Memorial Day Bloghop winners!

Hi everyone!  Sorry I'm late posting the winners of the OWH stamps from the Memorial Day bloghop!  Thank you for your nice comments.

 

 

I used Random number generator to choose commenter rstuck2003 #101.  She'll receive the "You're Always in My Heart" set.

 

 

And the second set goes to Amy#8546(TheTigersHaven) #89.  She asked for the "Blessings to You" set.

 

I'll email the winners shortly.  I wish I could have given away more sets - so many ladies don't live near a Hobby Lobby.  I may do this again.

 

Thanks again!

 

 

 

 



OWH Memorial Day Bloghop + giveaway!

Hi everyone and welcome to another great OWH bloghop!  Our challenge inspiration is to make Thank You cards for our heroes, based on an OWH sketch.  I chose sketch #165:

 

for my card:

I did partial embossing on each side of my white layer, leaving the center flat for my sentiment, which is from Simon Says Stamp.  I cut the chevron border on my Cricut, added a red ribbon, and bestowed a fabric flowery-flourish on top (hmmm...don't know what the correct name is!)

 

I've got a giveway for you!  Hero Arts recently released a new set of stamps available exclusively in Hobby Lobby stores.  I bought stamps for myself and wanted to giveaway each set below:

 

Just leave me a comment and let me know if you'd rather have the set on the left (Blessings to You) OR the set on the right (You're Always in my Heart).  Many stampers live far from a Hobby Lobby and I'd like to spread the stamping goodness to someone who can't get to the store (USA addresses only).

 

I'll draw two names (one for each set) on Wednesday, May 29th, and announce it on my blog and email the winners.  Good luck!

 

Thanks for stopping by today! Happy Memorial Day weekend.

 

 



Midweek throwdown for May 22

Today's midweek throwdown is to use three of something on a card.  When I was cleaning out my scrap room, I found a Die Cuts with a View bird paper pad that I never used! (for shame!) I fussy cut three birds and used a My Pink Stamper stamp for this card:

 

It's hard to tell, but I used Liquid Pearls around the clouds to give them some added interest. 

 

Hope you have a "tweet" day too!  Thanks for looking.



Sketchy Sunday for OWH

Something about today's OWH sketch really got my mojo working because I made four cards with it!  As I was looking through my stamps, I kept finding ones that fit into the center rectangle perfectly. Here's the sketch:

 

Card #1:

Flower stamp is from the $1 bin at Michael's.  The background is embossed in white, then watercolored with Gelatos.  Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp (SSS).

 

Card #2:

Stampendous flower stamp with Distress Inks.  Sentiment is from SSS.  I turned the sketch on its side and moved the embellishment.

 

Card #3:

 

I got the cat stamp at the Stamp show - don't remember the company.  The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper.  I made dashes around the black edges.  Something about that fat cat makes me laugh.

 

Card #4:

 Hero Arts OWH Stamp set - Right at home.  That house fits perfectly in the rectangle too.  I stamped it on design paper and cut the door out separately.

 

I'm looking forward to our Memorial Day bloghop - there will be lots of inspiration to look forward to!  Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

 



FCCB Challenge #160

At the end of every school year, the band Moms organize a band banquet.  I've made place cards for the Seniors every year to make their table special.  This year, I created a place card that's more like a small stand to display their name and instrument.  This is when my Quarter Note cartridge gets a real work out!

 

 I used shiny black paper for the base and holographic gold/white for the name.  The font is CK Gatsby, which is the theme of the banquet.  This is the front of the placecard:

 

And this is the other side:

Now I've got make 26 more!  I hope my Cricut doesn't burn out!

 

I'm entering my place card into this week's Fantabulous Cricut Challenge, which is #160 - Congratulations Graduate. 

Thanks for looking.

 



Mid week throwdown & a new challenge

Hiya!  I'm trying a new challenge this week over at the Muse Challenge blog.  The entries submitted for these challenges are wonderful and inspiring and even though I'm a bit intimidated by the challenge entries, I decided to give it a try.

 

This is for Muse Challenge #17 with this card as inspiration:

My inspiration came from the three images as well as the colors of yellow, pink and orange:

The paintbrushes and sentiment are free digital stamps from The Alley Way.  I colored them with my Smooch inks and free-hand painted the background with the same colors.  I mounted them on black to make them pop on the background color of bright green (another color from the inspiration card).

