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'!

Friday Night Writes

Hi, everyone,

Hope it's been a good week. It's actually been a crazy week for us -- an unexpected family matter needing some attention. But, life's feeling a whole lot calmer now.  :)

Hooray for public WiFi access!

OWH Midweek Challenge

This week's challenge  was to make a Miss You card for our troops to send home to a loved one.

Kaiser Konstrukt Collection

One of the things that most excites me about this card is that it was the first time I used any of the letter die cuts that came with my Zip'e Mate garage sale find! The typewriter style seemed kind of nail-like and fit well with the construction theme of this amazing paper. I lightly pressed the letters into a black ink pad to better feature the letters themselves. And, while I love the patterned paper, it felt like it needed some black to ground it.

My First Dad Card of the Season

The real reason I bought that 6 by 6 pad was to make Father's Day cards to go with the adorable sentiment featured below. Hoping to crank a few more of these out in the next couple of weeks.

Paper: Kaiser Konstrukt Collection, BasicGrey Kraft
Sentiment: Gillian Vance Celebrate Dad stamp set

For a Kiddie

I found some adorable monkey paper on clearance at my LSS, Scrapbook Art. It seemed like it could make a few cute kiddie birthday cards. So, here's the first of several monkey cards to come.

Paper: Creative Imaginations, Doodlebug surprise party
Stickers: Mrs. Grossman
Font: computer-generated (Andy)

Two points worth noting: 1) This was my first time to pierce using my new Sew Easy tool. But, I chose not to use threads since this kiddie card might very well get a little extra wear and tear. 2) The glitter is really baked in well -- like with DCWV cardstock.  :)

One Friend's Trash...

Earlier this week, I was working away in my cubicle when a friend/fellow crafter/fellow OWH supporter came by bearing a gift.  She was no longer using the display rack shown below -- and knew exactly the person who could give it a good home.

Thanks so much, Mary Kate!  
Hope to have time to get together a surprise for your in-box on Monday!

For now, it has a place of honor in my craft room -- aka the menopause room. But, should we have a holiday Craft Show this year at work, it will proudly be displaying this year's card collection!

Parting Thoughts

Keeping my fingers crossed that things remain calm and I'll find some time to pull together that thank you for Mary Kate, as well as make a few cards this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by. Happy scrappin'!