CAS-ual Friday - Masculine with no Kraft

Quick post - I am running around like a crazy woman trying to get things done.  I wanted to post the card I made.  The challenge at CAS-ual Friday is to make a masculine card with ribbon and no kraft paper.  Honest this is not kraft paper.  It is cream with flecks in it.  I am not the world's best photographer that is for sure.

This is a favorite go to stamp for a masculine card.  It is an old Cornish Heritage Farm stamp.  I don't think the new owners have brought this stamp back.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.  Pretty good sentiment to fit almost any occasion for a man.  The solid colors - kinda burgundy and navy are card bases I have had.  The burgundy was a perfect color to finish off my card so I just cut up the premade card base.  I added a little texture with an embossing folder that is just that width.  Hard to believe I could not find any navy ribbon but I did have this other ribbon that worked.

I am also putting it in the current challenge on Addicted to CAS.  The key word is Texture.  I have added texture with the dry embossing.

I had made another card but I used twine on it.  You can see it here.  These cards will go in my next Operation Write Home box.

Enjoy your Saturday.  We have having a gorgeous day so I am trying to get so much done.  I am going to be in Milwaukee for an Operation Write Home event, try to stop and work for a couple hours on the way, stop and visit my daughter for a little bit ....... now you know why I am running around like a crazy woman.

You Color My World with Unity Stamps

I have set a goal to make some cards with my Unity Stamps each week.  I have a few and need to use them.  On Friday you can share what you made on Facebook.  I broke out the paint can and sentiment.  I made three cards.  The second card was the second card I made.  The first card was this same design but needed a little tweaking.  So the second card is the tweaked version.

After I made these two cards I had some paper leftover so I used it to make the first card.  I think it is my favorite.  Backing two of the pieces with black just makes the design pop.

All three cards will go into my next Operation Write Home box.

Enjoy your Friday.

Operation Write Home Card Kit

I am going to a Operation Write Home event on Sunday at The Scrapbook Store in the Milwaukee, WI area.

We are going to introduce people to Operation Write Home and hopefully get some new card makers in the process.

I have made a couple kits to take along to assemble.  This is a kit for Christmas cards.  There are only 6 cards in my kit (I don't like repetition work.  All of the elements came from a pad of Christmas paper I bought.  I cut out the Joy to the World with a circle spellbinder.  A very simple card.

More Watercolor Backgrounds

I am a sucker for tree stamps.  I have several (several) in my collection.  This stamp is from Penny Black.  I use tree stamps for Sympathy cards.  They seem to be so peaceful.

When I saw the weekly challenge at The Friday Mashup to make a card using a tree, or embossing or both together.  I chose to just do the tree.  This is a very simple card.  The background was made using a stencil.  You lay down colors and then put your stencil over the top and let the inks pool in the stencil holes.  I help it along by adding more ink in the holes of the stencil.  Every time you make this background it turns out different.  I have several cards in the last couple weeks using this same stencil.

I like how the tree looks but yet I don't like how the tree looks.  Isn't that a strange thing to say.  I like how it is soft and muted but yet I don't like that it is not crisp.  Some of that is stamping on watercolor paper.  I also wanted to use grey ink so it would be softer.

Well back to doing something.  Had my yearly eye exam today so I could not go back to work since it is important to see.  I came home and took a nap.

Everyone have a good Wednesday.

Oldie Moldie Monday

Only one card to share today for oldie Moldie Monday.  Same paper pad as last week.  The monkey is by Stampendous.  The sentiment is by Paper Smooches.  My die cut slipped when I was cutting out the sentiment and I was tossing it and then I remembered - slide it under something and it will work.  Sentiment saved.  Card made.  Another card to go into my Operation Write Home box.

Off to plant some plants in the flower bed.  Been busy getting caught up on work outside.

Enjoy your Memorial Day.

Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop

Today we celebrate Memorial Day and honor the heroes who serve or have served our country in all branches of the service.

Operation Write Home is having a huge blog hop.  The challenge was to make a red, white and blue card and to try and use one of the sketches.  Well - this card did start out as a sketch but then you know how sketches take a twist and then a turn, and it is no longer the sketch.  I did have good intentions.  I did get to use a new pad of red, white and blue paper from Pebbles and this is a new rubber stamp from Deep Red.

