Always...

Hi, everyone.

Today's card was inspired by two challenge: to make a masculine card for this month's OWH Our Daily Bread Design challenge and to make a Valentine's Day or Love Card for OWH's Midweek Throwdown.

Authentique Pride; Distress Ink core (antique linen, fired brick); Bazzill (admiral)
original computer-generated sentiment in Mistral printed directly on core paper
hearts: hand cut from template, inked in Distress Ink fired brick with SU daubers
EK punch hearts on inside of  card
SU brads; Tombow foam adhesives for small heart

When making an Any Hero card on Sunday from this pad of Authentique paper, I was really drawn to this plaid. While I used other papers for Sunday's card, I kept this in mind for a masculine non-patriotic card. This plaid with its splashes of red seemed a good choice for a masculine Valentine's Day card. 

The red used for the hearts actually is much truer to the red in the plaid than the image shows. I initially inked the edges of the small heart so that it would stand out from the bigger heart. But, the fired brick ink on the fired brick paper had such a nice look, I decided to ink the edges of the bigger heart as well. However, I took care to leave some separation where the two hearts overlap.

A quick internet search for masculine Valentine's Day cards yielded a few possible designs. So, I tweaked one of the layouts for the card above. Although hubby did not give it an overwhelming endorsement, I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. (Maybe he was just card-weary by that point of the evening. At least that's the story I'm sticking with!) And, I think it makes for a nice OWH masculine Valentine's Day card that could also be used later in the year as a love/anniversary card.

Parting Thoughts

Finally making a dent in those challenges. Now I need to make some progress on Valentines for OWH.

As always, thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'! Have a nice week.

Bee Mine

Hi, everyone.

For those of us who make cards for Operation Write Home, Veteran's Day is bittersweet. A heartfelt thanks to those who have served and sacrificed for our country.

This month's Our Daily Bread Design OWH challenge is to make a love card. Yes, while the rest of the world is thinking turkey and pumpkin pie, OWHers are thinking Valentine's Day cards for our troops.

Paper Smooches stamp set, heat embossed in Distress Inks
Distress Ink core paper, embossed with Sizzix folder

The card above was inspired by a technique learned in one of Bernadette's Stampin' Up! classes -- making a waterfall card. Honestly, my brain is too fried from today at work to even begin to try and explain the card. But, if you're interested in learning more about waterfall cards, a quick Google search will turn up some videos. :)

The images below show the panels that pulling on the tab will reveal.

Since this card is going to a troop to write home to a loved one, I wanted to include a little writing room. The image below shows the back of the card.

What's not to love about a card that combines Paper Smooches stamps, Distress Ink core paper, Distress Inks, and embossing?!

Think CAS-ual Fridays has an embossing challenge going on -- and Paper Smooches has a guest designer challenge. If so, this little card might just end up on both of those sites.

Parting Thoughts

So glad I was able to get a card made for the ODBD challenge. Would hate to miss that.

Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!

A Cupcake Fit for a Princess

Hi, everyone.

Back from an anniversary/birthday family celebration -- our 29th wedding anniversary and dad's 79th birthday. Getting in a little cardmaking while the men are taking recovery naps. :)

And, what's a celebration without a cupcake?

DCWV Sweet matstack, American Crafts brown cardstock
(cupcake papers heat embossed with clear powder)
Stampin' Up! cupcake builder punch
OWH fundraiser ribbon: Martha Stewart sticker gem

The card above was made for this month's OWH Our Daily Bread Design challenge to make a card featuring pink, green, and brown. I have to admit I was first stumped by this since my thoughts have turned to autumn and Christmas palettes. So, the pink really through me for a loop. Then, I remembered this sweet collection of DCWV papers. :)

card with added Stampin' Up! brads

I like the overall look of the card. I'm just a tad ambivalent about the green in the ribbon and the green in the paper. In some lights, they look great together... and, in other lights, not quite a perfect match. Hope they match well enough. Think I need to add a few sprinkles (aka brads) to the icing.

This is the second straight card I've made from my OWH ribbon fundraiser package. All of these ribbons are quite nice. Hoping I can find a good use for all of them.

Just a quick note about the glitter. It is baked into this DCWV paper and seems to be passing the sweater test just fine. DCWV seems to make really quality glittered paper, but that's always a good thing to check before sending in the cards.

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to get time to work on a card for today's sketch. But, that might have to wait a day or two.

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

Recipe for a Happy Birthday

Hi, everyone.

Maybe it's because hubby and I both have July birthdays... But, for some reason, I've been motivated to make some birthday cards. Hubby would actually like me to try a couple of craft shows this year. So, I'm trying to get a little jump on craft-show cardmaking. :)

ODBD background stamp; Distress Ink core papers and ink
Stampin' Up! cupcake punch; Fiskars border punch
original sentiment, computer-generated as a table in Word (Lucida Handwriting)

I'm actually making an assortment of these in various color combinations -- mainly as a matter of necessity based on the current availability of Distress Ink papers and coordinating inks in the menopause room.

The background for the card above is from Our Daily Bread Design, a wonderful supporter of OWH. This stamp was part of a blog candy prize. The minute I saw it on the ODBD Web site, I knew I wanted to use it as the background for some recipe cards.

Please click here to read original post.

But, that meant coming up with the recipe itself. So, I went online and checked out some recipe card sentiments. Next, I did some
word smithing of my own and came up with the recipe shown -- with special inspiration from similar verses at Zazzle.com from Scribble Kitty. I used a table in a Word doc, with some cute bullets, to help with formatting, alignment, and so on.

My first attempt included some lace. (Interestingly enough, hubby didn't care much for the lace.) There are also some glue dots in the original -- and a hand-written, less sophisticated recipe. I decided to change things up a little to make cards that were a little more craft show friendly -- cards that a craft show customer could drop in regular mail without worrying about bumps and or thickness.

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to knock out a few more of these birthday cards. All is cut out -- but there is still some assembly required.

Thanks for stopping and a happy scrappin'!