Monday, February 28, 2011

Good evening. Made it through Monday - I guess that is a good sign. I have a birthday card to make tonight for tomorrow - I kinda have an idea - I can't settle on paper though. Come back later in the week - you can see what I came up with.

Tonight I am sharing one of the cards I made for my assistant for her gift. It is based on the sketch and distressing challenge at Our Creative Corner.

Monday means it is oldie moldie Monday - time to show some old paper some love. I chose to use this Basic Grey grouping. Orange is becoming the "color" - or so in my collection of paper.

Everyone have a wonderful evening - I must go get that birthday card made. Have a wonderful evening.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Good afternoon from a snowy day in Wisconsin. I think we need a bright cheerful card for today.

The Play Date Cafe posted this picture as their color inspiration. Luckily I had some paper laying right here on the floor that would work for the challenge.





My assistant's birthday is Monday and I always give her an assortment of cards for her present. This is one of the cards I made her. The inside is finished so she can just write a personal note to whoever she sends the card too.




Well I am off to create cards - I need to make four more before Monday - plus a birthday card. Enjoy your day.

Card Details:
Size: 4.5 x 5.75
Paper: We R Memory Keepers
Sticker: We R Memory Keepers
Martha Stewart punch
Offray ribbon
SRM Sticker

Friday, February 25, 2011

A very early Friday morning greeting. This has been one of those weeks that has gone fast but seems to have dragged - as you can see from my lack of posts - a week where there was no creativity. The week end is coming so I hope to spend some time creating - it is suppose to snow - one never knows how much. I am going to get my groceries today and then I can hibernate all week end.

My card today is my 2nd Christmas card of the year. I really like the colors and how it turned out. I used a digi stamp from I Brake For Digis and printed it on three different pattern papers. Using my trusty scissors I cut out the tree and car. I did add some color to the car with my Copics (tires and fender) - I also chalked it with blue - to make the blue on the car a little brighter. I cut out the tree and also added brown chalk to the tree to give it a little more depth. I probably should have added some snow to the branches.

Moxie Fab World is having a paper piecing challenge on their blog in celebration of their special issue Stamp It Techniques. I love the flexibility of using digi stamps for paper piecing - you can make the images a little larger so it is easier to cut and piece.

Well I suppose I need to go and get ready to go to work. I think I can make it to the week end.

Card Details:
Size: 4.25 x 5.5
Patterned Paper: Die Cuts With a View
Digi Stamp: I Brake For Digis
Copics

Monday, February 21, 2011

A quick post tonight - computer decided to be ornery tonight plus I have been trying to make a soup and dessert for work tomorrow.

I made this card for Operation Write Home. I used the sketch from Clean and Simple. Monday is the day to dig into your old supplies - this grouping hasn't been buried that long but I have had it for awhile.

I hope you enjoy my card. Remember to dig into your supplies and show some love for your old paper and stamps.

Card Details:
Size 4.25 x 5.5
Cosmo Cricket paper and sentiment
Spellbinders
Stamp: Whipper Snapper Designs colored with Copics

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Good Sunday morning - here is a post of spring to brighten your day - we have another storm that is suppose to be coming through. Ice and snow so I am staying put today.

My card today uses a digital image by Sandy Allnock, founder of Operation Write Home. I would love to meet Sandy - I don't think she sleeps. Sandy asked us to make a thank you card and a birthday card for a special call - a call to introduce Operation Write Home to a group of people on the West Coast. Saturday's post was my thank you note.

A couple weeks ago I was killing time in JoAnn Fabrics and found this huge pad of K&Co paper - beautiful fun prints and colors - great for cards. This is some of the paper on this card. Only 9.99 and I could probably craft out this pad of paper for many many years.

I have started to chalk the backgrounds of my colored images - the whiteness of the paper on which you stamped and colored your images - always bothered me - but in a class recently I learned about chalking - probably knew this - but she made me see it through different eyes. Luckily - I had chalks - don't we all have chalks - get them out and try them.

Well I must go - I do want to create today - but alas I must take some breaks and do those dreaded chores. Have a wonderful day.

Card Details:
Size: 4.25 x 5.5
Paper: K & Co.
Image: Designed by Sandy Allnock colored with Copics
SRM Sticker
May Arts Ribbon

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Good Saturday - unfortunately the day is almost over - and now the weather is talking a snow storm - I guess we will see what happens - they are saying freezing rain - which is worse than snow. I am not going to have to go anywhere tomorrow which makes me happy.

