Stars & Stamps MWT

I just shipped my box of cards yesterday and thought I'd take a week off from making cards, but oh no...I couldn't resist to get back into it!  So my addiction continues tonight with 3 masculine cards for OWH's Midweek Throwdown:

 

Stamp is from Stamps of Life; diecut is the globe from Cricut's Going Places cartridge.

All papers from the September Simon Says Stamp card kit; Stampabilities stamp for the windmill and sentiment is from Inkadinkado.

 

What fun!  Thanks for looking!

 

 



My first swing card & OWH sketch #135

I made my first swing card today...successfully, that is.  I've struggled in the past to make them and I just couldn't get it right.  This time, I used a free SVG from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff and that was the trick for me.  The paper I used is from Simon Says Stamp's July card kit (yes, I'm that far behind) and the teapot is an SVG file too:

 

This card doesn't leave a lot of room to write a note on, so I hope the soldier that gets it just has a short thought to say:

 

I also put together a card with today's OWH sketch, using inspiration from Paper Therapy Ponderings.  I loved the robot she used and I remembered that I had a whole sheet of lil' robots from My Mind's Eye, which I thought would fit with this sketch.  Here's my card:

Based on this sketch, which I rotated vertically:

I've got several more robots to get on cards tonight, then make a few AnyHero cards and get this box shipped outta here!  I can hardly wait to start making Thanksgiving & holiday cards.  Woohoo!

 

Hope you had a fun weekend - wish I had another day off before going back to work!

 

 



OWH's Pizzazz Blogskip

I was preparing for this week's pizzazz blogskip at OWH and didn't even know it!  Last week, I stopped by AC Moore and bought this 6x6 template that I thought would be fun to try out:

 

 

I laid it over cardstock and sprtized away with some Mr. Huey custard ink, lifted the template and sprtized again with Perfect Pearls Heirloom gold (which I've had for months and never used-shameful!).  Then...I didn't know what to do with my lovely cardbase.  I remembered Sandy Allnock's card using this template and she cut a leaf out of it.

 

I found a leaf SVG, cut it out and then....let the leaf sit on my desk.  I still didn't know what to do with it!  Finally, today, I got out my Distress Inks, spritzed some Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive and Rusty Hinge and got my background for the leaf.    Here's my card:

 

I was pretty happy with it since I almost threw the leaf away!  I also made another card with the template:

This all was pretty pizzazzy for me, using the inks, embossing the sentiment (on my first card), spritzing with misting spray.  Lots of fun! 

 

Stay pizzazzy, my friends!



Using an old punch

This week's OWH Midweek throwdown challenges us to use a diecut.  I digged through my old punches and found this leaf punch that I've had for 15 years.  I bought it when I started scrapbooking long ago:

 

I used it on this card, which looks simple now but took me a while to pull together.  I just couldn't figure out how to lay the leaves on the card! 

My lighting is pretty bad!  I've got to put together a light box for my photography.  Anyway, I'm happy to be able to participate in the OWH midweek throwdown and add to my box of cards!  Happy Thursday!!!



OWH Sketches

I've been so busy with the start of marching band season that I've had to slow down my card-making...but not for long!  Last weekend, I went to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Charlotte and discovered a new stamp company - Stamps of Life.  They've got some adorable stamps and although I resisted joining their club at the convention, I think I'm going to give in and do it anyway!

One of the stamp sets I bought was the August Stamp of the month - raccoon2love - and I've already made several cards using the stamps, including today's OWH #134 sketch:

Since I don't like fussy cutting, I made an SVG of the raccoon shape by stamping it, scanning it and then tracing it in SCAL.  Then I can let my machine do the cutting for me and all I do is stamp the image.  I really like this sketch and it didn't take me an hour to complete!

I loved last week's sketch and made this card from it:

The owl and sentiment is also from Stamps of Life - owls2love.  So stinkin' cute!  I've got several other stamps that I can't wait to play with.

