The True Soldier

Hi, everyone.

Today's Any Hero card was inspired by OWH Sketch #191, a new (OWH fundraising) Unity stamp, and the Declaration of Independence. It had been a while since I used this Bo Bunny Liberty paper. And, because of all of the layers on the sketch, I ended up using two layers of same pattern, one 6-by-6 version and one 12-by-12 version -- and really like this effect.

Bo Bunny Liberty (6 by 6 and 12 by 12)
Unity sentiment heat embossed on watercolor paper in Distress Ink walnut stain
Distress Ink core, Bazzill cardstock
Sizzix and Darice embossing folders
inking in Distress Ink vintage photo with Stampin' Up! daubers
Zot 3D glue dots

Short and sweet for a football Sunday.

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

God Bless You for Serving

Hi, everyone.

Happy Easter. Hope you have enjoyed a blessed Easter celebration with family and friends. Hubby and I went to church with hubby's dad. Then the three of us met up with my dad for an early dinner.

Today's card, which was inspired by today's OWH sketch, seemed a fitting tribute for one of our heroes on Easter Sunday.

Bo Bunny Liberty, Bazzill Admiral and Watermelon, stash brown cardstock
Stamper's Best sentiment stamped in Adirondack espresso
Fiskars and the Paper Studio star punches adhered with 3D glue dots, garage sale brads

Other than moving one of my "circles" to the bottom right corner, I stuck to the sketch. (Maybe there's hope for me yet!)  And, I'm still loving that new Stampin' Up! trimmer.  :)

Parting Thoughts

A huge thank you to everyone who left such kind comments about "The Sky's the Limit" bubble wrap card and "Feeling Blue?" ombre card. An extra special thanks to Nancy for featuring the bubble wrap technique in this week's Tuesday Tutorial.

It's really great to be back online. I was out of town -- and offline -- last week. But, I did have a few card-making supplies with me. Had a chance to make a few dad cards. Hope to share a couple of those in the next few days or weeks. :)

Thanks for stopping and have a great week! Happy scrappin'!

Q: When does 1/3 + 1/3 = 1?

A: When you place an element one-third from the left and a second element one third from the bottom to create one great card!

If you haven't yet checked out Paula's Rule of Thirds post for this month's OWH Design Bootcamp, be sure to take a look. Paula is sooooo rocking design bootcamp!

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty, Core-dinations Vintage, Bazzill Admiral
sentiment from Paper Inspirations heat embossed in Distress Ink vintage photo
garage sale brads

I really LOVE this card -- so CAS and so elegant! I decided to go with a white background for the sentiment so it would really pop -- and I placed three little brads next to the sentiment to draw just a little more attention to the sentiment portion of the card.

Parting Thoughts

 Thanks again, Paula! Who knew bootcamp could be so much fun?

This is probably the last post for a week or two. May have a chance to make a few cards, but probably not to blog about them.

Have a good rest of the week. Thanks for visiting -- and happy scrappin'!

God Bless You for Serving

Hi everyone,

Two posts in one day!!!  It's so nice to be enjoying a respite from an intense work schedule. :)

Today's Any Hero card was inspired by OWH Sketch #162. I made the jute strip a little longer than shown on the sketch. Other than that, I think the card follows the sketch pretty closely.

Bazzill Admiral and Bo Bunny Liberty; jute
sentiment from Stamper's Best, heat embossed in Distress Ink barn door
star punch: The Paper Studio

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to make a card for this month's ODBD challenge later this week.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great week -- and happy scrappin'!

Taking a Stand

Hi everyone,

Last night, I watched On the Waterfront for about the 100th time. Boy, when Hollywood gets it right, it really gets it right. Must be why I love watching the Oscars so much. :)

So, I think I was drawn to the sentiment on this week's Any Hero card because of Marlon Brando's and Karl Malden's portrayals in this magnificent film.

dp: Bo Bunny Liberty, browns: Core'dinations Vintage, blue: Bazzill Admiral, white: Bazzill or AC
sentiment: Stamper's Best heat embossed in Distress Ink Vintage Photo; garage sale brads
Creative Memories cutting system

For the card above, I tweaked the sketch. (Although, hubby could actually see the sketch in this one. Maybe there's hope for me yet!) I rotated the sketch 90 degrees, used a circle instead of an oval for the sentiment, and went with 3 brads instead of 2.

