OWH Virtual Cardmaking Party - What Does Freedom Mean to You?

This card is for Carol's challenge over at Our Little Inspirations to make a card that represents FREEDOM to you.  I chose this beautiful eagle clip art that I found online (just by googling eagle images.)  I colored his eye and beak (very lightly) with SU watercolor pencil and then highlighted the eye with Glossy Accents.

The photo is too washed out (sorry) to show the layer of gold card stock behind the eagle but it really does dress up the card - and I just noticed that it makes the card ARMY colors :)

I have covered two challenges with this card because I used this week's Sketch Challenge #76!

Footnote:

I am honored and tickled that this card has been chosen to win an embroidered Operation Write Home badge - even if is was by random.org!  And I really am excited that it was for two challenges so this week's Sketch Challenge has been promoted again.  :)

OWH Virtual Cardmaking Party - Tie a Yellow Ribbon

The third challenge was given by Tanya at Tinkerin In Ink with Tanya - it is actually a color challenge using these colors: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Peach Parfait (of which I had none) and Early Espresso (which I substituted with Chocolate Chip.)  The background paper was on clearance at JoAnn's and the digi was a freebie - sorry I can't remember the origins, if you know tell me and I will update this post and add a link.

OWH Virtual Cardmaking Party - There's Something Fishy Going On

The second challenge today for the OWH Virtual Cardmaking Party was presented by Sheila over at 2 Paw Prints to make a card that has a fishbowl.  She made a BIG fishbowl with her Cricuit - which I don't have - and mine is tiny in comparison but it works...right?  The stamp is form Stampin' Up set called Lettle Hellos (2003.)  The background paper is actually a printed sheet of vellum (also SU) adhered to white card stock with Glossy Accents - which surprisingly is almost invisible.

OWH Virtual Cardmaking Party - Camo Challenge

And we're off...!  The first challange today is CAMO.  I didn't have any camo paper (and have looked, believe me) but I remembered this great digi that I had downloaded a few months ago from Dee Dee's Digis.  Unfortunately Dee Dee is taking a hiatis from her online business and I was unable to procure a link to share.

I colored the digi with Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils and softened the white card stock by sponging on some Creamy Caramel ink - the colors are much stronger in real life than in this photo, but you get the idea. 

Onward to the next challenge - to join in just head over to the Stars and Stamps blog.  There's no time limit to join in on the fun!

OWH Virtual Cardmaking Party! Check it out!

Have you heard?!?  I am sooooo verrrrryyy excited!!! 

"What is it?" you ask.  Well let me tell ya - it the start of something BIG that you are going to love!  It is and INTERACTIVE Bloghop.  For this event we will be creating while we hop!  All day Saturday and all day Sunday new challenges will be posted at designated blogs and rather than just "oohhhing and ahhhing" then leaving some love we will actually be creating our own cards based on the challenge presented and then sharing them right on that same blog.  Oh, and there will be prizes!

I am looking forward to the challenges (16 in total - one right here on MY blog *smile*) to turbo charge my mojo and to seeing all of the creations that come from them.  Not going to be available this weekend?  No worries....the blog links will stay on the Stars and Stamps blog for you to utilize anytime. 

See you there!

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Love Cards

This week's theme for the S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge is Love Cards!  What better way to show some love to our deployed troops than to shower them with Love Cards they can send back home to those they love?!?  And what better way to say I Love You than a card that makes your face AND heart smile?

This card made my "top three" favorite list of all of the Disney cards I made this past week (which was a whopping 50! whoo hoo!) for Operation Write Home.  Although the pic isn't too bad I have to tell you that the colors are fabulous in real life - very eye catching.

Here is a quick rundown:  The Daffy image was cut from a 12 x 12 sheet of paper purchased from JoAnn's (but I hear it is available at Michael's too), the cardstock is Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise, the sentiment is from Hambo Stamps, and the black bling is from Pizzazz Aplenty (THE best online store for bling), and the background paper is from a paper pack by Prima Marketing called "Rock On Bro."

Thanks for stopping by - please leave some love in  my comment section!

