OWH Midweek Throwdown

Hi everyone,

Hope the week is going well.

I have two cards to share. [Well, maybe 1.5 cards would be more accurate. :( ]

A Masculine Card: All Buttoned Up

The first card is for this week's OWH Midweek Throwdown. This week's challenge is to make a masculine card.

Kaiser Up, Up and Away; ek border punch, Martha Stewart button punch; ribbon, DMC floss

I've been making quite a few pocket cards based on a sketch from that wonderful Leisure Arts book. I added dimension to the buttons using several different inks. Wish I remembered which ones I grabbed when finishing this card. :)

An Unfinished Card: Not Ready for Prime Time

This little card was inspired by a cute patriotic door plaque I found at a flea market.

Core paper; hand-drawn stitching

 My two concerns:

• It feels like it still needs something -- I just don't know what. Maybe some Baker's twine?
• The top third is taped down, with the fold in the middle tan section. The problem with this is that there is not nearly as much space to write as I thought there would be.

Is it worth sending to OWH? If yes, any suggestions, ideas for making it better?

Parting Thoughts

Loved yesterday's OWH tutorial on 6 by 6 pads!  If you haven't yet seen it, it's definitely worth checking out.

Really excited about this weekend's VCMP!

Until then, happy scrappin'!

OWH Pizzazz Blog Skip

Hi everyone,

There's a great little blog skip going on today at Stars and Stamps -- with lots of fun ideas for pizzazz-ing up our cards. I can't wait to get hold of some of that pearl stuff -- and to try out that cool watercolor marker spritzing technique!

So, here's a little card that's been pizzazz-ed up for one of hero's little girls. Wish the scanned image did the card more justice. Nonetheless, I think there's a little girl who's going to be happy to get this from her mommy or daddy. :)

DCWV Sweet Matstack; Distress Ink (scattered straw); gems

So, how was this little card pizzazzed-up? Let's count the ways. :)

• This DCWV stack has some baked-in-glitter papers. Two of these were used on the card -- for the top of the pocket and for the thin strip at the very bottom of the card. (OWH asks that glitter not be used on cards to our heroes. However, there are some papers with baked-in glitter that are okay to use. DCWV carries quite a few of these glittery types of papers. For the safety of our heroes, please always check that the glitter doesn't rub or scrape off.)
• I used 6 different papers from the stack.
• The flowers were heat embossed and cut out of several papers.
• To add dimension, pop up dots were used for the bottom of the pocket and flowers are multi-layered.
• Finally, gems were added to add a little bit of bling from top right to bottom left.

Parting Thoughts

Thanks again to those who left comments about the cards and technique featured in this week's Tuesday Tutorial. To give credit where credit's due, the first two cards were mine. But, the butterfly and motorcycle were all Nancy. Thanks again, Nancy, for taking a nice little technique to a whole new level!

Hoping to have a shape card to share -- for tomorrow!?

Again, be sure to check out the blog skip if you're looking for OWH-endorsed ways to spice up your cards. Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!

Tuesday Tutorial

Hi everyone,

If you've come from OWH's Tuesday Tutorial, welcome!

Nancy's Weekly Tutorials 

A couple of weeks ago, Nancy contacted me about featuring a couple of my cards on OWH's weekly tutorial. Frankly, I was stunned. Week after week, Nancy's tutorials feature great techniques, like this tutorial on Kathryn's adorable Santa card, that produce fabulous cards. My little technique seems to pale by comparison. 

The Featured Cards

Nonetheless, I was really pleased by the way these two cards turned out. If you're interested in details about the making of these cards, please click here to view the cards' original post. As mentioned in the earlier post, both cards were inspired by one of OWH's weekly sketches.

It turns out that Close to My Heart calls the technique used "first, second, and third generation stamping". That sounds so much more official than my "ghost images" reference!

Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks for stopping by. And thanks, Nancy, for the invitation to feature these cards on the Stars and Stamp blog.

Happy scrappin' to all!

