Denim

After watching the last Operation Write Home video on You Tube, I was inspired by Sandy to create my own cards with Sketch #100.  I knew there were a couple of challenges I wanted to enter and thought this would make a good layout.  Here is the first one I tried.

A piece of denim that I frayed the edges
Paper layers from my scrap stash
Stampabilities sentiment

Entering in this challenge:

http://themaleroomchallengeblog.blogspot.com/

Just Swimming by

Love this stamp/die set from Stephanie Barnard-The Stamps of Life.  I got this as my July(I think) Die Hard club package.  Such fun to get surprises in the mail once a month!

Now that I've sent my final box to Operation Write Home, I'm trying my best to make kid cards so that I can donate them to one of the children's hospital charities (which I am still researching to figure out where).  Very difficult for me to make kid card when I've been concentrating on making adult soldier cards! It's very different.

These are my attempts.  I think they're pretty cute!

 Whale2 Stamps and Dies from Stephanie Barnard

stamped with teal and white pigment ink, clear embossing powder, heat set

Entering this one in AAA Cards Game#44
Waterworld and Dies 

Lots of Chevron here!
Entering in Addicted to CAS

Get Whale

I seem to have quite a few whale stamps and a couple of whale dies.  They are so cute.  I just love them. Needed to make a quick get well card so here it is!

Unity "Little Bit Whale" Stamp
The  Paper Studio Multi Chevron Embossing Folder
Stampabilities Teal Ink
Core'dinations Teal Paper
Teal & White Chevron Washi Tape

Saw the challenge at Addicted to CAS and thought chevron would make good 'waves'

http://addictedtocas.blogspot.com


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Chocolate for breakfast

Playing around with some of my new stuff and trying to distress with ink.  It sure takes a "touch" to distress, doesn't it  Bought this new stamp at Simply Said in Loveland, Ohio last time I was visiting my family, picked up the coffee and donut stickers on a clearance rack at a Michael's somewhere in OH, and got the little chocolate bar at at card class.  Like an omen...use them all together!  I tried distressing the background of the sentiment oval and think I went a little overboard. You can read it fine "in person".   I did better on the background circles behind the stickers. Popped everything up on adhesive squares.

It will make a fine birthday card for my chocoholic friend who thinks you should have desert, ever after breakfast, or instead of breakfast.

This will be my second entry in Words to Scrap by challenge #19: A Friend with Chocolate

http://words2scrapby.blogspot.com/

Art Impressions stamp - Chocolate
Recollections Dimensional Stickers
SU! Close to Cocoa Ink
Paper stips from my scrap stash
Chocolate wrapper compliments of Hershey!

Stars for OWH #1

I am working on my box of Operation Write Home cards and I came across this challenge from AAA Cas challenges where the challenge this week is Game #43 - Star Scene
http://aaacards.blogspot.com/


Well, once again, I missed the deadline!!!!!  So frustrating.  Must pay better attention to dates.

This is the card I created.  I will be using this as one of my Any Hero cards to send to Operation Write Home.  I'm so excited.  I created 36 Any Hero cards to send in this box.  I gave stacks of them to all of my friends and got them all written out to our soldiers to thank them for their service.  Glad to be able to include all of these in my box going out next week.  Just sorry it will be the last one I send.  Looking for new charities that can use hand made cards.  Finishing Strong for Operation Write Home.  What a fabulous charity.  Very grateful that due to draw downs and redeployments the need is not as great as it once was, so OWH will no longer exist at the end of the year.  MUST GET THOSE LAST CARDS IN BY AUG 1 which is just a couple of weeks away.

Chocolate Bar

I think this really fits the W2SB #19: A Friend with Chocolate challenge.  Some days this sentiment is so true, but not nearly as often as it did when I was still working.  I am SO glad to be retired!  Making the chocolate bar was really fun!

I've been rearranging my "Crafty Lair" for days and finally got it put back together.  In the meantime, I've lost this stamp!!!!  This is what happens when I try to organize and create at the same time.

The chocolate bar was created using Spellbinders Nestabiltiies Square dies,
cut from yummy rich dark chocolate paper that I picked up at a local scrapbook store
and popped up with foam tape.   I used the same paper for the  background layer.
 (Now wish I'd bought a few more sheets.  It's hard to find this rich dark brown) 
Added aluminum foil from the kitchen drawer for the wrapper.
The checkered layers are from my scrap stash.
Stamp from ?

Whale be Friends Forever!

For the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - create something for a special friend or a super hero.