Disney Madness - Pink with No Sentiment

For the past several days - ok, nearly a week - I have been making cards using a single sheet of 12 X 12 designer paper purchased from JoAnn's.  Yes, you read that correctly - just ONE sheet of 12 X 12 paper has kept me busy for several days/evenings....it's not that I am a slow creator or even a perfectionist.  I have actually been able to complete over 25 cards from this one sheet - and still have almost as many yet to make. 

How? you ask.  This one piece of paper had fifty 1.75" squares with various Disney characters in each square.  So, once I cut it up I had 50 different focal images to work with and I just had to use one square per card to give each character his rightful moment in the spotlight!

Here is the "Pink with No Sentiment" card I made with Daisy Duck.  I didn't give it a sentiment because I truly felt that her eyes said it all!!

I will be entering this card in Lexi's Creations blog challenge to make a card with no sentiment.  I will also be posting this to the Facebook fan page for Hero Arts because today is National Pink Day!  How fun is that?

S & S Sketch Challenge #73

Welcome to my blog and thank you for stopping by.  It has been way too long (several weeks) since I have posted anything new to my blog - although I have been putting some of my creations up on the Operation Write Home Facebook fan page from time to time. 

Here is this week's sketch, #73, over at the Stars & Stamps blog: 

Honestly, my first thought was "oh no, an angled cut" but it wasn't really any big deal once I thought it through.  My tip:  Cut the cardsock to 4.25" x 3.5" then make a mark at 2" on one side, draw a line between the opposite corner and the 2" mark and cut along that line. 

Here is my card:

I used my Cuttlebug and the HB embossing folder and the rest was from my *gasp* scrap pile.  Really - I had these papers all out on my workspace from another project (which was actually the last Sketch challenge I posted now that I think about it!) and since I love the colors I just went with it.  The flower was punched with an SU punch and I coated it with Glossy Accents.  The colored paper was part of the gifted 12 x 12 sheets from a co-worker.  The sentiment is from a recently acquired Penny Black stamp set.

Just for fun I will show you the other card I made using these same scraps.  I posted it on FB so if you have already seen it just pretend that you didn't and oohh and ahhh anyway, ok?  :)

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

Memorial Day Weekend Bloghop

Thank you for hopping by my blog today!  If you have arrived here from Susan's blog you are on the right path!  If you happened to have just stumbled upon my blog (lucky you!) and you want to enjoy all of the wonderful posts you can click on the link below and it will take you to the very beginning.

This is my very first time to participate in a blog hop and I am very excited!  My blog is only 6 months old and was created so I could join in the fun challenges on the Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog.  New challenges are posted every Sunday and Wednesday and a new technique tutorial is posted every Tuesday.

For my card today I decided to stray away from the traditional red/white/blue just to break things up a bit.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE our nations colors but I am pretty far down on the list and assume that you have already seen quite a few patriotic cards today (if not just scroll down a few posts here and you will find several cards with r/w/b and stars!)

For my focal image I used a pre-colored digi from the Sunflower Friends set called  Lil Kitties.  The sentiment I typed in MS Word and just added it to the .png file before I printed it.  The card stock is Stampin' Up! and the designer paper is from a gift pack I received from a Facebook friend just this week. The brads are faux - the technique instructions can be found on an earlier post by clicking here.  The layout is the Stars & Stamps Sketch #59.

Your next stop on the hop is Dolores' blog called The Corner Studio.  I hope you are having fun and have a blessed Memorial Day Weekend.

May God bless you and the families that are missing their heroes to ensure our safety and freedom.

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Summer Fun

This week's Midweek Throwdown Challenge over at OWH Stars & Stamps blog is to make a card for our heroes with a "Summer Fun" theme.  One of my very favorite things to do during the summer is to walk on the beach, especially during the sunset hour.  So, here is my card  with the summer fun theme:

This is a square card (4.5') that will still fit into the A2 sized envelope.  I started with SU Glossy White card stock, 3 SU re-inkers, and a baby wipe.   I used SU Creamy Caramel, Summer Sun, and Cameo Coral inks.