I'm really liking the way the blue and brown combo turned out. Love the texture of the core paper. Hoping one of heroes will feel the same way.

Parting Thoughts

Thanks to Paula for some helpful Focal Point feedback.

Think I need to get in a nap this afternoon to make it up for the Best Picture award. lol :)

Finally, will probably cut out elements for some Mother's Day cards while cheering on the hometown team during an afternoon college basketball game.

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

A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Today's Any Hero Card

Hi everyone,

Today's Any Hero Card is a pretty loose interpretation of OWH Sketch #158, although it didn't start out that way. I swear I tried to follow the sketch. :)

navy dp: Bo Bunny Liberty, red cardstock: Bazzill watermelon, white cardstock: stash; jute
star punches: Martha Stewart and The Paper Studio; hole punch: EK Success

                      

• At first sight, the sketch seemed to be begging for a navy background with a vertical strip of jute topped with a white rectangle -- making the jute piece a little larger than shown on the sketch. 
• Next, I punched the big star in the white strip and placed a strip of red cardstock behind it. However, when I put these elements together, the card seemed a little too plain -- especially when the pieces were centered as shown in the sketch. 
• To add additional interest, I placed the three red strips across the card. I toyed with the idea of adding a strip of something -- cardstock, border sticker, or twine -- across the bottom but eventually decided against it. I wasn't able to find just the right element to add.
• I also tinkered with the placement of the jute and white strip and finally decided to place them a little right and a little lower than shown on the sketch.
• Next, I punched out a couple of the smaller stars -- using the smallest punch I had. When I placed a couple of smaller stars next to the large star, I decided one was enough and chose to place a pair of stars to the left of the white strip to counterbalance the strip's location.
• Finally, I punched out tiny circles to place on the stars to add a few accents of red to the white stars and of blue to the red stars.
• Oh, and by the way, this one received hubby's seal of approval. :)

Parting Thoughts

I had a chance to put some thoughts on paper for the Mother's Day card idea I mentioned in my last post. It might turn out to be really, really cute. Crossing my fingers and getting out the cardstock. :)

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

Don't You Love Getting a New Toy?

I know I do. And, I couldn't wait until this weekend to share what I made with my new Martha Stewart punch-all-over-the-page toy!

Paper: AC, Bazzill Admiral and Watermelon
Punches: Martha Stewart and the Paper Studio star punches
Embellishments: Bo Bunny Liberty sticker, Mark Richards crystal stickers

Well, actually the first thing I made was this template. :)

So, what's your newest favorite paper-crafting toy and what did you you make with it?

1-2-3: 1 Sketch, 2 Cards, 3 Challenges

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a chance to check out each cardmaker's post of Top Ten Cards of 2012. There were lots of wonderful cards to provide plenty of inspiration for this new year!

Speaking of the Top Ten posts, my sincerest thanks to all who visited my last post -- and special thanks to those who left such kind comments. It seems Frosty's L'il Friend and Jean Scene were the crowd favorites. Ironically enough, Jean Scene almost didn't make the list. Lol. :)

I have two cards to share, both of which are inspired by this week's OWH sketch challenge. The first is an Any Hero card that was made for this month's ODBD challenge to make a card using dry embossing. The second card is a romantic card for the Midweek Challenge to make a card with spring flowers.

This Week's Any Hero Card

Bo Bunny Liberty; Bazzill, including Admiral and Watermelon
Tools: Square, Circle, Star and Hole punches; crimper; Cuttlebug embossing folder
Other Technique: brushing with pastels to accentuate embossing

Other than not having the same size circle as the sketch circle, I tried to be pretty true to the sketch. Nothing much new here except that I adhered the red background, white rectangle and blue square cardstock pieces before embossing.

Romance in Blue and Yellow

Paper: My Mind's Eye Moments; Ribbon: Sheer Creations, Celebrate It!;
Embellishments: miscellaneous crystals; Technique: fussy cutting

I'm afraid this scanned image doesn't do this card justice -- I'm absolutely crazy about this one!. :)  The flower is 4-layered (a bottom layer of blue polka dot paper, 2 layers of the yellow flower separated by a pop dot, and a top layer for the center of the flower), with micro-thin crystals. To adhere these tiny crystals, I clustered the crystals on top of one small glue dot.