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Isn't your special friend a super hero anyway?  I think so!!!!!

This is what I came up with using my brand new stamp/die set from Stephanie Barnard - The Stamps of Life

I love my little whale!

Darice Beach Waves Embossing folder on aqua card stock layered on dark gray card stock
My new favorite ink! VersaFine in Smokey Gray for the whale and the sentiment
Added some clear sequins and tiny aqua beads that came from a shirt (you know how you get those little baggies of "stuff" like beads and buttons in case everything falls off the shirt!)
Glued and topped the sequins and beads with Glossy accents so they would stand out more

Butterfly

http://addictedtocas.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/challenge-65-butterfly.html

I made some beautiful teal butterflies and put them on a card to send to a friend who is undergoing treatment for Ovarian cancer and teal is the "color".

Hero Arts Stamp & Cut Butterflies cut from teal paper,
 stamped with white pigment ink and heat set using white embossing powder
The Paper Studio Butterfly Embossing Folder
Bling from "the stash"

House Mouse coloring

I am coloring challenged, but I keep on practicing.  I've noticed that I do better with markers than with colored pencils.

Our Daily Bread Designs covers the cost of shipping 2 boxes of cards to our heroes (see Operation Write Home) if we meet our goal of at least 50 cards posted.  YEAH ODBD!  I'm working on getting my box complete so I can mail it by Aug 1!!  

The theme for June is Missing You.  Here is my entry.

House Mouse Lavender Climbers stamp colored with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers
Paper, sentiment and twine from my stash

Bloom with Happiness

I cannot stop embossing!  Sometimes it seems like it's the embossing folder that drives what I am going to create instead of having an idea and then getting out the embossing folder.  I really struggle with a vision of my layout, or the colors, or the embellishments, so I really like using sketches, though I usually take them literally and don't stray far from the exact layout.

I saw the sketch challenge from The Crooked Stamper and it seemed like it would be pretty simple, right? Wrong!  Not for me.  It took me hours to make what turned out to be a super simple card.  I tried butterflies, I tried stars, I tried circles and ovals...didn't like any of them.  Then I remembered I had this little flower die that also embosses....

I layered white, a darker purple, then the embossed white paper on purple cardstock.

Momenta Cut & Emboss Mix and Match Small Flower
Darice Flower Frenzy Embossing Folder
Craft Medley purple Hemp Cord
Rubbernecker Garden Wildflower Sentiment stamped with purple pigment ink, topped with purple embossing powder and heat set
Bling from "the stash"

Adventure!

I just LOVE Kraft paper and I'm in a car/truck making mood....entering this in the Kraft Outlet challenge

Boot Tracks by Darice embossed on Kraft paper layered on black on a Kraft card base
Impression Obsessions Truck Die cut from shiny black and silver paper
"Window" on truck has a piece of clear packaging material behind it
"Wooden slats" cut from Kraft
Sentiment from Fiskars In Search of Adventure Set
Bling from Jolee's Boutique

Car BW houndstooth

I LOVE EMBOSSING!!!!  Dry Embossing, Wet Embossing, I Love it all!!!!

There is nothing like embossing to make a card really stand out.  I am trying to make as many cards as I can before the OWH deadline of August 1.  I try to make masculine cards because so many of the cards I see are feminine. This fits in with 3 challenges I found, so I'm entering this in all three.

All of this paper came from my scrap boxes including the layering papers.

 Yeah!  Use it up!!!!

 Cuttlebug Houndstooth Embossing Folder
Image Tim Holtz "The Journey"
Sentiment Fiskars "In Search of Adventure"
both stamped with VersaMark
and heat set with Recollections Black Embossing Powder
Darice Black Adhesive backed grosgrain ribbon
with a skinny little black and white dotted ribbon I found in my ribbon stash
knotted on top

Challenge #18 at Words to Scrap By -  It's a Man's World

Challenge #87 at Simply Create Too - MASCULINE

Challenge #35 at V's Sweet Ideas is use your "Favorite Technique"

Coffee...it's what's for breakfast!

What not to do on a beautiful sunshiny Saturday morning.....make a stop in the craft lair!  Uh Oh, it's now 10:30 am and there is much work to be done in the garden.  I am trying to rid a bed of volunteer lily of the valley (have you ever tried to dig up lily of the valley?  It grows as you are digging!) that has taken over so I can make room for a new Hosta garden.  I received 7 beautiful, large Hostas as a gift from a friend's husband.  This new garden will be in remembrance of my dog rescue friend Cindy, who passed away a couple of years ago.