Have you heard of the baby wipe technique?  There is a simple tutorial at Splitcoast Stampers that you can check out here.  I much prefer this method to the brayer for several reasons.  First - it is much less messy because you can throw the wipe away when you are finished.  Second - you can get the variations that occur in nature without having to own a special ink pad.    Not only do the colors blend together right on the wipe but you can change the depth of color based on how hard you press but still remove some of the color with an uninked part of the same wipe.  Third - I can add texture to the sand by dabbing the wipe rather than dragging it.  Try it - and be sure to drop me a note with a link to see how it turns out for you.  :)

The background only took a few minutes to dry and then I used my Jet Black Stazon ink pad to stamp the girl, extra weeds, and the sentiment.  I used a black Sharpie marker to fill in the girl to make her appear as a silhouette.  I have seen this done before, frequently with this particular image, but had never tried it for myself.  I wasn't disappointed - and I'll do many more changing up the background colors maybe.  I layered the card with SU Creamy Caramel and the card base is Basic Black - which I will line with white.

I have to admit that I made this card for another challenge as well.  This weekend there was a stamping event at Splitcoast Stampers called a Virtual Stamp Night.  It was my first time participating in something like this and it was fun.  The challenge this card met called for a water vessel or beach scene.

Happy stamping and may God bless you!

S & S Sketch Challenge #69

This week's Sketch Challenge at OWH Stars & Stamps is unbelievably versitile - and I am looking forward to playing with it some more in the days to come!  If I am in a frugal mood it will even be great for using up those DP scraps.

Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

The DP is from a large stack that a co-worker gifted to me when she switched over to digital scrapbooking (what's up with that?!?) knowing that I would use it for my Operation Write Home cards.  The card stock and ribbon are SU - Bashful Blue and Green Galore.  The sentiment is from Hambo Stamps and is stamped in Glorious Green.

I can see from this photo that I really need to get serious about putting together a makeshift lightbox.  I have no idea why my background seems so dull, it is actually white card stock.  Ach, I'll see if my DH will help me get it set up.

Thanks for stopping by, your comments are always appreciated.  Happy stamping and God bless. 

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Things With Wings

This week's S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to make a card containing "things with wings."  The options were unbelievable - birds, lady bugs, angels, bees, fairies.  I finally settled on this adorable little bee image from Mami Doodles.  I used S & S Sketch #33.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

Any Hero Cards by Special Request - Post #5

Thanks for visiting my blog - I love to read your comments so please take a minute to let me know what you like or don't like about this card.  Thanks!

So, this is card #5 that I made by special request for an Army family to send to hero Dad who is deployed overseas.  For more information please scroll down to Post #1.

This is a knock off of the card that started this whole journey - very similar to the card that was posted on Facebook that caught the Army Mom's attention with the eventual result of this very special mission I happily undertook.

I'm thinking this card is pretty self explanatory but if you see something you are not quite sure how I did it just leave me a comment and I will get back with you asap.

Happy Stamping and God Bless America.

Any Hero Cards by Special Request - Post #4

Thank you for visiting my blog.  If this is your first visit I recommend that you scroll down three posts to read the whole story.  The short of it is that this is card #4 made for an Army family (Mom, son-7, and daughter-11) from Clarksville TN who requested some special cards for the kids to send to hero Dad overseas.

I realized after I challenged myself to do a daily post of these six cards (that have already been mailed by the way) that two of the cards will be blog repeats.  Hopefully those that recognize this card will still enjoy it just knowing that it was  put together with the kids and their dad in the forefront of my mind as I colored, cut, and adhered.

This wonderful digital image was created by Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating and was a freebie for 24 hours during an OWH virtual card making party on
Facebook several weeks ago.  I colored my soldier bear with Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils then blended it with a SU blender pen. The card stock and dp are all SU too. The sentiment is a freebie from Create with TLC.

For more information on this card click here.

Happy Stamping and God Bless America!

Any Hero Cards by Special Request - Post #3

This is the third card that I made for an army family from Clarkville TN to send to their hero dad stationed overseas.  You can see my first two cards, and read more about this stamping mission, by scrolling down to my previous two posts.

The card stock is all Stampin' Up! (Real Red, Night of Navy, and Kraft) The stars were cut out with my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities. The design on the kraft star is from a SU background stamp called Stipple Plaid. The sentiment I picked up from Hobby Lobby.

My card was inspired by this card made by Sandy Allnock. She posted it on the Operation Write Home Facebook page.  Her blog is wonderful and updated daily and can be found here.

