OWH-Hero Arts Thank You-Sketch 5

Thank You to our Heroes...and to Hero Arts!  Here's a masculine Thank You card for Operation Write Home.  I love that you can add the sentiment separately because it makes it so simple to use a different color ink...and the stamps are clear so there's no problem lining them up!

The challenge at Stars & Stamps  was to:
1. Make a thank you card using at least one stamp.
2. Use an OWH sketch as the basis for it. (I used #5)
3. Share it using InLinkz
4. Leave a comment for Hero Arts on this post.
5. Send your card either to OWH for our heroes, or to Hero Arts!   

I should be wrapping Christmas gifts instead of playing, but oh well, the time is almost up!

Snowman Gift Card Boxes

 

I love this little snowman from a set I picked up from Inkadinkado...so easy!  I had a couple of gift card holders to make and you know, those Visa/Mastercard packages come with a lot of extra instructions and they won't quite fit in a normal gift card holder...I even tried to cut out a box with my Cricut but since I only have the personal size it was about 1/2" too small...so I made my own.  Luckily a 6 x 12 piece of cardstock worked well, then I used a die from Spellbinders, inked the edges, stamped the image and added some ribbon.  I made one masculine and then the next two I made feminine...I like them!  Think I'll make some more!

And it's snowing here today..."It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas"!

Valentine's Day?

Are you ready for Valentine's Day?  Just kidding...had to get this in for a challenge at Operation Write Home Archway Cookie Valentine Challenge.  Archway will donate cookies for our service men and women for Valentine or Love cards sent in, the glitch is they must be received by the OWH Shipper by December 10th.  So if you have any Valentine or Love cards sitting around, check out this site!  And there's also a chance to win a prize from I Brake for Stamps!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop-Embrace the festive...

I made this card at the last minute for the Papertrey Ink November Blog Hop Challenge::

I hate cutting it so close to the wire...it's due by 11:30 pm Eastern Standard Time.  But, I loved the inspiration, and Christmas is right around the corner now that Thanksgiving has passed.  This is the first time I've played at PTI...wish I had a stamp with those cute ice skates!

Being disorderly...

Today is my oldest son's birthday - he's a little on the non-traditional side...well they all are somewhat...but I thought he'd appreciate this card using Tim Holtz stamps.  The paper is from the Urban Ink collection of Dream Street Papers called Shockwave, and I love the way the stamped image of the eye fit right into the swirled circle on the paper...now I need to go back to the LSS to see if they have any of that paper left!  It was on clearance at the time, so I'm sure it's all gone!  But since I need to 'shop small' that's all the excuse I need to stop in there to look around.  The inside of the card uses a Tim Holtz stamp and the 'Happy Birthday' comes from the Skipping Stones Design set called Grunge.  I was surprised how well the font matched.

The monthly challenge over at the Stampendous Blog is to use chipboard...this card uses Tim Holtz Grungeboard, but I thought that qualified.

Thanks for stopping by, always love hearing from you!

Irrevocably Unconditionally...

OK, here's one for all of you Twilight fans...for those of you who aren't, the movie covering the 1st part of the final book will released November 18th.  This set from Skipping Stones Design, Fangs or Fur, has some cute images and sentiments for the 'Twihard'! 

I had a hard time deciding which of these cards to use for which challenge...I finally decided to use this for the CR84FN 42  Color Challenge to use Black, Pale Pink, and Neutral:

And the next one for the Skipping Stones Design Sketch 101:

They both actually work for this sketch, but this one is a little more true to the sketch:

And the great thing is, they both work for the Operation Write Home challenge blog, Stars & Stamps Valentine/Love Challenge, so they'll both go out to OWH for shipping overseas for someone in the military to be able to send home to a loved one.