Thanks for stopping by.

Please return to the Stars and Stamps Blog to keep hopping.  

Paper Smooches and Operation Write Home

As Memorial Day approaches, you must think of all our heroes who have given service to their country.  Many have given the ultimate sacrifice.  I have been lucky enough to know so many people who have served our country in the military.  I work at a university and the veteran's officer is located right next to my office.  Many of the students are so young.  This is why I have been drawn to making cards for Operation Write Home.  It is my way of giving back to our heroes, their families and friends.

Today's card is for me to write a thank you note to a hero.  I had a new pad of red, white and blue paper and there was this one sheet of paper with these stars and stripes on it.  It made me think distressed and that is the direction my card went.  The sentiment and stars is from a set from Paper Smooches.  Part of the proceeds from this sale go to Operation Write Home.

The Paper Smooches Spark Challenge is Anything Goes.

Every Sunday there is a new challenge on the Paper Smooches Spark Challenge.  Dust off those Paper Smooches stamps and come play along.  I do need more stamps.  OK - more Paper Smooches stamps.

Stop over to Operation Write Home blog Stars and Stamps on Saturday.  There is a huge blog hop going on.  There are some excellent card makers who create cards for Operation Write Home.

More Watercolor

Here is another watercolor card I made in the online watercolor card class.  As you can see, I did enjoy this class.  In this class you used a design to paint your image.  I cut this flower shape with my Silhouette.  I then laid the design over my watercolor paper - taped it down - and painted inside the cut out shapes.  After you have the initial shape painted you can remove your cut design.  I think I colored it with gelatos and some watercolor pencils layering color upon color.  After I liked the design, I then added some color around the design.  I colored a strip of watercolor paper and also another piece where I stamped my sentiment.  The sentiment was from Unity Stamps.

I added the dots but I didn't really like them but they were stuck so there was no turning back.  In retrospect I think I would have liked to have done some splatters.  I matted the image in dark grey (my new black) - I wanted something dark on the card to pick up the black ink in the sentiment.

I still have more backgrounds made so there will be more cards coming soon.

More Watercolor

I am still playing with watercolor - or I am making cards - out of backgrounds I made in the watercolor class I took online.  I had so much fun in this class.

The background was made by getting ink on an acrylic block and then stamping the block on your watercolor paper.  You get some interesting colors when you do this.  I do like the background.  It was done with distress ink.  The floral stamp is from Deep Red.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I used the sketch from CAS on Sunday.  Pretty clean and simple and pretty true to the sketch.

I am also entering it into the Simon Says Monday Challenge blog where the challenge is botanical.  My flower card will qualify for that.

Well off to get a few more things done.  Participating in a blog hop this week end so need to read the rules and decide on what I want to do.

Oldie Moldie Monday, Basic Grey, Paper Smooches and Whipper Snapper Stamps

Little slow this week getting my oldie moldie monday card posted.  I just got it made.  I was very busy last week and then I went and visited my daughter for a couple days.  We had fun and I bought my granddaughter her dress to wear to her brother's wedding.  That was fun.  I had not shopped with a teenager for many years.

The card today uses a stamped image from Whipper Snapper Stamps that I have had colored for ages.  The sentiments are from Paper Smooches.  The paper is from a 6 x 6 pad from Basic Grey - this paper wasn't too old - the date was 2012.

This card will go in my Operation Write Home box.  We always need love and missing you cards so I just combined in the need into one card.

I am sure next week there will be more paper used out of this pad.  Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Watercoloring Flowers

More watercolor magic.

The first card was made by inking up the stamp with gelatos and then spraying it with water and stamping.  I got three different stampings off the one layer of gelato.  Probably not the best stamp to use but I wanted to try it - I couldn't throw any away so I did make a card.  I did color paper for the mat.  The sentiment is a sticker from SRM Stickers.

The second card - the flowers were stamped in distress ink and then when you watercolor the distress ink fades into your other paint giving you a no line look.  The card is very pretty.  I think I had 3 pearls on it but that third one is not to be seen and of course I only had 3 that size.  The sentiment is from Paper Smooches.  The flower stamp is from JoAnn Fabrics.

