Sample Cards for Ashley's Sketches

Hi, everyone,

A few weeks ago, Ashley sent me a couple of card sketches and a sketch for a 12 by 12 layout with an offer I couldn't refuse -- making sample cards!  :)

So, here are Ashley's card sketches -- and the cards that were inspired by them. :)

Card 1: Summer FUN!

  Card 2: splish, splash

NOTE: This card has been posted for CFC66. Click here to check out this CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

      

Card 3: Fun in the Sun

All three cards were made from Jillibean Soup's Watermelon Gazpacho Soup collection (6 by 6 pad and embellishments) and Ranger Distress Ink core paper.

I really do love Jillibean's papers, but find it challenging to combine the patterns. I love the way the patterns pop when paired with bright cardstock!

Stamped images and sentiments are from the Making Memories summer foam stamp collection.


With any luck, I'll be posting a card for the 12 by 12 sketch in a couple of days. Until then, happy scrappin'!

OWH Sketch #126

Hi, everyone,

Found a couple of minutes to make an Any Hero card inspired by this week's sketch. As with most of my Any Hero cards, I made a horizontal version of the sketch. :)

We R Memory Keepers Red, White, & Blue collection, miscellaneous cardstock; Stamper's Best sentiment

Loved the sketch. It feels like a sketch I'll use a lot. And, I found that layering this collection's papers with solid cardstock made for a less busy card -- a card more typical of my usual aesthetic.

That's it for the moment. Thanks for visiting. Happy scrappin'!

OWH Midweek Throwdown

Hi, everyone,

It's been awhile. Hope everyone is well. Dads are coming later this afternoon, so I need to make this a quick post.  :)

I found a little time to make the card below for this week's Throwdown, which was to make something with wings. You know me, I'll take any opportunity I can to punch out some butterflies!

Paper: webster's pages In Love collection, AC Neutrals cardstock; Punches: Martha Stewart butterfly, EK Success border

As always, thanks for stopping by. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you who are not able to spend Father's Day with those special men in your live.

Monday Musings

Hi, everyone,

Hope you all had a great weekend. For us, it was a nice blend of getting things done around the house, relaxing at the neighborhood pool, and making (or commenting on, in hubby's case) cards.

In Honor of Dee: Delicate Wings of Hope and Tranquility

Dee was an OWH Board Member who has been involved with OWH since the beginning. (She's made over 12,000 beautiful cards for OWH!) Sadly, Dee just resigned her board position due to her battle with cancer. 

Sandy originally asked us to make two cards -- one for Dee and one in honor of Dee. Sadly, Dee has taken a turn for the worse and has been hospitalized. So, we have been asked to leave comments here rather than sending cards.

The two cards below are the cards I was planning to send to and for Dee. Instead, I will be sending them in my next OWH shipment. 

webster's pages In Love collection; Martha Stewart butterfly and EK Success border punches; gray cardstock; pearl embellishments

webster's pages In Love collection; S.E.I. Moonrise embellishments; Hero Arts Hero Hues; border punch

I used a trifold for both cards -- with the intention of writing a note to Dee. What I love about the trifold is that it provides more room for heroes to write their notes home. The drawback is that I can only get one card per sheet.

OWH Sketch #125

This week's sketch inspired the Any Hero card below.

                                  

We R Memory Keepers Red, White, & Blue

While I really like the patterns in this pad of paper, I still feel as though the cards I've made using the paper are far busier than my typical style. Adding the sentiment and big star at the top really helped a lot. So, I'm okay with the final look, but still trying to wrap my brain around my un-CAS-like creations. :)

For Dad, with Love

Since making holiday cards for OWH, I' find myself thinking the holiday is already passed -- like when I see Valentine's Day things in the store and think but we've already had Valentine' Day. [Does that happen to anyone else? :)]

Such was the case with Father's Day. I was upstairs making cards this weekend and realized I still needed to make a card for my dad. (No, I haven't forgotten about my father-in-law. Hubby had already taken care of a card and gift for his dad.) So, the card below is for my dad -- and more in my typical CAS-style. Our dads prefer simple to fussy. :)

Kaiser Konstrukt collection;Gillian Vance sentiment;  handmade screw/bolt  heads and nuts

I tried to create some screw/bolt heads and nuts. The ridges for the screw heads were created by scoring punched-out circles and pressing the folded edges into a Versmark pad. Each nut was created by punching out circles, drawing segments to divide the circles into sixths, drawing segments along the edge of each sixth section, cutting along the edge segments, and punching a small circle in the center.

Glad I remembered -- and hope Dad likes his card. :)  Looking forward to having both dads out next Sunday.