My intention was to case these beautiful cards completely but I started with the focal point and once it was made found that it was too big to work the way Sandy's did so I went with it.  I like it enough to make several more for my next OWH box - which will be shipped out well before the May 21st deadline for Father's Day cards.


Happy Stamping and God Bless You!

Any Hero Cards by Special Request - Post #2

This is card #2 that I made by special request for an Army family in Clarksville TN.  Dad is the hero deployed overseas and is missed by his wife, son (7), and daughter (11.)  I think the daughter will like this one because of the ribbon.  I ran out of room for the sentiment so I put it on the inside. 

The card stock is Stampin' Up! Green Galore (my last piece of a discontinued color, sigh) and Tempting Turquoise.  The image is a freebie from Doodle Pantry and is much brighter in real life.  The DP and sentiment are part of the corresponding kit and can be found here.   This is my first purchase from Doodle Pantry and I am very impressed with the color quality.  I dry embossed the Green Galore layer with my Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  The ribbon is grosgrain and is Stampin' Up! too.

I will be entering this card in the Doodle Panty's blog challenge DPDC12 which will qualify me to receive a free digi kit via email.  You can too, check it out here.

Happy Stamping and God Bless You!

Any Hero Cards by Special Request - Post #1

Something very interesting happened on the Operation Write Home Facebook page this week - an army wife commented on one of my red white and blue cards that she would like to "buy some of these for her kids to send to their dad."  I read the post more than once to make sure I had read it correctly - and then replied that I would never dream of charging her for cards to send to dad while deployed!  Long story short...we communicated through FB and I have made six unique cards for her 7 yr old son and 11 yr old daughter to send from Fort Campbell in Clarksville TN.  And I must say that I really enjoyed knowing who was going to receive the cards as I made them and they are lavished in love and well wishes!

I am going to try something new and post one picture each day for the next six days.  Maybe by the end of the six days the family will have received the cards and I can share their feedback with you.  Wouldn't that be fun?

So, here is the first card.  It was made specifically by request because our Hero flies helicopters for the Army.  My thinking is that the boy will really like this one.  The image is clip art that I found in Google Images by searching for military helicopters clip art.  The sentiment you may recognize as part of the rubber stamp made by Paper Inspirations (I got mine at my local Hobby Lobby but they also have a website at paperinspirations.com)  The card stock is SU and the DP is from JoAnn's.  Oh, and I sponged Always Artichoke and Creamy Carmel on the white to tone it down a bit.

Happy Stamping and God Bless You!

S & S Sketch Challenge #67

Today is national Military Spouses Appreciation Day and I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to all of the military spouses and families out there.  My family and I are truly grateful for the many sacrifices that you make to ensure our safety and freedom - especially those things that most of us never even realize.  As I lay down and snuggle with my hubby tonight I will think of you and say a prayer that God will give you peace and blessings.

This week's Sketch Challenge over at Stars & Stamps blog looks like this:

I finally made a break from the red white and blue, at least for today! For the past 10 days or so I have had r/w/b and Any Hero cards on the brain, which is good but now I have a nice bunch on the way to Sandy with a nice stash set aside to take to the crop next weekend.

And here is my card:

The card stock is SU (Certainly Celery and Pumpkin Pie.)  The DP is from my stash, and is now all used up (sigh.)   I ran the CC card stock through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder and then emphasized the raised parts with a Versamarker pen.

The sentiment is a freebie from Create with TLC posted some time in 2010 and is still available on Paulette's blog but it will take some scrolling through old posts to find it.  I'm sorry I didn't keep track of the date to make it easier for you.  Think of it this way...the more you surf her blog the more freebies you will find!

Your comments are alway appreciated so please let me know what you think.

Happy Stamping and God Bless America!

 

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Any Hero Card #2

Here is another Any Hero card for the Stars & Stamps Midweek Throwdown Challenge (for more info scroll down to the post before last.)  This card was inspired by Allison G in TX and Karen Howard - I just combined the two cards they did for this same challenge.  It follows S & S Sketch #22.  I will be making 7 more to share at a crop I will be attending on May 14th (hopefully I can recruit some fellow crafters to write some notes of appreciation in them.)



Thanks for stopping by...I love your comments!

Happy Stamping and God Bless America!