The ribbon treatment was inspired by two fellow OWHers. Thanks to Carol L for sharing her trick to adhere a flat ribbon and then loop loose ribbon to create a bow. Thanks to Bobbi for her idea to pair different colored ribbons on her sample card.

Parting Thoughts

So, how's everyone doing with their crafting goals? I was thinking my post-cardmaking clean-up goal might be a little ambitious -- and then I read all of your comments. Now I'm thinking it's lots ambitious. (Seriously, what was I thinking but... so far, so good!) So, here's my Week 1 report card:

• making Any Hero and Midweek Throwdown cards from a weekly sketch: A
• leaving comments: B-/C+ (numerous comments for Top Ten posts, 1 comment for today's sketch post, but 0 comments for the Midweek Throwdown)
• cleaning up the craft room: A+

Had to get a new cutting board this weekend. Can't believe I actually broke my most recent one. :(  So, hoping this week's cards' cuts are precise enough...

Hoping to make a Thank You card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.

Finally, as always, thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'! And, have a great week!

OWH Sketch #129

Hi, everyone,

Two posts in one day. (Wow!) So, I'll make this a quick one.

Turns out it was a great day to scrap -- really overcast in the morning, hot in the afternoon, humid all day.

This week's Any Hero Card was inspired by OWH Sketch #129.

• My one variation from the sketch was going with the same background for both the left and right sides. I loved Donna's monochromatic color variations on her sample cards. But, in the end, it just felt right for the background to be kraft with navy accents on both sides to really bring out the sentiment on this patriotic card.
• The sentiment was heat embossed using Distress Ink and clear embossing powder. I just love how you can do that with the Distress Ink!

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty, Ranger Core, Bazzill watermelon; Cuttlebug embossing folder; Distress Ink (Vintage Photo); Stickles, jute, garage sale brad

Parting Thought

Hope everyone has a great week!  Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!

Monday Musings: A Memorial Day Edition

Hi, everyone,

Thanks to all the servicemen and women and their families for the sacrifices you make for our country. Godpseed!

Heartfelt condolences to those families of heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

OWH Sketch #123: Red, White, Jute, and Star

My Any Hero card for this week's sketch should be a real crowd-pleaser based on all your kind comments about Two American Treasures.  (Hubby actually gave this one a 9 out of 10 -- and that was before the final element was added!)

                                      

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty, BasicGrey Kraft; Sentiment: Stamper's Best; Fiskar's star punch; garage-sale button and jute

Those of you who visit regularly know how much I love this Bo Bunny collection. And, I LOVE the jute paired with the deep navy. 

So, this card came pretty quickly. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

• I immediately knew what papers and material to use for the background, the larger centered rectangle, and the vertical strip. I knew the sentiment. I remembered something about a star-shaped button -- and quickly located it. But, I didn't remember it being white. 
• So, the first design issue was how to pop the star. If you look closely at the top of the vertical strip, you'll see there's a tilted blue star. It seemed like tilting a kraft star would mimic the star in the paper nicely and serve as a good background for the button. Finally, I  used a string from the jute to dress the naked button. :)
• After putting the card aside for a little while, I remembered a painting teacher talking about colors appearing three times in a piece. It was clear that the card needed another punch of white. But, neither pearls nor gems felt right because the button is made of plastic. And, then it came to me that a simple line of punched out circles -- punched from the same paper as the card base and sentiment -- might be just the trick. And, I was really pleased with the result when I placed these 5 circles on the circle.

 Parting Thoughts: OWH's Memorial Day Blog Hop

While hopping from blog to blog this weekend, I was struck by a couple of things. 

• Isn't it amazing how the OWH sketches result in such a variety of cards? Very cool!
• Isn't it wonderful that the blog hop brings recognition and focus to the meaning of Memorial Day? It's so much more than buying mattresses. Don't get me wrong -- we've been the mattress buying couple. When you need a new mattress, you need a new mattress. But, for me, the hop has really helped focus on the true meaning of this 3-day weekend.

 I've also noticed a few bloggers talking about their motivation and inspiration for making cards. For me, there are three reasons:

• My father-in-law is a World War II. He's actually had a remarkable year -- a year full of honors and recognitions for his service. If you'd like to learn more about these tributes, please check out this March 2nd post. We are so blessed that he is still with us. [We will be having dinner with both of our dads this evening! :) ]
• My uncles served during the Vietnam era. Uncle Ken was in the Army, while Uncle Charlie was in the Navy. Needless to say, they take the Army-Navy game pretty seriously!  We are further blessed that both uncles are still with us.
• Finally, I taught high school for 20+ years. Hubby is also a teacher. Over the years, we've known so many young people who have chosen to serve our country.  

