Let's clear up some misconceptions here...

People who don't scrap or make cards sometimes seem to think that the clean and simple style is "easier" or "faster" to execute than my usual embellie-happy, crazy layering, lots of stuff style. Well, what's the nicest way to put this? Ummmm....how about: oh, hell, no! At least, not for me, anyway. For some reason, I have a really difficult time not throwing every embellishment and patterned paper I have at each and every card, just to see what sticks. It can take me longer to achieve the clean and simple style than it does to throw together a card with buttons, flowers, flourishes, bling, and so on. Well, I had to suck it up today, because I wanted to play over at the Outlawz. Today is the first day of their fun western-themed party, which involves so many goodies to win and fun challenges to enter. "Challenge" is the right word, because I was definitely challenged by the clean and simple style today. The inspiration picture was this awesome pair of boots. Check them out. I kinda want to own them, and I don't even wear cowboy boots:

You can enter each challenge up to three times. I've got a few ideas, inspired by these cool boots. For my first idea, I decided to be literal and take the cowboy theme. I used a light blue background to mirror the leaves on the boots.

To make sure to get a crisp, white outline on this cute stamp and the doodled border, I used my signo pen. I just got a new one, so it was working so smoothly. Then I typed and printed out the sentiment on vellum, adhered it with a brad and gave it a bit of a curl. The card looked unfinished to me, so I added the twine at the bottom. It still looked unfinished. See what I mean? It's just so hard for me to stop! I finally added the button and took a picture really quickly, before I could be tempted to add even more.

I've got a few more ideas floating around in my head, courtesy of those fun boots. Please don't tell me where I can get a pair, because I am liable to buy them and then never wear them. I just love to look at them. Anyway, I'm off to do more laundry and then maybe I will challenge myself with another clean and simple card. If not, well, it's pretty impressive that I finished even one, you know?