S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Cards 4 Kids

Another fun Midweek Throwdown!   Cards 4 Kids is always a fun challenge, one I am thankful for because it helps me to get out of my floral comfort zone and really get creative!

Here is my card for this week's challenge:

The stripes are hand made using quarter inch strips spaced apart with a scrap piece of one inch card stock.  The image was a Friday Freebie from Scrappin Doodles (the link is on the right side of my blog.)   I am very pleased with the final result although the stripes times six cards were a bit tedious!

I love to read your comments (so please leave one) and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S & S Sketch Challenge #53

Today is "catch up on my blog" day.  Fortunately,  this post is still within the

S & S Sketch Challenge time frame.  I am working on my "Spring Thaw Challenge" box so many of my cards have been with a spring theme.

Here is this week's Sketch:

 And here is my card:

All products are Stampin' Up!  The card stock is Certainly Celery and Not Quite Navy.  The image is from "Garden Silhouettes."    The flat back pearls give the card a nice soft but elegant finish.  

Here's a tip:  I used the Certainly Celery stamp pad to ink the entire image then used the Bordering Blue SU marker to color in the flowers - the combination of the two inks came up as a great match, plus it was much faster than using two markers to color the image!    I used this same technique for the words also, which I should note are from the Gina K Designs set ""Spring Blooms."  

I love to read your comments (so please leave me one) and will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - White on White with a POP of Color

I'm about a week late posting this because time just got away from me!  I really have a limited amount of free time and I have chosen to spend it making cards rather than posting to my blog.  You understand how that is, right?

This weeks...oops!  LAST week's S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge was to make a card that is "white on white with a pop of color."  I have to admit something here.  When I read the challenge I actually snickered a little because this has been a favorite technique for me lately and I had just posted a card to the OWH Facebook page using this technique a few days previously.  Be assured, I know these things are planned several weeks in advance and that it had nothing to do with me but it made me wish that I had waited a few more days to post the picture!  Bummer...I now had to make another card...using my pet technique!  lol  

So, humor me, I am going to post both pics here since they both meet the challenge.  The first is my submission and the second is my original.

The only element that I think anyone would question is the origin of the the sentiment stamp in photo #2.  It was purchased as a single image (I love only paying for what I know I will use for sure) from Verve Stamps.  This has since become my favorite verse, paired with the verse following it which says: "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are the household of faith."  Galatians 6:10.  I really feel that these verses sum up my mission with Operation Write Home and can also be an encouragement to our heroes as a reminder of why they do what they do.

Do you have a favorite verse that reminds you of your purpose in life?  I would love to hear it via the comment section!  I will send a personal reply to each and every one.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S&S Sketch Challenge #52 and #34

A very exciting week at S&S - our first year of Sketch Challenges has been completed with #52!  Congratulations Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Blog Hosts!  In addition, we were given a "bonus" sketch, Sketch #34, which had mysteriously disappeared and needed to be re-born to complete the collection.  How fun!  Two for one is my favorite kind of challenge!

Sketch #52: 

All supplies are from Stampin' Up!  The cardstock (Garden Green and So Safron) were run through my Cuttlebug to emboss and the circles were made with Nestabilities and my Cuttlebug.  I liked it enough to make a few more for my OWH box.


Sketch #34:

 
Again, all supplies are Stampin' Up.  The card stock (Pink Passion) was run through my Cuttlebug to emboss and the circles were cut with Nestabilities.  The dots on the Green Galore were hand drawn using my SU! matting tool as a guide.  The image...isn't it adorable?!?...and sentiment are from the Gina K Designs set "Just So Hoppy" designed by Melanie Muenchinger and can be purchased here along with  many other fabulous sets by my favorite designer! I used a white gel pen to highlight the eyes and an SU! marker to color the beak.


I absolutely love this card and made another 6 for my OWH box.  I think this one will generate some smiles!  ;)


Thanks for stopping by!  Please leave a comment and your own blog address so I can stop by your blog and see what's up at your craft table!


Happy Stamping!

S&S Midweek Throwdown - The Unloved Unused Supplies

Is there such a thing?  Unloved unused supplies?  For the veteran stamper like me there is!  If I could return all of my unloved unused supplies I would have a ton more room to put the new loved and can't wait to use supplies I would be able to purchase!  Alas, we must all learn to be content with what we have (ha!) and work with the unlovable unused supplies....for this week anyway!

I had a lot to choose from for this S&S Midweek Throwdown Challenge but I certainly wasn't up to the challenge of trying to use it all!  So, I pulled out the first 3 things that came to mind...rub-ons, die-cut flowers, and Build-a-Brad, all from SU!  Here is the pic:

The die-cut flowers are really fun to look at.  The Build-a-Brad is a fabulous concept.  The rub-ons are a cinch to line up straight.  Still not so sure they were the best investment.  Here is the card I came up with:

The colors (old olive,bashful blue, and chocolate chip) are much prettier in real life but, sadly, the brads are not.  This is my third attempt at using these brads since I purchased them a few years ago and will probably be the last.  Maybe I just don't know how to use them correctly?  Idk.   On the up side...I really liked the rub-ons!  I'm not even sure if you can still get them but I will be looking into it!  I will be using this packet up pretty quickly over the next few weeks!