I knew I wanted to make a card for the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Blog Hop that is this week so I did get something accomplished.  I just picked up this stamp when I stopped in at a scrapbook store I had not been to.  Now I have 2! coffee stamps.  Yippeee....

Brown dotted paper from Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go 6x6 pad
layered on kraft paper
Stamp and sentiment from Art Impressions Cathy Caffeine Set
stamped in Versamark, heat set with Zing Brown embossing powder,
then colored with Spectrum Noir markers (still practicing!)
Coffee beans also stamped with Versamark on Kraft,  heat set with the same brown,
fussy cut, and popped up a bit with Zots dots
Tiny bakers twine bow secured with a brown brad

  Not bad for a first try with a new stamp.  This is a birthday card for a former co-worker.  We always had coffee together, but now we're both retired.  Miss Corinne!

Entering this in the MOD squad challeng too - Birthday

Misty

Home made "shimmer mist" - warm water, a dab of Mod Podge, a squirt of White Pearl acrylic craft Paint (the dollar stuff) added to a spray bottle that used to house travel sized hairspray.

Once the card was made, I sprayed the whole thing with my home made shimmer mist and let it dry.
Looks very shimmery in person, but very hard to photograph.

 White Cardstock layered on  Black Cardstock   

Outlined the card in silver sticker strips  

Colors were done with markers

 Image and sentiment stamped in black ink 

Entering in Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge - Play Misty for me

Soldier Thank You

Wrapping up the Memorial Day Holiday Week, I am working on my box of Operation Write Home cards that will be sent for the last time on August 1.  I am happy the need has diminished to the point of OWH ceasing to exist, but am sad because I enjoyed making and sending cards to the soldiers to write home with, and making Any Hero cards for the soldiers themselves.  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!!!

Kraft cardstock layered on dark brown cardstock.  I used  Sticko stickers and layered the Proud USA Cheery Lynn die on top of the tank.  The "dog tag" is a sheet metal oval from Imagine Crafts that I added the American Soldier sticker on and secured it with natural hemp cord.  Sentiment from Hero Arts Operation Write Home Everyday Sayings stamped in black.

Entered in Cherry Lynn Designs challenge:http://cheerylynndesigns.blogspot.com/search/label/challenge

Gears

Inprovise!  That's the word of the day.  I love this gear embossing folder, and I really like the gears stamp too.  Now if only I had some gears to add....I made them out of washers and put a brad in the center of each.  I love them!  

Entering this into The Kraft Journal - Use Embossing challenge and
V's Sweet Ideas - "Emboss It" challenge

Kraft Background Cardstock
The Paper Studio Gears Embossing Folder
Stampabilities Gears Border stamped in White Pigment Ink on a darker Kraft paper
and heat set with clear embossing powder
Hello tag and twine from my stash

You Rock!

Another "scrap" card!

Inspired by the beautiful southwest colors.  I love the southwest and go hiking there any time I can.  Those red rocks give me such energy.  I remember seeing jeeps and trucks on the slick rock near Arches National Park in Moab, UT.  Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of destroying the rock, but if they stay in designated areas they were having a lot of fun.  I prefer the peaceful silence.

I tore some striped scraps that were exactly the right color, against a Fiskars scallop tear edger, inked the torn edges and made the rocky surface.  All die cuts are from an Impression Obsession die (Classic Truck 218-I).   The truck was on a red scrap, hubcaps and bumpers were cut on a scrap of mirrored paper, and the tires were cut on a scrap of black paper. "Wooden" rail cut from a scrap of kraft paper.  Even the twine was a scrap that was laying on my desk.  Sentiment from Fiskars, In Search of Adventure, popped up on foam tap and added a small silver brad.

Could be used for any kind of "guy" card; Birthday, Father's Day, Just because!

Adding this to Mod Squad Challenge - Masculine and Cards in Envy - Hey Dude

#1 Teacher

Always Playing with Paper Challenge #36  Celebrating Teachers

Though I don't have any school aged children now, I think teachers are worth their weight in gold.  I couldn't do it for one day!  This is my shout out to all teachers everywhere....THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR OUR CHILDREN!

The card is loosely based on Sketch #154 from Operation Write Home that my friend, card mentor, and teacher created. Giving a very special shout out to Bobbi (bobbistreasures.blogspot.com) for getting me in to all of this paper crafting!!!!
 

