Midweek Throwdown: Birthday Cards

Greetings! Yesterday, Jan challenged us to make birthday cards for Operation Write Home. I had just a small amount of time to make the card but I am pleased with the way it came out- very simple but I like all the elements! I used papers from DCWV [except the black, which is from my stash],  Offray ribbon, Spellbinders dies, and an unknown stamp that has been in my possession for a very long time- and this is the first time it has seen ink! Some quick copic coloring and a little black glaze pen on a stripe in the U and I was done! Not the fanciest of cards, but I like the colors and I like this particular sentiment as the focal point of the card. I just noticed my bow looks floppy in the picture...I fixed it! lol

I signed up for Clean and Simple Cards 2 class onlinecardclasses.com. The classes started on Monday and I have not been able to watch all the videos yet, but what I have watched- I really like! I have always admired Kristina Werner's talent as well as Jennifer McGuire's and I really like that they have guest designers. If you have not taken any of their classes, I strongly recommend them! Lots of information, techniques, samples, step by step instruction- really worth the $25.

Thanks for stopping by!

Take care and craft on,

Diane

OWH Sketch #157

Happy Sunday! Today was the first day in a very long time that I did not have anything I HAD to do or anyplace I HAD to be....so I relaxed, read, tried to organize my supples and watched a little tv! I pondered over which copics to purchase next- after the copic class with Sandy yesterday, I realized I just may need some more grey markers! LOL

 Here is the Operation Write Home sketch for today:




And here is my card:

Supplies:
Stamps: Craft Lounge Fishing with Dad (I think this stamp set may be used a lot for upcoming Father's Day cards!)
Ribbon: CTMH Designer Ribbon Blue Collection
Patterned paper: The Paper Loft Hooked on Fishing
Solid paper: Bazzill
Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Copics: to edge the papers and to highlight the water and shadow the fishermen-few shades of blue
Oh- and I used ATG pretty much on every card! I do use other adhesives -like a liquid glue when that is needed, but ATG is my go to tool!

Thanks for stopping by!
Take care and craft on,
Diane

Midweek Throwdown...Easter

Just a quick post today.....OWH is asking for Easter cards for our midweek challenge....and shoppingourstash challenged crafters to use our oldest ribbon. I combined the challenges today...I am a little short on time but wanted to get a little crafty time in tonight.

My stamp is an older stamp from Memory Box and my papers and ribbon are from American Crafts. I am not sure how old the ribbon is but I am pretty I got it before Barak Obama was president....Bill Clinton may have been in office- lol!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Take care -and yup- craft on!

Diane

BOOTCAMP!

Today begins bootcamp at OWH! Paula posted a great tutorial- a design bootcamp! The lesson today is about basic color theory and you must check it out- Paula's explanations are clear and easy to follow. And there are a lot of fantastic cards showing each theory in practice!

http://operationwritehome.org/the-abcs-of-color-basic-color-theory/

I decided to do a monochromatic color harmony. You may not be able to see it, but I used versamark and the paisley stamp from the PS set and stamped on the background solid blue paper. I colored the pearls with copics and I used blending solution on a square of terry cloth to make a demin texture to the pockets.

Supplies:

Paper Smooches stamps

Farmhouse papers

Copics B93, B95, B99

Queen and Co pearls

The Paper Studio star embossing folder

I hope to try some of the other color schemes in the tutorial. I was checking out some of my recent cards and it seems that the cards I like the best make the most sense color-wise! Who knew?  Lol

Have a fantastic week and thanks for stopping by!

Diane

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday... and a Sketch

I recall doing a paper on MLK way back when I was in Jr High- yup- that is what we called it in the dark ages- now it is Middle school. I digress. I was so very impressed with him as a man, a leader and a kind person. I travelled to Atlanta a few years ago and went to several places honoring him...what a humbling experience!

On to my card! Another great sketch from operationwritehome.org! Hey- they have all been great and I look forward to seeing what Marlene posts each Sunday. And even more fun and inspiring- I love to see all the cards everyone posts to the challenge!

I stayed pretty true to the sketch- I had to add the floss; it just seemed bare on that side. I think if I used pattern paper as my base I could have skipped the floss.

Supplies:

MFT stamps

SU word window and label punches-2 of my favorites!

brads:Colorbok

memento cocoa brown ink

copics

floss: WRMK

paper: 2 very old paper pads from DCVW from the Natural line

Enjoy your day!

Take care and craft on,

Diane



Suits me to a T, or 2 or 3!

This week the challenge at Shopping Our Stash shoppingourstash.blogspot.com is to use 2 things that begin with the letter T. This got me thinking about the stamps I have that begin with T, colors, techniques.... hmmm will I be able to do this?