This morning - I played with some paper I have had for awhile and made this thank you card. It was a special call from Operation Write Home so I still need to make a birthday card.

I enjoyed just playing with a grouping of paper and starting with one piece and building my card from there. I like how it turned out. Lots of layers.

I hope you had an enjoyable Saturday. Hope tonight I can do some more creating.

Card details:
basic size: 4.25 x 5.5 but thank you - hangs over the 4.25
Paper and Sticker: We R Memory Keepers
Twine: May Arts
Trim: Prima
Stickles

Friday, February 18, 2011

Good Friday morning - I have taken a day off from work today and my friend Mary and I are going to go play today - we are going to go do some shopping. I know what I want to get - someone has the new collection called Twig - that is calling to me - Mary is after Tonic punches to go in their border punch thing. Hopefully, then we might have some time to play. We will see.

Today's card - and believe me - it is for the next holiday season - because I am ready for spring. Most of our snow has melted so we can see dirty ground now but I do enjoy being able to see when I back out of my driveway.

The card is being entered into two challenges - the first challenge is from the Penny Black blog to use vellum on a card. I struggled with this one trying to figure out exactly what to do with the vellum - I finally tore what is suppose to look like a hill and embossed it in my Cuddlebug. I aded some Stickles to a few of the snowflakes to give them some glitter. Vellum is hard to adhere without your adhesive showing. The main adhesive is behind Mr. Cutie Petuttie Snowman - I love this stamp from Penny Black. He or she has so much personality.

The second challenge is to make a card using markers from the Moxie Fab World blog. They are highlighting the different areas of stamping from their special edition Stamp It! - I have a card in next year's issue - I am so excited. But back to this card - I colored the snowman with my Copics. Snowmen are so easy to color - sometimes you only need to do a little highlighting on their shape - but this special snowman has a wonderful scarf and hat - this also works great for paper piecing - hmmmmmm - Moxie Fab - does have a challenge on paper piecing also - maybe I should use Mr. Cutie Petuttie Snowman for that challenge. Obviously blue was the color of choice to match the background papers - to add some texture to his scarf - I took the colorless blender and removed color to make it look like the scarf was polka dotted.

Some other highlights of the card are my snowflakes - these are foam snowflakes that I picked up at Michael's. A big bag for a very reasonable price. I love the depth they add to the card. I always add some Stickles to them to make them sparkle. I also took a class recently on using Copics but one of the things I did learn was to use chalk to color your background of your stamped image - the whiteness always bothered me - so I now dig out my chalks and add some color around the stamped image. It is nice to use some of your older supplies.

Everyone have a wonderful day.

Card Details:
Size: 5 x 5
Paper: Die Cuts With a View (The Christmas Combo stack)
Stamp: Penny Black colored with Copics
Brads: Making Memories
Stickles
Snowflakes: Michael's
Vellum: unknown

Tuesday, February 15, 2010

Good evening - I have a fun card to share with you tonight. It will go to a special person who is fighting a tough battle right now. I think it will make hime smile.

The image is from I Brake For Digis - they have an entire group of digital images of Freddie - do you want a frog riding a motorcycle - they have one. I liked this one and last night - I had an inspiration - with that tongue sticking out - let's put some medicine on his mouth - so I went and got a low dosage aspirin and glue dotted to the tongue. EEK - inside it will say something about take your medicine.

I think it will bring a smile to the recipient's face - hopefully the aspirin stays on the card.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day.

It is also Monday so it is Oldie Moldie Monday - time to show some LOVE for some old paper. I dug in my supplies and found this Bo Bunny grouping with coordinating stickers - I needed to make some father's day cards for Operation Write Home - and this will work great. The hardware was some that I have had sitting around for a long time so wanted to use some of it up also. I love the colors on this particular grouping of paper. I made a card for my son in law and also have two more prepped for OWH - out of this grouping - then the scraps will go in the scrap bag.

The Fluffles card is based on the weekly sketch at the Operation Write Home card site Stars and Stamps. The "World's Greatest Dad" card started out with that sketch in mind but then took a path of it's own in design. The Fluffles card was just scraps laying around the room. More "oldie moldie" paper used up.

