No Embellishments!! No Kidding!!!

The limited supply challenge on SCS this past Friday was to make a card with no embellishments. Seriously none!! No glitter, no ribbon, no brads, no cute little anything, nada, nothing, diddly! Dang!!!

This is the first one I came up with. I stamped the "ribbon" using CTMH's Ritzy Ribbon stamp set. I cut out the ribbon and stamped the backside as well so the white cardstock wouldn't show when I "tied" the "bow". I cut the strip of cardstock into pieces and looped, notched, or rolled it as needed and stuck the whole thing together using glue dots. At first glance, people thought I cheated on the challenge, but there is nothing on this card other than paper and ink! Really!!

The leaves were colored using the Rock & Roll technique. Very simply explained, you ink up your stamp using a light color and then "Rock & Roll" the edges of the inked stamp in a darker color, then stamp. It makes the leaves look very realistic, especially using fall colors. I love this technique for all kinds of images, but to me it just looks fabulous with flowers and leaves!

• Stamps: Ritzy Ribbon & Fall Leaves (CTMH), Friend to Friend (SU)
• Ink: Basic Black, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango, Purely Pomegranate, Rich Razzleberry
• Paper: Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Basic Grey Indian Summer

This is basically a one layer card. The technique is known as a "Zindorf sky", created by Michele Zindorf. This type of card always turns out as an eye-popping work of art. They are really not too difficult to create either!

I used 4 different colors of ink to create the moon and sky. I sponged a large area of Almost Amethyst to create the moon. Next, I used scratch paper to cut out a circle the size I wanted the moon to end up. I drew on one side with a Quickie Glue Pen and let the glue dry; this made the circle function as a post-it note and stay in place while I sponged over it. I sponged in a perimeter around the moon using Lavender Lace, then moved out a layer and used Lovely Lilac, then finally Elegant Eggplant. Lastly, I sponged the entire edge of the image panel using Eggplant. I stamped the witch, tree branches, and spider using Palette Ink in Noir. I think Palette is the best ink to use with Inkadinkado stamps because they are difficult images to stamp and don't like to hold ink very well. Palette is a nice, hybrid ink and a bit thicker than regular ink. I used a Creative Memories black journaling pens to draw in the spider's thread.

• Paper: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant
• Ink: Almost Amethyst, Lavender Lace, Lovely Lilac, Elegant Eggplant, Palette Noir
• Stamps: Inkadinkado, Take a Bough (PTI)