Taylored Expression Die and OWH Cards

Greetings! I hope everyone had the Christmas they hoped for!  I totally enjoyed my holiday; our Christmas Eve is always so much fun...lots of people, good food and laughter! And Christmas Day was equally wonderful! Yeah to Maggie for finding the Christmas pickle!

Just days before Christmas I saw a card made with a Taylored Expressions die and since I received a nice holiday bonus from work I decided to use a little on a crafty splurge. Amazing service by TE;  it came on Friday and a really great extra was included! I was so excited to try out the die and carved out some time to play yesterday. There are 11 dies with the set- so many options!
 http://www.tayloredexpressions.com/dies/color-block-cutting-plate.html

I made the above card for the mid-month challenge at OWH to make a missing you card. 

And the sketch challenge posted at OWH is another wonderful sketch!

I kept my card super clean- I wanted the papers to be noticed- as well as the sweet mouse by Avery Elle. I have a box ready to be mailed to Sandy- the past 2 donations I have cut it too close to the deadline!  I am really going to try to get my boxes in earlier...at least I am going to try! LOL
Have a wonderful week- and go make a card or two!
Diane

Operation Write Home Sketch #244

Happy Monday! This weekend OWH posted another great sketch. Marlene was our sketch master for a while and I want to thank her for all her hard work and fun stories! Sybrina is taking over the reins and she did a great job with her first sketch!

I found an older pad of DCWV paper in my stash recently and have been using some of it lately- I love the glittery happiness of the striped paper and love that the glitter is embedded into the paper! The layered hearts on the bottom left were coated with glossy accents to make them super shiny.

I recently stumbled onto another challenge site that is all about birthday cards- lots of fun! These little mice are so cute...hopefully this could be a card for a girl or a boy- into my OWH box it goes!
http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.ca/

And I also made a card to play along with Di...I so enjoy her blog and seeing her creations and the ladies who play along in her playground!  I found a piece of watercolor paper I made a while back...{under a pile of other papers!} and I really liked the colors in the paper so I used it on the focal panel. The sentiment is by MFT and I think it is a message that reminds me to sometimes just slow down and really appreciate things! I colored a piece of May Arts white ribbon with a few copics-super fast and easy to create a matching ribbon.
http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.com/2014/12/pixies-snippets-playground-week-155.html

Well, I should be started on my Christmas candy by now- or even wrapping my presents-but I would rather be making cards!My plan for this evening was to make candy and then wrap while I catch up on some TV but....not tonight!  Hey, somehow it all gets done and I am looking forward to another wonderful Christmas this year.  I hope you are further along than I am and if you are not- I hope you are not stressing about it!
Have a wonderful week!
Thanks for stopping by,
Diane

Holidays...but Still Creating!

Hello!
I am still here! Thanksgiving was wonderful and we also celebrated the baptism of my great-niece, Madeline Jean so I was blessed to have  4 fabulous days with my family.  I did find time to make a few cards and I really want to make sure I find some time between now and Christmas to keep making cards...it really helps to slow me down and provide some relaxation.

My first card is for the Operation Write Home and Our Daily Bread Designs monthly challenge. For December we are inspired to use primary colors to create a card. I used a Penny Black stamp, copics, Bazzill card stock and MFT dies.
challenge http://operationwritehome.org/december-odbd/

My next card is for one of my favorite challenge sites- The Male Room....and this one was a tough one-- use ribbon on a male card. What? I was stumped for a while until I remember I had a roll of patriotic ribbon. I also used a MFT stars die to cut some of the ribbon for the star accents (sookwang tape on the back before cutting made it so easy to adhere!). I added a sentiment from MFT and some star gems from my stash.  The background is a Simon Says Stamp die and the sentiment is on a cut by Spellbinders. And the glitter paper is my favorite DCWV. I will use this for a hero card for my next box going to OWH.
http://themaleroomchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/challenge-24-masculine-ribbon.html

Try Stamping on Tuesday's challenge is to create a card with the theme of peace.
http://trystampinontuesday.blogspot.com/2014/12/challenge-196-peace.html   I love this image; it makes me feel hopeful and blessed. I again used the MFT stars die and I used metallic paper this time.

And here is one more card-just because.  I create most of my cards for OWH and I try to send in a mix of love, birthday, missing you, thank you and thinking of you. With Valentines not too far behind Christmas I want to get a head start on love cards- but not specifically Valentines-so the cards can be used at any time by our troops. And I tried to make it appropriate for gals or guys to send or receive. And who can resist the adorable owls? 

OK- off to watch some football!  Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by,
Diane