Time is flying...and I've got more stamping to do!  Thanks for hopping by, please leave me your thoughts and blog address and I'll hop over to visit you, too!

Happy Stamping!

S&S Sketch #50

Wow!  Two posts in one day, how unusual for me!  I just realized that the deadline for S&S Sketch #59 is due in just a few hours so I hurried right in to my computer before I became absorbed in making duplicates.  lol

Here is the posted sketch:

And here is card #1:

And card #2:

Which do you prefer?  Card #1 will take more time to duplicate due to the flowers individually stamped around the sentiment but that's no big deal.  I am just a little unsure about this sentiment...would it really be useful to our heroes?  HB will be useful for certain and the colors could certainly be for either gender and most any age.  I think I will hold off on duplicating either one until I am able to gather your comments.  :)

For both cards the cs is Stampin' Up! and so are the flower and HB stamp.  The striped paper is from JoAnn's.  Oh, the card base is Chocolate Chip so I have lined the inside (both left and right) with white cs so our heroes have a place to write home.

Please leave a quick note and tell me which card you think I should duplicate.

Happy Stamping!

S&S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Shipper's Choice (TOY)

Hello everyone!  This week's S&S Midweek Throwdown is to create a card with the sentiment "Thinking of You."  This sentiment was selected by our three wonderful shippers (Sandy, Kris, and Dixie.)

The card I have put together was inspired by Mojo Monday Sketch #107 that just keeps jumping out at me saying "make me again...make me again!"  And, once again, the sketch came together quickly and I love the result.  By the way, in case you jumped over to see the original post, I did deviate from sketch by dropping off a few of the elements but I wanted to be sure to give credit where credit where credit is due.  So, here is my card for this weeks MWT:

Now that I look at it compared with the sketch (I was truly going by memory from previous use when I made this card) I can see where a ribbon across the middle and/or brads in the upper right hand corner could have added something more. Hind sight is always 20/20.  However, in real life the colors are much more vibrant (Certainly Celery with the Not Quite Navy/Ivory contrast) making the flourishes in the circle the focal point, which I like.

I just remembered...this probably looks way too familar to some of you!  This is the same sketch that I used in a card that was featured in this same challenge a few weeks ago.  Duh.  Oh well, the sketch has been calling and I had to answer, right?

Thanks for stopping by...please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

S&S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Miss You 4 Kids

Thank you for stopping by my blog - I am loving all of the wonderful comments generated from Feline Playful and having a blast visiting so many blogs that I never would have found on my own.

This week's Midweek Throwdown Challenge with OWH Stars and Stamps is all about cards our deployed heroes can send home specifically to their kids to let them know how much they are missed and loved.  I have been focusing on this type of card for the past few weeks and have already posted them either here or on Facebook so I have been a bit slow to come up with "just one more" but here it is:

 
The cow is from Gina K Designs. The set is appropriately called "Down on the Farm."  I am sorry to say I can't remember where I got the cow print stamp.  The words I came up with (or saw somewhere, who knows?) and typed them up on MS Word.  I used my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities dies for the circles and ovals.

I hope you will take a few minutes and scroll through my site - this really isn't my best work!  

Happy Stamping!

S&S Sketch #49

Happy New Year!  My first post for 2011 is in response to the last Sketch Challenge on OWH Stars & Stamps blog.

Here is the sketch:

I rotated it a quarter turn counter clockwise and here is my card:

The image is a Meljen's design and is available only at Whimsy Stamps.  I copied the image into MS Word and added the sentiment myself.  However, I must note here that my dh (dear husband) told me there was a typo on my card front.  My heart flipped and I said "where?!?"  and he said "shouldn't it say 'always and FURever'?"  How I missed that I will never know!  I am always seeking clever sayings to match up with my digi's and just can't believe I didn't think of that one myself.  I guess that is why they say two heads are better than one?  So, I will be fixing the "typo" and reprinting before I duplicate this for my next box for OWH.
  
The bp is Stampin' Up, the ribbon is from JoAnn's, and the ran the first layer through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder.

While this is the first post of 2011 it is not my first card.  I actually made this a few days ago and just haven't taken the time to post it until now.  Here are the two designs I worked with today for OWH and made 12 of each design:

They both seem kinda plain but I prefer to use the classification of "Clean and Simple"  (LOL)  Actually, I have been doing so much detailed coloring in this batch for OWH that I needed to take a break. Besides, I also needed some variety in the color realm.  I would think that both cards can be used for either a male or female, don't you?

Thanks for stopping by...I would love to hear your comments and will happily visit your blog if you leave me your address ;)

Again, Happy New Year