Well off to clean my house.

More Watercolor

Here is another card I made in my watercolor class.  These lessons were on stamping with watercolor.  I mixed some distress ink with water and painted it on my stamp - and stamped away.  I did a couple stampings of this.  I like how it turned out.  Very soft colors.  I decided to stamp my sentiment in grey so it was softer in color.  I luckily had these dots that matched and shimmered a little and add the finishing touch to the card.

The flower is by Stampendous and the sentiment is by Penny Black.

Another Watercolor Background

I am taking the online watercolor class and the first two day lessons were making background  I have made a few and am getting some of them made into cards.  This card (along with this card and this card) were done withe same technique and same stencil.  Two of the card I used the same color inks on them and look how different the backgrounds turned out.

I made this card into a birthday card for my co worker who loves butterflies.  I also gave her the other card with the butterflies on it.  These are some of her favorite colors.  I am going to enter this card into the SRM Sticker challenge blog - their monthly challenge is birthdays.

Everyone have a good Tuesday.

Oldie Moldie Monday

A quick post to share a couple cards I made from older supplies.  The 6 x 6 pad is from Simple Stories.  These cards will be going in my next Operation Write Home box.  The sentiments are from Paper Smooches.

Watercolor Class Assignments

This is another card I made for my watercolor class.  Look - I have made it to Lesson 3 and 4.  I colored the stamp with Gelatos and then sprayed with water and  stamped.  I did come back in and add some more detail with a water brush and the Gelatos.  The flower is from Hero Arts and the sentiment is from Penny Black.  I then splattered the paint mixture around the background.  Since I had no cardstock to match the flower, I colored around the edge of some watercolor to make a mat.  I did the same thing for my sentiment.
This was the card I hand delivered to my Mom for Mother's Day.

Watercolor Hero Card

As I have been sharing my cards you all know I am taking the watercolor class.  I have been making backgrounds with distress inks and stencils.  How exciting that the challenge on The Friday Mashup is to use a stencil.  Unfortunately I do not know who makes the stencil.  I colored the twine with distress inks also.  I also made my own paper to match using distress inks for the mat and the sentiment.  The stars were cut with a Spellbinders set.

The challenge on the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge blog is Anything Goes.

I decided to use the background to make a Hero Card.  I will write a note in the card to one of our Heroes who are serving overseas.  It will go in my next Operation Write Home box.  The sentiment stamp is from Paper Smooches - a stamp set which part of the proceeds goes to Operation Write Home.  Thank you Paper Smooches for supporting our Heroes keep in touch with their families and friends at home.

If you want to buy your own Paper Smooches stamps, pop over to their online store.

If you are interested, pop over to this post and see how different this very same stencil and different inks look.

I am so glad it is the week end.  I hope to play more with watercolor stuff.

Watercolor Background Card

Here is another card I made for my watercolor class.  I made the background with distress inks and water on watercolor paper.  I saturated the paper with water and light wash of ink.  You then put a stencil over the top and the water is supposed to pool in the holes.  I sorta did not think it had enough color so put more watered down distress ink in the holes of the stencil.  I really like the muted soft background I achieved.  You will have to come back and see some other cards using the same technique and stencil - how different they turned out.  Unfortunately I have no idea who made the stencil - no name on it.

The stamp set is from Unity Stamps.  There were butterflies in the stamp set and if you look you can see some muted stamped ones in the background.  I punched out two butterflies.  One I colored with the distress ink and glued down - shhh - don't tell anyone - there is a bird underneath that butterfly.  The other one is punched from the cardstock of the card base.  I have seen all these cards made with the image off center so I wanted to try that.  I added a few pearls to the card.

Watercolor Class

I am taking the watercolor class from "online card classes".  Having lots of fun.  I haven't gotten past the first two days of class in creating - we learned how to do different backgrounds.  I have been having so much fun I may never do any other cards.

This card is made by putting ink on an acrylic block and then stamping it on watercolor paper.  I used distress inks for this card.  I did this a couple nights ago - hmmmmm - how did I do that?  I must have wet something down - maybe the paper.  This is a very small card - it only measures 2.5 inches by almost 4 inches.  I decided to put my sentiment at an angle.  something a little different.