Everyone have a special day.

Sunday, February 15, 2011

Good evening - where did the week end go - I could use another day - of course I did not get done what I wanted to get done. I should do a load of laundry and some cleaning - I bet doesn't happen.

I did get some cards made for Operation Write Home which is good - on Saturday - I sent a box of 105 cards - that always feels good to send a box to the shipper. Right now they still need Mother's Day cards - I am making some cards but will make them general enough that they can be used at any time.

A friend gave me some card bases - and this is one of the cardbases - I stamped with VersaMark with my dot stamp to add some depth/texture to the card front. The strip of striped paper - was laying on the table. I found the pink and blue in the scrap bag. Last night I did some coloring - and colored six Fluffles. This image makes a happy card. I based the card on the sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping.

Well everyone - I must go and do some chores. The day seemed so long without a football game to watch. But we can still bask in the thoughts of a Packer win.

OWH Kit SKIP

Good morning – welcome to the first Operation Write Home SKIP – you say – what is a SKIP – a SKIP – is a mini HOP. OWH has wonderful blog hops but with a SKIP 10 card makers are going to focus in on a certain creative idea, a specific product, etc.

This SKIP was a kit challenge. I sent the same kit to 10 people. The kit included 4different patterned papers that coordinate and the same stamped image. It will be interesting to see how each of us make our card. We could use our own embellishments, ribbon, card base, etc.

I colored my image with Copics. I matched the color of my flower to the purple that is in the patterned paper. I used Bazzill cardstock for my card base. I die cut my image with one of my Spellbinders. I then chalked the background of my stamped image so it wasn’t so bare or stark white. I learned this in a class – I really like the softness of the chalked sky.

I had bought a new Spellbinder set and wanted to use it on the card – that is the green on the bottom of the card. I matted the colored image with one of the patterned papers. I left an extra large area on top of the mat. I wanted to add some trim or ribbon in this area. The trim I decided on was a pleated ribbon. I adhered it with red line tape. I cut a narrow strip of paper to cover the top of the ribbon. When I placed all the layers on the card base – the card base looked flat – so I used a background stamp and just stamped with Versamark on the card front – it adds some depth or design to the plain colored base.
I added a brad on each side of the image. I pop dotted the image to give it a little depth. I placed a sticker on the same color paper as my bottom mat and pop dotted it also. I really like how my card turned out.

I hope you are excited to continue on the skip to see how everyone else made their cards. I can’t wait. I saw one of the cards a couple weeks ago – it is fantastic.

Here are all the wonderful ladies who are participating in the skip. You will go to visit Yolanda next.

Stars and Stamps
Barb
Yolanda
Cindy
Sandy
Karen
Marianne
Holley
Paula
Seongsook
Cora

I know that after the skip you will be excited to know we have a blog hop coming up. You can click on this link to go read the information about the hop and sign up to participate. I think I already know (well kinda) what I am going to do.

If you have any ideas for SKIPS – please share them with me – I am your OWH SKIP coordinator.

Now get going – SKIP. I do have two kits that I will be giving away to people who leave comments on my post.

Card Details:
Card size: 4.25 x 5.5
Card base: Bazzill cardstock
Patterned Paper: My Mind’s Eye
Stamp: Whipper Snapper Designs
Trim: Maya Road
Brads: American Crafts
Sticker: SRM Stickers

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Good Thursday evening - we have almost made it to the week end and I think I get to be home this week end - wonderful - maybe I will get to spend some creative time - I hope so - I would like to get my mo jo going again.

I have had a piece of paper floating around my desk for 6 months - it was about 3 inches by 6 inches - red on one side and two shades of blue on the other side The challenge for the midweek throw down at Stars and Stamps (Operation Write Home Card Blog) is blue, red, white and kraft - well that one piece of paper satisfied part of the challenge.

I embossed a piece of kraft paper with a star embossing folder and then brushed whited acrylic paint on the embossed stars. I cut the strip of paper. The dark blue will be a stripe on the front - added a sticker to a piece of the light blue and die cut some red stars. I wish I would have had enough red for 5 stars but alas I did not.

I hope you enjoyed my take on the challenge.

Come back on Saturday for a great little blog skip - we will be visiting 10 blogs for our skip. Lots of creativity and cuteness guaranteed.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Good evening - a quick post for tonight.