OWH Midweek Throwdown: Kraft plus color

Hi everyone,

This week's challenge is to create a card using kraft cardstock and at least one other color. I'm so excited about the card I have to share. The card itself is cute, but the story behind it is even better!

 Pizazz It!

Those of you who have read past posts know how much I loved Pizazz It!  Pizazz It! was a wonderful LSS right in my own hometown. One of my favorite things was the monthly card club, taught by Karla during the day and Tiffany in the evening.

Sadly, Pizazz It! is no longer a brick-and-mortar store. But, it has maintained an online presence. Moreover, Tiffany has found a wonderful way to continue card club.  She has put together kits containing everything you need to make a set of 8 really cute cards (6-by-6 pad of paper, directions for all 8 cards, card bases, embellishments, and color sentiments printed on heavy duty cardstock).

Today's Card

All of this month's cards are from Jillibean's Dutch Mustard Soup collection. :)

Two things to note:

1) I'm counting the corrugated heart as my kraft portion of the challenge. That'll be our little secret. :)
2) I moved the sentiment up a little from Tiffany's directions -- and kind of wishing I hadn't.

If you're looking for a nice autumn card kit, check out Pizazz It!'s Dutch Mustard kit. The paper is lovely and Tiffany's cards are so cute!

Parting Thought

Have a great week. Thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'!

Three's the Charm

Hi everyone,

Hope it's been a good weekend. I have three cards to share.

Before that, I'm happy to say that sandybear76 is the winner of the $25 gift card. Congrats, Sandy! Please e-mail me about which card you'd prefer. (Actually, if you'd like a gift certificate from Scrapbook Art instead, I think we can work something out. :)

Card 1: OWH Sketch #133

Paper: We R Memory Keepers (Red, White and Blue), Creative Memories?, stash cardstock; gems; star punches

What a great sketch!  This was an Any Hero card that came together pretty quickly.

 

Card 2: OWH Midweek Throwdown -- Cards for Kids

My Momenta  gel stickers, which were a great garage sale find

I almost feel guilty about posting this one because these stickers are just so darn cute that the card practically made itself. This week's challenge asked for a card for a child. I found these great gel stickers at a scrapbook garage sale and had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use some of them. :)  To bring them together on the card -- and to pop them off the cardstock -- I matted them on white cardstock. Finally, I added a white liner on the inside.

Card 3: CFC65 -- Square Cards

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty and stash cardstock; Paper Inspirations Hero stamp, embossed in Distress Ink Vintage Photo; Cuttlebug embossing folder; garage sale brads; Stickles

This week's CAS-ual Friday challenge was to make a square card. I almost passed since OWH asks for A2 cards. Then, I remembered Sandy saying that square cards could make wonderful Any Hero cards. And, I finally had a chance to use my newest stamp. :)

Parting Thoughts

 Chances are I'll be publishing a few Stars and Stamps post in the next month or so. Other than that, I'm not sure how much blogging I'll have a chance to do. Sounds like work's going to be even crazier the next few months -- and I didn't think that was even possible.

So, I'll still be checking challenges and making cards, but I'm sad to say my blogging and posting opportunities are going to be rather limited.

As always, thanks for stopping by. Have a great week and happy scrappin'!

The Word of the Day is "Pocket"

Hi everyone,

Thanks to all of you for your response to Making a Difference.

I have three pocket-related things to share today.

A Pocketful of Well Wishes Cards

The following 3 cards were all made for family and friends using a sketch from a fabulous card-making book. Really, this book is so wonderful I literally squealed with delight when it arrived in the mail -- much to hubby's surprise! :) 

Aside from the gem on the first card and the tulle on the second card, all three cards were made entirely from garage sale finds (a pile of Stampin' Up two-sided dp, prima flowers, brads, ribbons) and menopause room stash (cardstock))!

The first card most closely follows the sketch on page 180. However, it doesn't quite fit in an A2 envelope and requires hand delivery. So, I modified the design for cards requiring envelopes.

Ashley's Pocketful of Talent

Surf's Up! was inspired by one of Ashley's monthly sketches.

