Hearts and Sparks for Heroes

Hi everyone,

Let me start by sending thoughts and prayers to those on the East Coast dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

The images on television are unbelievable. I can't even begin to imagine what life is like for those of you dealing with such devastation and loss. My brother's family had lots and lots of rain, but only rain.

Hearts for an OWH Hero's Loved One

The card below was made for this week's OWH Midweek Throwdown and inspired by another one of Ashley's fabulous scrapbook sketches. Making cards for OWH is kind of like living in a time machine. While the rest of the world is starting to make plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas, OWHers are making Valentine's Day cards.  :)

Cardstock: Core-dinations Vintage Collection
Designer Paper and Chipboard: We R Memory Keepers
Techniques: Inking (Distress Ink Tattered Rose), embossing, punching, distressing, crimping
Tools: Sizzix folders, ek punch, heart template, crimper

The left side of the sketch was used to make the card.
An embossed heart was used for the large circle;
a chipboard piece for the 4 x 4 photo;
a We R Memory Keepers paper embellishment, layered on various papers, for the 6 x 4 photo;
and a smaller heart for the "round" sketch element, nudged slightly right.

 This was the first time I've paired different embossing folders and was pretty pleased with the results. The We R Memory Keepers paper and chipboard are from the Be My Valentine collection from a few years ago.

In addition to the Midweek Throwdown, I'm going to post this card for this month's ODBD challenge to make a card dusting off a tool or technique. It had actually been awhile since I'd used my Ranger sander. Not only was it perfect to use on the embossed cardstock, but it also worked really well for distressing the chipboard.

Sparks (aka Candles) for a Family Hero

The card below is for a family hero, my father-in-law. He will be celebrating his 89th birthday on Wednesday. The inspiration for this card came from Leisure Arts great card-making book -- page 109, to be exact.  :)

Paper: Kaiser Up, Up, and Away, DCWV Christmas & Winter Combo;
wicks: dental floss; sentiment: heat embossed with Stampendous clear powder

I ADORE the simplicity of this card -- and how it can be adapted so easily to masculine/feminine, child/teen/adult, whimsical/elegant. And, who would've thought of using dental floss? Designer Beth Matson, that's who!

The candles on the Leisure Arts sample card were round, compared to my flatter candles. So, I played around with rolling paper around a AAA battery -- and was really pleased with the result. And, I will probably use contrasting ink for the sentiment on future cards, as well as vary the sentiment depending on the recipient. :)

This seems like a good fit for this week's CAS-ual Fridays' challenge to make a masculine CAS card. Also thinking of making a variety of these to give to family and friends in 2012.

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to make some more progress on craft fair projects tomorrow. And, looking forward to tomorrow morning's sketch challenge.

Thanks for visiting. Special thanks to those leaving such kind words. Happy scrappin'!

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'!

Friday Night Writes

Hi, everyone,

Hope it's been a good week for all of you.

More about last Saturday's Crop

On Monday, I mentioned I would give a little more information about one of the event's at last Saturday's crop.

Ashley and Tiffany are two of my favorite people from Pizazz It! days. They are both up-and-coming graphic designers -- and they have collaborated on an initial book of sketches. And, at the crop, they held a book signing. :) 

To check out their blogs, click here for Ashley's blog and click here for Tiffany's blog.  

One more thing about last weekend's activities, I took some time this week to finish up a few cards from Saturday. This week's sketch at {Mojo}Mondays was a loose inspiration for the first two cards below. All three cards were made from Kaiser's Lush collection. 

Kaiser Lush collection

Kaiser Lush collection

Kaiser Lush collection, with a cut-out flocked flower from one of these pretty papers

For all three cards, I had already punched the borders and adhered the base paper and bottom strip paper. So, I didn't really have the real estate on the first two to add the banner strip on the bottom right of the {Mojo}Monday sketch.

While it would have been possible to go with something other than circles for the four featured elements, I really thought circles would work well with my background paper. However, I decided to go with an odd number of featured circles on both cards.

OWH Sketch #117

Okay, talk about loose interpretations...  I even considered not posting the card below for this week's Sunday sketch. I swear that I started off with every intention of being true to the sketch -- other than making it a horizontal card to go with my pre-written Any Hero card bases.

Bo Bunny Liberty collection

• For the background, I cut out the middle of a 6 by 6 paper and then positioned the top over the bottom. I adhered the top to two other rectangular papers so that it would be a little thicker than the bottom. So far, so good!
• Then, I played with circles -- and rectangles with rounded corners -- before deciding that the sentiment really need to be on rectangular paper.
• Next, I tried the sentiment behind a ribbon -- as shown on the sketch -- but no sale.
• Finally, I tried putting the sentiment in the center, but it really felt like it should go in the bottom right corner to balance out the flag's field of stars.