 

This was a fun card to put together - I'm also adding this to today's OWH Mid-week throwdown - So Sentimental.

 

Stay crafty, my friends!



OWH May Bootcamp with a bit of Mojo!

Hi there!  The latest OWH Bootcamp lesson is Variety is the spice of life.  I chose to add variety by using different papers from the 6x6 Beach Cottage paper pad by Creative Imaginations.  I layered different papers so that the focal point (the Technique Tuesday sentiment) stood out.  Today's Mojo Monday sketch was the layout for my card:

 

This is the sketch:

I hope my card gives enough variety for the homework lesson.  I appreciate your comments and advice!

 



Mother's Day - crafting day!

Along with my regular chores, I managed to fit in a few hours of crafty time this weekend.  I'd love to hide out in my craft area all day on Mother's Day, but I need clean clothes!  Ha.

 

I love the OWH Hero Arts stamps that I got at Hobby Lobby - the detail on the images stamps very well.  Here's one of the cards I made, using a cut file from 2 Peas in a Bucket:

 

I made 4 cards, switching out the papers.  I drew the square with a silver pen to enclose the image.  It's a bit nerve-wracking for me to draw/stamp/write directly on the card, but I'm getting the hang of it.

 

I studied today's OWH sketch for a bit and pushed myself to Just Do It!  No more waiting!  (I take too long sometimes to get started).  Here's my first take on it:

The stamp is also from the new Hero Arts OWH set.  All SEI papers.  Hmm...OK...but I thought I could do better, so here's my second card:

 

Much better!  The fish are free digistamps from The Alley Way and I've wanted to use them since  I saw Sandy's Rainbow School card.  I cut each fish and colored them with Copics. 

 

I'm going to color more fish and make a few more cards like this.  Hope you have a nice Monday!

 



CAS(E) challenge #27

I wanted to give my new Hero Arts OWH stamps a try and thought I'd use them on a one layer card.  This week's CAS(E) challenge is a great layout for a one layer card:

 

I made 3 cards before getting one that I liked! I wanted a layered look with a background heart and then the sentiment on top.  I cut a circle from masking tape to cover part of the heart where the sentiment would go.

 

I embossed the heart (from Simon Says Stamp) with black powder, then stamped the "Sending You Love" in Delicata gold ink.  I added a black border around the edge and resisted adding anything else:

 

When I see CAS cards, I think it must have gone together in a snap, but this card was a reminder for me that sometimes they can take a while too! 

 

Thanks for taking a look.

 

 

Friday posting

It's been a busy week for me - I didn't get a chance to participate in the weekly OWH tutorial or Mid week throwdown, because I got caught up in organizing my craft space....again.  It all started at Staples where I found this wire bin.  It fits my Distress Inks perfectly and the bin fits perfectly into a 12x12 shelving unit I got from Target a few years ago.

 

 

That made me rearrange what I had on my desk and shelves and so I didn't have any time to make cards.  I discovered some paper that would be great for cards - that's always a good thing.

 

I used up the last of the papers from the May SSS card kit for this card:

 

Today's posting on the OWH blog was dedicated to Jane E, who passed away recently.  Her cards are posted on the blog and they're beautiful!  We certainly will miss her creativity and we were challenged to case one of her cards.  I wanted to CASE them all, but chose her watercolor card, because I had the same stamp:

 

I used a Tim Holtz background stamp with Shaded Lilac and then stamped the floral stamp in Crushed Olive over it.  I used a punch for the tiny flowers with Liquid Pearls as the center dots. 

 

I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and bought the new OWH stamps!

Sandy was right - the stamps were put at the bottom of the rack.  These that I found were in the ink section.  Poor little lost stamps....but I found 'em anyway!

 

One of my cards was selected to be in the Top 5 over at the FCCB Challenge #158.  Woo hoo!  It's always a good feeling to get a pat on the back.  Thanks FCCB!

 

Our school's annual band banquet is coming up soon and I'll be busy making decorations.  I hope to post them on my blog.  I discovered that someone pinned the placecards I made a few years ago.  That was a surprise!

 

Hope you have a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.

 



National Scrapbook Day rebellion

Hi everyone!  Although I went to a weekend crop for National Scrapbook Day (15 pages done!), I wanted to participate in OWH's VCMP - Virtual Card making party.  I've got a lot of catching up to do and I plan on putting all the cards in this one post.

