Greetings by Gosia: Details, Details (or, "Lots of Lovely Lemons")

I have met many women who admire a particular craft, but when invited to try it, very quickly and surely say that they are simply not creative/no good at that sort of thing/couldn't possibly etc. etc. etc. When one is persuaded to sit down and try, I can often see real anxiety--sometimes blushing, often a tightness of breath. If this sounds like you, I want to offer you what I offer to them: please don't worry. This is fun, and you'll find that you really can do it. So take a deep breath, relax, and read on.

Here is the secret.

It's kind of opposite what a really good dancer does: they are able to make a dance that looks effortless, but is only possible after a decade of drilling difficult technique. We, on the other hand, like to make crafts that are fun and effortless because they actually are easy, but still make you go "wow." Shameless, I know. But nothing here is difficult. Just stuff we all learned in kindergarten: cut, color, paste. Lots of easy steps together add up to a card that is very impressive and may look hard, but isn't.

So here is an example of a series of cards, at different levels of apparent difficulty. The truth is that no card is harder than the next, it's just a matter of how many steps it took to get each one.
(Scroll down for complete supplies list.)

Clean and simple, the first card involves masking and coloring. The lemon is stamped three times to get a bunch.

You could the card even simpler by having only one lemon and omitting the masking, or stamping on a Whisper White card base, with no other layers.

Here are the steps for doing the triple image:

1. Stamp the lemon image onto your Whisper White card stock. (This one is cut to 5" x 3-3/4".)

2. Stamp again onto a stack of sticky notes. Use the end where they are stuck together. Peel off the top two, and fussy cut the image from both layers at the same time. Place one sticky note mask over the image on your card stock.

3. Stamp a second lemon above the first, going over the mask. This lemon will appear to be behind the first one. Place the second mask over the second image, and then stamp the third, bottom lemon.

Here's what it will look like. Color with the Daffodil Delight and Old Olive Blendabilities:

Voila! Now just stamp your sentiment, and layer onto the green card stock, and you're done.

OR, for a little more fun, let's add some candy stripes.

Cut a piece of the striped
Irresistibly Yours DSP to 5-3/8" x 4-1/8".

Using a sponge dauber, color with Daffodil Delight ink to reveal the stripes. Don't forget to wipe off any excess ink with a paper towel. Cut the center panel to 4-7/8" x 3-5/8".

Layer onto your green card stock and tape together with snail tape. All done! Or are you.....?

For even a little more definition, you may like to set off the lemons with more green. Just cut the center panel another 1/8" smaller, (4-3/4" x 3-1/2") and layer onto a green card measuring 4-7/8" x 3-5/8".

Beautiful!
Better not mess with perfection. Unless.....

Like putting on the perfect earrings to go with that little black dress, I thought a little pop of color would be nice. Enter the 1/4" Calypso Coral ribbon, a Sale-a-Bration freebie!

Fabulous. I'm very happy now.

But wait!
I really wanted to do this card for the Monday Mojo challenge. So, for one more fun variation, click here.

Supplies List:
SALE-A-BRATION items:
Sale-a-Bration ends March 31st, so hurry! SAB items are available only as a free gift with each $50 purchase.
the lovely lemon is from "A Happy Thing" woodmount 139131 or clearmount 139134,
Irresistible Yours Designer Series Paper (the stripes) is item 138635 in the SAB catalog.the Just Be
Ribbon: 138634 (a fabulous accessory pack--comes with 3 different ribbons, and matching buttons.)

Catalog Items:
Happy sentiment is from "Crazy About You."
There are six options for this set, including three bundles. I bought the Polymer bundle, 'cause I love a bargain!