Merry Christmas... and Happy New Year!

Hi everyone,

Many thanks to everyone who made a card for last week's OWH Sketch #140. Extra special thanks to those of you who posted cards and/or left such kind comments. (It's always amazing to see how one sketch can produce such different cards. :)  Looks like another great sketch from Julie this week.)

Kudos to those who are sharing cards on your blogs for the World Card Making Day Blog Hop. I took a quick look yesterday and am hoping to spend more time there today. At first glance, I saw some really pretty cards -- definitely worth a second look. :)

A Christmas Card Inspired One of Ashley's Sketches

That's right -- one of my favorite designers posted another great scrapbook double-page sketch! I used the left side as inspiration for the following card.

 

Authentique Festive collection, stash cardstock; computer-generated font; Creative Memories circle templates and miscellaneous circle punches; crimping and inking

Once paper choices were made, there wasn't anything too complicated with this card. My biggest decision was which paper(s) to use for the punched-out circles in the bottom left and top left. Some papers seemed like too much, others not quite enough. When I finally decided to use the same pattern for five of these circles, the card felt just right -- as Goldilocks would say. :)

Finally, I inked the outside of several of the larger circles in Adirondack Espresso, and I inked edges and crimped ridges on the cream and red ornament paper using Close to My Heart Desert Sand and Adirondack Espresso.

Think I'll post this one for the ODBD October Challenge to make a card using circles.Isn't it great when one card does double duty?!   :)

Parting Thoughts

Not quite sure how many cards I'll be making today. There are a couple of things on my to-do list that have to come first. And, I actually need to plan out what my next couple of card-making weeks will look like. :)

Have a good rest-of-the-weekend and a great start to the work week. As always, thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'!

Rebels with a Cause: Making Patriotic Cards

Hi, everyone,

Welcome to Stop #7 on OWH's Card-Making Party Blog Hop in honor of National Scrapbooking Weekend! If you've arrived here via other means and would like to check out the other stops on the hop, visit Stars and Stamps.

To view all stops on the hop, visit Stars and Stamps.

When Sandy e-mailed the blog hop theme was being rebellious because we are rebels who scrap cards instead of scrapbook pages, a twist on the James Dean classic movie Rebel without a Cause immediately came to mind. I suggested a blog stop entitled Rebels with a Cause, with this stop's cause being making patriotic cards.

This Stop's Challenge: Patriotic "Sister Cards"

So, my challenge is to make two patriotic cards -- one Any Hero card and one blank card to be sent back home. And, I'm asking that the cards be "sister cards".

What are sister cards, you ask? Okay, sister cards  is a totally made-up phrase -- at least as far as I know. But, for this purpose, sister cards are two cards that are similar in design and/or inspiration, but still different in their own way.

Sample Cards

For my sample cards, the inspiration was old-fashioned, patriotic bunting. I've wanted to make some bunting cards for awhile now but hadn't taken the time to play with the idea until now.

For extra texture and dimension, I embossed and inked the gray paper from DCWV. (Didn't this gray make a great neutral? The red, white, and blue just pop! Here's hoping that at least one of these counts for Allison's blue and gray challenge!) In addition, I crimped the watermelon cardstock on the blank card and scored it on the second card. Finally, I used just a touch of Stickles for the star centers on both cards and on the USA on the first card for a little extra oomph. :)

BLANK CARD: Paper: Bazzill admiral and watermelon, K&Company Americana mat pad, DCWV Christmas & Winter Combo; Stickles; funky fiber

ANY HERO: Paper: Bazzill admiral and watermelon, K&Company Americana mat pad, DCWV Christmas & Winter Combo; Stickles; baker's twine

So, I hope these sample cards give you an idea of what I mean by "sister cards". And, for information and ideas about what to write in an Any Hero card, click here.

Blog Candy

Is there candy, you ask? Why, yes, there is!  And what better candy for a patriotic challenge than a brand spanking new 6 by 6 pad of Bo Bunny Liberty paper. (Those of you who visit regularly know how much I love my Bo Bunny!)  One lucky card-maker will receive this wonderful paper pad from my own personal stash. :)

To qualify for the Bo Bunny raffle:

• Link one card for 1 "ticket". 
• Link its sister card for 2 additional "tickets".

The winner will be announced on May 11 in Friday Night Writes.

Ready, Set, Scrap!

Thanks for stopping! I can't wait to see your patriotic "sister cards"!  (Remember, that any cards that specifically refer to the 4th of July should be in shippers' hands by the end of the month.)

And, don't forget there's one more stop on this weekend's hop! 

'

Newsday Tuesday

Hi, everyone,

A quick post to let you know of two newsworthy events happening this week!

OWH's Rebellious Blog Hop

As most of you probably know this Saturday is National Scrapbook Day -- a day filled with lots of scrapbooking parties. And, OWH loves a good party! 

But, this will be a scrapbooking party with a bit of a twist. Instead of scrapping pages we'll be scrapping cards. Be sure to check out the Stars and Stamps blog this weekend -- Saturday and Sunday -- for challenges sure to inspire. 

Scrapping with Purpose is thrilled to be hosting a challenge on Sunday!  :)

Another Rockin' Design by Ashley

Ashley of Pizazz It! fame has posted Sketch #3. Ashley sent me a preview and asked if I'd like to make a companion card. Talk about an offer I couldn't refuse.  :)

So, Ashley's May sketch was the inspiration for the card below, which I gave to a colleague at work to commemorate his retirement.

Kaiser Up, Up and Away collection

 I must say I was at first puzzled as to how to proceed because the sketch has lots of photos. (After all, it is for a scrapbook page!) But, then...

• I rotated the sketch 180 degrees and decided to work with the right side. 
• Next, I chose a postcard embellishment left and right sides to take the place of the two photos.
• Finally, I used masculine colors and embellishments to turn a feminine sketch into one suitable for the gentleman who was retiring -- just as Ashley suggests in her book. 

So, if you have some scrapbook pages to layout and/or want a chance to win Ashley's sketch book, take a few minutes to check out her blog. :)

Parting Thoughts

That's it for today. Looking forward to this weekend's hop!

Thanks for stopping by on Newsday Tuesday!

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'!