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!

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Masculine Theme

I'm back on schedule and getting this post done while the challenge is still current!  Hooray!

This week's S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to make a card with a masculine theme either for an adult or child as the recipient.  I had no difficulty with this one at all!  I have had my creative eye turned to the masculine images of the motor vehicle industry frequently lately and knew exactly what image I wanted to use.

Isn't this motorcycle cool?  I first saw it used on a card that Sandy posted on the Operation Write Home website during January.  I did some research and found that it is a digital image available through (believe it or not) Stampin' Up! and is available here.  I have seen this image colored and it looks really nice but for those of you who know my work I am sure you are not at all surprised that I elected to use the monochrome image!

The silver card stock is also from Stampin' Up and I ran it through my Cuttlebug with an embossing folder.  The layout and embossing idea was CASEd from this image on SCS (thank you for sharing Shelly923.)

I don't make it a habit to put horizontal words vertically on a card but felt that in this case the sentiment did not detract from the focal image and may even compliment it.  What do you think?  Please leave me a comment :)

Happy Stamping and God Bless.

S & S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Red, White, Blue, and Kraft

I'm back!  After over a week of the flu I have finally prevailed and am back to post my creation for the S & S Midweek Throwdown posted on February 9, 2011.  This is a color challenge calling for the use of  four colors: red, white, blue, and kraft.  For anyone new to crafting the color "kraft" is best described as paper sack brown.  At first I typed "grocery bag brown" then realized that anyone under the age of 25 probably has never used a paper grocery bag in their life time.  How funny is that to us over  40 ladies?

My card this week not only meets the MWT r/w/b/k but also that particular week's Sketch Challenge #55.  I knew I was too late to post to the MWT but thought I would make it for the SC - sadly not so.  However, not to be daunted I post it now just for posterity!  Here is Sketch #55:

And here is my red, white, blue, and kraft version:

This is the first card I have made with my newly acquired Fiskar star punch - and I really like it!  The bp is from JAS but the card base (white) and kraft card stock is from Stampin' Up.  The kraft piece was actually in my scrap file from a previous project that went in another direction.  Gotta love using up the scraps!  The "Thank you" stamp was a freebie from Verve Stamps included with my first order and I have used it several times.  If you like it I am certain that you can purchase it for a very low rate.

I liked this card so much I have made a total of 12 to include in my 2nd Spring Thaw Challenge box that will go postal by February 25 (the deadline is Feb 28th but I try to allow for shipping time.)

I am very encouraged by your comments and would love to visit your blog as well if you will leave me your address.  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S & S Midweek Throwdown - "On the Farm" Post #2

I had so much fun with my last post and all the cow cards that once I made it back to the craft table (aka dining room table) I just had to make something with the cow stamp from the same SU "Very Punny" set!  I remembered purchasing the red checked background paper from JoAnn Stores (when I was unsuccessful finding anything with a cowhide print) but had not taken the initiative to put it to use yet.  So, here is what I came up with....

I am not sure if you can read the sentiment but it says "Like no udder" which actually kinda confuses and frustrates me.  Couldn't they have squeezed in a "u r" ?  Despite that, I really like the way this card turned out.  All of the products are Stampin' Up! (or at least a generic variation thereof, lol) except for the background paper.  I colored the cows with SU! markers after stamping them with Stazon ink.  The "bows" are held on with Glossy Accents.

Thanks for stopping by!  If this is your first visit please scroll down to the previous post to see my other "On the Farm" cards.  I thrive on your words of encouragement and would love to know what you think so please leave me a comment!

Happy Stamping and God Bless!

S&S Midweek Throwdown Challenge - "On the Farm"

What a fun challenge this week over at OWH Stars and Stamps Blog called "On the Farm."  I honestly thought it would be easier than it was - I think I was having a mojo-less snow day but was unable to admit it!  But, when I thought about putting together this blog I remembered a few more farm related cards in my stash (some physically some digitally) that I could share with you for more inspiration.

Here is the card I came up with yesterday:

 The photo is a bit distorted but the card is actually 4.25" square, not rectangular, and it fits perfectly into the A2 size envelopes.  The image is from the Stampin' Up! set "Very Punny" and the dp and cs are also SU.  The ribbon is from the $1 bin at JoAnn Stores.  The circle and scallops were cut with Nestabilities and my Cuttlebug.  This is the card I will submit for the MWT Challenge but I have some other fun ones to share with you.

I made this card about a year ago and just haven't found the right person to send it to yet.  The image is from Gina K Designs appropriately named "Down on the Farm."  The sentiment I hand wrote (which I will never do again!) because there wasn't a computer/printer handy at the time.

This card was a total CASE directly from the Stampin' Up! catalog a few years ago.  I purchased a white marker just for this cow and have found many other uses for it since.  The SU set is owned by a friend so I don't have the info to list here but if you are interested in it I can find out the name/year for you.

This card I am "publishing" with special permission from the maker, my best friend and stamping buddy, Lucy.  This is one of Lucy's all time favorite cards and probably THE card she had the most fun making.  The idea was a CASE from Splitcoast Stampers (sorry I don't have the original post/info) and the tools are from a Stampin' Up! set of Lucy's.  Again, if you would like more detail I can ask Lucy and get back with you.)

Now for MY favorite!  This card was made by Lucy's Mom...and I will cherish it always.  The picture and sentiment come to mind frequently but I just grin with "tongue in cheek" and keep the snickers to myself.  Not so sure the people in my immediate circles would/could appreciate the humor as much as I do.

 
I hope these photos have given you some inspiration to jump start your next project.  I am off to see what I can create to complete my Spring Thaw box today!


Happy Stamping and God Bless!
 

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 

S&S Holiday Vacation Challenge #7

I was very excited to see that todays challenge is to make a card using a "new toy" received for Christmas!  Not that I needed an excuse, of course!  The image I used on this card was just purchased this morning (by me) from JoAnn's using a gift card that I received for Christmas.  

I have been looking for a bee stamp/digi to go with these words a friend gave me a few years back and since I have been working on Valentines for OWH I have been looking with even more dedication.  So, imagine my excitement when I saw today's challenge!  Here is my card:

Aren't the bees fabulous?  I just love them!  I especially love how easy they are to color (insert big grin here.)  The bit of dp is from JoAnn's, the card stock is SU and I put it through my Cuttlebug using the swirls embossing folder.  I only made 1 card so I could get it posted quickly but I am ready to go duplicate this by at least 6 for my next OWH shipment (Valentine deadline is January 7th!)

Thanks for stopping by.  I would love to visit your blog if you would leave me a comment and include your URL.   Happy stamping!