Male Room Autumn Challenge

Hello-
Happy Fall!  I love the cooler air and the gorgeous colors of the leaves! Living in New England, I am so lucky to experience autumn in it's full glory!
I was happy to play along with the Male Room Challenge Blog this week:
                                 
                                     http://themaleroomchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/

I used a Hero Arts stamp set and a bunch of different colors of memento dew drops ink pads. The large leaf in the background is from American Crafts and I just smooshed inks all over it. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your weather is enjoyable!
Diane

Another Ghost Card

Hi! 
I have another shaker Halloween card- and this time the ghost is from the Booyah set by Lawn Fawn-- so stinking cute! There are stamps of hats, wigs and a variety of facial expressions so the ghosts can be dressed up to go Trick or Treating!
I used a ship stamp from Simon Says Stamp and used white embossing powder--my thought was to make it look like a ghost ship....it just looks like a white ship-LOL. I also heat embossed the sentiment. The skull on the pirate hat is colored with a yellow glitter pen- so very cool in person.

Ahoy Matey (in honor of talk like a pirate day!) is the theme for this month's challenge at Words to Scrap By
http://words2scrapby.blogspot.com/2015/09/w2sb-21-ahoy-
matey.html
and Cards 4 Guyz is looking for cards with embossing http://cardz4guyz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/challenge-88-embossing-heat-or-dry.html.

Thanks for stopping by!
Diane

Finally- a Card!

Hello!
It has been a long time since I created a card--- and where did the summer go? I felt like just yesterday I was packing my last batch of cards for OWH!

Today's card is for http://sendasmile4kidschallenge.blogspot.com/. The challenge is to create a fall or Halloween card- but not too scary!   My ghost is a sweet, friendly ghost. The stamps are from CC Designs by Amy Young-- oh how I wish she was still designing stamps!!
I made a shaker card and put the sentiment inside the shaker.
And yes, I kept shaking it...very fun!

 

Thanks for stopping by and I am hoping to get back into my card making groove soon!
Diane

Happy Birthday

Hello!
The challenge at http://seizethebirthday.blogspot.ca/ is anything goes- as long as it is a birthday theme!  Here is my first non- Operation Write Home card and it is for my niece Tessa. The Prima stamp is colored with Copics and I covered the balloon with a clear glaze pen- lots of shine but it dries quickly. And then I used a clear star glitter pen on her shoes, gifts and parts of her party dress (the ruffles do not show the shimmer but it is there!). I put the sentiment inside the card so the image can be the focus- she is a cutie- and quick to color.

Thanks for visiting,
Diane

My Final Operation Write Home Box

After making my card for the final OWH sketch this morning, I took my package to the post office and sent my final box to Sandy for Operation Write Home. It is exciting to know that most of our troops are either home or will be soon and therefore there is not a huge need for a non-profit like OWH.....mission accomplished! Sandy has posted a few pictures of the boxes sent in before the final deadline (8/1/15) and she reports she has more than enough cards for the rest of the year and into 2016.... and I am guessing beyond!
Here is the final OWH sketch:


I rotated it and kept my card very simple-(no coloring!) I wanted the image and the sentiment to be the important aspects of the card. I also created this with the recent challenge in mind-- to create a love card without a heart...in honor of past shipper Dixie! 
I did make a card colored with copics- and I just did not get the serene feeling I was looking for- so I tried again without any coloring!

And my 2 final OWH cards- happy winter cards:

I will miss the consistent contact with the group of wonderful ladies who made OWH what is was- a fantastic organization- with such dedicated volunteers- and lots of creative talent! I used to look forward to the Sunday morning sketch each week-it definitely motivated me to create and I loved to see what others made. I am so happy that many OWH ladies have blogs and participate in lots of challenges....so I am not saying good bye to this group....we will continue to cross paths in so many ways! And of course, sandyallnock.com is going to continue to teach and inspire us!
Thanks to Sandy, Fabre, Kris, Dixie and Caro for all your sorting, packing and shipping over the years! And Marlene, Sybrina, Paula, Jan, Kristie and so many more who taught us, challenged us, inspired us, shared with us over the years and prompted us to create our best for our troops!
I know I am going to continue to 'craft on' but now maybe my family will get homemade cards! LOL
Thanks for stopping by,
Diane

Summer Fun Challenges with Krafting Kimmie Stamps

I am back with 2 more cards- yup-I am posting 2 days in a row!
My first card is for the Cards 4 Guyz sketch challenge:
                                   

And the next beach babe is for the Cards in Envy challenge  http://www.cardsinenvy.blogspot.com/2015/07/just-beachy-challenge.html and Top Tip Tuesdays Summer Fun challenge.http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/

                                                     
Thanks for visiting- make sure to wear your sunblock at the beach!
Diane

Challenge Cards using My Favorite Things Stamps

Hello,
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope you are enjoying the summer. I had some time off from work and had a lot of fun....we traveled to Pennsylvania for a softball tournament and spent a day at Hershey Park. More great memories and so much laughter! 

