Mother's Day - Thinking of You

Good evening. I hope your day was a good one. I don't know how we got to Wednesday night already. But that is OK, because only 2 more days fo work.

Tonight I am sharing a card I made for my Mom for Mother's Day. She loves her flowers and pink is her favorite color. The beautiful floral ribbon is from the extensive garden collection at I Brake For Digis. I colored the image with my Copics and added some glitter with a pen to the ribbon and flowers. With the addition of a sticker and some great bling brads - the card is done. Hard to believe Mother's Day is just a little over a week away. Easter fell so late in April - you just turn around and it is Mother's Day.

Everyone enjoy your evening.

Christmas Card again

Well Christmas is 8 months from today. YIKES. But let us not digress - it is Monday - Oldie Moldie Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies. This is a new stamp I bought last year and never used - very cute - lots of other possibilities with the other stamps on the set. It is from Stampendous. Very cute and cute sentiments also. The sentiment I used on the card is from Hero Arts.

This paper is a 4.5 x 6 pad from Die Cuts With A View from 2009. I think my challenge will be to use this pad for awhile - probably come back next week and see what I can do with this pad of paper and some cute stamps. This card will be sent to Operation Write Home. It will bring a smile to many people's face.

Everyone enjoy your evening.

Christmas Card anyone

I was playing with some Christmas cards and decided I like the sketch on Clean and Simple Stamping blog - well of cours my final card did not turn out at all like the sketch - but I do have a Christmas card made for Operation Write Home.

Easter Treat Bag

How about a little Easter Treat Bag for you. My friend Mary has all these wonderful cute ideas - I have made a few of these bags for Easter this year. I do apologize I have no idea who makes the stamp. Cut out the middle of image, cut out same shape in bag. Line opening of bag with clear acetate - insert a bag of jelly beans inside for your treat - there is also enough room for a small gift.

Everyone enjoy your day.

Monochromatic

The midweek challenge on Operation Write Home is monochromatic. I think this is one of the hardest cards to make - trying to stay within one color palette on your creation. It can be done and I have made three examples to show how different monochromatic cards can look.

The lavendar card is dry embossed with an embossing folder using a white core Coordinations paper. The sentiment was stamped in purple ink and a piece of patterned paper added a touch of color. It was all mounted on a piece of lavendar cardstock.

The green card is made with patterned paper by Kaiser Scrapbooking. It always helps if you work with coordinating paper when you want to do monochromatic cards - the shades of colors usually coordinate. The sentiment was stamped in a green ink on the coordinating paper. A green ribbon was tied on the card to add a little decoration.

The blue card is done with stamping. This is a stamp set from TPC Studio. I stamped on cardstock that was the same as my cardbase so it matches perfectly. It was matted with a solide navy cardstock and used the solid navy cardstock to separate the image and sentiment.

I hope you enjoy my examples of monochromatic cards. The reverse side of the green paper is orange. How fun will that be.

Freddie the Frog

Good evening - cold, wet and miserable in Wisconsin. Just stay inside and make some cards or do dishes - I am doing dishes in between computer time. Dishes need a good soak sometimes.

My card tonight is for a special person. I thought Freddie the Frog would bring a smile to his face. Freddie is part of the digital images from I Brake for Digis. There is a large collection of Freddie digital images on the site - Freddie with a walker (what a great image for a monumental birthday), happy hour Freddie, Freddie on a motorcycle, you get my picture - lots of great Freddie images. You can find them all at this link.

The card is based on the weekly sketch at 365 Cards - they have a different challenge every day.

I have one spring card to finish up tonight and get in the mail tomorrow.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

Card Details:
Size: 5 x 7
Pattern Paper: Fancy Pants Designs
Digi Image: I Brake for Digis colored with Copics
Sentiment created on computer
Ribbon: Offray

Oldie Moldie Monday, April 18, 2011

Good evening - time to show some love to your old paper and supplies - I dug out this pad of paper that I haven't used for ages - it coordinated well with this set of stickers I have from Penny Black.

Last Saturday on Operation Write Home we had a SKIP (very short blog hop) and the idea was how to use stickers effectively in your cardmaking. I did not get as many cards done as I wanted to so decided to make some cards yesterday with stickers. These cards will be for Operation Write Home. Some child will be very happy to get these in the mail from a loved one who is stationed overseas.

These cards also qualify for two challenges on Stars and Stamps - card made with stickers from Saturday's Skip and the Midweek challenge for layers - a card without layers - I don't think I could make one.

Everyone have a wonderful evening. Come back tomorrow night to see an Easter treat.