So, forgive me if I've posted an "illegal" card. In my defense, the sketch was the original inspiration. And, I am pretty pleased with the end result. Hope the hero who receives it will be, too. :)

CAS-ual Fridays

Remember all the wonderful challenges from the OWH Virtual Card Making Party during cruise week? Well, this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge brought back memories of one of my favorite cards. So, I think I'm going to post Beach Currency at CAS-ual Fridays.

This was the first card to have die cuts made from my garage sale Zip'e Mate!

Parting Thoughts

Just a couple more cards to make before I mail my Muscle Card challenge package to Kris. :)

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



Monday Musings

Hi, everyone,

Boy, it was gorgeous here yesterday -- simply gorgeous!  Hope everyone had a chance to get outside for a little while this past weekend.

Saturday's Crop 

What a fun time on Saturday at the all-day crop!  What can be more fun than cropping with my best friend and other scrappers?! As if that wasn't enough, there was a make-and-take, a raffle, a book signing, and a garage sale!  More on the book signing on Friday. But, as far as the garage sale went, I found lots of goodies -- including 2 new pads of 12 by 12 Core paper, 2 new Distress Ink pads, lots of kid-themed stickers and chipboard embellishments, and some "new" ribbons and gems. :)  

I spent my day putting together some Dad My Hero cards and working on general sentiment cards for OWH's Muscle Card Challenge for Father's Day. The first 3 cards were made from Kaiser's Hippy Girl collection, the fourth from Kaiser's Lush collection. (Again, I apologize for those annoying shadows that appear when I scan cards with dimensional elements.)

simple

a little more adornment -- This one includes a few gems bought at the crop garage sale. :)

even more adornment -- Butterflies made with Martha Stewart's punch-around-the page and popped up with 3-D dots.

Adorned with "lush" flocked paper and pearls.

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC48

This week's challenge was to make a card using complementary colors. As I always do when I visit other sites, I started thinking about a possible OWH card. So, I decided to make the card below -- a card similar to a Father's Day card I made for our dads last year -- and reminiscent of OWH's necktie card.

Ranger Core Paper

To make a similar card last year, I sketched the design on an A2 envelope and then made templates for the shirt "halves", collar, and tie from an old gift box. (Luckily, I still had the design and templates.) When piecing together the shirt, I sanded the collars so that they would stand out but still be in the same color family.

Parting Thoughts

Kudos to everyone who participated in this weekend's Make Em Laugh blog hop featuring so many of OWH's wonderful vendor partners. Your creations were amazing!  Sorry I didn't have a chance to devote much time to this hop.

Plans for the week include finishing up cards from Saturday's crop -- adding a little glue and a few embellishments, doing some Stickling. My goal is to have cards ready to stamp, tuck, and box up Muscle Challenge cards next weekend. :) Once crop cards are done, I'll turn my thoughts to this week's sketch.

Hope everyone has a wonderfully creative week. Happy scrappin'!

Friday Night Writes

Hi, everyone,

It looks like it's going to be a pretty busy weekend around here. So, how about a quick post?

OWH Midweek Challenge

 

This week's OWH challenge is to make a Thinking of You card. I decided to rework the ribbon-stamped card from last week. It was just way too overworked to send as it was. It's looking much fresher now. :)

Bo Bunny Konstrukt paper, Kaiser rhinestones

Help Requested

The card below is my first attempt at a My Dad, My Hero card. I really like the gold embossed medals -- and embossing around the edge of the sentiment. I also like the ribbon -- although it didn't scan well. And, I like the sentiment itself, but not its appearance. It seems to need something, but I don't quite know what. Any suggestions?

Stampin' Around image by Stampin' Up!, computer-generated font

ODBD April Challenge

It's time again for another ODBD Challenge for OWH. This month's ODBD challenge is to create a card with critters. Since I liked these little song-inspired, lovesick CAS butterflies so much, I posted them for this challenge as well. 

BasicGrey paper, Martha Stewart punch

Parting Thoughts

Wishing everyone a blessed Easter celebration!

Friday Night Writes

Hi, all,

Hope everyone's had a great week. It's been a week of being a bachelorette for me -- really quiet around here and just a little strange.

It's also been a week of card-making firsts -- three to be exact!

First #1: Stamping on Ribbon

I've been tweaking a 2012 birthday card -- to give to friends during the year and to sell at the annual McGraw-Hill Holiday Craft Show. This year's design features a cupcake and the sentiment "Make a Wish".