 Think that's it. Thanks for stopping by. Hope everyone has a fun, but safe, Memorial Day.

Friday Night Writes: An OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop Edition

Hi, everyone,

I am so excited about this weekend's blog hop.

              

Hope everyone will be able to make at least a few stops. All three of the cards I'm sharing tomorrow were inspired by OWH Sketch #59. I heat embossed using Versamark and clear powder on both of the cards shown below.
 
                                     

For Our Troops: Two American Treasures

Know how every 6 x 6 pad of paper has a couple of patterns that seem a little more challenging to use than the others? For me, this flag and eagle image was one of those challenging papers. So, I chose to use just a part of the paper. Finally, I heat embossed the eagle to give it a little extra oomph!

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty, Bazzill watermelon; jute and gems

Summertime: Footprints of Love

Summer has always been filled with family celebrations for as long as I can remember. Let's start with our summer birthdays: hubby, dad, mother-in-law, nephew, and me. Then, we had the anniversaries: my parents, my in-laws, and hubby's and mine. (Before I started making cards, you wouldn't believe how many trips I made to Hallmark during the summer months. Now, I visit my favorite LSS and Michael's! Hmmm...) The Fourth of July was a time for fireworks, parades, an occasional picnic, ice cream, and time with family and friends. And, of course, there were family road trips and vacations.

When I first experimented with heat embossing, the image I got reminded me of wet sand. So, I thought about how I could incorporate that into a beach-related card to commemorate beach vacations with hubby. When I came across the Inkadinkado footprint stamp at a garage sale, I took it as a sign that I really needed to work on that beach vacation card.

Paper and Vellum: Recollections; Stamps: Inkadinkado, PSX; FiberScraps, BasicGrey opaline half pearls

I'm not sure I'm completely satisfied with the letters. The original stamped letters were too light. So, I used a Q-tip-like tool to apply a little more Versamark and re-embossed.

But, the heart turned out pretty well. And, hubby approved of the footprints. More importantly, he immediately knew what they were -- and that was seeing only footprints on an otherwise plain rectangular brown piece of cardstock! He reassured me even more by saying that sand footprints aren't perfect. :)

The Recollections paper is actually from its baby boy collection. The fibers were another garage sale find. I was planning on using a piece of corrugated darker brown cardstock instead of the fibers. But, the card felt like it needed more color variety. When, I pulled out ribbons and found these... Well, they grew on me. The colors seemed perfect. And, the collection of fibers felt organic and flow-ey -- reminiscent of seaweed, but  in a totally good way.

Parting Thoughts

Looking to achieve the right balance this weekend: time to honor and remember, time to be inspired, time to relax, and time with family.

Hope to see you at the hop!

        

Monday Musings

Hi all,

I'm thrilled to say it's been a perfect blend of time with hubby, time with family, time outside relaxing, time inside doing household chores -- and time making cards! It's great to have several cards to share. But first...

Scrapping with Purpose's Blogversary

Last Armed Forces Day was the date of our McGraw-Hill Global Volunteer Day event, during which McGraw-Hill employees partnered with the staff and customers of Scrapbook Art to make cards for Operation Write Home. One thousand, seven hundred, ninety-three cards to be exact!

My first blog post, which was to share our event with "the world", was on May 23, 2011. So, if you have started visiting the blog since then -- or would like to take a trip down memory lane, please check out the first couple of posts.

Speaking of GVD...

McGraw-Hill is in the process of separating into two companies, McGraw-Hill Financials and McGraw-Hill Education. While May has traditionally been the month during which Global Volunteer event were held, plans are to hold events later in the year. I'll be sure to let everyone know as soon as GVD 2012 has been the go-ahead and we have a firm date with Scrapbook Art.

Armed Forces Day 2012

Since I was not participating in a local card-making event to commemorate the day, I was thrilled that OWH was joining forces with Stamper's Best to have a blog skip of its own. :)  The sentiment on the Any Hero card below was made using my new set of Stamper's Best stamps and a slightly-modified OWH Sketch #122.