I'm looking forward to the Labor Day Virtual Cardmaking Party (VCMP) that OWH is sponsoring!  I applied to be a hostess and I hope to be chosen, but even if I'm not, I'm going to enjoy all the blog-hopping and inspiration for that weekend.  If you missed the post about this, you can find it here: OWH VCMP

That's all for now, my blogger friends!  I hope to keep up with all the great ideas that keep rolling in at OWH!



A kids card with a Freshly Made Sketch

Today's Midweek Throwdown at OWH challenged us to make kid's cards - fun fun!  I used the following sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

I dug out my Aug Simon Says Stamp card kit (I couldn't find it in my craft room for a few days) and used the "Lovely Girl" stamp, along with papers from my stash:

It looks easy to do a clean & simple card, but this one took me a while!  I cut the white medallion on my Cricut from an SVG file and embossed the papers with the Swiss Dots folder.

Now I've got to get packed & ready for the CK Convention in Charlotte this weekend.  Can't wait to shop, shop, shop!





OWH Sketch 132 - Hall-no-ween cards

Happy Sunday!  I spent very little time crafting today - boo hoo.  I'm resisting the temptation to buy Halloween paper because next weekend I'm going to the CK Convention in Charlotte and I'm sure I'll buy paper there.  So, I had to go thru my paper stash and get ideas. 

I started by purchasing a set of Halloween backgrounds from the talented Patricia Zapata here: Halloween backgrounds.  I made this square 4.25 x 4.25 card with the spider web and embossed the "Boo!" in white behind it:

Next, I used the pumpkin background to make this card.  I think it's rather ho-hum:

I used today's OWH sketch to make several cards.  I pieced the purple, orange and green paper together, then embossed it with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  I had to make my own Halloween paper!  Then I embossed the purple background with clear powder, using a background stamp from Impression Obsession.

The white embossed "Boo!" was a bit messy, but I though that gave the card a more Halloween feel.  This is the sketch I used for the card:

I hope you're having fun with this sketch too!  I enjoy looking at what the other talented ladies create - there's so many ideas for inspiration!



In a peachy mood!

Hi bloggers!  I've been in a peachy card-making mood, making several OWH cards using peach colored paper.  It's all accidental because I started out trying to use up scraps from Simon Says Stamp's May Card Kit.  Here's the card I made from that kit: 

Then my peach obsession just took off from there.  I made this card, using a Spellbinders die:

And this card, using a technique called Seamless Tiers that I learned from the Ellen Hutson website:

In the middle of this, I stopped to make a masculine card for the August ODBD Challenge.  OBDB donates shipping for every 25 cards that we make for the challenge.  Here's my masculine card for the challenge:

Now I've got to get going on Hall-no-ween cards for OWH, which means No scary cards!  The due date is August 31st and it just kind of snuck up on me.   Since my kids are older, I don't have Halloween paper, so I'm going to have to get creative with paper scraps!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend....I'm totally obsessed with the Olympics.  Go USA!

OWH Mid-week throwdown - Any Hero Cards

Thanks for the nice comments from everyone!  I managed to stretch my box to 93 OWH cards with some Any Hero cards.  I recently bought PaperTrey Ink's Military Hero Stamp Set and this was the first time I used it.  It's filled with lots of great sayings to put on cards, like this one:

I added about 4 AnyHero cards and just wrote notes about what I've been doing (watching the Olympics) and hoping that they're getting a chance to watch them too.  I pretend I'm writing to an old friend and just catching up on whatever's the latest thing going on.  Warm and fuzzy thoughts - that kind of thing.

I also got a chance to do some sewing and I finished this cover for my Cricut.  This is the second cover I've sewn because one of my friends commented that my first cover looked like "old ladies curtains".  Hah!  So, I thought this fabric was happier.  I guess I won't be sewing her a cover!

Ha ha.  Now I'm off to help a teacher make band instruments for her bulletin board at school.

Thanks for looking!