OWH Sketch #153

Happy Monday and New Year's Eve!
Here is this week's sketch; ahhh- this has the potential for a lot of cards in my future!

I cut my puppy a little too big- therefore my square is a bit large and takes up too much room--and I am not sure I like the size of the dots on the red  paper.  I think if the spots were smaller or the rick rack bigger the flow of the card would be better. I do like the colors red/black/kraft and white together.

supplies:

puppy- Cricut Paper Pups

red/kraft dot paper- Jillibean

Kraft paper- GinaK

black paper-DCWV

EK Success rick rack punch and label punch

WRMK corner punch

ribbon- Michaels

sentiment- Paper Smooches

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Take care,

Diane

Missing you and other cards!

Hello! Happy 2 days after Christmas..and almost Friday-yahoo! I had a wonderful Christmas and hope everyone else did as well!

This week at OWH we are challenged to make missing you cards for our troops to send home.

I love this dog stamp- he is just waiting for his loved one to come home! I bought it a few years ago at the Paper Source but I do not know who made it; no label on the stamp....

My patterned papers are from The Paper Loft 6x6 pad- Hooked on Fishing- a great masculine pad! The kraft is from Gina K- Pure Luxury- what nice, thick cardstock! The green mat is DWCV.

My next 2 cards were made for the sketch on Sunday 12/23.  I struggled with the squares- trying to make them rectangles-- I checked out a few of the posts on OWH and felt better about the sketch!

The Happy Brithday stamp is an orphan stamp from my stash....another mystery stamp.

I used the glaze pen to make the popsicles look wet and frozen! Stamps are from Stamps of Life.

And below are a few other cards I made recently. I mailed my last package to shipper Caro today and it contained just love cards so they can be used anytime (Caro is moving and stepping down as a shipper-thanks for your hard work Caro!).

The stamp with the girl and boy is one of my favorites of all time! It is so sweet and colors up quickly and can be used with a lot of different sentiments! I do not know who made it- but I bought it several years ago in a clearance bin at JoAnn; I know it was part of a set- but over the years- it got separated so I do not even know what stamps coordinate with it! Yup- sometimes my stamps are in a basket and when it overflows and I try to put them where they belong- well- I sometimes give up! New Years resolution- TRY to keep stamps organized! lol

And my final card for today is a cute Inky Antics image- perfect for a child's card! I popped up the balloon to make it stand out from the images on the patterned paper.

So that is my card share for this week! I hope to find some crafty time this weekend- even if I only get to create for 1/2 hour, it feels so good!

Take care,

Diane

Red, White and Blue

This week for the Midweek Throwndown  at OWH cardmakers are challenged to make cards using the colors red, white & blue for our heroes to send home to their family and friends! A fun challenge and I usually think of patriotic when I hear this color scheme- but I went in another direction this time.

I have several of the Inky Antic Stamp sets that use the honeypop- so much fun- but I have used them mostly for cards I have given by hand-since there is a little bit of bulk. I thought I would try it for OWH since it will is a nice surprise when the card is opened!

I guess we are all critical of our work- my fussy cutting was baaaad this time-lol.  I will go in and ink the edges so the white is not so glaring! Funny how my camera does not pick up on the gloss of the worm's eyeglasses and on the shiny spot of the apple- but picks up all my cutting flaws~ lol. But I like this card today...I think fun cards tend to be my favorite and the ones I am most pleased with.....most of the time!

I have today off from work- some of my annual medical things to take care of- but I have time for card making as well as wrapping some of my sister's gifts. We shop together a lot; I take the gifts home so her children to not see them and somehow- I end up doing some wrapping for her....isn't she a smart one!!!  I guess it is better than the year they had a 2nd floor addition added to their house. They lived with me so keeping the gifts at my place that year did not work- so we hid and wrapped the gifts in the UNHEATED house under construction- in New England and in December! Oh the things I do for my baby sister!  So- any year of wrapping in warmth, watching dvr'd Pawn Stars, Antiques Roadshow and my newly discovered Bid and Destroy-- it is all good!

Supplies:

Stamps and Honeypop- Inky Antics

blue solid paper- Bazzill

blue patterned paper- DCWV

Red gingham- Memory Box

copics

white card base and used to color the imades- SSS 120# base weight. wow, nice, thick paper! Perfect for a sturdy base and the copics did not bleed through so if I ever want to make a one layer card with copics- this is the paper I will use!

bling- Queen & Co

Lifestyle Crafts die

Have a wonderful holiday if I do not post again before Christmas- and have you checked out portablenorthpole.com  yet?  Do try to find a few minutes to create a message from Santa- everyone I have sent one to has enjoyed it!

