Plethora of Cards!

Welcome!
I have several cards to share with you today!(OK- 5- not a plethora...but it seemed like a lot! )

First up: January's Our Daily Bread Designs challenge is to use stripes on our cards. http://operationwritehome.org/odbd-january-challenge-2/  The oh so generous folks at ODBD not only will pay for shipping for 2 boxes of cards to be sent to our troops if 50 of us makes cards for the challenge; they also give prizes to 2 of the card makers...EVERY month! They are an awesome company!

Next up- we have this week's OWH sketch.  This is one of my favorites- love the layers and love the circles! Here is Cheryl's inspiration card:  

and you can visit Cheryl here:  http://scrappinforourtroops.blogspot.com/2013/10/owh-midweek-throwdown-color-challenge.html

My card is made from a digi stamp by Some Odd Girl, Authentique papers, copics, googly eyes, twine and spellbinders dies.

And here are a few more cards I made recently. I received my recent receipt from Sandy and I donated 533 cards in 2013! I was surprised by the number- yeah me- but realized that there are lots of cards that I do not post on my blog. So- I am going to try to post more of the cards I make- not just those for challenges. So here are a few cards- and you may notice a recent trend of mine- YELLOW!

 I needed more paper for card bases- I use Bazzill Card Shoppe Marshmallow- it is a nice, heavy weight..so I ordered more white but also got a pack of 25 sheets of Sour Lemon-- love it! Nice and sunny without being over the top bright yellow! 

And here is my tip for this week....did you know you can use your American Express points at Amazon? I got 3 packages of marshmallow and the 1 package of sour lemon-- for free! This is 200 card bases of very fine quality paper --just for using a card I use anyway! I like using my points on papercrafting items- I like this paper; it is more expensive but totally worth it- but when I do not have to pay- that is an extra perk!

And don't forget to comment on my Top 13 of 2013, 1/1/14 post to be entered into a drawing! 

http://dianecreateswithpaper.blogspot.com/2014/01/welcome-new-year-with-re-cap-of-2013.html

My niece Cori (Cori, Cori, Cori-in case you are counting!) came over this weekend and colored some cute images. We did not have time to make cards- she is headed back to school today- her last semester working on her Masters degree- gooooo Cori! (that is 5!) And Maggie - yes Maggie- is coming over today to interview me for a video. Yup- Maggie is visiting today! OK- so these 2 darlings COUNTED how many times they were mentioned in my blog in 2013 and razzed me that sisters Tessa and Paige made the news more often--so this year I will do my best to spread the love around! (I did tell Cori that she needed to do more exciting things to make the blog....LOL!) Oops-just got a text from Maggie! Maggie will be here in a while- so have to run!

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Diane 

Slacking Blogger!

Hello...I am still here! The past few weeks have been super busy- for my recent vacation I went on a scrapbooking retreat and visited Paige in NYC. Once I went back to work, I completed a retirement scrapbook for my Medical Director...and that took up a lot of my free time. But...I am back in my card making groove and trying to get up to date on all the challenges! 

I will start off my cards with this week's OWH sketch- #200--amazing to have 200 sketches and I think I like them all!! I hope to go back to some of the earlier sketches and use them for some inspiration.
                                                                                                            

Love the sentiments- from My Favorite Things and Authentique papers. I tried for a more masculine Valentine's card.

And the 2 recent Midweek Throwdowns:

A masculine birthday card:

I forgot to take a picture of the inside- it says "I forgot your birthday"- a fun stamp set from Simon Says Stamp.











Dry embossing:

If you look closely- the large brown panel is dry embossed. And another great stamp set from MFT- I cannot resist this sweet cowboy! Yeehaw!  The chipboard stars are from CTMH-they came in a kit I purchased at the retreat and I covered them with the same blue paper as the background.






And sketch #199: 
  

 I used Mama Elephant stamps for this one. Check out OWH for Penny's card that was the card sample for the sketch- so gorgeous!

And #198:

And that fun digital robot appears again-Sandy used this image in one of her ICSE classes.  I have used him a few times- and I love that I can change the color of the heart to match my papers....so this has a more masculine feel to it.  
Are you seeing a theme?   I am trying to make more guy- or at least gender neutral cards and  more boy cards..... but have no fear- I still love girly colors and have LOTS of paper to use! 

It is cold and windy here in New England...perfect to stay in tonight to watch the Patriots game. 
Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!
Craft on,
Diane

Drunken Stampers- Button, Button- Who has the Button?

Looks like a lot of us have the button and plenty to spare!
This week's Drunken Stamper challenge is to use....yup... buttons!
I am sorry I cannot add the graphic for the challenge- Yahoo is being a PIA- and I cannot copy the fun lady to introduce the challenge topic! Boo hoo!
Well- here is my card:

The buttons I had in my stash; the tree trunk is made of square buttons that were ivory and I used a brown copic to color them. I used glossy accents to glue all the buttons to a paper base.

The papers are all Authentique. The clear gems are brads- also from my stash and the red gems were clear flat back stones that I colored with a red copic marker. The banner dies are from LifeStyle Crafts  and the circle dies are Spellbinders.

Please play along with the Drunken Stampers- we all get so excited to see your creations! 

And did you hear....

http://wermemorykeepers.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/great-news-we-r-memory-keepers-purchased-lifestyle-crafts/comment-page-4/#comment-12129

Have a great week and always make time to craft on!

