Two clean and simple card sets

Last weekend I had a great time at a craft retreat with my aunt and three new crafting friends. It was so much fun to stay up late (I was up until 2 a.m. every night, and Sunday morning I didn't hit the sack until 5 a.m.!), sleep in, eat good food, laugh and make loads of cards. The weather was chilly and rainy all weekend, which normally I would complain about, especially if I were spending the weekend at a lake cabin, but it was perfect for our crafting productivity. I made a total of forty-four cards, which I think is pretty good.

My first order of business at the retreat was to make some new sets of cards. I like to have a selection of card sets on hand to give as gifts, and my stash has been pretty low. For the first two sets I used a great set of sentiment stamps from Papertrey Ink as the focal images for my cards.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Choose Joy (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Whisper White note cards and envelopes, Pocket Blossom Stack (DCWV)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, So Saffron
Accessories: Delicate white doilies, linen thread, Shine and Sparkle sequins (Hazel and Ruby), Mono Multi liquid glue, Glue Dots

I chose six of the sentiments in the stamp set and stamped each one with black ink on a white note card. For embellishment I cut a strip of printed paper with a small floral pattern and snipped each end into a V. I glued a small piece of white doily behind the strip and then attached the strip to the card below the sentiment. A linen thread bow and three silvery sequins finish off each card.

I also stamped a small flower inside each card and on the corner of the envelope so everything coordinated.













For the second card set I used the same sentiment stamp set, but instead of using patterned paper, I added a stamped border along the fold of each card.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Choose Joy (Papertrey Ink), Geo-Graphic (Paper Smooches)
Paper: Whisper White note cards and envelopes; Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Wisteria Wonder card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Baja Breeze, Wisteria Wonder
Accessories: Itty Bitty Shaped punch pack, rhinestones, glue dots

For this card set, another clean and simple design, I chose a rainbow of pastel colors and used one color for each card. I stamped a patterned background image along the spine using the color and then stamped the quote in black about one-third of the way down the card front. For a simple embellishment I punched a small flower in the coordinating color and adhered it and a few sequins to the right of the sentiment. Here are pictures of the individual cards:

I know these aren't fancy cards, but they are very much my style, and I love the way they turned out. I have two more card sets to share in my next post. Thanks for stopping by!