My Favorite Martian

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year's Eve!

A quick post for this week's OWH sketch.  The large rectangle seemed like a perfect place for a Bo Bunny chipboard ET. :)

                    

Bo Bunny Blast Off! dp and chipboard embellishments
AC and Core-dinations cardstock
stash ribbon

Parting Thoughts

First of all, I want to give a huge thank you to Julie for her wonderful sketches and wish her all the best in her new OWH role!  It will be exciting to see what Marlene has in store for us. :)

It will also be great to see everyone's Top Ten. There will be lots of mojo and creativity for all to see!

Thanks for stopping by. Happy scrappin' -- and ring in the new year safe and sound.

A Miss You Card Fit for a Gent

Hi everyone,

A quick post of a card for this week's OWH Midweek Throwdown challenge.

Momenta Paper
sentiment heat embossed in Distress Ink Fired Brick
black rhinestones

For this card, I went with one of my favorite go-to layouts. Two tips for asymmetrical pocket cards for OWH: 1) Adhering two pieces of cardstock back-to-back make the overlapping corner "sturdier" for shipping purposes, and 2) A width of 4 inches allows the card to fit nicely in A2 envelopes in spite of the overlap. 

After quite a bit of deliberation, I decided to go with Fired Brick instead of Black Soot for the sentiment. Maybe it's the OSU Buckeye fan in me, but I'm glad I did. :)

I wanted to make an elegant card that could be sent to either gender -- a card that I could give to hubby or hubby could give to me. And, since it got the hubby seal of approval, I guess this little card fits the bill. 

Parting Thoughts

Started work on those birthday cards earlier this evening.

Thanks for visiting and happy scrappin'!

As Quick as One, Two, Three

Hi everyone,

When I first read CAS-ual Friday's challenge to make a holiday card in 10 minutes, my first three thoughts were:

1. Really?
2. Really!
3. REALLY?!

My fourth thought was about a scrapbooking convention that a friend and I went to years and years ago. One of the sessions was something about making an album in a day. When the presenter said it wasn't necessary to spend hours on a page -- that minutes could do, my friend and I looked at each other in complete amazement. You see we didn't spend hours on a page. No, not us. We spent days on a page. LOL.  

So, my initial reaction to this challenge was pretty much the same. Then, I thought what the heck. Let's give this a try. And, three quick steps resulted in my first 2013 Christmas card. :)

Step 1: Emboss.
Step 2: Add brads.
Step 3: Adhere embossed image, attached to several layers of black cardstock.

AC textured black cardstock
white cardstock heat-embossed with gold powder
Hero Arts tree heat-embossed with green powder

What really excited me about this card was the way the embossing turned out. This was the first time that I tried embossing on top of embossing. The scan doesn't really do the card justice because the base has a great texture and the gold embossing is really spectacular. The tree turned out pretty well. To keep within the 10-minute limit, I didn't allow myself to obsess about the gold that was peeking through the tree's boughs and told myself it was okay to move on to Steps 2 and 3  :)

I'm pretty intrigued by the the idea of setting time limits for cards. I used this strategy when making the cards I wrote about in my last post and they turned out okay. Hmmm... Maybe this needs to be a resolution....

Parting Thoughts

Hope to post a Miss You card for this week's  OWH Midweek Throwdown. Also hoping to make this year's birthday cards for family and friends before heading back to work. Wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'!

28 Acts of Kindness

Hi everyone,

Merry Christmas!

And the Stockings were Hung...

As surprising as it seems, I've actually had far more time to make cards these last few days than I've had the last month or so. The house is cleaned and decorated (actually it's quite peaceful right now as hubby and pup are nestled away), packages are wrapped, and Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners plans are well-in-hand thanks to hubby's efforts.

So, I settled in yesterday evening and this afternoon for some serious card-making. :)

But, there were so many seemingly disjointed thoughts running through my head.  I wanted to make cards for the current ODBD, CAS-ual Fridays, and OWH Sunday Sketch challenges. Then, I read Sandy's request to make cards for heroes to send home to their little ones. And, I wanted to make a special card in memory of my mom.

Through it all, I kept thinking about Newtown and Ann Curry's challenge to perform 26 random acts of kindness.

Then came my epiphany: my act would be to make 27 cards for OWH heroes. And, if I remembered to stick to the CAS-ual Friday challenge to spend only 10 minutes on a card, I might actually be able to pull this off. Well, truth be told, I spent a little more than 10 minutes on most of the cards -- but not much more.

So, I made the following for my first OWH shipment of 2013:

• 20 cards for little ones,
• 6 cards for someone near and dear,
• 1 card fit for a mom

What's that you say? That only adds to 27?! 

You're right! Act #28 was to make an Any Hero card.

Acts #1-20: For the Little Ones



Bo Bunny Blast Off! paper, notebook, chipboard, and stickers
Yes, I actually stuck to the 10 minute rule for this one!  :)



Acts #21-26: For the Teachers

Momenta Paper, computer-generated font
This card was inspired by this week's OWH sketch.

Act #27: For My Mom, For Moms of Special-Needs Children

Bo Bunny Corsage rub-ons, Crazy Love paper; Fiskars border punch
BTW: This one took lots more than 10 minutes. LOL!

Act #28: For an OWH  Hero

Bo Bunny Liberty and Bazzill Admiral, inking in Stampin' Up! Night of Navy
This card was also inspired by this week's OWH sketch.

Parting Thoughts

As 2012 comes to an end, I wish you and  your loved ones a new year filled with peace, health, happiness, good fortune, and scrappin' time.