Paper: SignifyPink Pages of Honor, Bazzill admiral; inkded Cuttlebug embossing folder; brads

One More Patriotic Card

The following card started as a vertical card that was to be based on Mojo 240. The admiral base and jute strip came immediately. But, then I just couldn't get the rest to work out. The card started feeling like nothing more than disparate elements that had no connection to one another. I knew the sketch was going to be a challenge because it was more complex than my usual style, but I really wanted to give it a try. So, I set the card aside for a couple of days. When I came back to it, I decided to totally change direction -- going completely away from the original sketch. While it's nothing like the sketch for Mojo 240, I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. (And, it received hubby's stamp of approval!)

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty and Bazzill admiral; sentiment stamped in Distress Ink Barn Door Red; baker's twine and gems

  

Cards for Family and Friends

Whew!  I made a card for my great aunt's 95th birthday, a retirement card for a friend, and a graduation card for the friend's daughter. 

The birthday card was based on the card I posted for OWH's VCMP -- same paper, same design. The only difference was that I chose not to heat emboss using Versamark and clear powder. The other two cards came together pretty quickly.

Paper: Kaiser Up, Up and Away, Ranger Core; gems

Paper: ???; Gibson Greetings sticker, Kaiser rhinestones, blue gem to hold the tassel

 

I have to say I love this graduation card. The daughter's school colors are gold and black, so the scrap paper worked out perfectly. The design seems so simple, yet is so effective. (Think I'm going to make a similar card in red and black with a similar sticker and accents of blue for the daughter of my father-in-law's neighbors. These neighbors, including the kids, have been so wonderful to my father-in-law that we want to something for their daughter.

Parting Thoughts

The garage sale was fun, with perfect weather. I made a few purchases -- a couple of books for the pool, some plastic storage, and some watercolor paints. But, there weren't any too-good-to-be-true, just-what-I-was-looking-for finds this time around.

I'll be working on a couple of cards for OWH's Memorial Day blog hop. More to come. :)

                          

Thanks for stopping by. As always, happy scrappin'!

Monday Musings

Hi, everyone,

Hope it was a good weekend. Hope all of our OWH Moms enjoyed a special day.

The weather here was so pretty Friday and Saturday -- too pretty to resist being outside. So, I have only one card to share.

OWH Sketch #121 and ODBD May Challenge

The card below is being posted for this week's sketch challenge  and for this month's ODBD challenge, which is to create a card with five elements.

This card's elements are:

• patterned paper,
• layering paper and jute,
• scoring and inking,
• a stamped sentiment, and
•  embellishments (gems).

Bo Bunny Liberty -- shocking, I know; Bazzill admiral and watermelon; jute and gems

I adjusted the dimensions to create a horizontal Any Hero card that worked for my pre-written note. And, I moved the sentiment to the left to compliment, rather than compete with, the eagle and the field of stars. After that, this card came together pretty easily.  I actually loved being able to use the eagle/sunburst stripes/blue field of stars part of the paper pack. This seemed like one of the few papers from the collection I would have trouble using. But, this sketch really lent itself to the sunburst pattern on the top and the striped pattern on the bottom.

And, Margaret, your Bo Bunny paper is in the mail. It should be arriving on Thursday or Friday. Can't wait to see your Bo Bunny patriotic cards! :)

Tuesday Morning

It probably seems from my previous Tuesday Morning and garage sale posts that I go out shopping all of the time. That's actually not the case -- though hubby would probably disagree. :)   It's even more seldom that I shop on Saturdays as most stops are quick errands at the end of workday. 

That said, I did stop by Tuesday Morning on Saturday after meeting a good friend for lunch. I've been wanting to upgrade to a better cutting board and luck was with me. There was a single 12 by 12 Fiskars board just begging to be taken to the Menopause Room. How could I possibly turn it down?

Today's posted card is the first to be made with the new board. :)

And what was the little creature saying/doing?

You might remember the little creature I posted on Friday. Well, the story is that I was making a card for the VCMP owl challenge. I found this little guy on a great set of chipboard animal stickers (lions, elephants, crocodiles, fish...). And, I decided to place him inside a hole created from some BasicGrey wood-grained paper. I was pretty happy with the way the card was taking shape.