I found this stamp of a truck- I do not know how long I have had it- maybe about a year- but it has never seen ink and I think it is from Impression Obsession. {Wow- I actually found the paper that came with the stamp- it is from darkroomdoor.com, made in Australia!  I like to give the right credit-- I am so sorry about the mistake! It is a great red rubber stamp! And I actually now remember that I purchased it at my lss Absolutely Everything during one of their great sales in December 2011! }  

Next, I needed to come up with another T, so I used a ticket die, some twine and a sentiment thanks and then I tilted my image! Once my brain got in gear, I was seeing Ts all around me! It was fun to do this type of challenge- it made me really look through my stash and at my supplies in a different way.

I like this simple, non-fussy card. I struggle with masculine cards, so I may make a few more of this card with different sentiments!

supplies:
copic markers
PTI die and ticket border stamp
SU sentiment stamp
twine- from a Simon Says Stamp Kit
papers Basic Grey Oliver 6x6 pad

Take care and craft on!
Diane

OWH Midweek Throwdown

Today's OWH challenge is to use green on a card. I was tempted to make a St Patrick's Day card- but I do not have a lot of St Patrick's stamps so I just found paper I liked and went from there.  The paper is a prettier green than it photographed.... someday I will take good pictures!  The car is on an Action Wobble so it rocks back and forth-very fun!

supplies:

PTI stamps and die

spellbinders die

Doodlebug purple dots paper

coordinations solid purple paper

memento pistachio ink

Cosmo Cricket Pixie-Licious green paper

clear glaze on the window and headlights-gives an almost glass look!

We have a long weekend since it is Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday on Monday. I am hopeful that I will find a block of time to make some cards! Yahooo!

Have a great rest of the week!

Diane

Sunday Sketch!

Just a quick post before the Patriots game!
I really like this week's sketch, check out the sample at OWH- fantastic card!But- even though I like this sketch a lot--this is my 3rd card!
Card one- an epic fail at an Easter card.
Card #2- better Easter card- but I got black ink everywhere- no way to hide it! That is what I get for leaving the cover off my ink pad!
I ditched the Easter idea- and went with this CC Designs little boy.



supplies:

Sentiment- Mama Elephant, red magic dew drop ink

Trevor and bench- CC Designs, copic markers

Tree die- Memory Box

Quickie Glue pen

Striped paper- Basic Grey  PB & J white bread

pattern paper- blue image in the oval- MME Fine & Dandy

Spellbinders oval die

pop dots- Stampin Up dimensionals

That is it for today-

Take care, craft on and cheer for my boys!

Diane

It goes without saying,,.

Happy Saturday morning! I finally kicked my cold and felt like crafting! I fell asleep on the couch and woke early this am and could not fall back asleep- so a nice, quiet activity is to stamp and color!

This week's OWH midweek throwdown is to create a card without a sentiment-which can make it a card that can be used for pretty much any occassion for our military to send home. I decided to again combine a few challenges for this card.

I need to re-read the OWH tutorial on how to take better pictures- even though I use 2 OTT lights, my images have been looking darker lately!

I love this PB stamp- I have a lot of Penny Black stamps and I plan to use them more! Another goal for 2013! I am entering this card into another new to me site- see the link below. Shopping Our Stash is helping me to look at my old stash- even if I combine it with new things- like the paperpad! I have had the PB stamp for a while and am glad that I looked through my supplies and found a lot of PB stamps that have not seen ink lately!

Supplies:

Penny Black stamp

Authentique papers Seasons: winter

copics and airbrush

Crafters Companion white paper and memento tuxedo black ink

punch- EK Success

buttons- very old from my stash- maker unknown

spellbinders dies

Sakura clear glaze pen on flowers

I am posting my card for the following challenges:

http://operationwritehome.org/midweek-throwdown-sentiment-free/      no sentiment

http://shoppingourstash.blogspot.com/2013/01/shopping-our-stash-challenge-84-use.html   use buttons

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.com/   love is in the air

Have a great weekend- cannot wait for the football games! Go Pats!

Take care and craft on,

Diane



Challenging challenges!

    I have noticed many bloggers making changes and resolutions for 2013. The biggest change I want to make is to really take advantage of my stash (says the gal who spent $90  at AbsolutelyEverything.com just yesterday- hey-I have a cold- I was not thinking straight!)! I have some great things I have never used- mostly my monthly kits from SimonSaysStamp.com . The kits are great, they really are! I just would open them, ohh and ahh and then close the box!

