Simon Says and The Card Concept

It's been one of those weeks where life has been a little to dull for me to find motivation to do any blogging. I think the highlight of it was that my cousin came over Monday & Tuesday to help me reorganize my linen closet. Last night I hung out with my girlfriends at stitch. Today I went to the the esthetician, the butcher and the hairdresser. Yeah... exciting week here.

Beyond that, I've spent much of it trying to put the finishing touches on a Krispy Kreme doughnut sale fundraiser we're having this weekend. I know we're praying that we can get them all sold Friday evening and Saturday so we don't have to be out on Sunday, too. Part of that is the weather, and part of that is the Super Bowl. Normally, the football game wouldn't be a huge draw around here, since we're in Canada, but we're close enough to Seattle that there's more local interest than usual. Even I plan to watch. And I do NOT care for football. AT ALL.

I have two cards to share that actually fit challenges!

The first one is for a new blog I'm really enjoying called The Card Concept. The idea is to do more than just make a card based on the theme provided - it's also about learning to define your style. They define six main styles: 1) Clean and Simple; 2)Clean & Linear; 3)Clean & Graphic; 4)Shabby Chic; 5)Freestyle Collage; 6) Classy & Elegant. I've been looking through my work and it would appear I lean towards the clean & linear. I just don't tend to use a lot of embellishments. I'm not their definition of Clean and Simple, though, because I like layers too much. You can find all the styles defined here. 

I have looked at this card and looked at it, and I've finally decided it's not my normal clean and layered. This time, it's best suited to the freestyle collage. Basically, I figure it fits here because it brings together a diverse elements in the washi, the heat and dry embossing and the stamping. It's got bling and distressing but it's too bright to be vintage/shabby chic. It's a little too random to be clean and layered. I did have a rhinestone on the bottom circle, but it fell off. Just as well, as I like the triangle. In fact, a part of me wants to take off that circle completely. Or move it so it's the center of the pink flower. The card is a modelled after one I saw at my stamper's night. I knew I wanted to enter it for this challenge so I had to make it my own. The thing that was easy about that is when you're using a stamp as random as the splotchy background, as well as something like washi, it's easy to switch things up. I also played around with the location of the flowers, the number of flowers, and the colours.

My next card is for the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes, but include twine or string. This card is another one I made at my demo's place. I changed a lot - she only did three flowers and her sentiment was on her tag. I moved the brads and didn't use the chevron ribbon. And I added the freehand stems/vine to connect the random flowers. There's a reason I don't draw very often. It is NOT my forte. All the colouring, as well as the drawing of the stems/vines, was done using an Aqua Painter 

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up

Flower card

Cardstock - Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

Stamps - Mixed Bunch, Gorgeous Grunge 

Ink: Midnight Muse, Strawberry Slush, Summer Starfruit

Other: embossing powder, rhinestones, punches, washi tape, Mosaic Madness embossing folder

Sending Sympathy & Prayers

Cardstock: - Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Pistachio Pudding

DSP: Sweet Sorbet

Stamps: Petite Pairs, Petite Petals

Other: Brads, Twine, Aquapainter