Lo and behold, I came across the most adorable "make a wish" stamp -- which got me to wondering if I could stamp a sentiment on a ribbon.

So, while I was working on Father's Day cards with that adorable Bo Bunny Konstrukt paper, I pulled out a "Thinking of You" stamp and a white ribbon. I was actually quite pleased with the results.

Sentiment Stamped on Ribbon
Paper: Bo Bunny Konstrukt
Kaiser rhinestones
Ink: StazOn jet black

While the stamping turned out very nicely, I'm not loving the glue dots peeking through the ribbon. So, this card still needs a little work before it gets my OWH stamp of approval. Any suggestions about the adhesive issue here?

First #2: A Cool Distress Background

I'm sure anyone taking Tim Holtz's online card class has just been amazed by the whole experience. What a talent! 



Since I don't have many Distress Inks, no stains, no markers -- yes, I know, woe is me -- I haven't tried many of the homework assignments. But, I did have just what I needed for Day 7's homework. And, the result was spectacular! There is no way to describe how gorgeous this background is. When the sun shines on it, it shimmers and glistens just like newly fallen snow. It is just so pretty!

 

Tim's Rusted Enamel Technique: Tattered Rose, Antique Linen and Vintage Photo inks
Clear Embossing Powder; Paper: Ranger Distress Core Paper
Stamp: Whipper Snapper; Punch: EK Success
Cupcake: hand-drawn, hand-cut, scored, and highlighted with metallic pens

I embossed the sentiment before creating the background. I'm going to try creating the background before embossing on my next card -- just to see what difference it might make. Any advice or suggestions?

A pink/rose cupcake on blue background probably would've made more sense. But, there isn't any blue Distress Ink in my stash... at least, not yet! :)

Nonetheless, this design feels like it's getting close to being just right... And, this card's going to a friend at work who, ironically enough, gave up cupcakes -- actually all sweets -- for Lent. :)



First #3: Iris Folding

Last night, my LSS (Scrapbook Art in Lewis Center, OH) had an iris folding class. And, it was a wonderful experience!  Let me start by saying that if you've been interested in trying iris folding but have been a little put off by how intricate the cards appear, go for it!  The results are gorgeous and the technique is surprisingly easy.

Iris Folding



Iris Folding

Time for a big shout-out to the class teacher Alexandra Kimball. She was so kind, so patient, and such a great teacher. Thanks so much, Alexandra!  (Turns out the Stickles worked just fine!)

Parting Thoughts

So, it's been quite a week -- a wonderful week of card-making adventures!  And, I still have 3 more Tim classes to attend. :)

Not quite sure how many cards will be made this weekend. My men are returning home from a Spring Break trip. And, I'm sooooo excited to see them! :)

As always, thanks for stopping by. Happy scrappin' and have a nice weekend!

Monday Musings: The Early Edition

Hi,

Since my men are gone, I'm a little ahead of schedule. (Boy, not too often we get to say that, huh?!) So, why not post a little ahead of schedule?

OWH Sketch #114

Another Sketch, Another Any Hero Card! This week's sketch calls for the background rectangle to be divided into two sections. I considered a couple of options before deciding upon a more subtle approach. 

Paper: Bo Bunny Liberty, Bazzill admiral, BasicGrey kraft
Cuttlebug embossing folder, red and blue Stickles

I was really struggling with the square until I added the layer of kraft. The navy by itself was just too strong. I'm thinking navy behind the embossed kraft would have made the card even stronger. But, not too bad -- and I'm thinking of tweaking this a little to make a few "My Dad, My Hero" cards.

I'm really liking this Liberty paper. I picked up a few 12 by 12 sheets recently and found out there is a 6 by 6 pad. My LSS wasn't able to order it since it was last year's collection. Luckily, I found it online at ODBD. So, a few pads of this great paper is headed my way!

OWH's Father's Day Challenge

Looks like we rocked the Mother's Day card challenge. So, we're moving on to a Father's Day card challenge. (It's still not too late to send in a few "Love You, Mom cards.)

I was able to carve out a significant amount of card-making time yesterday. And, cards for dads were my number one priority! All of the following cards were made from Kaiser's Konstrukt 6 by 6 pad.



Kaiser Konstrukt paper, Zip'eMate letters

Kaiser Konstrukt paper, Zip'eMate letters, Kaiser rhinestones
small rectangle: crimped and inked

Kaiser Konstrukt paper, Zip'eMate letters
Sentiment: Jillian Vance Celebrate Dad stamp set
(Sorry about the scanning distortion on this one.)