Take care,

Diane

OWH Sketch #151

Good news for me!  Most (about 80%) of the gifts for my family are wrapped, cashew clusters and peanut butter cups are made and packaged, work Yankee Swap gift purchased, gifts for my staff wrapped, food shopping and laundry done- hey- it was time to create!

This is the sketch for this week at OWH:


This is the perfect sketch for some of my smaller stamps. Both cards use stamps from The Stamps of Life.

Both cards appear darker than they are-- I used my OTT light as always....I guess I need to improve on my photography skills!
 Another night football game tonight- the late games kill me since I get up so stinkin early for work.... but I do not want to miss a game!

A speical shout out to my fabulous niece Paige.... she is so smart and hard working- and man is it paying off for her! She has had some wonderful job offers so far- (and she does not graduate from Marist College until May!), she won a great award last week and she just found out she made the Fashion Draft! I am so proud and happy for her!
             http://www.nycedc.com/program/fashion-draft-nyc
 You go Paige-- where ever you want to go in life!!

Take care!
Diane

Is it so bad.....

that I would rather make cards than wrap Christmas presents?

The midweek throwdown challenge at OWH is to make a 'hi, hello, thinking of you' card and use a die cut or punch.

I used PTI dies and stamps for the plane and the banner, Simon Says Stamps card kit for the paper and the red accents, and EK Success punches for the borders.  The plane looks a liitle blotchy---in real life it is slick and shiny from my glaze pen.

OK, OK- I am  going to wrap some gifts!
Have a great week,
Take care,
Diane

I am liking this card...

I like this card so much better than yesterday's bee card! The paper is from Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit, the stamp is by Inkadinkadoo (Tin Can Mail), the card base is DCWV and has a slight shimmer. The ribbon, sentiment stamp and tiny pearls are from my stash- in other words- I do not know who makes them-lol. And of course- memento tuxedo black ink on x-press it blending card with copics.  I went over the whole image with Brilliance pearlescent beige dew drop ink by Tsukineko....it helped tone down the white paper while adding a bit of shimmer.

Anyone ready for some football? The Patriots are playing on Monday night- love the game but dislike that I have to work in the am-so I may not make the whole game, boo-hoo!
Take care,
Diane

OWH Sketch 150

Hello! Here is the newest sketch for OWH  operationwritehome.org.
I missed last week's midweek throwdown...this time of year I am challenged to find time to create. After missing a challenge, I was determined to have a fabulous card today...not happening! LOL

I am not sure what I do not love about the card.. I like the MME Darling Dear paper, I like the bee and sentiment stamps from the Stamps of Life.  Maybe it is that it seems like a dark card when in my head it was going to be light and fun. In person- the yellow in the bee matches the yellow in the paper...on my screen the paper looks too brown. And maybe it is that I did not trim my papers evenly at the bottom! lol Or maybe I need to do something else to all that white around the bees!

I am going to try to wade through the bags of gifts strewn about my house and made a card for the Our Daily Bread challenge- a flower card....that should be easier for me!

Before I go- I want to share 2 links.

I know most of the traffic on my blog is from OWH- but just in case anyone missed it, Sandy Allnock, President of OWH, did a great tutorial...it is really fun! You choose a sketch, a theme, a technique etc and there are videos for each and every choice you make! I only viewed a few of them- but what a fun idea..and hopefully will inspire some great cards for our troops. operationwritehome/org/icp

 

A truly fun site is Portable North Pole- you enter information for a child or adult, naughty or nice and they create a video with Santa and his elves! What fun for kids young and old to hear Santa talk about them and some of their characteristics...you can even add a photo--to make it really personal- and it is free! I sent a video to 2 of my nieces who are away at college... cannot wait for them to check it out! 

I plan to make about 6 more!  Try it-little children go crazy when Santa says their names!  I have used the site for the past 3 or 4 years- no spam or any issues with the site.  portablenorthpole.com

Have a great week!

Diane



OWH Sketch 149

Just a quick post today- during half time of the Patriots game! Here is this week's sketch:

I am really liking the inspiration of using the sketch each week...it forces me to try something a little different-but not so different from my norm that it feels like a chore!  And yes- believe it or not- this stamp is from- yes- you guessed it-- MFT! 
Have a great day- and back to the game!
Take care, Diane

Please check out Nancy's blog!

Happy Saturday! A while back I found a blog I really liked and got lots of inspiration! I think I found Nancy thru OWH...but I am not 100% sure!  Today is her 3 year blog anniversary!  Easy for me to remember- today is sister Jan's birthday, William's birthday, sister Denise is tomorrow, BIL Dave is in a few days....December is a big celebrating month! lol
Nancy is offering a chance to win a great prize- go check her out! You will be happy you did...she creates amazing cards!

                      nancythomas.blogspot.com

Take care,
Diane