OWH Sticker Skip

Welcome to the second Operation Write Home SKIP. Today’s SKIP is going to focus on the use of Stickers. Stickers are a great way to make a card but you do have to be careful how you use your stickers – you don’t want to just randomly place them all over a card. If you have been watching any of Sandy’s TV episodes and our design segments – you are learning about the importance of focal points on your cards. Little things you can do to step up your card design.

There are many great sticker companies. One of my favorite companies is SRM Stickers – they have sheets of Sentiments – usually around one particular subject area – ie birthday, winter, holiday, etc. Their cost is very inexpensive for the number of cards you can make out of a sticker sheet of sentiments. If you check through my blog you will find their sentiments on many of my cards. Penny Black has always had beautiful stickers. It is so easy to make a card using one of her stickers. Great value for your money. Mrs. Grossman has many stickers also.

I made three cards for you today. I had hopes of making more but time gets away from you. Working sure gets in the way of having time to create.



My first card is a masculine card. Golf is a favorite sport for many people – men and women – I chose to take a masculine route with this card. When I first laid out the card – it had no depth or character – so I cuddlebugged the blue background with an argyle folder (argyle/golf – they go together don’t they). I then got out my chalk and chalked the background blue embossed paper, chalked the golf cart (main focus of the card). If you notice I placed the sticker on a piece of paper that also had depth to it. Adds more character than a plain piece of green paper. I added the sentiment to a strip of green paper. A strip of plaid and a couple brads made a great sticker card. I dressed up the focal point (golf card) by using a interesting piece of paper to mount the sticker on and then added some chalk to add some distress (or maybe it was mud) to the focal point. The sentiment (one of the great sentiment stickers from SRM Stickers) was not just stuck on the card but placed on another piece of paper which had some depth. See how easy it is to dress up a Sticker card.



The second card is a more feminine card and could be sent to an adult or younger female. I found this great clear sticker at JoAnn’s – it is by Me and My Big Ideas – the bling is already on the card. I also used some letter stickers for my sentiment – letter stickers can be found all over and by many different companies. On this card – I used a Bo Bunny dots paper for my cardbase – this paper adds depth – you could have just used a piece of this paper also on top of a plain card base. I tried to follow the color palette of the light blue with pink accents for my color in the card. Both colors are in the bling on the sticker. Very simple layered card but I think makes great use of the sticker and the sentiment is simple but effective because it picks up the pink used in the card.



My third card is very simple – I think it needs something to dress it up and that is where you come in. The s tickers on this card are the buttons. I punched holes in the buttons (just like a real button) and then wove a double strand of twine through the buttons – I left a small amount of twine hanging over the edge of the card to add a little dimension. The buttons are pop dotted to give a little depth to them. The card is OK but needs to be stepped up – so this is where you come into the mix – please leave me a comment and give me suggestions on how you think I should dress up this card.

So please leave a comment on everyone’s Sticker Post – this puts you in a drawing for a prize from OWH – I also will have a drawing for a SRM Sentiment sheet for anyone who leaves me a comment (please leave me your e mail address so I can contact you).

You will be next popping over to visit Erica and see what she has to share with you. If you get lost – the list is below – or pop back to Stars and Stamps and start all over.

Operation Stars and Stamps

Barb - you are here

Erica

Jan

Sherry

Julie

Velda

John

Steph and Robin

Paula

Samantha

Hello Sunshine

Well it is amazing what a new modem does for your computer. I thought I needed to buy a new computer luckily it was just the modem and I am so proud of myself I was able to hook it up myself. It is so fast - I think I am in heaven.

The sun image is a digi image from I Brake for Digis. I colored it with my Copics and then highlighted everything with a Gelly Roll Stardust pen. Just adds a bit of sparkle. Both the sun and the face were popdotted to add dimension to the card. Isn't that background paper perfect - clouds with a few sun peeking through.

We have actually had some great sunshine here but now we are back to cold and blustery. YUCK.

Card Details:
Size: 4.5 x 6
Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye
Digi Image: I Brake for Digis colored with Copics
Gelly Roll Stardust Pen
Ribbon: May Arts
Sticker: SRM Stickers

Oldie Moldie Monday

Oldie Moldie Monday - time to show some love to some old paper. I have a love affair with 6 x 6 pads and buy almost everyone I see. They are great for cardmakers. But I don't think I had ever used any of this pad before. Some of it is a little exotic for me but I will come up with something.

I could have titled this as the evolution of the card. I had the basic card laid out - then added the dark blue under the lighter shade and after the card was made - I came back and added the pearls. I think they add a touch of elegance to a very simple card.

Is it summer already?

We have jumped from winter to summer in Wisconsin - it is in the 80's today. I did manage to get some lawn work done this week end and my body is telling me that I did - but it does look better. I raked up with the assistance of a couple of the neighbor kids 6 bags of yard waste. It only cost me an ice cream cone and a popcicle. The neighbor kids all work for popcicles. I really have them trained right.