Then I showed it to hubby. First of all, he thought the creature was a penguin. And, after he said that, all I could see when I looked at the little guy was a penguin. Moreover, hubby didn't think the paper looked anything like wood or trees. And, if the paper did resemble wood or trees, why was there a penguin on the card?

Maybe it's one of those you had-to-be-there moments. But, it really was too funny!

So, I'm still debating what to do about this card. I can't possibly finish it as an owl in a tree now. But, where do I go from here? 

Parting Thoughts

We received an invitation to a combined retirement (for the mom) and graduation (for the daughter) party. And, I have a great aunt will be celebrating her 95th birthday. So, those 3 cards are on my week's to-do list.

Have a great week!  Thanks for stoppping by and happy scrappin' to all!

Friday Night Writes

Hi, everyone,

First, a HUGE thank you to all for your support of OWH's "sister cards" challenge. I so appreciated your visits to the blog post, your comments and -- most of all -- the cards you made for our heroes. All the cards were so well done. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

And the Bo Bunny Liberty Blog Candy Goes to....

Margaret G, which is extra appropriate since Margaret made the sample card for this week's Midweek Throwdown challenge involving patriotic cards. Margaret, thanks again for playing along in our challenge! Please e-mail your shipping information to me at cards.by.sybrina@gmail.com to receive your prize.  :)

OWH VCMP Die Cut Challenge -- Take Two

Remember when I said I wasn't pleased with the flip flop card. I think I said it wasn't quite done. 

Thanks to Kathryn and Sarah for comments that inspired a few significant changes. Kathryn complimented the detail on my cards, like the heat embossed flip flop imprint. That made me realize that the lack of detail on the flip flops themselves was exactly what was bothering me. Sarah suggested the addition of a little gem. I really liked this idea -- and started thinking about what other details could/should be added.

So, the following changes were made to the flip flops. And, what a difference a few details can make!

• Light yellow pastel  highlights were added to the inside.
•  Dark blue/brown shading was added to the outer edge.
• Stickles were added to the thong portions.
• Tiny blue gems topped off the thongs.

And this creature says/does...?

  

Okay, I will tell you the specifics of the conversation I had with hubby about the card -- or, more accurately, the beginnings of a card -- shown below in Monday Musings. 

Before that, my questions for you are:

•  What would the little "creature" shown below say or do? 
• And where in the world is "Waldo"?

 Parting Thoughts

Thanks again to everyone for such a nice response to the OWH "sister cards" challenge. :)  :)   :)

Not quite sure what I'm going to work on this weekend. I certainly hope to make an Any Hero card using this Sunday's sketch. I still need to make (or choose) a card for this month's ODBD challenge for OWH. And, then there are still a few unfinished VCMP challenges, a Midweek Throwdown, a scrap tutorial... 

So little time, so many possibilities. :)

Happy scrappin' to all!

Rebels with a Cause: Making Patriotic Cards

Hi, everyone,

Welcome to Stop #7 on OWH's Card-Making Party Blog Hop in honor of National Scrapbooking Weekend! If you've arrived here via other means and would like to check out the other stops on the hop, visit Stars and Stamps.

To view all stops on the hop, visit Stars and Stamps.

When Sandy e-mailed the blog hop theme was being rebellious because we are rebels who scrap cards instead of scrapbook pages, a twist on the James Dean classic movie Rebel without a Cause immediately came to mind. I suggested a blog stop entitled Rebels with a Cause, with this stop's cause being making patriotic cards.

This Stop's Challenge: Patriotic "Sister Cards"

So, my challenge is to make two patriotic cards -- one Any Hero card and one blank card to be sent back home. And, I'm asking that the cards be "sister cards".

What are sister cards, you ask? Okay, sister cards  is a totally made-up phrase -- at least as far as I know. But, for this purpose, sister cards are two cards that are similar in design and/or inspiration, but still different in their own way.

Sample Cards

For my sample cards, the inspiration was old-fashioned, patriotic bunting. I've wanted to make some bunting cards for awhile now but hadn't taken the time to play with the idea until now.

