Clean & Simple, Day 4

Hi there,

I am almost caught up with my posts for the card class - yay! It's a bit weird to be posting so many times on one day, but I am trying to keep track of how the cards I've made match up with the days of the card class. So here's what I did on Day 4.

I was quite taken with the idea of using stamps in multiple ways. I am a shopping addict when it comes to stamps, paper and embellishments. I always have plans for the stamps I buy when I buy them, but I foften acquire them faster than I have time to use them. So, when I thought about using stamps in new ways, I decided to take a slightly different tangent and use stamps I own but have not used before. So I have a small pile of stamp sets on my desk which I'll try to work through in this class.

I felt like making something girly, but the stamps I piled up took me somewhere else! I have had a particular Stampin Up set for several years, but it never seems to get used as I couldn't really picture it on a card. But the C&S card I made for Day 2 gave me some confidence to try another card with lots of white space, which the stamp set suited:

I struggled to find a sentiment that matched the goldfish in a bag, but I figured this one worked better than anything else I had - I'll use the card for someone having a difficult time dealing with change in their life - maybe a new job? Or a reluctant relocation? Then again, it might just sit in my 'ready to use' card pile for years, lol.

Again, the C&S approach was a challenge. I stamped everything twice before I was happy with it - there are lots of sloppy, discarded (ha!) versions in my bin this week.

The plastic bag was stamped with StazOn black ink on acetate, so it's shiny and 'bag-like' in real life, and tied with some black twine. The goldfish has a life-like shine, too, thanks to some Twinkling H20s in orange.

As an antidote to this very clean, restrained style, I couldn't resist making something much more typical of me - lots of layers and stitching and some lace and twine and a button...heavenly! This card took MUCH less time than the fish, ironically - because I was back in familiar territory? I hadn't ever used this stamp set, either, though, so I'm still attributing the inspiration for it to the card class.

Thanks for looking.

-Kerri