What did Poppa Bee Say to Baby Bee?

Answer: Bee Mine  :)

Hi, everyone.

The inspirations for today's card were an adorable Paper Smooches stamp set and the desire to make some kid-friendly Valentine's Day cards for Operation Write Home.

Paper Smooches images and sentiment stamped on watercolor paper in Distress Ink
Distress Ink core paper; SU Sizzix embossing folder
embossed paper sponged in Distress Inks with SU daubers
stash ribbon; garage sale brad; mini glue dots

I like the pairing of the poppa (or momma) bee and baby bee. But, when I went to put together the elements of this card, I realized just how big the parent bee really is for an A2 card. Should I decide to do a version 2.0 of this card, I might actually print out a slightly smaller version of the bees and sentiment.

I played around with several color combos for sentiment background paper. It felt like there needed to be a piece of white between the brown and red. In the end, the three background papers seem to help bring my eye to the sentiment since the bees and heart make such a strong image.

I tried to create a single focal point -- or at least a flow to the card, by having the bee image touch the sentiment, and the sentiment touch the ribbon.

Speaking of the ribbon... Isn't it amazing how things like this ribbon look so crooked when you see them in a pic?

Oh well, think there's a little one who will love receiving this from their mommy or daddy -- crooked ribbon and all. :)


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

Snowflakes in Purple and Silver

Hi, everyone!

Loved, loved, loved today's OWH CAS sketch, which inspired the Any Hero Christmas card shown below. Still missing our printer/scanner, which means fumbling around with the focus on our digital camera. So, I apologize in advance for the fuzziness of the pic.

Distress Ink core and Recollections papers
SU sentiment; Recolrection snowflake punch
Creative Memories square punches
sentiment and snowflakes heat embossed in Stampdendous silver tinsel
Paper Studio brads

Other than a slight adjustment in the size of the squares, I think I was pretty true to the sketch this time around. Shocking, I know! But, I do love the simplicity of this sketch -- and think it might become a go-to favorite for a lot of cards... Valentine hearts, spring butterfies, summer seashells, fall leaves...

Parting Thoughts

Think weather's supposed to get kind of dicey, so I'm going to sign off. Hope all of you in the Chicago area are safe and sound.

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

it's all about the candy!

Hi, everyone.

Wednesday night was a blast!  Bernadette's Stampin' Up! Stamp Club met to make a waterfall card.  Thanks, Bernadette, for another fun class. :)

All materials used in the card above are from Stampin' Up!

The card is actually really easy to make, although I won't even try to explain the process. So, please click here to see a tutorial to make a waterfall card. But an OWH word of warning: the card in the video has glitter, a major OWH no-no.

And, thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!

Love is in the Air

Hi, everyone.

I was so excited when Allison was announced as the new Midweek Throwdown Hostess. Unfortunately, I've not yet had a chance to make a card for her first couple of challenges. Finally, today, I was able to make a card for this week's pink and green color challenge. Pink and green... sounds like the perfect combo for a girlie, spring card. :)

Distress Ink core paper; Martha Stewart punches and gems
Cuttlebug and Sizzix embossing folders; Glossy Accents

I really like the glossy butterflies, and I'm okay with the design of the card. However, I'm still not sold on the gems -- especially seeing them on the screen. They look more purple and less pink here than they do on the card. But, I'm not even sure I like them as they appear on the card. Hmmm....

And, how I love my Staedtler bendable ruler. It was such a help in making the matching flight paths. :)

Parting Thoughts

Sorry for such a quick post. Maybe I'll be able to check back in the next day or two and share a card we made at Stamp Club last night.

Until then, thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!

Sweet Land of Liberty

Hi, everyone.

This week's Any Hero card was inspired by OWH Sketch #195. I ended up putting the vertical strip at the far right edge. Other than that, I think I was pretty true to the sketch.

Distress Ink core
Stamper's Best image in Distress Ink walnut stain on watercolor paper
Cuttlebug and Darice embossing folders
Creative Memories cutting system; Marvy circle punch
computer-generated sentiment (Mistral) on watercolor paper
garage sale brads; Zots 3D glue dot

Pretty tired tonight. Guess that's it for today.

Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!

Rhapsody in Blue and White

Hi, everyone.

At a recent Stampin' Up! class, our demonstrator shared the technique of scoring the midpoints of adjacent sides and crimping the corners formed. I really liked the idea, but didn't like how the crimping distorted the shape of the paper.

A few days later, I changed up the technique to score, rather than crimp, the corners. I paired this idea with a challenge from Operation Write Home's Cardmaking Party for President's Day 2013. The challenge was to create white-on-white or cream-on-cream. For the card below, I modified the challenge "rules" to allow for a little light blue.

AC white and blue cardstock; Martha Stewart punch
Cuttlebug and Spellbinder embossing folders; Stampin Up! trimmer
Mark Richards crystals

a detailed look at the scoring and embossing

I love the elegance and CAS-like design. Really like how the layers of blue help pop the three scored and embossed patterns. Feel like there is just the right amount of  bling to add a touch of sparkle in all the right places. Decided to go sentiment-less so the card could be sent to OWH for birthday, graduation, wedding, anniversary, love you, miss you, thinking of you, thank you, or just because occasions.

Sorry about the quality of the images above. I went back forth between scanning and using a digital snapshot. The scanned image seems to do a little better job of capturing the overall appearance of the card, while the digital picture better shows the details.

Parting Thought

Thanks for stopping. Happy scrappin'!

HUGE Card-Making Event for OWH

Question:  How do you celebrate OWH's one millionth card?

Answer:  Host a huge card-making event to kick off the next million!

On May 21, employees of McGraw-Hill joined forces with customers of Scrapbook Art to make nearly 1800 cards for Operation Write Home during a McGraw-Hill Global Volunteer Day Event!



The Morning Shift






The Afternoon Shift

 


Our Final Total: 1775+ Cards

 
Many, many, many thanks to:

• Scrapbook Art owners Caron and Amy and staff for hosting the event,
• Scrapbook Art customers Jeri and Denise for designing and prepping gorgeous cards -- for hours and hours on end,
• McGraw-Hill volunteers and Scrapbook Art customers for assembling cards (on a gorgeous Saturday in May, I must add),
• McGraw-Hill for its generous support of our event, one of many Global Volunteer Day events occurring in 47 cities, 17 countries.

  



                                

                                        Material Prep Guru Jeri



Design Gurus Sandy and Denise



                  

        

               Store Co-Owner (and Proud Military Mom) Caron with
                   Team Leader Sybrina



It was an AMAZING day -- a day in which a global corporation joined forces with an independently-owned small business to make a difference for our troops and their loved ones.

 







My sincerest and deepest heartfelt thanks to all. You are ROCK STARS and our troops will love sending your cards to their loved ones!