Clean and Simple Thank You Notes!

 I wanted to thank everyone for their recent kind comments!  Wow, I am really behind in returning the love, but it is so meaningful to me that you took the time to visit my blog!  

I mean to be making Christmas cards this month, but my son let me know that he needs more thank you cards for graduation gifts, so I make a couple quick ones today.  

I used old favorite stamps in my stash for these cards!  The first card was stamped on glossy cardstock which I had swiped inkpads over to get an abstract look.  The second card, I used Distress Oxide ink and then spritzed with water before stamping.  

Stamps Used:

Hero Arts Leafy Vines background Stamp

Hero Arts Newspaper Tulip stamp

Hero Arts Cursive Thank you

Anita’s Stamps Thank You

Clean and Simple Fall

 Hello!  I feel like I am mostly making clean and simple cards recently, and I think that is the time crunch I am constantly feeling.  It’s funny because other times I have really struggle if I tried to make one C&S.

 I am enjoying the lovely season of Autumn!  The weather is so nice this year.  

This card was created by first using gold texture paste through a stencil. I just eyeballed that it was a rough circle.  

Then I heat embossed my Stamptangle leaf from Just for Fun onto watercolor paper. I used water based markers to randomly add fall colors, then I used a water brush to blend.  I fussy cut this out and popped it up over the embossing.

I would love to enter this in ModSquad Autumn Foliage Challenge, Retro Rubber’s Anything Goes challenge (this stamp is a couple years old, and the company is out of business), and WordArtWednesday’s Anything Goes challenge.

Thank you for visiting today!  

Clean and Simple Tropical

I was in the mood for something summery, yet still clean and simple.  

I first stamped my flower from the By The Sea sheet onto a background of smooshed Distress Oxide inks.  I trimmed this out.  Then I used the small shell from the same set and created a little patterned paper on kraft cardstock.  

I wanted to fill a void in my card stash so I used this Get Well Soon sentiment from Baubles, Doily and Words sheet. 

(You can find those stamps at the I Brake for Stamps store. Use my code SAVE10HEIDI to save 10% off your order.)

Clean and Simple Spring Floral Card

Hello! I have really been enjoying the flowers this spring.  It has been rather cool and all the blooms have lasted so much longer than usual.  

For my card today, I decided to use some bright spring colors and flowers. I heat embossed this image on plain cardstock, then sponged over top with Distress Oxide inks in Tumbled Glass and Twisted citron. I really liked the color the blended in between.  

Here is a quick view of the stamp set I used, I Brake for Stamps Half Sheet 138B. (As always, save 10% on your order with my code SAVE10HEIDI)

Thank you for visiting today and happy stamping!

Clean and Simple Turtle Birthday Card

Hello Stampers! I do hope you are doing well!

I have a clean and simple card design to share with you today.  The world may be more complicated now, but people are still having birthdays and I have several cards to send out in the next week or so.  I think this one will work for men, as well as women.  

To create this card, I sponged light blue ink on the left of my card front, then put a wave stencil over this and sponged darker blue inks over the stencil.  I stamped, colored and cut out my sea turtle and popped him up on the panel.  The sentiment was stamped underneath.  

This really didn’t take long at all, and I am quite happy with how it turned out!  

These stamps are part of I Brake for Stamp’s By the Sea Rubber Sheet. It is an awesome set! (Use my coupon code SAVE10HEIDI to save 10% off your order at the IBFS Store.)  The stencil is from A Colorful Life Designs. I used Distress inks for sponging, and colored with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.  

Thank you for visiting today!  I have been nearly completely absent from blogging and creating for almost two weeks now.  I hope to get back into a routine that includes creating and visiting you!

Heidi @MyLittleStampingBlog

January Carnations - Flower of the Month Card

Hello!  The Carnation is the Birth Flower for January and I always like to make a card for the flower-of-the-month, if I can.  I usually have used this stamp to color in, and I just sortof decide what color I want, but this time I wanted to use the stamp as a background.

I simply stamped the Jumbo - January Carnation in Gina K Wild Lilac ink, onto lavender  cardstock and die cut the panel.

I then cut out a sentiment in white cardstock, and used the same purple stamping ink to color the die cut.  I layered this over a sentiment cut from glitter cardstock, and voila, my card is finished. 

This stamp does come in a smaller version, as to all in the Birth Flowers series.  These are probably my favorite stamps in the entire I Brake for Stamps store.  (As always, save 10% on your entire order using my code SAVE10HEIDI)

I’d love to participate in WordArtWednesday’s Anything Goes challenge.