S & S Sketch Challenge #66

Welcome to my blog - which is exclusively used to inspire others to create cards to send to our troops overseas through Operation Write Home.   My guess is that you are an OWH stamper too since you have found my blog - so thank you for all you do to be an encouragement to our troops and fellow card makers.

Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge #66 looks like this:

And this is my card:

The stars are die cut using my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities and of course I ran the card stock through my Cuttlebug with the stars embossing folder.  I sincerely tried putting a sentiment in the right hand corner but I am afraid that it detracted from the layered star as the focal point so I chose to leave it off.  I'm thinking I might put the sentiment on the inside of the card since it speaks to the theme of the card and I intend to use it as an Any Hero card anyway. 

How about if you help me to decided?  Sentiment on the front or on the inside? 

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S & S Midweek Throwdown - Any Hero Cards

The Midweek Throwdown Challenge over at Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog is "Any Hero Cards."  Here is the original wording in the post:
 

" Our challenge this week is Any Hero cards! We challenge you to make Any Hero cards for our troops. We are looking forward to seeing your creations! If you are new to OWH you might be wondering what Any Hero cards are -

 

Each of our boxes of blank cards is topped off with a bag of "AnyHero" mail. These are cards and letters from people across America with messages of gratitude and encouragement inside. We call them "AnyHero" letters because they're going to be given out by our contacts to those who get little or no mail.

You can read more about Any Hero cards here."

 

I have had this digital image created by Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating for several weeks but have just now been inspired to use it.  I colored my soldier bear with Stampin' Up! watercolor pencils then blended it with a SU blender pen.  The card stock and dp are all SU too.      The sentiment is a freebie from Create with TLC. 

 

 

I want to take a sec and point out that the brads are faux - my first time trying this technique. I simply punched out black card stock with a standard hole punch then adhered them with Glossy Accents and then covered them with Glossy Accents. I am very realieved that I am happy with the results because I love to use black brads but haven't been able to find them without buying them mixed in with several other colors that I really don't need.  A bonus for this technique is that there is no gap between the brad and the card to "catch" and create hassles when packing for shipment.  Cool.

 

Thanks for stopping buy - I love comments so and will be happy to visit your blog if you leave your address for me.

 

Happy stamping and God bless!

S & S Midweek Throwdown - Layers

Here is a CAS entry for the Midweek Throwdown - layers.  There are two layers (basic black and yo yo yellow) on the white card base plus the daisy has two layers of white topped off with a yo yo yellow center. 

This is a total CASE from LynniePoo's SCS gallery which I fell in love with immediately and knew I had to give it a shot on my own.  I had to "adlib" with the scallop for the daisy but I really like how the layers turned out.  It is hard to see in the photo but both layers have been cut with the scallop to make the daisy petals.

Thanks for visiting today!  Happy Stamping and God Bless!

Lucy's Midweek Throwdown - Father's Day Entry

I have another entry for my BFF Lucy - she was here stamping with me over Spring Break and created this card in response to the S & S Midweek Throwdown - cards for Father's Day.  She is new to OWH and online challenges so I have posted her entry for her.  Please leave her some feedback here and I will be sure she gets it.

The pocket stamp and the tool stamps are both from Stampin' Up!  The Father's Day words are from Gina K Designs.

S&S Midweek Throwdown - Father's Day

This week's Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to create a card suitable for Father's Day.  I have already posted a few Father's Day cards but this one is new for this challenge. 

The shirt was made from some random dp from my stash.  The card stock is Stampin' Up! Certainly Celery and Tempting Turquoise.  The words are from Verve Stamps called World's Best.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

  



Cute Card Thursday Challenge #158 - Couples

This is my first submission to the Cute Card Thursday Challenge Blog but I don't think it will be my last!  This weeks challenge is:

Challenge 158 - Couples!

This week our theme is Couples. Now this could be a card for a couple, or featuring a couple of characters (human or animal)...whatever "Couple" you choose....be sure to tell us!

It was fun thinking about all of the "couple" options available to me but I finally settled on these super sweet bears.  They are a digital image, precolored, and I am sorry to say I am not sure where I got them.  I will update this post when I figure it out!  Update:  the bears are FREE from Cuddly Buddly Crafts and you can get yours here.