I have 2 cards to share today.
My first card is one of the final Hero cards I am making for Operation Write Home  and the ODBD monthly challenge and I was also inspired by the challenge at AAA Cards to create a scene with stars. I really like the A La Mode gals by My Favorite Things- I love all of their stamps but these stamps make me smile.

My next card is also doing double duty; the sketch is inspired by the Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge and the yummy chocolate is for the Words to Scrap challenge. And with my recent visit to Hershey Park and the abundance of chocolate we purchased (and ate!) I was very excited about the W2SB challenge! And of course, another great stamp by My Favorite Things- adorable!

http://words2scrapby.blogspot.com/2015/07/w2sb-19-friend-with-chocolate.html

http://tuesdaymorningsketches.blogspot.com/2015/07/tuesday-morning-sketches-308.html
                                             

I am continuing to work on cards for my final box of cards for OWH- they must reach Sandy by August 1st- so I am getting down to the wire!
Take care and thanks for stopping by.
Oh- and if you see my sister- tell her Yolanda is looking for her vacation pay!
Diane

It Has Been A While

Hello! I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted any cards.

Life has been busy but I want to send in a final box for Operation Write Home by the middle of July so I figured I better get busy!

Over at the The Paper Players there is a sketch challenge:

                                         

 I used distress inks and some water droplets on the banners and the background. I have had this silhouette stamp for a few years but I could never get it to stamp a complete image. And I could never line it up correctly to re-stamp-oh my-what can I do? But wait-- Misti to the rescue! I re-stamped it 3 times to get the black ink to cover all the areas of the stamp and I am loving the image now! Misti is an amazing tool- totally worth the money.
This card is also for the OWH challenge:June Mid-Month Throwdown – Banners.

Next is Operation Write Home sketch #256.
                                       

 More distress ink- but this time on glossy paper instead of cardstock. 

Just Add Ink also has a sketch challenge:

                                   

 Yes- there is a trend for me- distress inks again!

Try Stampin on Tuesday also has a sketch- I moved my sentiment- it just seemed to want to be close to the image!

And with Independence Day just around the corner- the Cards in Envy challenge is to use red, white and blue.

http://www.cardsinenvy.blogspot.com/2015/06/red-white-and-blue-challenge.html

And last but not least- my card for the Our Daily Bread Designs challenge for OWH- missing you cards!

This is a flip card so the images show you the card open and closed. I like the Sizzix dies to make flip cards- very easy but I love interactive cards.

 It is softball season and Tessa plays on a tournament team so some weekends the games start on Friday night and they play 3 games on Saturday and possibly 3 more games on Sunday. I played softball for 9 years but I do not know if I could have caught 6 games in 2 days! Amazing the energy and stamina these young ladies have!  I really enjoy watching her play- she loves the game- she reminds me of my nephew--born to play ball! 

Hopefully I will be back with more cards next week! Thanks for stopping by!

Diane

The Final Memorial Day Bloghop for Operation Write Home

Welcome! Yes- today is a wonderful day of creativity and celebration- recognizing the OWH card makers, shippers, financial donors, Sandy and of course our brave members of our military. Let's make some great cards and honor our troops as OWH winds down.  Let's finish strong- it will be fabulous to be able to say Mission Accomplished!And I know I am going to try to beat the August 1st deadline!

I have a card today that was completely inspired by Dawn- she did a video showing how she created the card and I thought it would be fun to make it for my last blog hop card. I know there will be lots of inspiration over at Operation Write Home this weekend at  http://wp.me/p2kUr6-5bB   but be sure to check out Dawn's blog- she is amazing!
http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stampin_studio/2015/05/double-.html

This is the outside of the card- looks like a regular A2 card.

And here are the views when you flip open the card! Surprise!

The card base is really easy to make- 3 score lines and 2 quick cuts of an 8.5 x 11in piece of cardstock! There is plenty of room to write a message and yes- it is an A2 card. I love the peek-a-boo circles and that it is an interactive card.

Thanks to our troops- past and present- you are truly appreciated. I will miss the sense of community of Operation Write Home but I am more thrilled that the need for OWH has significantly decreased!
OK- you have spent enough time here- go visit the other blog participants and enjoy the holiday weekend. Go....hop around and then go make some cards!

Diane

Operation Write Home- Finishing Strong

Hello, 
Many of you have heard the news; OWH is accepting cards until August 1, 2015 then will cease operation at the end of the year. This means our troops are home or will be soon and there will not be a demand for cards! See all the details at:
http://operationwritehome.org/finishing-strong-campaign/

There will be the traditional Memorial Day Bloghop this coming Saturday so make sure to check out all the activity at OWH this weekend.

I have a few cards to share- the first is for the Our Daily Bread Designs challenge at OWH. The challenge for May is to use Embossing on your card. It can be either dry or wet embossing, or both.... I opted for both. I love the look of wet embossing and rarely do it- so this challenge helped motivate me to pull out my heat gun. My background panel is dry embossed and the sentiment is wet embossed.

