Lady Liberty

Happy Birthday, America!

Sandy Allnock's card

The card below was inspired by today's Midweek Throwdown color challenge to make a card featuring red, blue, white, and kraft, and by the layout Sandy used for the card she posted yesterday. (Okay, so I'll never be able to color like Sandy -- not in a million years. But, CASE-ing one of her designs.... Now, that's something I can totally do. Thanks, Sandy, for some wonderful inspiration!)

Bo Bunny Anthem dp; Distress Ink core: vintage photo and chipped sapphire
Stamper's Best image, stamped on watercolor paper, heat embossed in Distress Ink vintage photo
garage sale brads

I believe the Lady Liberty stamp was included in an order awhile back from Stamper's Best -- a complimentary token of appreciation. She seems to really work well on this card.

I soooo love Bo Bunny paper. And, I didn't think I'd ever like a patriotic pad of paper as much as I liked Bo Bunny Liberty. But, this yummy Anthem pad (that just happened to make its way into my Archiver's basket last night) might just give Liberty a run for its money. :)

One of the things I most love about Bo Bunny papers is that the patterns are so easy to combine. For this card, I simply chose three of the papers that had vertical stripes -- small, medium, and wide (tone-on-tone), added some crimped paper, and used one of the bolder, more solid papers for the bottom layer and a few accents or two and.... VOILA!

I wanted to ink the edge of the banner, but never quite know how to handle the triangular cut-out portion. Today I realized that I could lightly brush an ink pen against those edges. Duh! Why hadn't I ever thought of that before?

Parting Thoughts

Have a fun, festive, and safe celebration!

Thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!

Feeling Blue?

Hi everyone,

A quick post for today's Ombre Midweek Throwdown. I also tried to keep in mind this month's Design Bootcamp focus on the rule of thirds.

acrylic-painted background: Desert Turquoise, Light Ivory, Midnight Blue
sentiment from Inkadinkado's Kid Quotes, heat embossed in Distress Ink black soot
paper: Distress Ink core paper, black Cardstock Warehouse Paper Co., white AC
Queen & Co. rhinestones

Before scrapbooking/card-making and after cross-stitching, I took classes on tole painting. (Does that make me a serial crafter, as Bobbi likes to say?) And, I've been looking for ways to incorporate painting in my card-making. Today's challenge seemed like the perfect opportunity to do just that!

The middle painted strip is Desert Turquoise. The strips on the left and right are blends of Desert Turquoise with Midnight Blue and Light Ivory, respectively. I must admit that I really like the way this technique turned out. :)

The sentiment background is also slightly ombre, with the bottom layer being a sanded version of the orange layer.

Parting Thoughts

When I asked hubby to take a look -- or in hubby speak, "if he was ready for an eye-rolling moment" -- I told him the challenge was an ombre one. His loving response was, "Is that hombre with an H?" He's a funny one, he is. :)

Okay, I really do think this is my last card post for a week or so. Think the schedule is going to require that I be semi-offline these next few days. But, this challenge was too much of a temptation to pass up. Jan, thanks so much for such a fun challenge!

So, have a great end-of-the-week and weekend. Thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'

The Road Less Traveled By

Hi everyone,

The card below was made for this week's OWH Midweek Throwdown to make a card featuring blues and greens.

patterned paper: Momenta 6 x 6; DCWV, brown/black paper: DCWV Travel Stack, green: Distress Ink Core
computer-generated sentiment, inked in Distress Ink antique linen
tools: crimper, EK Success border punch; embellishments: garage sale brads

This design is one I've used a number of times before. What's different this time is that I took a long and winding road to get here. :)

My original plan was to make a card using the ribbon brad trick featured in this week's OWH Tuesday Tutorial. I had the cutest little travel brad to use -- which is why I choose these papers. Unfortunately, the ribbon was too flimsy and the brad was too big. So, I decided to go with a crimped strip behind the sentiment, as well as adhering the sentiment off-centered to allow for the brads on the left. But, when I placed the elements together, the card still seemed a little too plain. That's when I cut a strip off the front of the card and added a little more pizzazz with the border punch.

All in all, I'm okay with the way this little card turned out -- and it certainly fits the Midweek Throwdown color challenge. I was just a little surprised by the journey it took to create it. :)

Parting Thoughts

Gotta go! But, I can't wait to tell you about tonight's card-making adventure. Hoping to get a chance to blog about it tomorrow. :)

Until then, thanks for stopping and happy scrappin'!

A Perfect Pair

What's a perfect pair, you ask? A great OWH Sketch and a couple of good college basketball games! Who could ask for more to craft away a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon? Throw in a long walk on a sunny day... Seriously, who could ask for more?  :)

And, it's always interesting to me how some sketches come so easily and others not so much. Luckily, this was an easy one for me. :)

Card 1: Pop, Poppa, Daddy, Dad

dp: Moxxie Father; cardstock: Distress Ink core, inked with Distress Ink Vintage Photo
PSX Creative Characters in Adirondack espresso
Celebrate It! jute twine; pop up dots
Creative Memories square punches

Looking at all of the green and brown paper left in my Distress Ink core pad, looks like I need to make a few more of these masculine cards. :)

Card 2 -- Today's Any Hero Card: Red, White, and Sparkly

dp & chipboard letters (with baked-in glitter) Bo Bunny Liberty
cardstock: Bazzill Admiral, Distress Ink core

These chipboard letters are really thick. So, they seemed like the perfect embellishment for an Any Hero card.