What do you think of these colors?  I had a really hard time with them but the more I look at it the more I like them.  Check out those belly buttons...I wish I could stick my finger into them like the Pilsbury Dough Boy.  LOL

And, because I stamp in multiples for Operation Write Home I made a few more...they defaulted to vertical because I cut the background strip to short for the horizontal version.  Funny how this one little change can make such a difference.  I'm actually trying to decide which card I like better.  

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S&S Midweek Throwdown - K9 Cards

This week's Midweek Throwdown is to create a card with a K9 image.  I don't have any K9 rubber stamps so I totally went digital.  This image is from Elizabeth Dulemba's website.  I added the sentiment in MS Word.  I don't have Copics but wanted the bold color of markers so I used my Stampin' Up! markers.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

Lucy's First Color Throwdown Entry

Hi everyone!  My BFF, Lucy, is here stamping with me today for Operation Write Home and has made a card to enter in the Color Throwdown Challenge #135.  She doesn't have her own blog yet so please leave her some love here!  

Here is the challenge:

And here is her card:

Lucy used all Stampin' Up! products.  The stamp sets were Treat Yourself and Smarty Pants.  The colors used were Basic Black, Real Red, Metallic Silver, and YoYo Yellow.  She also used Lemon Chiffon Radiant Pearls to coat the lemon drops.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S&S Sketch #63 & Hambo Hoedown #9

This week I have combined two challenges:  OWH Stars & Stamps Sketch #63 and Hambo Hoedown #9.

Here is the Sketch:

and here is my card:

The Hambo Hoedown Challenge this week is "to make a Spring project, using Caterpillar and the main colors of HOT PINK AND BRIGHT GREEN. (That is not exactly hot pink, but the closest Blogger has!)"  I was very excited to receive this cute little caterpillar in my mail box this week because this is my first free image from Hambo.  Now that I am "in the loop" I hope to keep up with the weekly challenges because I love their images!  

It is hard to tell from the photo but the caterpillar has been colored twice then cut out and popped up over the first image for dimension.  The card stock is all Stampin' Up! but the dp is from JoAnn Stores.  The sentiment is a freebie from Create With TLC and it says "no one can fill your shoes."

I am on a "stay-cation" this week and hopefully will be posting several more cards so check back when you get a chance!

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

Hambo Hoedown #8

I am tickled to have finally found the time to participate in my very first Hambo Hoedown!  Yee Haw!!  This week's challenge Hambo Hoedown #8 is a Sketch challenge.  Since this is my first entry entry I chose to use a freebie from the Hambo Stamps site and then followed the Sketch from the challenge.  Here is what I came up with:

Isn't she adorable!?!  Actually I have a hard time convincing myself that this is a female cat because our family pet has the same coloring but is male - but I'm sure he wouldn't be caught dead in those flowered flip flops! lol

I am particularly proud of this card because my just turned 13 year old son, Jesse, did a majority of the coloring.  After adding the stripes he became discouraged and was going to toss it out.  I asked him if I could finish it and try to use it and this is the result.  I like it so much that I plan to reproduce a few more for Operation Write Home.  The coloring was done with Stampin' Up! markers, the dp was from my scrap pile, the card stock is all Stampin' Up!, and the sentiment I typed out in MS Word.

I am really looking forward to receiving my first FREE digital image email for next week's Hambo Hoedown!  Come back and check it out this time next week.  ;)

I will also be entering this card in:
OWH Stars & Stamps - Cards 4 Kids
Digital Tuesday Challenge - Cards for Kids
Creative Card Crew  - For a Child!
Phindy's Place  - All About Animals
Card Makin Mamas  - Animals


Happy Stamping and God Bless!

P.S. If you think Jesse did a good job with the coloring (he did everything but the drink and the flip flops) please leave him a comment - I will be sure to share them with him.  Thanks!

Cards for Men Challenge #7

This card is my first entry for Cards for Men.  This is challenge week #7 and they are calling for masculine cards (of course!) using embossing.  The embossing can be either dry (as I have done) or heat embossing. 


I actually made this card for Color Throwdown! challenge #134 but I didn't realize that the cutoff was so early.  I won't make that mistake again!  <tongue in cheek>  This is the color palette:

Card stock and fish stamp are Stampin' Up!  The fish were colored with SU markers and a blender pen (thank you DH for coloring the first set of fish so I could copy them!)  The dp was from a stash that was gifted to me and the embossing was done with my Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  The circles were made with with Nestabilities and my Cuttlebug.  The sentiment is digital and is from Whimsy Stamps called Great Day to Fish.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!