Thanks for stopping by,

Diane

OWH Sketch #182

Today I have a very quick and easy card to share.

I really like this OWH sketch- it helped to create a super simple card. I guess it could be considered masculine- no frills, no pinks, no bling! I used the Authentique Festive paper pad for the polka dot zig zags and also for the green background paper, which was embossed with a LifeStyle Crafts embossing folder. The yellow paper is from the MME Collectable "Remarkable" 6x6 pad. I used Copics Y13,15,17 and colored a Studio G sentiment stamp- and my card was done!

I hope you all have a fantastic week.

Craft on and thanks for stopping by!

Diane

SPARKLE!

I had a pretty productive weekend and I was able to find time to make several cards-yahoo-my OWH box is almost full.

Over at Drunken Stampers this week's challenge is:





I have this very sweet Tiddly Inks little fairy digital image- so fun to color!  I used BoBunny Isabella papers, and copics (C3,5,7,9; YG45; E00,50; R20; RV00,02 and 04, EK Success punch, Hero Arts sentiments and Sakura clear star and clear glaze pens. Since most of my cards are sent to OWH, glitter that comes off is not OK! So- when I want lots of sparkle but want our troops to be safe, I cover the clear star glitter pen with a clear glaze pen, The glaze gives lots of shine and seals in the glitter so it passes the Sandy Allnock sweater test! I put a honkin' lot of glitter on her wings and scribbled more on her hair, dress and shoes. The shine on her hair and wings in the first picture is from the glaze. The second picture shows less glaze, more sparkle! I cut 3 butterflies from another piece of the BoBunny papers and glued them around the fluttering fairy!

And did you hear??? The awesome ladies over that Drunken Stampers are on the look out for some fun and crafty folks to join their design team. I had a lot of fun with the group when I was the Designated Designer in May....so I am thinking this would be a blast! Not a lot of hoops to hop thru- just some great challenges, laughs and lots of support--- go take a look and give it a chance!
http://drunkenstampers.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/looking-for-fun-crafty-peeps-for-the-drunken-stampers-fall-term/

Another great sketch is posted at OWH by Marlene today. I am so loving the sketches and the sample cards that Marlene is choosing-- I am having a hard time picking my favorite! I guess each week the posted sketch is my favorite--I like when I use the sketch for several cards but they all look different! I do not take pictures of all of my cards- mostly just the ones I make for challenges....I may take pictures of my whole box before I mail it off to Kris.... and maybe I won't-depends on the timing!
                     

Kathryn  made a fantastic card for today's inspiration! I love her patterned papers and matting- and I love that the sentiment really stands out and is the same paper as her mats!http://kathrynscards.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-time-for-another-bloghop.html
                          


My card:

I tucked my panel on the right behind the panel on the left and changed where I put my embellishments and left off the twine but otherwise I stayed pretty true to the sketch.
I used Authentique Festive papers, Mama Elephant stamps, Memento Tuxedo Black, Lady Bug and Bamboo Leaves inks, Copics R29, C1,3,5, G99 and YR04. I am trying to make some Christmas cards every week to add to my next shipment for Kris- so she has a little bit of a headstart on the winter holidays. I am really going to try to get my boxes in well before the OWH deadlines....sometimes I cut it very close!

Another busy softball week coming up for Tessa- the town league championship games are starting this week-after the break for the All Star games. Her team won 1 out of 3 of the All Star games- so they are out of the tournament....but the 2 losses both ended up requiring extra innings! The win was by a score of 16-1--the bats were on fire that night! Fabulous effort by all the teams- we just came up a tiny bit short.....but wow- her team really put forth true teamwork!!!

Craft on and have a great week- and fellow Americans, enjoy our Independence Day!
Diane

OWH Tutorial Window Cards

This week Nancy has a fun tutorial at OWH- Penny Ward shows us how to create window cards.
I made my card  and thought- ehh-- and while it is fine- I wish I popped up the purple layer from the white paper with the 3 images....it lost the dimension of being a window card-oh well- I am sure I will make another card using this technique.

I used Lifestyle Crafts dies for the hearts and the circle and the bird stamps are Inky Antics, the sentiment is from the HeroArts/OWH fundraiser set, Authentique striped paper and Bazzill cardstock. The ribbon and stickers are from my stash. Cute enough- but not the look I was going for... so... I thought about making another card and decided to take a break.

My break consisted of  looking at some of my favorite blogs and saw that Erika  http://scrappinintervention.blogspot.com/- she is oh so brilliant- used a window..yup- a view through a window! It just so happens I made 2 cards this weekend using Memory Box dies- the window, curtains and the cats. I do not post every card I make for OWH- usually just challenge cards- so these just went into my box. Thanks to Erika- I had a V-8 moment (or a Homer Simpson DOH moment)- and decided to take some pictures of my cards to share with you! LOL  The top card- the curtain is crooked- hey- but that is how I hang my curtains...the rod is always hung a little off!
The 2nd card- I used some acetate to mimic a pane of glass--to protect the birds from Art Impressions from the hungry cat! 
Oh and speaking of AI-- did you hear the news- did you hear me shout wahooo when Paula S commented that she saw I won?  Yup--I won the random drawing from this weekend's bloghop! Wahooooo- perfect timing...this makes being on a mini spending freeze so much more tolerable! Hey-even if I was not in a 'use my stash mode'- the win is thrilling!  I am so excited and thankful to AI! I will post a picture of my prize when it arrives!

As always, thanks for stopping by!
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