My card today is my weekly card of encouragement for a special person. Last week - please don't be ashamed of me - I bought a card and mailed it. The card was even a little lame. The great image comes from The Paper Shelter - it is called Cockatoo Rules. The Paper Shelter blog has a challenge this week - anything goes - so that works for a masculine card.

This great paper comes from a company called Simple Stories - it is a new company to me - I will have to go check out their website.

Well I must go and get some more work done.

More Easter

With Easter so late this year - I may even get some Easter cards in the mail. I had colored this bunny - he is a Studio G stamp I got last year for $1 - I have a huge return on my $1 investment.

The paper and the sticker are from last year's Easter collection - I used a backing of an embossed cardstock. I like how it turned out.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

How About Something Different

Good evening - I decided I wanted to do something different with my digi image from I Brake for Digis - I needed to replace my pumpkin bar recipe - you could hardly read the recipe card anymore with all the stains on it - I really do like how the 6 x 6 recipe turned out.

Pop over to I Brake for Digis - and see all the designs available - and look at them in a different way - how could I use this - on something other than a card.

Everyone have a great evening - I am off to try my hand at scrapbooking - YIKES.

In case you can't read the recipe - here it is.


PUMPKIN BARS

2 C. Flour 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. baking powder 2 C. sugar
1 tsp. soda 1 C. salad oil
¼ tsp. salt 4 eggs
2 tsp. cinnamon 1 c. nuts (opt.)
16 oz. can pumpkin

Mix from pumpkin to flour and add nuts.
Bake 20 minutes at 350 degrees in a
12 x 15 x 1 jelly roll pan.

Frosting:

3 ounce pkg. cream cheese
¼ cup margarine or butter
1 tsp vanilla
About 2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp milk

Beat and frost bars when cool.

Canine Christmas

Yes it is Monday - Oldie Moldie Monday - time to dig into your old supplies and show them some love. This paper is a pad of Basic Grey I bought several years ago at Michael's. Had all the colors you need for some great Christmas cards.

The midweek challenge at OWH Stars and Stamps is to make a canine card. So I made a Canine Christmas card - actually two of them - I found the images already colored in my box of images. Dug out this pad of paper and just used scraps to make these two cards. I know the cards will bring a smile to someone's face at Christmas when their hero sends them the card.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

Easter and Spring

OK - try again - I started this post and realized I was on the wrong blog - so had to start over - and Of course I did not copy what I had written already - I was quite chatty.

I am enjoying the fact that now that spring has arrived you are able to go outside and take pictures of your creations. Of course yesterday it was a challenge because it was windy and I had many pictures with nothing in them because the card blew away on me. I was trying to avoid the shadows from the bow, hurrying so that it did not blow off, and did manage to get a bright spot of sunshine on the card. I am not going to complain - it is so nice to have warmer weather - today it is raining so no open doors to day - I can't wait till we have a 60 degree day - and most likely I will be working that day.

My card today is using an image from The Paper Shelter. On their blog - the challenge is to case someone's card - well I guess I was being lazy - I cased one of my own cards from last week - I liked the design - the colors are entirely different. I did use another handmade flower - this one is made with acrylic paint and coffee filters and some die cuts - I have a box where I am growing a garden of them. This is the small version. My next experiment is to see if I can make a poinsetta. Hopefully I have some dark red paint - if not - paint is cheap to play with.

Well I must go and try to get something accomplished or at least started. Everyone have a wonderful day and I hope you get to spend some time being creative.

Card Details:
Size: 4.5 x 6
Paper: The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby)
Image: The Paper Shelter
Ribbon: Offray
Sticker: SRM Stickers
Lace trim: Wrights

Sweet Saturday

Good afternoon - a little short on posts this week. I got pink eye - I really think I am way too old to get pink eye. It is pretty common right now - both of my student workers had it and I got up on Friday morning and knew I had it also. So I am now on eye drops and my week end plans were cancelled. Oh well - I don't want to spread this any further.

I did get busy last night and did do some creating. I also took a nap yesterday. I did the sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping - both cards resemble the sketch somewhat - I had to add my own little extra spin on the design. I always hate to stamp multiples that are suppose to line up but the paper I stamped on had a graph paper design in it so it was easy to line up the little stamps. Both stamps are from sets I bought at Michael's dirt cheap on clearance. The bird is actually from a Christmas set but sure is cute for normal cards. I already had the Happy Birdday stamp and actually knew where it was. The other sentiment is a favorite from Hero Arts.

Both cards are for Operation Write Home. Come back later in the week and see what else I created with the same papers and stamps. Everyone enjoy your evening.