Thanks for stopping by, be sure to say 'Hi' ~

Flashback Friday 17.0 - My first banner

I think this was my first 'banner' (January 2011)...I followed a sketch with a banner before this but I used Shrinky Dink Ghosts in place of the banner, so I don't think that one counted!  I'll let you decide -

What do you think, should this count as a banner? (It is from September 2010)

Adore Stampendous Rosehips

Looks like I need to be a little more careful with the background papers when photographing my cards...almost looks like part of the card!  Anyhow, the card base is the dark chocolate card stock!

Recipe:
Cardstock:  Stampin' Up
DSP, Tag stickers: My Minds Eye
Stamp:  Stampendous Jumbo Cling Rosehips
Ink: Stampin' Up
Seam binding: Stampin' Up
Twine: Misc.

More quick and easy sketch results...

Told you I got carried away with this sketch (see previous post). 

I found these adorable little penguin stickers for 1/2 price and couldn't resist...I don't have any little ones to send cards to but I figured Operation Write Home could use some. 

The snowflakes and sentiments are from Skipping Stones Design 'Brrthday'.

This was last week's sketch #92...be sure to check out this week's sketch #93 at OWH Stars & Stamps.

Quick and easy sketch

OK, so last week's sketch challenge over at Operation Write Home blog Stars and Stamps was so quick and easy I got a little carried away.  I tend to go overboard with the Clean and Simple when doing cards for OWH, not necessarily because of the extra postage (though that can be a factor especially during the holidays), but also because I've found if I put too much on a card it's difficult to fit it into the envelope.  So, I hope they're not too simple.

Also, we've reached the deadline for sending 'Christmas' cards but have been encouraged to send 'Winter' cards, so here's another, using an image from an old retired set from Stampin' Up called Holiday Woodcuts.  The sentiment from the next one is from Skipping Stones Design set called Sassy Snow.

Well, I'd better get busy and get some housework done so I don't feel so guilty playing in my craft room!

CAS Wise men - Skipping Stones Design #98

I've really got to post these challenges a little earlier...nothing like waiting till the last minute!  This is for Skipping Stones Design Sketch #98.  I used one of this month's featured sets, ' Wisemen' and the emboss resist technique.

CAS Christmas Cards-Stampendous

I'm really liking this Holly Stamp from Stampendous.  This card is for a Keep it simple...Stampers challenge to make Christmas cards clean and simple.  The 'Wish' sentiment is from Skipping Stones Design.

The next one I made for CR84FN color challenge, but I fooled around and didn't post it in time, but it also fit for the CAS Christmas at Stampendous.

The background is from the Holly set at Stampendous and the sentiment is from the new set at Skipping Stones Design called ' Christmas Song'.

I Pledge Allegiance...

My brother-in-law married a girl from the Philippines and she just passed her citizenship test...I made this card for the party they held to celebrate...and I used the awesome color combination from CR84FN #40:

I love these colors together and made another CAS Christmas Card to share later...

I also love the silhouette patriotic stamp from a retired Stampin' Up set called Thankful Thoughts...I printed the Pledge of Allegiance on my computer and then turned it into a tag, and the rustic star is from a Mini Christmas Tree garland set of all things...I possibly should have snipped the wire, but I thought it gave it more of a rustic look...not sure now...

CAS Christmas Song

This one is a little late...the new Skipping Stones Design Sketch will be out tomorrow...here's the link for the new release of Christmas Song.  I really liked the layout though and thought it would be great for the Clean and Simple Challenge at Stampendous.  I really like the Jumbo Holly Season for this background...in fact I used it on a couple of others that I'll add later.

See you soon!

OWH - A handful of Thanksgiving Cards

A couple of cards shipped off to Operation Write Home.  Time to make some Christmas Cards to ship by the end of October...

CR84FN with OWH Gel-a-tins Challenge

 OK, I've been falling behind posting these fun challenges...here's one for CR84FN 39 Color Challenge to use the following:

...and combine it with a Gel-a-tins Operation Write Home Challenge to create a Fall Themed card using this cute sketch:

I think I overdue it with the Clean and Simple when making cards for OWH so the card can be mailed more easily...I find it's hard to fit the card into the envelope if I get too carried away... I know there's a balance there somewhere!

