America: my home sweet home

Hi, everyone.

It's been an interesting OWH week. The Midweek Challenge was to create a CAS card. Music to my ears! (The first time I came across the CAS-ual Fridays blog, well I felt like Steve Martin's character in The Jerk hearing his kind of music for the first time.)

Then came today's multi-layered sketch. There are times when I really struggle with multiple layers. Don't get me wrong, it is a great sketch -- and Kathryn's sample card is fabulous. But, it just isn't my kind of sketch. So, please accept my apologies in advance for taking quite a few liberties with this one.

So, let's say that today's Any Hero Card had its beginnings in OWH Sketch #179.

dp: My Mind's Eye 29th Street Market
sentiment: Stamper's Best,  heat embossed in Distress Ink black walnut
inking in Distress Ink black walnut; garage sale brads

I've had this paper for a while, but hadn't used it. My thinking was that the softer colors might make it easier to work with the multiple layers. Unfortunately, I still had issues with the four-layer layout.

I made a couple of other changes to the sketch. The second change was scoring the right hand side of the sentiment strip, and then sponging this smaller section with black walnut using Stampin' Up! daubers. I chose to do this instead of adding another element/paper. (Just can't get that CAS out of my system no matter how hard I try!) The third change was the placement of the three small circles in the upper left corner of the sketch. I chose to place them under the sentiment strip to bring more attention to the sentiment.

To better pop elements, I inked edges in black walnut. And, I double matted the star paper on 2 layers of the same color paper.

Oh, one more thing, the brad in the top left corner was placed to cover a stamping smudge -- which led to the bottom right brad -- which led to the three smaller brads. Guess we've all been there, done that. :)

Parting Thoughts

We're getting some much needed rain. Not good for the pool, but good for the grass and flowers. (Hubby just called it a million dollar rain! He's a very happy camper right now.)

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

Birthday Wishes and Summertime Sweetness

Hi everyone,

I have two cards to share -- one for OWH's Midweek Throwdown Challenge to make a birthday card and one for OWH's February ODBD Challenge to make a card featuring fruit.

Midweek Throwdown: Birthday Wishes

Paper: My Mind's Eye Life of the Party; cardstock: AC Christmas and miscellaneous stash; candle paper: Stampin' Up!border punch: Fiskars; embellishments: stash stickers; wick: dental floss

Okay, I'll start with the positives. I really like the pairing of the two patterns and am so happy to have found these little stickers in my stash. They seem to go well with the feel of the paper. And, I'm thrilled with the little candle, discovering lighter weight paper works much better than heavier dp for making candles that aren't too bulky and stay tightly wound.

So, what's not to like? I'm still struggling with my new cutting board. Cuts are getting better, but still not as precise as I would like.

ODBD: The Sweet Life

dp paper, "the sweet life" card, stars: Jillibean Soup Watermelon Gazpacho Soup
green cardstock: Core'dinations; periwinkle cardstock: Bazzill; red, black cardstock: Bazzill or AC
Mark Richards crystal stickers; elements inked using Close to My Heart Desert Sand

Part of me felt like it was cheating to use this sweet life card, but it was just too perfect for the challenge to pass up. The periwinkle paper seemed like a "nice" frame and solid foundation for the pattern in the watermelon paper. Since the periwinkle is very close to one of the other featured colors in this paper collection, it seemed to be a good complementary choice.

I'm really, really happy with the paper-pieced watermelon slice. It was made cutting circles of three different radii using a Creative Memories cutting system and then cutting a wedge-shaped slice from the circles. The seeds were hand cut from black cardstock. The slice was adhered using pop-up dots. (The sweet life card was attached to 2 pieces of cardstock to give it a little lift, but not give the card too much bulk.)

After adhering the watermelon slice, the card still seemed to need a little something more. After toying with using a vertical line of gems (first green, then red, finally black) along the left side of the card, I opted for the Jillibean Soup stars adorned with black crystals.

Parting Thoughts

I really enjoyed checking out the critter cards at today's OWH Blog Skip. Very cute!

Hoping to have time tomorrow for an Any Hero card, as well as working on an idea for a Mother's Day card that's been running through my head this last week or so.


Thanks for visiting and happy scrappin'!

OWH Sketch #155

Hi everyone,

Hope it's been a nice weekend.

I had a chance to make a couple of cards this afternoon inspired by this week's OWH sketch.  So, I have two cards to share.