 

Challenge #1: ODBD Miss You :

I made the background on glossy paper with alcohol inks.  The sentiment is from Stamps of Life, mounted on to two pieces of vellum.

 

Challenge #2: Kids cards

 

I cut the Ipod images on my Cricut and the sentiment is from the You set at Simon Says Stamp.  I now see that Paula didn't challenge is to do both a boy & girl card, but it was easy to make the second one.

 

Challenge #3: Romance cards

The sentiment is a rubon from Creative Imaginations and the papers are all from my stash.  The ruffle card tutorial was one of the first ones I watched over a year ago and it was fun to re-visit the technique.

 

Challenge #4: Card from a scrapbook sketch

Here's the sketch from Crafty Sketches October 2011: 

Here's my take on the sketch:

 

The papers, sentiment and hearts are from the May Simon Says Stamp card kit. I inked the hearts with Tsukineko Brilliance gold ink.  Now, I know that the Mother's Day deadline for OWH has passed, but I had to make some Mother's Day cards to mail out.

 

Challenge #5: OWH Sketch #171

 

Sentiment, lace & paper is from the May SSS card kit.  This started out as a masculine card, but the lace took it to the feminine side.  Once Sandy challenged us with romance, I can't seem to get off that subject!

 

Challenge #6: Handmade by Julie - Use a photo on a card

 

What a great idea!  This picture is from my Hawaii trip last year - I took tons of flower pictures.  The sentiment is from Jillibean and the papers are from the April Simon Says Stamp kit.

 

Challenge #7: Summertime cards

 

Paper & sentiment from the April SSS card kit.  I colored the digistamp using Copics and embossed the top yellow half of the card with the Swirls Cuttlebug folder.

 

Challenge #8: Googlie Eyes

 

I used an image from My Cute Graphics and the sentiment is from the You set from Simon Says Stamp.  I thought I had no googly eyes, but I found a small bag this morning!  Yeah!  I need to stay away from craft stores for a while and use my stash.

 

Alrighty then - I completed all the VCMP challenges and got a good head start on my next OWH box.  I'm gonna check out what the other ladies have been doing this past weekend and....relax!

 

Thanks for stopping by.



His & Hers - Day 3 - Sympathy/Thank You cards

Today's I'm combining our class homework with a few challenges, so here goes:

 

Our class homework is to make his/hers sympathy cards.  I started with Freshly Made Sketch #84

 

 

 

 and used the Simon Says Stamp May 2013 card kit to make the his version:



I used the line stamp from SSS Everyday Happy set with Delicata gold ink on the top and bottom of the paper, as well as the Hero Arts sentiment.  I love the Delicata ink - it stamps intricate designs very well.

 

Here's the hers version:

 

I turned the sketch vertically and stamped the line & sentiment with Versamark Smokey Gray ink.  I white embossed the flowers from the May kit and colored them with Inktense pencils. 

 

The next challenge is the mid week throwdown at Operation Write Home.  I used the Mojo Monday 291 sketch as my starting point:

and here's the "his" version:

and the "hers" version:

All papers are from the May SSS card kit.  On the female version, I used the banner stamp on vellum with white embossing.  I learned to watch that heat gun on the vellum!  It will bubble up if you heat it too long.

 

That's all for me today - have a lovely Thursday!

 

His & Hers class - Day 2 and a challenge

Today's class was another fun day full of techniques.  I used a stamp from the Paper Smooches Potpourri set to make a geometric design, using Tsukineko Brilliance ink pads.  I made the feminine version using the pink, purple, and blue inks and stamped the background with a Hero Arts stamp:

I added Liquid Pearls to the center of the images and around the sentiment.

My masculine version used the same Brilliance inks, but this time in metallic silver, bronze, and gold:

Adding the metal brads and brown background stamp keeps it more "guy" looking to me.

I also managed to make a card for this week's FCCB Challenge - Paper Roses.  We can make anything with paper flowers.  I pulled out my Pagoda Cricut cartridge and made the Cherry Blossoms, cut at 2 inches:

I cut a window in the card front using my Spellbinders dies and then added vellum and a border.  The cherry blossoms needed a bit of Liquid Pearls too.  I was inspired by last week's CBS Sunday show on the cherry blossoms in Washington DC - some year I'll actually go when they're in bloom.

Have a lovely day and thanks for looking!