Wish that the scanned images did  better justice to these. Cards with "bumps" don't tend to scan as well... Hope the designs come across anyway.

CFC45

This week's CAS-ual Friday challenge is to make a card using pastels and black. The card below was also made from Kaiser's Konstrukt paper.

Kaiser Konstrukt, American Crafts black cardstock
Kaiser rhinestones, Celebrate It ribbon, Fiskars border punch
Butterflies are tri-layered: bottom, purple; middle: black, top, polka dot.
(Another disappointing scan. The shadow takes away from the prettiness of the card.)

Designers always tell us to not be afraid of black. (I sure remember hearing that a lot on Trading Spaces!) Yet, there's a natural tendency to stay away from it. So, I'm really glad I gave this a try -- I love the way this card turned out!  :)

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to get a few more cards made today. But, my first goal is to catch up on Tim's Thursday and Friday online classes.

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'!



Friday Night Writes

Welcome to the first edition of Friday Night Writes. A couple of things to blog about tonight.

Our Family's Greatest Generationer

 A proud Army Air Corps Pilot

Some of you may already know my father-in-law was a bomber pilot in World War II. He is an amazing man -- so kind and loving. And, as I have learned about his wartime experiences, I've come to recognize that he is also a very brave and humble man.

These pages from a family scrapbook will help us remember the past year's tributes and honors which include going on an honor flight to the WWII Memorial in DC, riding in a B17, talking to local high school students, and participating in a panel of war veterans. 

Our Family Scrapbook

While I usually put titles on the left side, the two pictures on that page

were so perfect that I just had to lead with those. The right page is one big pocket

to include additional newspaper clippings and photos of his trip to DC and school visit.

My father-in-law is standing in front of the B17 that he rode in from Dayton to Columbus,

holding a photo of his flight crew. This photo that graced the front page of The Columbus Dispatch captured a glorious moment on a gorgeous fall day.

This photo graced the front page of the local Suburban News paper. Its caption refers to the

onlookers as "admirers". The admirers on the left are actually a neighbor and his son and my hubby is on the right. Interestingly enough, my husband teaches American  History but had heard almost nothing about his dad's experiences until a post-flight interview after his arrival in Columbus.

A clipping showing the B17 touching down at Bolton Field.

A memento of an Honor Flight that will be long remembered...

While at the memorial, the veterans were greeted by Senator Bob Dole, who makes it a point to meet most all of the Honor Flight honorees. Upon returning to Columbus, each veteran received a packet of cards and letters from employees of Nationwide Insurance (a sponsor of Central Ohio Honor Flights) and local school children. One letter from a high school freshman touched my father-in-law so much that he contacted her teacher so that he could mail a reply to her. The pride my father-in-law took in these cards and letters is what made me realize I need to make Any Hero cards.

I am so happy and thankful that my father-in-law has experienced such a wonderful year. But, his military service is only a small part of what makes him so special. The love and devotion he showed to my mother-in-law during the final years of her life ... well, there just aren't words. Tom Brokaw got it right -- the Greatest Generation indeed.

OWH Cards

I only managed a couple of cards this week. Both were made from remnants of my Kaiser Secret Bird Society paper. Unfortunately, I struggled with a third card -- actually for a couple of nights -- but just never got it quite right. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a few more made this weekend.

Both cards are tri-folds  :)

 News from the Homestead

Two points worth noting:

• The scrapbook pics were taken with our new digital camera and uploaded to a laptop! You have no idea what an accomplishment this is for us tech-challenged folks. Thanks to Yolanda for her vote of confidence!
• All of the photos in this post have watermarks -- another huge accomplishment! Thanks to Julie for her recommendation to use http://www.picmarkr.com/.
• The one downside of these techie accomplishments was fewer made cards...  Let's hope I get lots better at all of this!

Well, this post ended up being a little longer than I had planned. Sorry about that. 

Thanks for stopping by. And, with the crazy weather going on, hope everyone is okay. Be safe!

Monday Musings

Blog News

Hi, everyone,

I'm going to try posting on Mondays and Fridays -- Monday Musings and Friday Night Writes -- for a couple of weeks and see how that goes. So, welcome to the debut of Monday Musings.

OWH Sketch #110

I used remnants of my favorite patriotic paper for this week's Any Hero card. The layout is pretty true to this week's sketch, although I changed the rectangle dimensions to better fit the digi stamp. And, I rotated the sketch to fit with my pre-written Any Hero message.

This card came pretty quickly and seemed to turn out pretty well.

A New Twist on an Old Favorite

The stamp for the following OWH Mother's Day card was a Hampton Arts find in the Michael's $ bin. And, I've had the animal print paper since I don't know when. Nevertheless, this paper seemed to go perfectly with the shoe.

