...Late to the Party....

I was in rainy New York this weekend for Paige's college graduation... I am so stinkin proud of her! I was able to schedule my post in the OWH Memorial Day BlogHop before I left for the graduation...but now I am woefully behind on viewing all of the amazing cards! I have been to about 60 sites- 86 left to go! I am getting so inspired by all of the creations! I am blown away by the great assortment of patriotic cards ....and the different ways to use red, white and blue! Not all of us made patriotic cards...but all cards were Thank You cards based on an OWH sketch!

I am amazed and grateful for all of the kind comments so many hoppers left about my fan card! I truly appreciate the time it takes! And there is still time to be entered into the drawing for some blog candy! You can leave a comment on my posts for either Friday 5/24 or Saturday 5/25/13 to enter!

While I am having a great time checking out the cards, I have a hard time sitting at my computer for hours on end- so I took a break and made my card for the Sunday sketch! I kind of turned the sketch upside down! And the green paper has a holographic shimmer ...wish I could capture it in the photo- it adds a lot of dimension and fun to the card! (You may be able to see a little of it in the large green panel.)  And I made a completely Copic free card!

Have a great week- craft on...and I am going back to the hop!
Thanks for stopping by!
Diane





Iconic Stamps and inks by HSN
DCWV The Birthday Wishes 6x6 stack
Black and white mats- stash
Card base-Bazzill Marshmallow
Spellbinders circle and scallop dies
Glossy accents all over the mail box



My time is winding down....

Today is my last post as the Designated Designer at    Drunken Stampers. I had so much fun and appreciate  all of the kindness and warm welcome from the DS ladies! I look forward to seeing who the June designer will be!

And I bet you already guessed- my large die wobbles! Thanks so much for checking out my card! And I also have a post today for the OWH Memorial Day bloghop!
Take care and craft on, Diane

OWH Memorial Day BlogHop!

Welcome to my spot on this fantastic hop!

You may want to go back to http://operationwritehome.org/starsandstamps so you do not miss any of the cards! Cardmakers will be showcasing "Thank You" cards- either for our troops to send home or to send to the hero thanking them for their service! Here is the twist-we are using a sketch from OWH!

Here is the sketch I used (because I love 1/2 circles!):



Cricut Cartridge Suburbia: fan
CTMH ribbon
Circle cut with Martha Stewart circle cutter
Computer generated sentiment
Echo Park -This and That by Lori Whitlock 6x6 paper pad
stars and brad-stash
Signo white pen
Copic marker along the edges of the papers



I hope you enjoy the bloghop- and please support our troops and OWH! And would you like to have a chance at winning some blog candy? Then check out my post from Friday 5.24.13!

Now- keep hopping and then go make some cards and craft on!

Thanks for stopping by,

Diane

It is another MidWeek Throwdown

This week Jan challenged OWH cardmakers to use 3 of something on our cards....an image, an embellishment....3 coffee beans and 3 cups of java!

MME Paris and Co patterned paper
Simply Iconic stamps-HSN

And if you are here from the OWH Memorial Day Bloghop- leave a comment here or on my Saturday post to enter the drawing for the pictured above goodies! Make sure I can get in touch with you when you win!
Want another chance to win another prize?
I am going to the Heirloom Stamp Show in West Springfield, Ma the weekend of June 1st... and the first person to get the right answer to my question will win something that I get at the show--- a surprise-and hopefully something new and exciting!
So-here is my question:
Do you know what movie inspired the title of my blog...All I need is...?
I will draw 2 winners on Monday June 3rd, 2013!
Thanks for stopping by- and as always- craft on!
Diane



Bootcamp- Adding Spice!

Last week Paula posted another of her great design bootcamp tutorials...Variety is the Spice of Life (Using Variation to Add Interest). Our homework was to include value, texture, color, shape and size into our creations....and remember to keep a strong focal point. I usually can get the focal point and some of the other design concepts- rule of thirds, the odd numbers....but this week made me think more!
Here is a snippet from Paula's class:

VALUE:  Value refers to the relative darkness or lightness of elements.
TEXTURE:  Variety in texture would include smooth and embossed papers as well as elements like ribbon, flowers and brads.
COLOR:  Even a monochromatic color scheme requires a variation in color value (lightness & darkness) to succeed.
SHAPE:  An example of applying variety in shapes might be including a die cut circle to frame an image or sentiment within the rectangular shape of the card design.
SIZE: You might have similarly shaped items in your design but varying in size.

