The Online Card Classes are among the best classes I take online. I always learn new techniques, have picked up some wonderful tips, bought some very useful tools, and gotten lots of inspiration from the instructors. This recent class was no exception. 

So how does one define a one-layer card? It's quite evident from all the card samples that it's perfectly OK to create your card on a slightly smaller card and then layer it on the card itself. It enables you to hide Copic markers that bleed through cardstock, and tape that holds a variety of inlaid dies together. 

Although I kept up with the videos each day, I didn't have much creative time during the last two weeks. But today I was able to spend the day playing in the studio, and created three cards for class as well as several others. If I have time tomorrow, there are a couple more techniques I'd like to try.

This was the first card I created, inspired by a video and card by Laura Basson for Day 3:  Optical Illusions, layered stamping. My card very closely follows Laura's design. The biggest problem I had was finding the right ink for the background. Even with all the ink pads I own, I didn't have a pale beige or gray dye ink pad. I ended up using the Vintage Cream Hybrid pad by Papertrey Ink, but you can see the dots through the dye inks I stamped on top of it. I can live with it, but I'll try this technique again once I get an appropriate dye ink pad.

I used Post-it note tape to mask off the rectangle for stamping. The polka dots are from Papertrey's Beautiful Blooms II, and the sentiment from Hero Arts "Made with Love." The stamping on top of stamping creates an illusion of layers although there is only one.

The next card is much busier than my usual card, but I wanted to try all the techniques Debby Hughes managed to pack into one video. This card was for Day 9:  Textural Effects. In addition to using mists to splatter, embossing and color with Copics, Debby also used embossing paste to add more dimension to her card. Once again, I stuck to her design very closely so I could concentrate on the techniques.

The butterfly is from an old Hero Arts set, "Antique Engravings" and the sentiment from "In Bloom" by Papertrey Ink. I think I'd use less of the Falling Hearts stencil if I tried this again, but overall it was a good learning experience. I used the Viva Modlier Creme embossing paste which I saw used during the Online Card Class: Stenciled. It has a wonderful silver gleam to it.

The last card for Day 2: More Faux Effects is my favorite of the bunch. I don't have an engineer's frame of reference, so it took two tries before I figured out in what order to do the die cuts. The trickiest part was getting all the little pieces in place once the sentiment was die cut. Again, the design of the card follows the sample by Heather Campbell.

I used the "Two Triangles" die by Papertrey, and my go-to die "thanks" by Simon Says. I would have liked to add a few black sequins, but didn't have any. (Hard to believe, actually.)

I'll definitely incorporate some of these techniques into future cards, and I've learned some great tricks making inlaid die cuts easier to do. Hope you're having a bit of creative time this weekend, too.

One of my dearest friends passed away late last week. She was just 58 years old, and lost a two-year battle with a brain tumor. Although she and her husband had lived here for over 20 years, her funeral and burial was in New Jersey where all of her family lives. Five of us drove down for the calling hours on Sunday, and back home on Monday following the service. I was so glad I was able to go. She has three wonderful siblings, including an identical twin. Yesterday I had a chance to make some cards to send to each of them and her husband.

The first two were made using a technique (Inlaid Die Cuts) featured on Day One of the Online Card Class: One Layer Cards. It's a technique I've used before, but like always, I learned some good tricks which made them much easier. 

I used Simon Say's woodgrain card stock for the tree ("Arbosecllo Tree" by Memory Box) and inlaid it on Papertrey's Select White cardstock. The sentiment is from Papertrey's "Birds of a Feather."

The next card uses a die I've had for awhile, but never used. I love how it came out.

I die cut the Morning Glory Vine by Memory Box with Memory Box's Parsley cardstock and inlaid it on a Paper Source embossed flat card. The inlaid lavender paper and the lighter green for the leaves came from my scrap folder.  The sentiment is from Papertrey's "Sending You" set.

I had die cuts left over and decided to use them to make another card. It's identical except it's not inlaid, and the greens are reversed.

Marie was a gardener and a plant lover so these die cuts would appeal to her. On this card I used the white tree I cut from the Select White on Card #1. It ended up being one of my favorites.

I love the white tree against the Soft Stone cardstock by Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is the same one I used for the first card. I'm entering this card to the current CASEology challenge: Roots.

I ended up with one extra sympathy card. This one uses another die I've had for awhile but never used. It's the "Leaf Column Outline" by Simon Says, and the sentiment comes from "With Sympathy" by Papertrey Ink.

I didn't do any stamping on the inside because I'll be writing notes to each person. As Tracy pointed out, this is the first of our friends our age (actually younger) who has passed away. We are grateful that she didn't suffer, and was never in any significant pain, but it still feels unbelieveable.