Made using only paper from my scrap box (no new paper was harmed) ha ha
some stickers from my friend Bobbi
The only purchased item is the Gold Star from Mixed Spangles

Hog Wild CAS

Since I am in love with the stamp die combos that are available, I decided to join the Stephanie Barnard - The Stamps of Life Die Hard Club where you get a stamp/die combo every month.  Plus it's only $1 shipping and you get discounts on anything else you buy.  Great deal, right?

I am also VERY CAS (clean and simple) challenged.  I like (love) bling and lots of layers, embellishments, patterned paper, etc.  When I saw the challenge from Addicted to CAS, I wondered.....can I possibly?

This is what I came up with.  Plenty of white space, no bling, super simple.  As CAS as I can :-)

Sending Love your way

I'm on a mission to make as many cards as I can for Operation Write Home before it disbands later this year.  (see the info below).  OWH had a Blog Hop on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, but I missed it, so I'm doing my part now.

OWH Memorial Day 2015: Finishing Strong!

Operation Write Home, a charity that has supported heroes with handmade cards since 2007, will be closing later this year. It is an organization that has been near and dear to many of us card makers.

I'm helping to get the word out that ALL cards need to be sent in by August 1st!


Entering this card in the Unity Stamp Challenge.

Dark gray and White Core'dinations Card Stock, Arrow paper from My Mind's Eye,  Unity Stamps-Sending My Love, stamped with Versamark and heat set with embossing powder.  Mailbox panel colored with a combination of Spectrum Noir markers and some old kids colored pencils.  Panels are popped up with foam tape.  I cut a slit in the mailbox and slid the card that is heat embossed in turquoise, and added a tiny enamel heart on the card in the mailbox and some turquoise and yellow twine at the top of the card.  

Smile!

I've been on a quest to figure out how to make a shaker card.  Seemed like it shouldn't be so hard, right?
Tried cutting some circles with the big shot on some clear transparency paper (remember that?) from my friend, Bobbi, but had no luck at all. I just couldn't cut a clean circle.  Ok, there has to be another way to make a shaker without a circle.  I mean, why does it need to be a circle?  It doesn't !!!!

Then I remembered I had these really cute frames from Jillibean and thought that would work really well as the window.  When I saw the Words to Scrap by Challenge #17 - Say Cheese!  I also remembered one of the frames had the word "smile" cut out. Perfect!  I went through my 6x6 pads and found a sheet that had cameras on it.  Perfect again!  All the parts seem perfect, but alas, the card is not so perfect :-(
I used foam tape to pop the frame up, but I'm not crazy about how you can see the edges of it all the way around.  Found out the transparency paper has kind of a yellowish cast to it which I didn't like against the white of the frame and the white in the patterned paper so I sponged some turquoise, green, and teal ink around the frame to break up the white a bit.  Added some sequins and jewels and a stamped image of a camera in the window.

What I've found out since (Youtube) appears the most successful way to make a shaker card is to use fun foam rather than foam tape to pop your window up.  I am going to go buy myself some white fun foam tomorrow and try this again.

Say Cheese!

Time to try this shaker thing again!!!!  I went to a card class on Saturday and while I was at the store I saw these shaker pouches from Impression Obsessions.  They are called "Shake It" and come in circles and squares.  I picked up the small circles.

I won 2 prizes from 2 different stores from a shop hop last week.  One of the prizes was a 4 pack of paper pads, 2 12x12 and 2 6x6.  Wow, what a nice prize!  In one of the 12x12 packs there was a great piece of black and white paper with cameras on it.  Thought this would work great for the Words to Scrap by challenge - Say Cheese! I added red sequins, some mirror squares, and some black beads.  I stamped "smile" on the shake it front and wiggled it a bit so it wouldn't be so straight, just like all the pictures I take, LOL.  It needed more color, so I added some additional red sequins outside of the shaker pouch.  I also had these black and white paper bows that I'd never tried so I thought a polka dot bow would look kinda cool.

Not sure I like this one any better than the other shaker card I made.  Gotta give that fun foam a try and see if it works any better than either of my two attempts.

Freedom-Memorial Day

Made this great patriotic card at a class I went to.  Of course, I just had to buy that fabulous United States die.  Isn't this a great card for Memorial Day?

Bokeh

House of Cards:May challenge Bokeh effect

A few weeks ago I was in the Cincinnati, OH area and was able to take a class with my friend Bobbi and my granddaughter at Simply Said Stamps in Loveland (fabulous store by the way!).  The class included the Bokeh technique, but could I remember how to do it when I saw the challenge at House of Cards?  Of course not!  Off to Utube I went.  Did I have a circle stencil?  No!  Did I have any daubers?  No!  Did I have any water color paper?  No!  Hmmmm....maybe this isn't the challenge for me!  But, I wanted to do it....