Parting Thoughts

Immediate plans for the week are to get my current stash of OWH cards ready to send.  I want to get those in the mail in the next week or so.

On a different note, I need to take a hiatus from Friday Night Writes and Monday Musings for a couple of weeks or so. There's nothing wrong. But, work is going to be crazy busy -- probably so until mid August. 

I'm going to make cards whenever I have a chance. And, I hope to make an occasional post. But, unfortunately, publishing regular posts and making/posting cards for specific challenges won't be happening.  :(

As always, thanks for stopping by. Your visits and comments are truly appreciated. 

Happy scrappin' to all!

Friday Night Writes

Hi, everyone,

Again, my appreciation to all who have visited this week, with special thanks to those who left comments. Red, White, and Boom seemed to be a crowd pleaser.

I apologize to my OWH friends for not leaving comments for their wonderful creations these past weeks. I know how much everyone enjoys receiving feedback. But, I haven't done any of that since the blog hop. 

Janet's Birthday Celebration...

... went really well. It started with a potluck breakfast of egg, sausage, and cheese casserole; muffins; fruit; orange juice; and a coffee/hot chocolate/tea bar. Then, she received a small gift (balloons, candy, plants, candle, homemade cards) from other members of our team. Finally, the math department had an afternoon birthday cake break, complete with a rendition of "Happy Birthday"!  

Of course, Janet is so gracious that she wouldn't say otherwise. But, I think she really did like her handmade cards. One of the girls on our team said Janet told her she wanted to frame the heritage Bo Bunny card. :)

  Two Sympathy Cards: Comfort, Understanding, and Peace

On a very sad note, the mother of two girls (sisters) at work passed unexpectedly last weekend. Both Kim and Abby are so sweet. Friends of Scrapbook Art who participated in last May's Global Volunteer Day event for OWH may have met Abby as she made cards with us that day.

So, I made a trip to Scrapbook Art to buy some special paper and ribbon to make cards for Abby and Kim. These cards are so hard to make -- aren't they? I ended up using paper from webster's ages In Love collection. It seemed soft and pretty without being too flowery. The sentiment is by Gillian Vance. I love this set of stamps -- and the sentiment used is one of my favorites from this set.

All in all, I was fairly pleased with the results. On the second card, it was my first time using my garage sale ribbon threader punch. I wish I would've done a better job lining it up. But, I thought the ribbon against the paper turned out nicely. All in all, I was trying to convey serenity and beauty without going over the top. I hope I managed to do that. 

Parting Thoughts

There's a tie for first place on this weekend's crafting to do list:

• Per Sandy's Midweek Throwdown request, I want to make cards for and in honor of retiring OWH board member Dee.
• And, I need to honor a promise I made to hubby to get some pictures in some bargain-buy frames for a naked hallway in need of decorating. :)

(And then there's that darn dusting and vacuuming.  If only...)

I'm also tinkering with a couple of cards for a few of Ashley's sketches. I've made a little progress on those, but not as much as I would've liked. Unfortunately, this weekend's not looking much better for that.

Anyhow, have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by. Happy scrappin'!

Monday Musings

Hi, everyone,

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

The good news is that the weather was gorgeous here these last couple of days. The bad news is that makes it kind of tough to stay inside and work on cards. But, I managed to get a couple of cards made anywhere -- 6 to be exact!  Here's some information on 3 of the cards.

OWH Sketch #124: Red, White, and Boom

 I love the simplicity of this week's sketch.

                                 

As always, I used it as the inspiration for an Any Hero card. For the card below, I rotated the sketch to make a horizontal card. And, I changed things up a bit going away from my usual Bo Bunny Liberty and SignifyPink Pages of Honor papers. Shocking, I know!

Paper: We R Memory Makers Red, White, & Blue collection; Stickles; garage sale funky fiber

Ever since I picked up this pack of paper, I've wanted to play with the fireworks pattern. This week's sketch seemed like the perfect opportunity! I used some crystal, candy cane, and midnight blue Stickles to pop the fireworks. I eventually decided to go with this blue fiber although it wasn't my first -- or for that matter, second choice. But, my first choice was glittery adornment that reminded me of razor-thin Easter-basket grass. So, I was really concerned that it wouldn't get the OWH glitter-free seal of approval. This ribbon doesn't carry through the fireworks idea, but I know it's a safer bet.

A Greeting from Three Amigos and A World of Thanks

A manager at work is celebrating the big 6-0 this week. So, our team is having each person give her a gift every 60 minutes. What better gift than a handmade card for Janet -- and a set of handmade cards for her to give to her family and friends?