Thank you for visiting today! Have a wonderful day!

Christmas Cards for 2020 Already??

Hello!  I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

This past year, I made more Christmas cards in November and December than in past years.  It was a bit overwhelming, so this year, I hope to get many more Christmas cards done throughout the year.  If I did ~5 a month, I would be comfortably ready to send them out after Thanksgiving this year.

I won this stamp recently, so it was the perfect choice for my first Christmas card of 2020!

I simply colored the image (House Mouse Sharing a Sip) in with alcohol markers and added flocking to the hats!  I love white flocking on winter hats!

I would love to enter House Mouse & Friends Challenge - Anything Goes/Optional Christmas, Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes, SimonSaysStamp’s Wednesday Challenge - Something New, and WordArtWednesday’s Challenge - Anything Goes.

Thank you for your visit today! 

First Card of 2020!

Hello and Happy New Year!  

Did you have a good holiday? Ours was good, but we did travel quite a bit, and then were busy around the house.  I am always happy to go back to my routine.  And I will be happy to be soon back visiting all your blogs and commenting.  

I made a little clean & simple card using I Brake for Stamps Mostly Mice sheet and for the stamped background and sentiment, the Bubble Wrap, Lattice and flowers sheet.  All are stamped in dark brown ink. (As always, save 10% on your entire order at I Brake for Stamps using my code SAVE10HEIDI.)

 The mouse is simply colored and cut out, then popped up on dimensional tape.  I am thinking I should make a few with a Thank You sentiment, too. I haven’t sent out my Christmas thank-you’s yet.

I would love to enter Cute Card Thursday’s Anything Goes Challenge.  And the ModSquad’s Patterned Paper Play (the blue cardstock is stamped with a background stamp to create my own patterned paper).

Have a simply wonderful day!

Christmas Wishes!

I want to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday season!

 Thank you for visiting my blog today, and all throughout the year.  I appreciate all those who subscribe and especially when you have time to leave a comment.  I do enjoy papercrafting and stamping so much, and it really is a blessing to have the support and encouragement of an online community. Thank you!

My clean and simple card uses a lovely image from I Brake for Stamps Small Christmas sheet and the sentiment is from Christmas Tree Collage Quarter Sheet.  As always, you can save 10% off your order at I Brake for Stamsp using my code SAVE10HEIDI.

I masked off my card front with tape, and blended three colors of Distress Oxide ink: Salty Ocean, Faded Jeans and Seedless Preserves.  I spritzed this with water to get a snowy look.  When it dried, I stamped the scene on top using Distress Oxide Black Soot.  

Thank you for visiting!

Stenciled Sympathy

Thanks for your visit today.  I made two of these sympathy cards, as I had a need for them.  

I simply stenciled over the left side of my card panel and then stamped the silhouette over top.  I then coordinated the inside of the card by just using a lighter touch over my stencil, and stamping my favorite Sympathy sentiment.  

These stamps can be purchased in the I Brake for Stamps store. The foxglove image is part of a new stamp set in the store, available as Unmounted rubber (with an attractive price), or it is also available separately.
Use my coupon code SAVE10HEIDI to save 10% off your entire order.

Supplies: Mostly Florals unmounted stamp sheet, Foxglove Silhouette stamp, Memories Comfort You sentiment, Quarter Sheet Dahlia (outside sentiment), Recollections stencil, Distress ink in Broken China and Mowed Lawn, Versafine Onyx Black ink. 

Thanks for visiting today!  I hope my readers in the USA have a Blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Happy Trails Card - Wrap Around Card

I don’t know where the week went, but here we are at Friday!  I hope everyone had a good week. I am happy to report that my dental issues are finally resolved as of yesterday!  Just in time for Turkey?

I have a card to share today that I made a while back but didn’t get to sharing yet.  This was inspired by a wrap card made by Karen Dunbrook.  You should follow her, if you don’t already.  Every card she makes is beautiful!

Basically, you just create a wrap for your card that goes onto the back. I like how it is something different, and finishing the back makes it feel more complete.

I created my wrap by first sponging two Distress Oxide brown inks as an ombré. I then stamped the woodgrain over top.  The camper was partly colored and partly paper-pieced.  I added clear Nuvo Drops to the windows, but unfortunately, that cracked as it dried, so I guess my camper is a little run-down.  

If you create a wrap card, I would highly suggest using your lightest weight cardstock for the wrap part so that your card can still open and close easily.  It would be easy enough to use lightweight patterned paper too.  

