Simply Retro

As I was blog browsing this weekend I came across Teri Anderson’s blog and fell in love with her clean simple style and unique layouts. Teri’s was recently named a Paper Crafts Go-To-Gal – Congratulations Teri! When I first started this blog I did a lot of clean and simple, but somehow, as time went by and I started experimenting more and more, my style evolved to more layers and more details….i.e. more time consuming. While that’s all fun and good, and while I enjoy taking my time on a project, I can’t always afford to spend an hour or more on a card every time I papercraft. So I’ve decided that I’m going to start going back to clean and simple a bit more often.

I used one of Teri’s cards as my inspiration today (you can see her card HERE).  I used Stampin’ Up!’s Pink Flamingo Designer Paper to create a “retro” feel to my card.  It’s totally not my usual style of card (even when I stamped simply I was not really into retro) but I absolutely LOVE it – I love the clean lines, I love the simplicity and I love the “punch” that those bright colors give it.  Here’s how I made it:

1. Cut a 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″ piece of Pink Flamingo DP.  Round the top left corner and the bottom right corner.  When rounding the corners I first tried Stampin’ Up!’s 3/16″ corner rounder punch but the corners were too sharp – it didn’t quite give the look I was going after, so I pulled out my retired Stampin’ Up! 1/2″ corner rounder and used that – which was MUCH better.
2. Center and mat the Pink Flamingo DP onto a Whisper White card front (a 4 1/4″ x 11″ piece of Whisper White CS folded in half with a bone folder).
3. Cut a 1 5/8″ x 3 1/2″ piece of Real Red CS.  Round the top and bottom left corners with Stampin’ Up!’s 3/16″ corner rounder punch.  Pierce a hole towards the left side of the Real Red CS and insert a large circle Designer Brad.  Set aside for a moment.
4. Take a scrap of textured Whisper White CS and cut out the “hi” greeting using the Big Shot and Stampin’ Up!’s Timeless Type Alphabet.  Stick the letters onto the Real Red CS piece with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  You could also create your own form of Thickers (the American Crafts thick alphabet stickers created out of a variety of different materials) by cutting the letters out of craft foam.  It works beautifully with the Big Shot (I did want to try it for this card but turns out I didn’t have any of the white foam).
5. Center and mount the Real Red CS piece to the card front with Stampin’ Dimensionals.  You’re done.

Hope you enjoyed today’s card.

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Paper: Whisper White CS (100730), Whisper White Textured CS (108693), Real Red CS (102482), Pink Flamingo DP (113976)
Accessories: Circle Designer Brads (112571), 3/16″ corner rounder punch (109047), 1/2″ corner rounder punch (now retired),Bone Folder (102300), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Big Shot (113439), Stampin’ Up! Timeless Type Alphabet (115951)