    So today- I was determined to use some of the SSS supplies and I wanted to stretch myself with some other challenges!
    Today is Marlene's first day with the Sunday Sketch at OperationWriteHome.org  and she picked a great sketch!
    I also found a site, new to me; shoppingourstash.blogspot.com and I decided to try their challenge-all white or cream! All White (or cream) challenge
    And if that was not enough, I wanted to make a card for the other OWH challenge, Our Daily Bread January challenge; include dry embossing on your card. (ODB pays for shipping of 2 boxes of cards if we make the goal-what a great sponsor!Our Daily Bread Designs)

great sketch- check!
dry embossing- check!
all white??? yikes!  a big stretch for me...but I tried!
And yes- I used stuff from my SSS kits!  OK, it was just the white paper and the gorgeous flower! The 4 embossing folders, the ribbon, the sentiment stamp, the ink and the pearls are all from my stash!

This was a hard card to make without color- but I am glad I tried it! The flower is very soft and will flatten out but I am not sure if it will be too bulky for OWH.  What do you think about me using it as an Any Hero card? Not patriotic, but I do think it is pretty and I am sure some of our female contacts could use something a little pretty during a deployment.

I spent some time early this am looking at some of the Top 10 cards of 2012. Wow- there are a lot of really talented ladies out there! I appreciate everyone sharing so much!

Take care and craft on!

Diane



My very own mid-week throwdown!

Wednesday nite I started to feel a little punky; tired, minor sore throat, itchy eyes...nothing terrible. Thursday- congested, Friday- my mid week thrown down turned into a big smack upside the head-so much so that I left work after 5 hours (not sure how I made it that long)!! Wow- a cold has taken me down completely! OK- not completely...I did manage to make a few cards this week...and enjoyed doing them! 

And talk about enjoyment- checking out all the 'Top 10 of 2012' cards from the awesome OWH bloggers--- so very fun and inspiring! I love to see other crafters use a stamp or a cricut cartridge I own- it makes me appreciate all the crafty goodies I have and I plan to use more of my supplies! I belonged to the Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit for about a year- and realized I used about 1% of the goodies! So my goal for the next few weeks- use those luscious supplies! When I realized I did not use the kits- I stopped my subscription but I do plan to re-join once I make a dent in my current stash!

I only got to view about 1/3 of the blogs listed- so I plan to check out the rest of the blogs this weekend...it is so exciting to see the top 10 cards for the past year for each blogger!

So- this week our OWH challenge is:
 Midweek Throwdown Spring Flowers

I made 2 cards this time:

supplies:

stamp: Lockhart Stamp Company

copics

pattern paper: MME- So Sophie

sentiment: Paper Smooches

supplies:

Memory Box flower stamps

copics

Sakura glaze and gellyroll

Queen and Co pearls colored with copic

MME 6x6 All Spice pattern paper

Sentiment stamp: Stamps of Life

So,  I am going to rest and take more Halls Ice Peppermint drops-- which I believe are saving my life! lol  Craft on ladies, craft on!

Take care,

Diane



Top Ten!

Operation Write Home.org asked bloggers to post their top 10 cards of 2012....a bit of a challenge for me since I have only been blogging since November!  Actually- it was easier for me since I have less to choose from than some of the more experienced bloggers! So....here they are- in no particular order:

1. I like the image and the colors in this card! I used my copic airbrush system to color in the sky, masking the clouds.

 

2. I used acetate for the window and I like the penguin stamp!

3.  I really like pink and navy together- and I adore MTF stamps!

4. Another My Favorite Things stamp.

5.  I like the triple layer stamping on this card- I plan to try it again! [My flower frog looks dusty- it is not (not that I will ever win the most dust free home award!)- it is just very old....I stopped using it but I do like how the card stands up straighter!]

6. A fun card for a child- Inky Antics stamps with a honey pop apple inside!

7. A sweet puppy waiting for someone to come home- true loyalty!

8. My go-to-kids! I love these 2! So quick to color but so cute! And blue and yellow- love the MME paper pad!

 9. Love the vintage-y feel of the flower and butterfly! Not my typical color scheme- but I think it worked!

10. And last but not least.... my soldier boy by Mo Manning!  He is the sweetest boy ever and I am happy with the coloring of his skin and the digi camo paper! This image always makes me smile... I just want to hug him!

There you have it- my top 10 favorite cards of 2012! I am hoping that next year I have a lot more to pick from.  I like blogging and I am so thrilled with the warm welcome given to me by the other OWH bloggers! I thought blogging would take a lot of time and that my cards would not be good enough.... but the time it takes is minimal and I figure- I am making cards- why not take a few more minutes to photograph and post! And I find taking part in the challenges and using the sketches gives me some direction and helps my creativity! So- thank you to those who have left such warm and supportive comments on my blog! I am looking forward to finding more inspiration from all of you!

Thanks for stopping by and take care!

Diane