A quick trip to Michael's got me some water color paper.  They had no daubers and I forgot about the stencil when I was there.  So, I made my own stencil and used a piece of a sponge for a dauber.  The only white ink I had was a pigment pad in frost white and some white craft paint, so I tried both.  The background is made with a new product called Color Burst that I got at a shoppe hop yesterday.  

Here's the outcome.  Not quite as much white as I wanted, but my handmade stencil wore out.

Best Together

For The Crooked Stamper CSSC # 4 (Sketch Challenge)

Handmade purple paper layered on silver mirrored paper.  Big, bold Sentiment from Heidi Swapp (Words) stamped with silver pigment ink and heat embossed with silver embossing powder.  Silver ribbon and bling. Silver butterfly stickers from Stamp on It.  I think it would make a nice wedding or anniversary card.

I Ruff You

Kraft Challenge - You pick 3 - I chose Stamped, Pink, and Buttons with a bit of Mint Green too!

I used a scalloped Kraft A2 Kraft card and put a strip of pink behind the scallops.  The stamp is "I RUFF YOU." from Unity.  All of the layers are from my scrap stash and the buttons from my button stash.  I colored the dog with Spectrum Noir markers.

I then made the same card in a masculine version and will enter both in the May Mid-Month throwdown - His and Hers - Make a Masculine and a Feminine card using the same card layout/design.

Sunflower

Three of our local scrapbook/card shops had a Shoppe Hop where you go to each of the three different stores and make three cards at each store.  One of the stores always has a great technique for you to learn, or a new product to use.   For this one, we made three cards using a product called Color Burst, which is a powder you tap or gently shake on water color paper that has been spritzed down.

It's almost planting time here in MI and my flower seeds are ready if the ground ever warms up.

I love the way my sunflower turned out.

Entering in the Cards in Envy-When Nature Calls challenge

Birds of a Feather

Just in time to use some of my new stuff, I found 2 challenges using birds....Perfect!

Also entering in Moving Along with the times - Birds and Feathers

Super clean and simple, one layer only.  I thought it would be a cute card for a male friend.

Spellbinders in'spire Birds on a wire die and Stephanie Barnard Stamps of Life Birdcage sentiment that I masked off and only used half.  Yellow birds perched on a piece of black and white twine.

Wheelie

Tuesday Morning Sketches Challenge 4/21/15 - I MISSED THE DEADLINE by an hour !!!!!!  How many times am I going to do this?  GRRRRRR......

How's this for a literal interpretation of the sketch?  I found a piece of cardstock in a 6x6 pad from Basic Grey called Highline that already had a banner at the bottom, so I used that.  This is a really flat card. Great for sending to Operation Write Home. The Wheel is stamped with Stazon and die cut on a very shiny scrap of silver cardstock.  The hampster is stamped with Versamark on craft paper and heat set with black embossing powder, then colored with a Spectrum Noir marker.  The exclamation mark had a heart for the bottom, so I added a yellow enamel heart over it.

Every piece of paper except the background was made from scraps.
  

 I do love my newly reorganized scraps.  I finally dug out a photo box from the garage and cut some dividers.

Card Box

My first try at Mod Podge....

After making a dozen cards with assorted sentiments for a male friend of mine's birthday, I needed something to put them in besides a gift bag.  Didn't have much luck making something out of cardstock, and I though I'd like it to be a more permanent storage box.  I found this hard cardboard recipe box at Hobby Lobby and thought it would work.  It's just a plain brown, paper bag colored box.  Needs decorating, right?   Dug through my huge stash of paper that my friend Bobbi gave me, and what do I come across?  A 12x12 sheet of paper that is full of stamps.  Now this is perfect, isn't it?  Got the cutter and scissors out and cut them all up.  Now, I only had this one sheet and this is my first try using Mod Podge, so you'd think I'd try it on something else first...but no, I'm a go for it first time kinda gal.  I was sweating it because there were only so many stamps.   It ended up that there were enough for the top, front, and sides, but not enough for the back. I did have to fill in with some "real" stamps, and I cut up some current mail I received, but I think that just adds to the charm of it.  On the back, I took my Fiskars "stamp" punch and just cut out some coordinating paper and pasted it on.

I think it came out pretty good!  I might put Steve's initials inside the cover.