For extra texture and dimension, I embossed and inked the gray paper from DCWV. (Didn't this gray make a great neutral? The red, white, and blue just pop! Here's hoping that at least one of these counts for Allison's blue and gray challenge!) In addition, I crimped the watermelon cardstock on the blank card and scored it on the second card. Finally, I used just a touch of Stickles for the star centers on both cards and on the USA on the first card for a little extra oomph. :)

BLANK CARD: Paper: Bazzill admiral and watermelon, K&Company Americana mat pad, DCWV Christmas & Winter Combo; Stickles; funky fiber

ANY HERO: Paper: Bazzill admiral and watermelon, K&Company Americana mat pad, DCWV Christmas & Winter Combo; Stickles; baker's twine

So, I hope these sample cards give you an idea of what I mean by "sister cards". And, for information and ideas about what to write in an Any Hero card, click here.

Blog Candy

Is there candy, you ask? Why, yes, there is!  And what better candy for a patriotic challenge than a brand spanking new 6 by 6 pad of Bo Bunny Liberty paper. (Those of you who visit regularly know how much I love my Bo Bunny!)  One lucky card-maker will receive this wonderful paper pad from my own personal stash. :)

To qualify for the Bo Bunny raffle:

• Link one card for 1 "ticket". 
• Link its sister card for 2 additional "tickets".

The winner will be announced on May 11 in Friday Night Writes.

Ready, Set, Scrap!

Thanks for stopping! I can't wait to see your patriotic "sister cards"!  (Remember, that any cards that specifically refer to the 4th of July should be in shippers' hands by the end of the month.)

And, don't forget there's one more stop on this weekend's hop! 

'

Monday Musings

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  I'm excited to have Package #3 ready to send to Kris. I'm mailing off 22 Dad cards, 22 general sentiment cards, and 7 Any Hero cards. :) 

For those of you making Dad cards for OWH, the deadline for Father's Day cards is fast approaching.

I have 3 cards to share today.

Card #1: Inspired by Ashley's Sketch of the Month

Last Saturday, I had a chance to catch up with Ashley and Tiffany from Pizazz It! When we were talking about their new sketch book, I mentioned that one of my favorite books is one that shows a 12 by 12 layout and a card inspired by the layout. 

Ashley is sponsoring a monthly sketch contest -- with the winner getting a copy of her new sketch book. The card below was inspired by this month's sketch!  

Jillibean Soup's Watermelon Gazpacho collection; Core Vintage (Flower Power) collection; unknown red cardstock

I'm especially excited about this card for two reasons. The first is that Ashley and I going to make this a regular thing. She's going to post her monthly sketch and I'm going to create a sketch-inpsired card!  Very cool!!! [And, seriously, if you haven't checked out her book, please do. It's sooooo well done. I'm pleased to say that I am a proud owner of an autographed copy!  :) ]

My second reason for being excited about the card is its the first Jillibean card that I've designed and liked. I love the bright colors and whimsical looks of her papers. But, for some reason, I seem to struggle putting the patterns together. (I think it might be in part that the pattern sizes are not as distinctively different as in a Bo Bunny collection.) This time, however, I think I got it just right. Using the red and Core card stock made such a difference. I actually really, really like this card. :)

Card #2

This is the last card that made it into this week's shipment. And, it was the last of my Saturday crop cards that needed to be finished. There are a few of those irritating scanning shadows... but this card's shadows aren't too bad.

Kaiser Lush collection; border punch; embellished with sheer white ribbon and pearls

I'm actually glad that I took the rest of the week to finish up these cards. I was starting to get in a design rut towards the end of the day. New days brought fresh perspectives for different finishing touches.  :) 

Card #3: OWH Sketch #118 

For whatever reason, this week's sketch came far more easily to me than last week's. The Any Hero card below is the first card for OWH Package #4!  :)  As usual, I rotated the sketch to make a horizontal card. Other than that, I think my only other changes were to slightly adjust the position of the square and place the side banners on top of  the square instead of next to its edges.

 

Bo Bunny Liberty collection; Bazzill admiral card stock; Hero Arts gemstones

I just love this Liberty collection -- and Bo Bunny paper in general. As I mentioned before, the different pattern sizes just make it so much easier for me to mix and match layers. 

And, many thanks to Donna and Carol for their reassuring words about not worrying when I use sketches as inspirations, rather than as blueprints. (Ashley says the same thing in her book, too.)

Parting Thoughts

The family who lives next to my father-in-law had to put their beloved dog down a few days ago. Since hubby and I are big dog lovers ourselves, making a card for the family is at the top of this week's card to-do list. After that, I hope to get started on some kid cards for OWH using some of the stickers and embellishments I picked up at last Saturday's garage sale. 

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