So many great challenges out there right now!  What a busy time in Blog Land...oh, to be able to play all day long!

The stamp is from Skipping Stones Design Heartsong.

OWH Case - Color Throwdown 160

This is for two challenges, one is for Color Throwdown #160 to use the following colors:

This is also for a challenge at Stars & Stamps Birthday Bash to case a card from another designer.  Stars & Stamps is a blog for Operation Write Home and they are celebrating the whole month of September.

You mean the world to me...

 

 I've wanted to mix the sentiment from Skipping Stones Design's Victorian Summer with the old world globe from Stampin' Up The Open Sea since I saw the new sets...and now I'm mixing Skipping Stones Design SSD 93  with the OWH (Operation Write Home) Birthday Bash at Stars and Stamps for a call to use something round on your card.

Here's the sketch...

And here's another card with a few less layers with a color challenge to use Kraft, Red, and Blue or Black from Stars and Stamps Birthday Bash Color Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by ~

CR84FN with a Sketch for you to try...

If you follow some of the same blogs I follow, you'll most likely recognize the sketch, the colors, and the stamp set!

The sketch is from the September monthly Sketch For You To Try.

The colors are from CR84FN38:

And the stamp set is Victorian Summer by Skipping Stones Design.

Thanks for stopping by, be sure to say 'Hi'!

Sending you smiles-PDCC and OWH

Ok, this is the first card I made for this challenge at The Play Date Cafe Challenge 97.  Sorry for the lengthy post...I went a little crazy with the Black and White with a splash of red!

The door image is from Scroll Works and the wreath is from Skipping Stones Design.
The sketch for the first card was also inspired by Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps Birthday Bash Challenge-Day 2.  For those of you who are not familiar with OWH, it is an organization dedicated to making homemade cards and shipping them to service men and women so they can send them home to their loved ones.



And this card reminded me of the cupcake tower in the inspiration photo.

And I couldn't resist using the black and white for the shaggy dog and the fire hydrant for the splash of red!

So tell me, which is your favorite?

Tweet Birthday - CR84FN and OWH

I made this card with two challenges in mind...the colors came from CR84FN #37.

And the sketch inspirations came from Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps Birthday Bash Challenge-Day 2.  For those of you who are not familiar with OWH, it is an organization dedicated to making homemade cards and shipping them to service men and women so they can send them home to their loved ones.

Thanks for stopping by...

Skipping Stones Design #91 and a Fond Farewell!

I can't believe this is my last post as a Skipping Stones Design 'Stamp Tramp'!  I have thoroughly enjoyed my two terms, and hope I'll be asked back as a guest DT member some time!  I'm really looking forward to seeing what the new DT members create with these great stamps.

I bought this Graphic 45 paper quite a while ago and hadn't figured out how to use it until I saw this great sketch, the last one from the talented Teri Anderson...I used the fancy slipper from Sassy Shoes and the sweet curved birthday sentiment from Victorian Summer.  I had a lot of fun with this sketch, several ideas came to mind, but I stopped at two...let's see what you guys come up with!

For this one, I used Chick Chat and some cute paper from Cosmo Cricket...oh, and Grunge for the background circles.

It's been so much fun getting to know all of you, and I'll be following!

Tips and Tricks Thursday (or a reminder...)

This is not so much a Tips & Tricks as it is a reminder to use some of the techniques (and products) that may have ended up on a shelf somewhere...I haven't used my chalks in ages!

I love lavender, the scent is so soothing, and Dandelion Dreams has a couple of stamps that have been calling out to me for a while now...

First, get out your chalk, Versamark pad, daubers and stamp set:

Stamp your image with Versarmark and use the daubers to apply the chalk:

And here's the finished product:

Too simple?  I hope this gets you to pull out some forgotten product to play with...thanks for stopping by!