Come back tomorrow to see another technique.

Oldie Moldie Monday and Operation Write Home

I am trying to show some love to an older 6 x 6 pad from Echo Park "It's a Boy's Life."  Guess what I made boy cards for Operation Write Home.

The airplanes and the sentiment about the plane are from Taylored Expressions.  The robot is from Stampabilities.  I used a Hero Arts sentiment for happy birthday and an SRM Sticker. The missing you sentiment is from Paper Smooches.  The card stock was all from my scrap box.  I have a couple pieces of paper left and they may get thrown in the scrap box now.  I guess next week I need to make some girl cards.

Fun little cards to make.  Some little boys will be very happy to get mail from their Hero.

Enjoy your Monday.

National Scrapbooking (no Cardmaking) Day

Today is National Scrapbooking Day but I am going to rebel and make cards.  Well at least a couple cards.

This card is for the ODBD (Our Daily Bread Designs) monthly contest on Stars and Stripes (Operation Write Home Card Blog).  For each 25 entries ODBD pays for the shipping for a box of cards to our Heroes overseas.  We are trying to reach 50 posts today.  Here is my card for the challenge - embossing.   I chose to do dry embossing.

I cut the flower from cardstock with my Silhouette and colored it with Copics.  The patterned paper is from a 6 x 6 pad from Lawn Fawn.  I glued the flower to white cardstock and embossed it.  It basically melts your design in the cardstock.  Since I could not find any cardstock to match the blue of the flower, I colored my own paper for my sentiment and to be the base layer for my patterned paper.  The sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

Thanks for stopping by.  I really need to do something productive in the way of housework.  I did gather all my plastic bags together - OMG - I have a trunk full - you can recycle them at Walmart and that is my first stop tomorrow to get rid of all those bags.

Enjoy the remainder of your day.

Freshly Made Sketches and Lawn Fawn Paper

I needed to get a birthday card in the mail today so I decided to use the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  

I decided to be a rebel and flip it on its side.  I also moved the circle up a little so that I could add my birthday sentiment underneath the image.

The owl image is a $1 stamp I got somewhere a long time ago.  He is colored with copics.  the balloon is patterned paper.  I added glossy accents to the balloon and the eyes and beak of the owl.  The cute paper is from Lawn Fawn.  I love that background paper - 'Oh Happy Day' - could be used for so many different cards.  All the colors in the paper are bright and cheerful.

I am also entering this card in the current challenge on the SRM Challenge Blog.  The challenge for the month of May is birthdays.  All the sentiment stickers are from SRM Stickers.  Love their stickers.

Well off to get lots done.  I do hope to create off an on - I think it is my reward for accomplishing those dreaded tasks of clearing and cleaning.

New Technique

Last week I was out looking at a challenge site and was looking at some of the entries - now I don't even know where I was or whose card it was - they had a link to a video - I went at watched it.  I had all the supplies so I decided to try it.

You take an embossing folder and you ink the front panel.  You spritz the paint with water and then place paper on top and just rub it.  I tried it two different times.  You can see I got two different looks.

The stamps on this card are from Unity Stamps.

On the second card I probably could have gotten another rubbing off the paint.  The bottom card was sent to a TV broadcaster who I have watched every morning for probably 10 - 15 years.  He is retiring and I wanted to thank him for starting my mornings.  The TV and big sentiment are from Lawn Fawn.

It was a fun technique to try and I will try it again.

Yeah it is Friday and I am home two days this week end.

Paper Smooches - Who Love You?

I am playing along on the Paper Smooches Spark Challenge this week.  This week it is a sketch or draft challenge.

I wanted to send a card to my daughter and son in law who live in Alaska.  I want them to know I love them.  They recently got a new dog and he ran away but luckily - 4 days later - he was found and is back home with them.  Carrie said she is amazed at the kindness of so many strangers in such a big city as Alaska.  Carrie loves owls so I had to use the owl again in a card.  Here is the April draft.

Here is my card.

This owl stamp set is fun because it has coordinating dies.  The tag is also a die from Paper Smooches.  If you wish to buy your own stamps from Paper Smooches just click here.