How did I do?
Value: I have varying shades of blues and greens as echoed in the patterned paper.
Texture: the dark blue paper is embossed with clouds, the ribbons and pearls add more and her boots have glossy texture!
Color- varied the colors in her outfit by shading with copics
Shape: The partial scalloped circle contrasts with the long rectangular sentiment and the scallop border
Size: hmmm, my pearls and her buttons are about the same size so I made the white pen dots around the circle a bit smaller.


papers DCWV Juniper Berry stack
Image: The Greeting Farm
Pearls: Queen and Co
Ribbon: Offray
Sentiment: computer generated
Copics: BG70, 72
B 000, 93,95,97,99
Y21,26 YR 23 E39,55


Sorry for such a long post! And yup- the bottom bow is tilted-- I fixed it after I took the picture!
Enjoy your week-and yup- craft on!

Diane

It's a Beautiful Sunday!

Happy Sunday and I hope you are enjoying weather as lovely as we are here in Massachusetts! Go out and soak up some vitamin D- then come back inside and make some cards!

This week- we have another fun sketch at OWH.
Linda made this week's sample card and I love it! She has a great way of using pattern paper- go visit and see all of her creations!





I really like this sketch so I made 2 cards- both with older Hero Arts clear stamps. 'Wish you were here'  and 'Playful Animals'. Some stamp sets are just timeless- and I feel that way about a lot of Hero Arts stamps!http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Arts-Wish-Polyclear-Stamp/dp/B004GEZTKM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368979242&sr=8-1&keywords=hero+arts+wish+you+were+here 



Hero Arts stamps
Patterned papers- Paper Studio Stonewashed
Signo white pen
Bazzill marshmallow card base



Hero Arts stamps
Patterned papers Paper Studio Lola and Luca
Copics
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Bazzill narshmallow card base



And did you know that this coming weekend OWH is having a huge bloghop? Make sure you join in on the fun- there are over 100 bloggers participating in the hop- that sounds like a whole lot of inspiration coming our way!
Have a fantastic week and craft on!
Diane

Star Wars or My Wobbling Rocketship!

This week's challenge from drunkenstampers.blogspot.com is to create a project with the theme of Star Wars!



Metallic papers: American Crafts Christmas Foil
Patterned paper: Paper Pizzazz
Gems: Queen and Co
Sentiment: computer generated
Action Wobble
Star brads-stash
Round card base-stash





My rocketship is from Cricut cartridge Boys will be Boys. And as my ship races thru the galaxy, it rocks back and forth on an Action Wobble! If you want to see my rocketship trying to evade Darth Vader- watch my 5 second video! Really- Action Wobbles add so much fun to a card....

Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous week and craft on!

Diane



Is it really Wednesday already?

Wow- the past few days have flown by-- I cannot believe it is time for the OWH midweek Throwdown!
This week we are challenged to use a sentiment as our focal point. I love this sentiment from Stampabilities- and I paired it up with some paper from Echo Park- This & That Charming. And some fuzzy brads, some faux stitching in black and white- and that is it!

And in case any Western Mass folks are looking for the OWH/Hero Arts new stamps-- both sets are at Hobby Lobby in Holyoke today (only 1 of each)...I was lucky to pick them up in Poughkeepsie this past weekend.

Have a great rest of the week and craft on!

Diane

It is Another Sunday Sketch

Happy Mothers Day! I have had a few busy but wonderful days! I travelled to Poughkeepsie to see Paige's fashion show- Marist Silver Needle Fashion Show- what talent and hard work goes into this! I am so incredibly proud of her-- and cannot believe she graduates in 2 weeks! It was great going away with family- we even made a quick stop at the Hobby Lobby there and scored big by finding the 2 new OWH Hero Arts stamp sets! OK- Tessa found them on the lowest shelf....young eyes and knees win out everytime! The paper pads were 50% off, stamps 40% off, we used 40% off coupons- so Tessa and I enjoyed a bargain filled shopping spree! 

I think I have made a card for every OWH sketch challenge since November 2012-- I look forward to the Sunday sketch- I sometimes struggle with them- but I like seeing what I can come up with each week!



Mama Elephant stamp of USA

DCWV Juniper Berry paperstack





Authentique 6x6 Essentials Collection
yellow paper- stash-of-Diane
PTI stamps
Queen and Co gems
Sakura white glaze pen
Butterfly- a free die with an British magazine
Spellbinders dies (squares)

Have a wonderful week- and please go check out drunkenstampers.wordpress.com! I am the guest designer this month! The challenges are so much fun and there is always room for more to join in on the creative fun!