I based this card on the sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping.

The paper is from Echo Park. The little bee stamp is from Whipper Snapper Designs. I colored it with Copics and added some Stickles to the wings and heart. The sentiment is stamped and cut out. I added a rub on underneath the sentiment to anchor it to the card so it was not floating.

Everyone have a great evening. This week end I am participating in a SKIP for Operation Write Home - stop by on Saturday and check it out.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Good evening - brrrrr - cold in Wisconsin - but they say the week end will be nice - we will be in the 30's - down right balmy. Going out to dinner tonight so that will be fun.

I am sharing a card I made with a digi from I Brake For Digis it is called I Will be Home For Christmas and it is only $1. What a wonderful value. I am going to use it to make cards for Operation Write Home - you know all our service personnel serving overseas will be home in their hearts. Very easy to color. I have 5 more cards prepped and I am sure I will be making more.

The midweek throwdown at Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps is Barnyard - well you can't get more barnyard than a black and white cow. I am partial to black and white cows - I was a farm girl and that was the color of our cows.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

Monday February 7, 2011

Good Monday evening.

Needless to say Wisconsin is very happy - if you missed it yesterday - the Packers won the super bowl. It is great fun for the people in Wisconsin - well anyway - the Packer fans. Did you know the terrible towels are made in Wisconsin - a small firm in Baraboo makes those towels.

Monday also means that it is Oldie Moldie Monday - time to show some love for some old forgotten paper. I decided to participate in the midweek challenge at Operation Write Home Stars and Stamp blog - the challenge was to make cards with a barnyard theme. Well I have lots of stamps that work. I did get 5 cards made - come back tomorrow to see my cow card.

I have been suffering from lack of MO JO - please send me some - I miss making my cards. I have done some coloring.

This upcoming week end we have a fun activity for Operation Write Home - a SKIP - what is a skip - well come back here on Saturday and find out.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

A snowy morning greeting to you - I would say good - but I may be stretching it - although my snow blowing fairy has been through and I am dug out - even my mail box - now if the snowplows come through again - and bury me - I will be very preturbed.

Being home yesterday I did get a couple cards made for my personal use - today I must make cards for Operation Write Home - I am behind in my one card a day. This card - obviously is for Valentine's Day - it will go to a special person in my life.

the card is very loosely based on the sketch at Cardabilities. If you look closely you can see elements of the sketch in the design. I decided I did not want to cut down the scallop border I cut from the paper - so I just cut down the size of the card base and let the scallop hang over the edge. I must have been feeling rebellious yesterday. I cut out the word Love from a SRM Sticker to add a sentiment to the card.

Thanks for stopping by - today I am going to make barn yard related cards for Operation Write Home - that is their mid week throwdown - I have a few (lots) of pig stamps and of course being from Wisconsin - cows - and how about chickens - just chicken in on you.

Hope you get to do something creative today.

Card Details:
Size: 3.75 x 6
Paper: Crate Paper
Stamp: Whipper Snapper Designs, Hero Arts (background stamp)
SRM Sticker
Spellbinders
Stickles

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Good Tuesday afternoon - I am being a slackard today - I decided to take a day of vacation from work and not fight the winter storm - one more day tomorrow and I know tomorrow will be much worse - a blizzard is heading our way. I took a nap already today and that felt so good. Hopefully tonight I can stay up past 8 p.m. and get back on a normal sleeping pattern.

I wanted to make a bright, happy card today. I had colored this digi image "Daisy With Bea" from I Brake for Digis so I needed to find some fun paper to make a card with. This grouping from My Mind's Eye has such pretty colors in it. No yellow but a beautiful orange, blue and pink. I was able to pick up on the yellow with my accent pieces and placed my thank you sticker on a punched flower that I added color with Copics and then inked the edges to bring some orange onto the punched flower. I pop dotted the image and sentiment to balance the depth of the bow and big brad.

The design of the card is based on the sketch from Unscripted Sketches - a very fun sketch - lots of layers - and I am all about the layers.

Everyone have a great day - hopefully you are enjoying your weather - I need to do some housework but maybe I will just keep creating - there is always tomorrow.

Card Details:
Size: 4.5 x 6
Paper: My Mind's Eye
Digi Image: I Brake For Digis colored with Copics
SRM Sticker
Ribbon: May Arts
Brad: Bazzill