Supplies: Close to My Heart Happy Trails stamp set, Hero Arts Woodgrain background stamp, Distress Oxide ink Vintage Photo and Antique Linen, Memento and Versafine black inks, other items from my stash.

Thanks for visiting! Will you have time for stamping this weekend, or are you too busy preparing for the holiday?  

Christmas Plaid - Handmade Holiday Card

Hello!  A quick share of a card I made this morning from my Recollections Christmas Plaid paper pad. I had been itching to use this pretty blue plaid.  And look how perfectly it went with this offset square from the sketch! 

Supplies: Close to My Heart Tis The Season stamp set, Versfine Black ink, Hero Arts Red Royal shadow ink, Gina Marie square dies, Recollections Christmas Plaid 12x12 patterned paper pad, American Crafts twine.  

I would love to enter Mojo Monday’s Sketch challenge, and You Next Stamp’s Mad for Plaid challenge.

Slothie Coffee Card

I am squeezing one more coffee card into the mix for the Coffee Lover’s Blog Hop today!  After this, I am going to do my best to finish commenting on them, but there are over 1000 entries this time! WOW!

I colored my CUTE sloth-in-a-mug and then trimmed it out to pop up over my patterned paper. A sentiment and a few enamel dots finish off my clean and simple card.  I don’t always do clean and simple, but it really is fun to do.

Supplies: Art Impressions Sloth-Some stamp set, Memento and Versafine black inks, paper is a scrap and I don’t know which pad it was, Recollections enamel dots, Frantic Stamper Stitched Edge dies.

Thank you for visiting!  I hope I will see you again soon!

Better Latte Than Never! - Coffee Cards

Hello!  Hope you have had a nice week.  I, unfortunately continue to have some dental problems.  My first crown didn’t fit right, and they couldn’t adjust it because 3 shots of the numbing stuff didn’t work.  So they sent it out again. So the moral of the story is, brush and floss and do everything you can to avoid having dental work!  Lol.

I do have another card for the Coffee Blog hop.  

Supplies: Gina K Designs Coffee Therapy, Just for Fun Rubber Stamps coffee ring and sentiment, Versafine Black ink, Gina K Tranquil Teal and Tangerine inks, Gina K Tranquil Teal cardstock, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die, Copper Nuvo drops

Thanks for visiting!  If you are a new visitor on the Hop, please leave a comment to let me know you were here. I would also LOVE it if you would choose to subscribe to my blog.  I always do my best to visit your blog, as long as I can find you.  

Happy Stamping!

Pinned it? Try It! Week 4: Clean and Simple

Alrighty then, back again this weekend with another edition of Pinned It? Try It!  The pin I chose today was from my Clean and Simple board.  You can see the pin from 2010 HERE, pinned 22,000 times! Wow. The corresponding blog post is HERE, and I was glad to see that Susan is still actively blogging and continuing with a clean and simple style. Neat! 

I decided not only to use the basic layout, but also the two tone stamping.  In the original card, Susan used a light and a dark tone of ink. In mine, I used the second generation.  I also couldn’t help but to add a mat for my rectangles.  I like the way it turned out and am happy to have another Sympathy card for when the times comes.  

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Flora and Fauna set, Hero Arts sentiment, Distress Oxide Ink Peeled Paint, Lucky Clover and Vintage Photo, Versafine Onyx Black.

Thanks for visiting!  What kind of pins have you been meaning to try?

All the blog posts in this series are found HERE.

Sailboat Father’s Day Card - Stamp Kissing Technique

Hello everyone! Today, I’d like to do a quick share.

I have a solid sailboat stamp that I inked up with light blue ink.  I then inked up a tweed background stamp with navy ink.  I kissed the sailboat onto the tweed background to pick up the navy ink, and then stamped it down onto my card panel.  I was really pleased with how this turned out!

Supplies: Just for Fun Rubber Stamps Sailboat Silhouette, Father’s Day, Hero Arts Tweed Background Stamps, Hero Arts Shadow inks in Cornflower and Navy, Versamark Embossing ink and White detail embossing powder, The Paper Studio embossing folder

I’d love to enter this into the ModSquad Challenge Nautical Masculine challenge and CASology’s CALM challenge.

Thanks for your visit!!

Cardmaking with beginners

Hello everyone!  Last weekend, I had planned a cardmaking session with a few of my close friends.  None of them do papercraft, so I had to think about what projects to set up.  I think it is a good idea to have specific projects ready that you can change the sentiment on easily, so they can use the card for what they need.  