Thanks for stopping by...yup- craft on!

Diane

Drunken Stampers

Howdy! It is week 2 of my reign time as the Designated Guest Designer at Drunken Stampers and the movie theme this week is Porky's or farm animals.

So- I decided to use the stinkin cute cow from Paper Smooches! I loved the cow so much I had to use it 3 times! Come play along at Drunken Stampers- everyone is very nice and the challenges rock! You have until the 17th to post your Porky's card! Plus- I am your queen Guest Designer for the month-so you must join in the fun!




Paper Smooches cow stamp
MFT barbed wire fence
DCVW card stock
Queen and Co gems
Copics on Xpress it paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink
Fiskars grass punch
Cloud paper- freebie from Quick Cards Magazine- Let's Fly Away paper stack
sentiment computer generated
adhesive ATG
hats from scraps in my stash
House/barn- not sure who this stamp is made by!



Take care and craft on,

Diane

His and Hers Midweek Throwndown

Jan always likes to keep us on our toes with the Wednesday challenge at http://operationwritehome.org/blog/. This week we are challenged to make not 1 but 2 cards....the same layout- one for him and 1 for her!
I kept mine very clean and crisp, same layout and same paper pack....no big frills!

The stamp and sentiment are from Papertray Ink. The paper is from Little Yellow Bicycle- Fern and Forest. Oh-- it is so yummy- double sided and a heavier, more substantial weight! I needed some copic refills and Bazzill and saw this paper at Oozak. I love getting a package from Rusty- he packs things so nicely and offers free shipping over $50.00. Honestly- I added this paper pack to get over the $50 mark -and what a wonderful treat! Love the colors and patterns in the paper!  
I placed an order for the refills and I also needed to re-stock my Bazzill Marshmallow. It is my favorite  to use for card bases... really heavy paper but it does not crack when you score and fold it. It was about $8 for 25 sheets- but that will give me 50 cards- so I am happy with that cost. It is worth it to spend a little more...I used the GP paper in the past- I did not think it was bad until I touched the Bazzill. I learned to color with copics on the Georgia Pacific- so I do have a fondness for it-- but now I use Xpress it Blending Card or the Crafter's Companion paper- when I can find it at AC Moore.  I like to keep plenty of the Bazzill and the copic paper on hand- so I ordered 4 packs of the Bazzill. There is a stamp show coming to Massachusetts in June- I am going to try to get there so I should save my pennies and put myself on a spending freeze! Wow- a lot of chit chat about 2 simple cards! LOL!

Before I forget- for some reason for the past few monrga- I cannot post a comment on flickr posts....I have tried everything- even what Yahoo suggested and all I get is the red and blue ball rotating...so please know- if you post via flickr- I really do try to post comments.... sorry!

Thanks for stopping by and craft on!
Diane

VCMP Part 2 and todays technique

I was stumped on one of the challenges from OWH's VCMP this weekend...Nancy wanted us to make a card inspired by a scrapbook sketch. http://brujahrose.blogspot.com/2013/05/vcmp-cards-out-of-scrapbooking-sketches.html

I figured out why this was hurting my brain..I scrap 12x12 and my cards are never squares! Duh! I pulled out some OLD sketch magazines and found a sketch for 8.5x11--now this made more sense to me!



Prima bling
MFT sentiment
the last of JilliBean Soup Dutch Mustard paper pad
digital image of bird colored with Copics



Our bonus challenge by Sandy was to use a googlie eye! So out came the Paper Smooches stamps! I also used spellbinder dies, copics, Queen and Co gems, sakura clear glaze and some very ancient HOTP paper from my stash! And our little alien pal is flying through space on an action wobble!



I really like when Nancy posts the tutorials over at OWH. Sometimes it is something new to me- and sometimes- like today- it is a technique I have not used for a long time so it gets my mojo flowing again!
This tutorial is outside the box....having part of your image come outside the die...like this fisherman's ears.

MFT stamps
Spellbinders dies
EK success border punch
Paper Loft...the end of the pad! boohoo
Queen and Co pearls
Copics

Well- I feel pretty caught up on my challenges! Yahhoooo!
Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great week and craft on,
Diane

It is National Scrapbooking Day! Happy Cinco de Mayo and Happy Nurses Week!

Like all good scrapbookers, we at OWH take things an extra step....we do not just celebrate 1 day- we make a whole weekend of it...and have a VCMP!
Challenges are posted every few hours and I have to say-challenge is the right word for some of them!