While I didn't think I could get 60 cards made by this Thursday --LOL -- I did think I could put together a pack of 6 cards (one for each decade) by then. I finished the final two today! So, Janet will be receiving  a "thinking of you" card, a "hi" card, two thank you cards, a Bo Bunny Father Time card, and a birthday card. I won't bore you with all six! Instead, I've chosen two card to share.

Materials: A Mash-Up of garage sale finds, craft store clearance items, and Tuesday Morning finds!

What I LOVE the very most about A Greeting from Three Amigos is that it truly was a coming together of lots of finds. It is the first card that I've created from so many different sources! The stamps I used for the sentiment and the ghost image flowers in the top right corner, and the Distress Inks used to stamp the sentiment and flowers, are the only "full-priced" materials in this card. :)

Materials include:

• Studio G clearance paper flowers
• garage sale Studio 18 rhinestones
• garage sale Making Memories foam flower stamp
• Tuesday Morning American Craft stamp marker
• garage sale Gartner Studios card base and coordinating envelope

Techniques include:

• Using ghost images for the flowers in the top right corner
• Wiping ink from the bottom of the left and right stems so that the stems faded into the bottom of the card
• Adding lines and a flower to the inside of the card  :)

Three additional thoughts:

• I decided against embossing and/or adorning the sentiment on the bottom right. While I initially entertained both ideas, I decided to not do anything that might take away from the flowers
• After looking at the card when I was finally done, I realized that the flowers looked like they were waving a leaf to say "hello" themselves. Silly, I know... but I thought it anyway!
• Think I'm going to post this for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge to use a little bling.

S.E. I. Moonrise paper and embellishments, card stock from stash

The paper for A World of Thanks is the same collection that I used for the use something you've been hoarding challenge OWH's VCMP challenge. (Remember the paper I was saving for my nephews' weddings? Yep, that collection!)

Parting Thoughts

Hope everyone has a great week! 

Not quite sure what work holds this week. Last week was pretty crazy -- and I think it's going to be that way for awhile. (I'm just hoping Janet likes her gift.) So, I'm not sure if I'll get any other cards made or not...

Until Friday, thanks for visiting and happy scrappin!

Friday Night Writes

Hi, everyone,

Thanks again to everyone who visited, left comments, and/or started following Scrapping with Purpose during last weekend's OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop.  It was wonderful to see all the amazing cards that will be going to our troops and their loved ones!  :)

A special thanks to Donna for letting me know my word verification was on. Sorry about that.  I had no idea! I'm a real neophyte when it comes to this blogging stuff, but I think it's off now. If not, please let me know. :)

Work's been crazy busy. So, I only have one card to share.

CFC54: Gratitude Fit for a Man

This week's Casual Fridays challenge was to make a masculine card from designer paper. My original plan was to use Mojo Monday Sketch 243 to make the masculine thank  you card below.

Paper: Moxie VIP Father, various card stock; Sentiment: Hero Arts Gratitude; jute

• First, I decided to try the second design, but make the card rectangular to meet OWH's preference for A2 cards. 
• Recently, I've been having a love affair with deep navy and jute for my Any Hero cards. So, I chose the flip side of Moxie's VIP Father paper --thinking it would go great with a navy background and a strip of jute. 
• Then I thought the small rectangular gratitude sentiment would be perfect with the jute. That's when I made the decision to not cut out the "V". 
• That's when I decided to scrap the sketch circle and tiny square elements. Guess I just have to much CAS  in me for my own good!
• Next, I tinkered around with some card stock possibilities to pop the dp and sentiment. 
• Finally, I added the punched out circles to tie in the mustard card stock behind the dp and bring attention to the sentiment.

I was pretty pleased with the result -- and I received hubby's stamp of approval! This card should make a nice addition to my next OWH shipment!

Think I'll post this at CAS-ual Fridays and for the OWH Midweek Throwdown Thank You Card Challenge-- but, probably not Mojo Monday.  :)

Parting Thoughts

I'd like to share a concern that came from a card I started for Julie's Blog Hop Bonus Sketch.

                               

When I showed the card below to hubby, I could tell he just didn't like it all. I knew it still needed a little something else, but not to the degree I picked up on from hubby. He eventually told me about gold star moms -- military moms who have lost a son or daughter. He really didn't think the paper I was using would be appropriate for a family member to receive. 

Paper: Signify Pink's Pages of Honor :); Ribbon: the last of my gorgeous Michael's clearance ribbon :(

I immediately e-mailed Sandy to get her perspective. Sandy said that our heroes are happy to receive such nice cards and don't think about the gold star aspect. So, I'm going to add a little more oomph and write a note to one of our heroes. And, I wanted to share this concern -- and solution. :)

Have a great weekend!  Thanks for visiting and happy scrappin'!