For one of the cards, I chose for us to CASE (copy and steal everything) this card I saw on Pinterest.  I have the stamp set for this, and it has a few options for sentiments.  I did not have the die, but it was easy enough to cut around it.  

To prepare, I had all the card bases cut, the square panel and mat cut, and had a few paper pads and embossing folders to choose from, and a navy inkpad ready.  I think it is better to limit the number of options, as I have found that people can spend more time looking through your stash and then don’t get their card done.

Here is the card I made.  I omitted that button so that I could easily send it.  My friend’s was a lovely Father’s Day card, and she definitely put her own creative spin on it!

Supplies: Technique Tuesday Swanky Sentiments stamp set, Carta Bella It’s a Celebration 6x6 paper pad, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Versafine Magestic Blue ink

Do you plan cardmaking get-togethers with your non-cardmaking friends? I’d love to hear about it?  I’ll be back soon with another card we made, that maybe didn’t work out as well as this one...

Peg Stamp Card - Hummingbird Anniversary Card

ETA 6/2/19: I’d like to thank Cupcake Inspirations for choosing my card as one of the Sweet Selects for their challenge!

Hello!  Many of you have been so busy lately with your cardmaking!  I sat down to go through my blog list last evening, and thought it wouldn’t be long as I only missed a day or two.  Well, wasn’t I wrong!  Everyone is being so creative!

Well, we finally have the sun again around here, so I was able to finish and photograph a card.  I had this anniversary stamp set out on my desk still from making this card last week.  Looking at the little hummingbirds on it, and knowing I will soon need a card for my parents, I came up with this idea, adding peg stamps!

I used the peg stamps to create the border along the top.  After that was finished, I added some Nuvo glitter drops here and there. I think you can see them in the photo. I thought they added some festivity to this card, as they really sparkle in the light.

The bird and sentiment were simply stamped with black ink.  I think it turned out cute!

Supplies: Rubber Stamp Tapestry Cherry Blossom stamp set, Penny Black You and Me Stamp set, Avery Elle inks in Kraft, Celery, Raspberry and Pixie, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Gina K Designs Fresh Asparagus cardstock.  

I would love to play along with these challenges!

Library Challenge - All Creatures Great and Small (these ones are very small!)

Cupcake Inspirations - Pink, Lime and White

Thank you so much for visiting today!  Your comments are always a big encouragement to me!

Coffee Lover’s Blog Hop - Spring Anniversary Card

Hello!  Today, I am again playing in the Coffee Lover’s Blog hop for Spring and Summer!

I have been sitting here this morning, drinking my coffee, while 1st, going through my blog reader list.  A lot of you are also playing in the hop, but plenty posting other projects (which is great too!)  Second, visiting back to everyone who commented on my blog in the last 24 hour, thank you!  And 3rd, trying to visit a bunch of projects at the link up.  And there are a lot!  

As a funny observation of a blog hop, when you go through hop posts, and you notice the couple people who copy and paste the same, exact comment onto every post.  Lol.

For todays card, I decided to use this “new to me” set.  I was going to make a wedding card to have on hand, but then realized that MY wedding anniversary is coming up and I hadn’t yet made a card.  DH and I both love coffee, so I thought this would be fun.

I used this sketch for the card, then used a scrap of patterned paper to decorate the inside, along with some other stamps from the set.  

Supplies: Penny Black You and Me stamp set, Avery Elle Kraft and Truffle Pigment inks, Versafine black pigment ink, Bo Bunny Early Bird 6x6 Paper pad, Corner chomper, gems from my stash.  

Thanks for visiting!  If you are new, I hope you will consider leaving a comment, or even subscribing to my blog.  I appreciate the gestures, and always try to visit your blogs as well.  

Have a wonderful day!

Hero Arts Layering Birds - Two Cards

Hello!  I saw a neat color combo for this bird layering stamp set and had to try it. While I had the set out, I went ahead and tried another combination too.

Supplies: CL866 Layering Birds and Branches, CL748 You’re So Kind sets.

Bird 1 color combo: Gina K Innocent Pink, Avery Elle Kraft Pigment, Avery Elle Truffle Pigment, Versafine Onyx Black

Bird 2 color combo: Avery Elle Daisy, Kraft (with some residue of red ink on the stamp) Truffle all pigment inks

Leaves all done with Avery Elle Jungle with Truffle layer

Gina K Dark Chocolate cardstock, Cuttlebug embossing folder

I would love to enter A Blog Named Hero’s Clean and Simple Challenge.

Do you have a preference for either card?

Thanks for visiting today! I will be back with another post tomorrow!