#1. ODBD- this one was right up my alley- create a Missing You card. ODBD donates the shipping cost for boxes of cards sent to our troops if we card makers post 25 cards; they will pay for 2 boxes if we post 50! Yahoo! Or as my Sammy says- YEE HAW, Auntie Di, Yee haw! 
http://operationwritehome.org/our-daily-bread-designs-may-challenge/

 #2. Paula wants us to use a sketch to make a card for a child! Another one I can handle! http://paulaposts.blogspot.com/2013/05/owh-rebel-vcmp-national-scrapbook-day.html

#3. Sandy inspired us to make a romantic card....my card has a little combo of romance and humor! Challenges are getting a little harder!
http://sandyallnock.com/

#4. MY BIG FAIL! OK- this one is the hardest for me...make a card based on a scrapbook layout...Nancy came up with the hardest challenge for me! I need to pull out some of my albums and see if I have anything I can adapt! Or check out some of my Page Maps books! I will come back to this one!
http://brujahrose.blogspot.com/2013/05/vcmp-cards-out-of-scrapbooking-sketches.html

#5. Our Sunday sketch-- love it!
http://operationwritehome.org/sketch-challenge-171/

#6. Julie prompted me to go through some of my photos of Italy and create a Hero card! http://www.handmadebyjulie.com/?p=3422




A picture I took from the Duomo in Florence!
The day was perfect and I climbed 7 million steps and lived to talk about it!

 #7. JoAnn made some great summertime cards!

http://blog.joannross.com/2013/05/operation-write-homes-virtual.html

AWWWW-and Sandy has a googlie eye challenge up now! This one will need to wait! http://sandyallnock.com/vcmp-googlie-eye-bonus-challenge/

It is Nurses Week and here are the cards I made yesterday for my staff. I also like to bring in food each day- ranging from healthy to decadent! I have to get in the kitchen and get my fruit bowls started- I am starting with a healthy treat. 

I did not use my light tent today- and I can see that all my cards came out darker today- sorry!

Have a wonderful week and craft on!

Happy everything today and all week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Diane

Drunken Stampers!

Well- I must say this has been a good week for me creatively! I am the Drunken Stamper's Life of the Party again this week for my Twilight card- that makes 3 times! I thought they would be sick of me by now- but no--- what do they do? They ask me to be the Designated Guest Designer for May! I am honored! (And don't tell anyone- I do not drink alcohol so I will be the designated any time they ask! LOL)  I have fun playing with the Drunken Stampers challenges- all based on movies! http://drunkenstampers.wordpress.com/
The themes sometimes stump me, sometimes they excite me- but mostly- they force me to really think outside my comfort zone. Yup- this is me- surprised by the request to be the guest designer!

Ok- I know you came to see a card...so here goes....the challenge is:

I loved the movie and when I think of a Scotsman, I first think of Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series! Swoon.

The stamp is from HighlanderCelticStamps.com

They have some great red rubber stamps highlighting Scottish and Irish heritage- makes me wish I could do the fancy Irish dancing! The gallant swordsman was colored with copics, the key was airbrushed. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things and rest...from my stash of mystery items!

OK- so I will be back next week- yup- a whole month being the Designated GD..... can ya stand it??

Thanks for stopping by and craft on!

Diane



Up, Up, and Away!

The fun gals over at Drinken Stampers want us to make cards this week based on the movie "UP' or to use balloons.  OK- loved the movie-made me laugh and cry!

Digital stamp Mo's Digital Pencil Too
Memento inks- Tuxedo Black and Red Magic Dew Drop
Sentiment- Mama Elephant
Patterned papers- Prima My Little Guy Collection
Cardstock- Bazzill
Glossy Accents
Embossing folder-The Paper Studio
Pearls- Queen and Co

                                                               COPICS!

Do you not just adore the little kids that Maurie J Manning creates? There is not one image that I do not want to own! She is so talented and I love that she designs multicultural people!

The weekend is almost here! Enjoy!

Diane

Thank you!

I was very honored when Jan asked me if she could use one of my cards from the recent VCMP at OWH for a sample for the midweek throwdown- heck- ya!!
Here is the card from the VCMP:

I love the stamps from Stamps of Life- great quality, great price and some great themes!

My next card showcases a stamp from Stampin' Up,  paper from Farm House Paper Company, punch by EK Success and a sentiment stamp from MFT.   Love the horse, I have a few more stamped and I plan to make more thank you cards!

Thanks for stopping by!

Craft on!

Diane