We R Memory Keeper's Down the Boardwalk collection; gems

For my card, I focused on the center part of the left side of the sketch.  I love this paper collection and thought the colors could work well going into late summer/early fall.

A Little Extra Pocket Cash

A big thing happened in my little blog world this week. The 25th follower joined Scrapping with Purpose! To celebrate, I'm raffling off a $25 gift card.

So what do you need to do to qualify, you ask? Two simple things:

• Be a follower by noon on Saturday, August 11.
• Leave a comment letting me know whether you would like a card to Michael's or JoAnn's.

In appreciation of those of you who have been following up until now, followers as of August 6 who leave a comment will receive two raffle entries.  

While I haven't been the best blog follower/commenter as of late, I really appreciate those of you who have made this a regular stop.

Parting Thoughts

The good news is that they really like me at work. The bad news is they really like me at work.

My most recent project, which has been a red-hot frying pan, is winding down. But, I found out today that my next project will find me jumping into an even hotter skillet!

Not only do I think blog posts are going to be fewer and fewer, I fear that card-making may also be far more limited than I would like -- especially thinking about the upcoming push to make cards for our heroes.

Hoping I'm wrong, but not counting on it.


As always, thanks for visiting. I'll be looking for comments from followers by August 11.

Until my next post, happy scrappin'!

Making a Difference

Hi everyone,

With Olympic spirit running through my veins, I have two patriotic cards to share.

I also have a favor to ask of my fellow OWHers. So, I'll start with that.

"Making a Difference" for Operation Write Home

I don't know how many of you are familiar with a regular feature on NBC Nightly News called Making a Difference. It's actually my favorite part of the newscast.

In brief, they are about 3-minute segments at the end of the broadcast that feature individuals and non-profits making a difference in the world. They are amazing stories that often bring tears to my eyes.

On more than one occasion, I've thought it would be great to have a feature about Operation Write Home. When I came across an online application, I e-mailed Sandy. Naturally, she said, "Go for it!"

Then, I did a bit more research. There was an article about these features that pointed out that non-profits are only mentioned once or twice in a feature. The article stated that the focus is typically on an individual.Thinking back to features I have seen, this is absolutely true.

So, this is the part of the nomination that will surprise Sandy. I chose to make her the focus of my nomination submission. (Sorry, Sandy -- hope you don't mind too much. I figured it was better to ask forgiveness after the fact...)

Now comes the part where I'm asking a favor of fellow OWHers. There is an option to submit replies to the online submission. I don't know the criteria for selection. Nor do I know if a large number of replies would improve the chance of being selected. But, if you'd like to join in this cause, there are two things you can to  help:

• Go to this site and share a first-person account of how Sandy has inspired your work for OWH and/or how she has made a difference for our heroes and their families. My submission is on page 5, under the name Sybrina K.
• Help spread the news to others who might like to leave replies. My blog doesn't reach a whole lot of people. But, all of our blogs combined -- now, that would be a lot of folks!

Thanks, in advance, to those of you who are joining this effort to sing Sandy's praises with the goal of bringing national exposure to Operation Write Home.

Now for the card portion of today's post. :)

"Making a Difference" for 2 Heroes: OWH Sketch #132

Julie is so right about the Olympics being the impetus to make some patriotic cards. Both of the following cards were inspired by today's sketch. In addition, both use a fabulous ribbon that I found at St. Marys Hobby Center in Northwest Ohio.

The first card is in response to this week's Midweek Throwdown challenge to make an Any Hero Card. The second is a generic, patriotic card for a hero to send back home. 

Paper: Core'dinations, Bazzill cardstock, AC Christmas collection cardstock; yummy ribbon; gems

Paper: Core'dinations, Bazzill cardstock; yummy ribbon; gems

On each card, I sanded above and below the ribbon to better pop the ribbon. I'm thinking of posting one of these at CAS-ual Fridays. It's probably not quite what they had in mind. But, you see stars and flags in the sky -- right?

Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks for stopping. And, special thanks to those joining the Making A Difference effort. Happy scrappin!

Go Team USA!