smooches' SPARKS Design Team.

Their cards are so clean and crisp and neat and simple. I am totally not like that. My cards get inky. They tend to have lots of textures. And I am probably Joshua on Project Runway who needs to edit his work before sending his model down the runway, as Heidi Klum, Nina Garcia, and Michael Kors always say! (Although I'd rather be Anya :)).

So awhile back, I colored Bridal Mae from Some Odd Girl. I had big plans for her. I loved how she came out and knew right away that I wanted to make a card with a scene.



I had bought these Martha Stewart pom pom stickers when I was helping to decorate for this shower. Pom-poms are such a beautiful way to decorate - I often daydream about renewing my DH's and my vows and how our 'second wedding' would be, haha!

I was thinking about how to add a gorgeous 'wall' to my scene, possibly a vase with some flowers on a pedestal. But then, I had to urge to just simplify.

So then, I just drew in the 'strings' with a spica pen (I ran out of fish wire, which is what I use for the real pom-poms). And I added the 'floor' patterned paper (see below). Used a sentiment from Paper Smooches. And voila! Clean and Simple (at least for me!)

Pardon all the pics but I've been experimenting on how to take better pics/ angles of my cards since reading this article by Kristy.



This one depicts the card walking down the aisle...buwahahahahaha!!!

One last thing:



See this paper? When I bought it, it looked like the part on the bottom left. Cream with some writing and this embossed pattern that was the same color. When misted, however, it became that gorgeous top right part. The more mist you use, the darker it gets. I used Mr. Huey's mist in Cocoa. And sorry, but I'm not sure what this brand of paper is but it is gorgeous both ways!!

Thanks so much for reading this long post! Hugs to all of my crafty friends!



P.S. And remember when I was talking about how some stamp images remind me of people? This one reminds me of one of the doctors I worked with. I. AM. SO. WEIRD. But that's why y'all love me, right?? :)