Thanks for visiting.

Holiday Cheer and Love Notes

Hi everyone,

Hope the week has gotten off to a good start for all.

Wonder if anyone else was crazy enough to go to a Toys R Us on a Saturday afternoon. Oh my... what was I thinking?! I just kept picturing a little 2 year old bpy who had asked for Legos and a Tonka truck on his McDonalds' tree ornament and somehow I managed to stay in the Christmas spirit the entire time.  :)

Now for the card-making part of this post.

OWH Sketch #150

Both of the following cards have 2 things in common. Each was inspired by this week's OWH Sketch and each was made from goodies in that fabulous Black Friday bargain bag from Scrapbook Art.

Paper, chipboard, and stickers: Bo Bunny Crazy Love

Paper, layered chipboard, stickers: Bo Bunny Liberty; cardstock: Bazzill Admiral

For Hearts and Flowers, I was pretty true to the sketch -- aside from the change to the small rectangle next to the right the oval. I've since added small strips of the brown paper at the top and bottom of the red rectangle and like the definition it gives, as well as the way the strips bring focus to the oval.

For this week's Any Hero card, I was a little looser in my interpretation -- rotating the sketch, replacing the oval with the chipboard outline of America, and foregoing the 4.25" by 4.5" inch rectangle in lieu of the pattern in the 4.25" by 5.5" background paper.

Craft Show Follow-Up

This year's craft show was lots of fun. It's always great to see the many talents of friends and colleagues. And, a little extra money for OWH supplies and donations is always a good thing. :)

Parting Thoughts

SEI paper,
Martha Stewart branch punch
miscellaneous embellishments

Some of you may remember Frosty's L'il Friend from last fall's OWH VCMP. Well, this week's challenge is to showcase something "knotty". So, I'm thinking this little guy just might make an appearance.

Hoping to get a flower card made for this month's ODBD challenge. And, then I really need to get my box of stamped-and-tucked love cards in the mail to Kris.

Have a great week!  Happy scrappin'!

Stars of Liberty, Tweet Love, and BOPPERS

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone's had a nice weekend. I've managed a nice work-life balance, which is unusual for me. :)

I have two cards and a craft show update to share.

Stars of Liberty and Tweet Love

I stopped by my favorite LSS, Scrapbook Art, to check out the Black Friday specials. And, I found a wonderful Bo Bunny package filled with Liberty, Crazy Love, and Blast Off! goodies. Often times, these grab bags have some good things, but others not so good. But, this was the perfect grab bag!  Not only was there a 6 by 6 pad of Liberty paper and embellishments, the package was also filled with tons and tons of love and kid themed papers, chipboard, brads, and transfers!!! It was the perfect package for OWH card-making!  Thanks, Terri!  :)

The cards below were made from this great find and inspired by today's Stars and Stamps sketch.

Bo Bunny Liberty paper and layered chipboard
Techniques: crimping, distressing, and inking

Bo Bunny Crazy Love paper and chipboard
Technique: crimping

The chipboard on the first card has that baked-in glitter that seems to be really, really well set. Since, it's triple layered, I thought it would be perfect for an Any Hero card. As far as the sketch is concerned, I went with the chipboard's multiple circles instead of one big one because I just couldn't resist this embellishment. :) In addition, my square is a little larger than the sketch to accommodate the chipboard.

For the second card, I cut out the square from a 12-by-12 piece of patterned paper. Since the image was soooo cute, I left off the big circle and added a few chipboard embellishments.

Craft Show Update

I'm hoping to make a few more cards during the second NFL game. But, everything is set and ready to go -- signage is made, cards are boxed up, ...

In addition to cards, I'm selling {gift} Bag Toppers, aka BOPPERS. If you want to read a little more about these, check out my last post. I'll try to blog about the process for making these adorable little guys next weekend. :)

Think that's about it for now. Thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'!

The BOPPERS are coming! The BOPPERS are coming!

Hi everyone,

Hope it's been a good week.

I actually have a craft fair project to share, rather than a card. And, I have to say I was so excited when I saw this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge to create a clean and simple gift tag. I have been working on tags for gift bags, aka {gift} Bag Toppers, aka BOPPERS for Wednesday's Craft Fair!

Craft Fair  BOPPERS

Paper: 3 Bugs in a Rug Deck the Halls collection, miscellaneous cardstock
Sentiment: computer-generated
Technique: OWH's Tuesday Tutorial on Tree Folding

Paper: Miscellaneous cardstock
Stamp: Hero Arts Stunning Snowflakes
Tools: snowflake punches
Embellishments: Best Creation stickers, gems

Paper: Authentique, AC cardstock
Embellishments: stash 3-D stickers

Not only do I want to give credit to OWH's tree folding tutorial, I also need to give credit to Crafting at the Spotted Canary . While I've coined the term "BOPPER", this wonderful idea itself aired on the Spotted Canary TV show.

The first BOPPER I made was a birthday bopper for hubby. And, I love that a BOPPER is a card, {reusable} bag, and gift wrap all-in-one. Let's hope my friends and colleagues love them as much as I do!

Parting Thoughts

Not sure how much card-making will happen this weekend. We are working at the local food pantry tomorrow morning, a friend and I are going to a Christmas concert tomorrow night, and I have work-work to do sometime this weekend. Oh well... The food pantry will be quite rewarding and the concert will be both inspirational and heartwarming.

Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for visiting and happy scrappin'!