Heat embossed with clear powder over Ranger Distress Ink!
Stamp: Hampton Arts; Sentiment: Computer-Generated

What I love about the card is the image is embossed with clear powder over a Ranger Distress Ink. Did you know that you could do that? Well, I heard it was possible and got it to work! (When heating the image, it looks wet and bubbled up when it's done.)

A Card for a Friend

The following card is going to a friend in our workplace book club. She loaned me a fabulous book, The Book Thief, so many months ago -- and I finally got around to reading it. This card seemed perfect to thank her for letting me explore little Liesel's world.

One of my first ever cards -- waiting for the right moment.
Paper: Kaiser Secret Bird Society

News from the Homestead

Sound the alarm, call Brian Williams, and take an ad out in the paper... or send a tweat, text a friend, and publish a blog post.

Either way, the big news is that hubby and I entered the 21st century and purchased our first digital camera this weekend. Who knows what doors that will open?!

Think that's it for the first Monday Musings.  Thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'!

OWH Midweek Challenge

Hi, everyone,

This week's challenge is a perfect fit with the current chaos on my card-making table. We are asked to work on half Mother's Day/half general sentiment box of cards for the mid-March campaign to get cards to our shippers in advance of the Mother's Day deadline -- which is exactly what I've been doing since the VCMP!  :)

Both Mother's Day cards for the first half of the challenge were made from My Mind's Eye Stella Rose collection. I have to say this first card was inspired by a Christmas card hanging on a file cabinet in my craft room -- and I'm so happy with the way it turned out. :)

For the other half of the challenge, I have been adding to my VCMP cards. The Thinking of You card was made from Kaiser's Secret Bird Society and the more feminine entry was embellished with Michael $ stickers from Studio112 and Hero Arts gems.

Off to make more cards. Happy scrappin'!

OWH Midweek Color Challenge

This week OWH posed a color challenge to make a card using green, blue, kraft/tan.

So yesterday, when I was making tone-on-tone cards from pastel cardstock for Mother's Day, I decided to make the same card using a blue and green printed paper.

Paper: KaiserCraft's Konstrukt collection
Punch: Martha Stewart punch-around-the-page butterfly
Embossed Border: Hero Arts Large Fabric Design stamp
Embossed Sentiment: 2000 Stampin' Up!
Butterfly Accents: gold gel pen and gold stickles

Technically, this card is green, blue, and gold. I hope all will forgive me as this was the closest I could come in the Mother's Day assembly line going on in my craft room yesterday. :)

A couple of points worth noting:

• Tone-on tone and masking ideas came from the recent CAS Online Card Class
• I lightly pressed a rectangular strip of paper into the embossing pad -- embossing the paper before punching out the butterfly.
• And, interestingly enough, I purchased this paper to make OWH Father's Day cards.

I never would have thought to heat emboss on printed paper before this challenge. It's an interesting result. And, I must say, the embossing and stickling really lose something in the JPG.

Well, off to finish up Mother's Day cards from yesterday.
Happy scrappin' to all!

My First OWH Shipment of the Year!!!

First of all, my thanks to everyone who has left such nice comments about Sketch #106 and my congratulations to everyone for posting such great cards! And, for folks who left blogging advice, my sincerest appreciation. A techie colleague at work is going to help me out during lunch. :)

I'm thrilled to say that I sent my first box of the year to Kris! I am really pleased by this shipment's assortment. It was a nice mix of feminine, masculine, and patriotic cards. And, it had 5 Any Hero cards!!! Woot! Woot!


Some of the cards have already been posted for OWH challenges or featured here. So, I will just share the ones that have not yet made a public appearance.


Building on my "Your Service Means the World to Me" Any Hero card, I included 11 cards along the lines of the following made from the DCWV Travel Stack. The sentiment is computer-generated.

It also included 11 of the following cards, which were made distressing Ranger Core Paper and embossing with Sizzix folders -- including one of Tim Holtz's folders. As with the previous cards, the sentiment is computer-generated. Although I would have preferred to attach the sentiment with a little more pizazz, I was at a day-long crop at a school and out of pop dots. But, in all honesty, the less-embellished cards are the ones my hubby prefers. Here's hoping there are some troops that feel the same way.  :)

Finally, for the females, there were 8 of the following made from Kaiser's Secret Bird Society paper. I used Creative Memories square punches, Martha Stewart's punch-around-the-page butterfly punch, and Dixie's ribbon technique. Thank you, Dixie!

Think that's it for tonight. Thanks for coming by. Happy scrappin'!