OWH Sketch 211 and 2 New Loves!

Hello! I hope you are enjoying the Olympics and have had time to watch some of the events.
Today I am sharing a few cards- 3 are inspired by this week's sketch


I like this sketch- one card I stayed true ot the sketch- the others..well.... I went off track a little bit!

 The most true to the sketch!

 Based on the sketch- the bears are so stinkin cute and I love this frame from CTMH Artbooking--- my newest favorite Cricut cartridge!

 The frame above is also from Artbooking. And the stamp and die cut below- yup- from CTMH! I think you already know my newest love is Artbooking-- but I am also wondering where enamel dots have been all my life?  I love how sleek they are, not a high profile and they add just a touch of fun!

Have a wonderful week...I have a 4 day weekend coming up! I recently worked an unexpected Saturday..so I am taking this Friday off to compensate for my time...sweet! 

Thanks for stopping by- a shout out to my girls-- wawa2 to Tessa, Maggie, Paige and Cori--- and of course- to Lola!

Diane

Manly Yes...But I Like it Too! (And an Anniversary Shout Out!)

Do you remember the Irish Spring commercial? This weekend OWH is having a Card Bowl and we are challenged to make masculine cards.... thus the first part of my title!
             

Yesterday's challenge was for the monthly ODBD challenge and for February we are to make a card with the color brown. And amazingly- we have already exceed the goal of 50 cards! Wahooo!
Please go see all of the great cards! 
http://operationwritehome.org/odbd-february-challenge/

I used MFT camera die and stamps- and yes- I heat embossed the sentiment! A rarity for me! LOL 

Today's OWH sketch is fabulous and the sample card is by Donna- one the absolutely nicest people I have 'met' online-and so very talented too! You have to go visit Donna 
http://designingkeepsakes.blogspot.com

                                                               
                                             

For my sketch card, I used a CTMH stamp and die cut from the Artiste Cricut Cartridge. I was very surprised on my birthday with a bit of cash so I splurged and purchased some crafty supplies......  and man did I have some fun ordering!! I ordered the CTMH Artbooking cartridge and a few CTMH stamp sets, some Paper Smooches stamps and dies and some embellishments from Simon Says Stamp! I also re-stocked my supply of Copic X-press It Blending Card with an Amazon gift card---so I have loved coming home from busy work days to find packages waiting for me! lol!

And did you know that  Paper Smooches is celebrating their 3rd anniversary? They are-and they have new releases too! I am so impressed with the quality of all of the products, how fun and cute the images are, the super fast shipping and the customer service is OUTSTANDING! Go give Kim some love and help celebrate!
 http://papersmooches.blogspot.com/2014/02/happy-3rd-anniversary-to-paper-smooches.html
                                    

Here is a card I made in honor of the anniversary... I look up to Kim--her talent, her kindness and her business! I tried to keep with the OWH manly theme- and I love this paper-- I hope that coral/pinky color in a few of the squares is not too feminine- I tried to color the hippo's tongue the same color!

Well- I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the game tonite. I know there will be heartbroken fans as well as joyous fans...I look forward to an exciting game!
Hello to my girls- Tessa, Cori, Maggie, Paige and Lola!
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

You are Invited!

Wow- have you checked out all of the great creations that have been entered into the past 2 challenges at Drunken Stampers? Lots of fun and creative people have been getting in on the fun and you are invited to join in too!  Which brings me to this week's challenge:

                              

It's a party! Wahhhooooooo! I used a CTMH stamp and covered her with a purple glaze pen by Sakura- you know I love these pens! They give lots of shine, dry super fast and give some nice texture without bulk! The clipboard stamp is by Unity,the sentiments on the clipboard are from a variety of companies and I used a silver pen by Signo to color in the clip of the clipboard- doesn't it look real? LOL LOL   The ribbon is from my stash and matches the gal perfectly in real life- darn my lighting and camera skills! The zig zag/rick rack/chevron punch is by EK Success, the gems are Queen and Co and the fun ombre paper is by Studio Calico; Atlantic 6x6 pad. {Please take note of the order of importance of my party planning activities.... eat cake....yup. Always at the top of my list!}

Soooooo, I have not received your RSVP yet! Head on over to Drunken Stampers and join the party- no gifts required, no fancy party dress either-just some sharing of creativity and some lighthearted fun! I am sure you would love to be the Life of the Party for this challenge-come on- you can do it! 
Thanks for coming to my tiny little party and yup- craft on!
Diane

Feeling Famous!

Happy Sunday! I have been extra busy so I am a little behind on posting!
I am feeling just a little tiny bit famous.... I am the sketch gal over at OWH today! Nice surprise- and extra nice because I really like the sketch! I like that i can use some pretty papers and have lots left over for other cards! Great way to use up scraps!



Just a helpful tip- the measurements for the top and bottom strips are .75x5 inches.

I altered my card a bit- I wanted to use this stamp and sentiment but they were too large so I combined the boxes on the right into 1 box.  The stamps are from the HSN iconic set, the papers are MME The Sweetest Thing-Tangerine and the viewmaster is colored over with black glaze by Sakura. I adore the glaze pens- they give a nice shine but dry quickly, come in lots of colots and they are in an easy to use pen! The white areas on the viewmaster are light reflections- it is so shiny!

http://operationwritehome.org/midweek-throwdown-masculine/   This week Jan challlenged us to make cards for the guys! I decided to make a swing card with my Cricut and CTMH Artiste cartridge...super easy to do!

MFT stamps, Bazzill card stock for the base of card, the strips are from my stash.

And my other famous moment, Sandy posted some cards from her students from the Stage It classes and I have several of my cards on her blog today! http://sandyallnock.com/one-more-sleep/

Very exciting for me!

Have a wonderful week and please continue to craft on!

(anyone else having troubles with blogger today? I cannot make any edits- so I apologize for typos! I could not edit a previous post -the one where my cards were originally posted on 5/9- I have several typos in that as well!

Thanks for stopping by,

Diane

Oh My! Can you stand it?

I got home today to a nice surprise...I won the Drunken Stampers Challenge....again- yup I am the Life of the Party! Can ya stand it???  I truly have a great time creating cards for these challenges....I really have to think long and hard to come up with something that fits the theme for the week....always based on a movie! Too fun...why are you not joining us over at Drunken Stampers?

I look forward to Paula's monthly post at OperationWriteHome.org for the  Design Bootcamp. This month the topic is repitition. Paula's tutorials are always  clear and helpful! Putting all her ideas into one card....let's just say-not every card comes out how it appears in my head...but I keep trying!

This card uses an assortment of polkadot papers and I repeated the main colors- orange, green and blue and repeated the dots with the fuzzy brads, I even embossed the striped piece of paper with tiny dots...overkill? And this cutie stamp is from Sweetnsassystamps.com! A really adorable set! I have seen some of their stamps on blogs but the stamp show is the first time I saw them in person! And the folks at the show- wonderfully nice!!

Want to see what Paige created the other nite? I guess she is now my 2nd guest designer- lol! The cupcake is from CTMH and the sign holding gorilla is from QKR Stampede-another new to me company- great unmounted red rubber stamps! It is a great and detailed stamp- but will you just look at the coloring of that ape? And this was her first time using Copics! I made a card with the gorilla too- but that can wait- just take in the glory of Paige's cards!! 

Have a wonderful week!

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