The mid-month throwdown is to create  gal and guy cards with the same layout.  I had to position my focal image on the gal in a different place than the guy card...I used my patterned paper in different spots and I did not want to cover up the cute paper on the gal card.  The stamps are from the new release at My Favorite Things- so fun!!!
http://operationwritehome.org/may-mid-month-throwdown-his-hers/

And here are a few more of my recent card creations. I continued to heat emboss a lot of the sentiments.

Thanks for stopping by,
Diane

Yes- A Christmas Card

Hello!  I wanted to start making a few Christmas cards here and there- and I liked the sketch at http://jinglebellesrock.blogspot.com/
so- yup, I made a Christmas card on a warm, sunny day!

                                  

I used an image by Sweet n Sassy-- how cute! The gems match the green in the papers-even though it looks yellow. 
Have a great day!
Diane

2 Sketches, a Flying Dog and a Pink Bird!

Welcome!  I have a few cards to share.
Try Stamping-or not- On Tuesday posted a fun sketch.
http://trystampinontuesday.blogspot.com/
                                 

 I used a fun stamp and pin face by Darcie; a bit too bulky for our troops to send home in the mail- so I plan to use this as a hero card. Hero cards can be larger and bumpy since Sandy at OWH puts them on the top of the boxes of cards she packs up.

Another great sketch came from http://tuesdaymorningsketches.blogspot.com/

                                             

                                    

This is another sweet stamp by Sugar Pea Designs-  I really enjoy coloring the images- enough detail to be interesting but not so much that it takes forever to color.

And the gals at Cards in Envy chose 'pretty in pink' as the theme for this week. You must go look at the cards posted- gorgeous!
http://www.cardsinenvy.blogspot.com/
Instead of making a pretty pink card, I decided to go with pink and silly! This Inky Antics flamingo makes me smile- what an expression on her face!

And last but not least, challenge #68  at Cardz 4 Guys is Flight.   I went through my stamps- looking for a plane, a bird or a hot air balloon- and what did I find but this high flying pooch by Art Impressions!  http://cardz4guyz.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for visiting, have a wonderful week--and go make a card...or 2!
Diane

Guest I-Teamer for Words to Scrap By for May!

Greetings! When I won the March challenge at Words to Scrap By, I was also asked to be a Guest I-Teamer! Wahoooo!

Did you know May is National Photography Month?  Taking photographs and paper crafting are two ways we commemorate life events. This month's challenge is to create a card or project inspired by that oft heard picture-taking phrase Say Cheese! 

Well, I love taking pictures and my family knows I am the one to come to when they need a picture from last week, last year, 10 years ago! And yes- I even have a few original Polaroid pictures!  When I heard the challenge, I just had to pull out this great image from SugarPeaDesigns.com. Selfies are such a common site these days- and ya gotta love the selfie sticks! We tried one out at Christmas and were able to get a large group of people around the dining room table! I love the expression on her face as she poses for her selfie!  And I had to give her a gold phone- in honor of my niece Paige and her gold phone! 

Please head on over to wordstoscrapby.com and see what the rest of the team created and then go make a card!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and special thanks to Annie, Sybrina and Bobbi for letting me join in on the W2SB fun!

Diane

Relaxing Kind of Weekend

Hello!  I did not have lots of plans for this weekend so I was able to read, watch Outlander and create some cards!{Yup, my laundry is still waiting to be done...later, later!}

The Male Room's current challenge is to use letters or numbers on our projects. My Favorite Things recently showed several ways to make shaker cards and that inspired my card. A super simple layout with masculine papers and colors and I am pleased with the results!
http://themaleroomchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/new-dt-members-and-challenge-08-using.html

And the ladies from Cards 4 Guyz came up with another fun challenge....Challenge # 66 Exotic/Jungle Wildlife

I used an Inky Antics image and colored it with copic markers. What a sweet duo- the hippo and the bird....well- and the stamp and copics too!

Try Stamping on Tuesday has another sketch for us to use:
                                      
I do not usually combine challenges but Cards in Envy's challenge is Child's Play -so I decided to use the Penny Black stamp for both challenges.

http://www.cardsinenvy.blogspot.com/
http://trystampinontuesday.blogspot.com/

And I always enjoy the theme at Words to Scrap By and April's theme is The Earth has Music. I combined a few stamps to create the creating to go with the adorable elephant by Avery Elle.  I have a special place in my heart for elephants- as does my niece, Tessa.
So- this one is made with Tessa in my thoughts! She is pure joy to me!

http://words2scrapby.blogspot.com/2015/04/w2sb-challenge-16-earth-has-music.html

OWH's mid month throwdown is stitching.  So- this is kind of a cheat- but I adore the dies with the stitched edges....love the little extra detail.  And the foam finger is on an Action Wobble--so fun!

April Mid-Month Throwdown – Stitching

Thanks for stopping by,
Diane