I am also entering this card in:
Wee Memories  - Anything Goes
Crafts & Me - Anything Goes

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Cards For Kids

Wow!  For the first time ever I have been able to complete (and post) a challenge on the same day it was thrown down!  Whoo Hoo!  Thank you Lord for one last snow day of 2011!  In my world...Snow Day = stamping for OWH, how about you?

This week's Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to make cards for our heroes to send home to their kids, they can be any occasion, birthday, etc.  I chose birthday because I also wanted to enter the first challenge over at Birthday Sundaes which is a brand new blog that is all about building your stash of birthday cards.  I invite everyone to check it out - it looks like it is going to be a lot of fun!

Can you believe it?  Yes!  I did use a digital stamp and I DID color it!  Big shock I know.  tee hee.  I used Stampin' Up! markers (Real Red, Gable Green, Green Galore, Blush Blossom, More Mustard, Really Rust, Black, and Bliss Blue.)  The card stock is also SU! (Real Red and Gable Green) except for the card base which is from my bulk stash.  The background paper is by Basic Grey and was a gift from a new Facebook friend, Ellen Deckinga - Thanks Ellen!  The digital image was free but I will have to look on my computer at work to tell you where I got it - Update:  The website for this freebie is Cuddly Buddly Crafts and you can get yours here.  The layout is an adaptation of S & S Sketch #06.

I love to read your comments and will happily visit your blog if you will leave me your address!

Happy Stamping and God Bless!


Creative Card Crew - No Stamps

Challenges:

Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps - Cards 4 Kids

Paper Cutz - Your Choice

Birthday Sundaes - Anything Goes Birthday

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Scallops

This week's challenge over at the S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to create a card using scallops.  I love scallops so this was an easy challenge for me.  The real challenge was which scallop punch to use!  Funny thing is with as many scallops that I already have I still want more!  For example, I don't have any square or rectangle scallops.    Here is what came up with:

This card was CASed from a gallery at Splitcoast Stampers made by LaLatty.  Thank you for the inspiration and the introduction to a grate color combination!  The stamped images were done in Lavender Lace, Apricot Appeal, and Cameo Coral.  I was thrilled to find a sample using this particular SU Stamp set and plan to make several more to send in my March OWH box going out this week.

Happy Stamping and God Bless,

Lisa

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Mother's Day Card

March is the month for Mother's Day cards....at Operation Write Home anyway!  The deadline for Mother's Day cards is March 31st so it is no surprise that the S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to make Mother's Day cards, is it?  ;)

This card is made using a technique called "One Sheet Wonders."  The floral pattern was all hand stamped and then cut into specific pieces following a template.  You then match up these pieces with coordinating card stock, sentiments, and embellishments and wha-la you have 10 cards.  This is my first attempt at this technique and I wouldn't use it all the time but it is great for low mojo days, if you know what I mean!

The flowers were stamped in Regal Rose and Rose Romance and the leaves were stamped in Certainly Celery and Old Olive with a few Summer Sun ditties to fill in the blank spots.  The stamps are SU Watercolor Garden.  The sentiment is FREE and can be downloaded here.  The Certainly Celery card base was dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  The ribbon, flower punch and brad are all SU as well.

If you would like more information about the "One Sheet Wonder" technique just let me know by leaving a comment and I will be happy to send you a link to a tutorial.

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S & S Sketch #58

Hey everyone!  Thanks for stopping by today.  This will be a quick post as I am really close to the Sketch deadline!  I missed last week's deadline even though I had made the card in plenty of time...maybe I will go back and post it anyway because I really liked the card.  :)

This is the sketch I worked from:  #58

This looked a bit intimidating to me at first but once I got rolling on the 1" squares everything else just kinda fell together.  The colors are bold but I hope you like them.

All products are Stampin' Up! except for the sentiment which I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  I thought about posting this for the S & S Midweek Throwdown - Mother's Day but I still have a few days to come up with something new so I decided not to do double duty on this one.

The colors are pretty bold so I am wondering what you think...do they work together ok?  

Happy Stamping and God Bless!