In each case, I had to use a different-sized oval different than the sketch oval. After cutting out the oval, I decided on the oval's focal point image. After that, I made changes to the sketch based upon the embellishments that accentuated each focal point.

Each card was also inspired by the Midweek Throwdown challenge to create a sentiment-free card. Since the cards are sentiment-free, I chose to move down the sticker/stars and ribbon embellishments.

Card 1: An Any Hero Card

Cardstock: AC, Bazzill Admiral and Watermelon
Bo Bunny Liberty rub-on transfer and sticker; Mark Richards crystal stickers
Punches: Martha Stewart punch all over the page, The Paper Studio, circle punch

Think I will also post this one at CAS-ual Fridays. This week's challenge is to make a card that has a circle.

Card 2: A Card for a Hero to Send to a Loved One

Paper: My Mind's Eye Moments, Distress Ink Core Paper inked in Stampin' Up! Bordering Blue
Technique: fancy cutting; Embellishments: Mark Richards crystal stickers, tulle

Parting Thoughts

Still working on my resolutions -- including leaving comments for fellow card-makers!


An interesting thing happened this week that reminded me of when I first joined a gym years ago. The first week I joined the gym, I won a free T-shirt. That may not sound like a lot, but I don't typically win much. And, I took it as a sign that I was really supposed to continue working out.

Well, this week I learned I won some blog candy -- from a blog where I had left a comment during the Top Ten of 2012 blog hop. This was my first blog candy win -- and I am taking it as a sign that I really am supposed to continue leaving comments. :)


Hope everyone has a great week!  Thanks for stopping. Happy scrappin'!

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!

Greatest Couples throughout History

Hi,

Hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with family, friends, and loved ones.

Greatest Couples....

Just one card to share today, which I will be posting for both OWH Sketch #148 and the Midweek Throwdown challenge to make a card using turquoise and silver.

Paper: My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose from several seasons ago
Sentiment: computer generated
Tool: EK Success triple  heart punch

Because of my crazy schedule at work and preparing for the upcoming Craft Show, I feel like I'm behind in OWH Valentine's Day cards. So, I decided to make a Valentine's Day card using a rather non-traditional Valentine's Day color palette. I originally created the sentiment card for a card for hubby last February. :)

As far as the sketch is concerned, I rotated the design and used 2 patterns instead of 3 for the background layer. As far as the color challenge, I'm not quite sure this is truly turquoise and silver -- but it was the closest match I could find in my stash. 

Craft Show Preview

The show is December 5. So, I'll share more details next week -- including a preview of an item that I am really excited to take to the show.

I spent the first part of the afternoon preparing signage, organizing items for transport, etc. My thinking is that I can always make a couple more cards next weekend if I have some time.  But, all the other details have to be done. 

The photo shows the designs I have for sale, most of which have made an appearance in earlier posts. Hope it's a good variety -- and that I have a lot of traffic at my table. :)

Parting Thoughts

I'm hoping to find a little time after dinner to make an Any Hero card made for this week's sketch.

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

2 for 1

Hi everyone,

A quick post to share two cards inspired by this week's OWH sketch.

                   

Card #1: A Birthday Card

This first card is pretty true to the sketch, following a 90 degree rotation.

Paper: My Mind's Eye, stash cardstock
Sentiment from Whipper Snapper, heat embossed in Distress Ink Vintage Photo
Techniques: Leisure Arts candle idea described in last post
Tool: hole punch

I initially used a AAA battery to roll the candles -- and found the technique worked well with designer paper, but not heavier cardstock. However, the candles seemed too thick for OWH. So, I went with the "smashed" versions instead.

Card 2: An Any Hero card

I was a little more liberal in my interpretation of the sketch for this one.

Paper: We R Memory Keepers, BasicGrey kraft, miscellaneous cardstock
Tools: ek success and the Paper Studio star punches; crimper, distresser, hole punch
Embellishment: strands of jute

The background paper is one that I really struggle with in this Red, White & Blue collection because it is such a strong image. After layering the red and white-starred paper, it felt okay pairing these two patterns together. And, I think it helps that the stars were punched from the same cardstock as the cream layer behind the red and white-starred paper.

Parting Thoughts

Hubby wasn't a huge fan of either card. They were both too busy for his taste. They are actually a little on the busy side for me, too -- just a little out of my normal comfort zone. But, I think they work. 

Have a great week. Thanks for visiting 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'!