Card 3: Hello, Cupcake!

dp: Imaginisce Hello, Cupcake!; cardstock: Distress Ink core; ivory rickrack
Cuttlebug ef; cupcakes fussy cut from coordinating 12 by 12 paper

Since there are several April birthdays on our calendar, I made a second one of these for a friend.

Parting Thoughts

My last post featured a card with one of those adorable kid quotes. Sharon commented that she uses those sentiments on the inside of cards and had never thought of using it for color blocking on the front of a card. That's really interesting since I seldom stamp sentiments on the inside of cards. Most of my cards are sent to Operation Write Home. So, I leave the inside of them blank so troops can write notes to loved ones back home. What a great idea to use these stamps as inside sentiments for cards made for my family and friends. Thanks, Sharon!

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

Dad, Papa, Daddy, Hero

 

Hi everyone,

Tonight's card was inspired by this week's Midweek Tic Tac Toe challenge. I went with Stars, Tags, and Blue.

Since I mailed Mother's Day cards to Kris this weekend, thought it was time to start on some Father's Day cards.

dp: Moxxie VIP Father; cardstock: blue: Cardstock Warehouse Paper Co; green &  tan: Distress Ink core paper
sentiment: Stamper's Best in Stampin' Up! Night of Navy
star punches: Martha Stewart and The Paper Studio; hole punch: EK Success
Celebrate It! jute twine; pop up dots for tag and star

When I first read the challenge, I thought this was going to be an easy one. But, boy was I wrong. And, although it was more of a challenge that I expected, I'm really pleased with the way this Father's Day tribute turned out.

Parting Thoughts

If  you haven't had a chance to check out today's OWH's Blog Skip featuring three new stamp sets designed by OWH's own Sandy Allnock, it's definitely worth your while. So many cute cards and so much inspiration!

Hoping to get a little more card-making done tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting and happy scrappin'!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Hi everyone,

I'm really excited that I had a chance to make a card for the weekly CAS-ual Fridays challenge on Friday! This week's challenge is to use blocks of color.

black cardstock: Cardstock Warehouse Paper Co,, cream cardstock: Bazzill or AC
sentiment: Inkadinkado Kids' Quotes heat embossed in Distress Ink black soot
Cuttlebug ef; color block inks: Distress Ink tumbled glass blending into Distress Ink scattered straw
blocks mounted using pop up dots

Love the way the colors transitioned. Of course, blue was a natural choice based on the sentiment. So, I decided to go to yellow to paint in a happier color. Then I decided to pop the colors even more by placing them on black cardstock.

I am typically frustrated when my edges aren't as precise as I would like. Let's just say that my trimmer is not behaving as well as I would like. But, in this case, the unevenness of the cuts really adds to the kid-like feel of the card. :)

Hope this one will bring a smile to one of our hero's loved ones.

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to get to this week's Midweek Tic Tac Toe challenge tomorrow.

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

Round and Round They Go

Hi everyone,

Today's post features two cards with circular objects.

ODBD Challenge

When it came to choosing a scallop for this month's OWH ODBD challenge, I had two chipboard elements from which to choose. When I remembered my pad of travel-themed paper, the Picture Perfect element won.

Momenta dp; K & Company Wild Saffron Adhesive Chipboard; ivory Ric-Rac
techniques: inking with Adirondack Espresso

To make this card, I flipped the sketch on page 136 of Card Sketches for Paper Crafters. Since this card ended up being only 3.5 inches wide, I'm going to use 12-by-12 inch cardstock instead of 8.5-by-11 inch paper if I make any more cards from this sketch for OWH.

Tuesday Tutorial

Today's second card also features circular objects. I actually made this a while ago at a day-long crop. At the crop, a Stampin' Up! consultant led some make-and-takes using the Spirelli technique featured in this week's Tuesday Tutorial. 

designer paper and oval punches: Stampin' Up!; cardstock: Bazzill; DMC floss; stash embellishments

I loved the way the technique turned out. However, I decided this little flower was too delicate  to make the trip overseas and back. So, instead of sending it to OWH, it is going to be hand delivered to a friend celebrating an early April birthday.

Parting Thoughts

Next two items on the crafting to do list:

• make a card for the  Midweek Throwdown Tic-Tac-Toe challenge and
• visit the Stars and Stamps blog to see the amazing cards made during the week by fellow OWHers.

Thanks for stopping. Happy weekend and happy scrappin'!

Taking a Stand

Hi everyone,

Last night, I watched On the Waterfront for about the 100th time. Boy, when Hollywood gets it right, it really gets it right. Must be why I love watching the Oscars so much. :)

So, I think I was drawn to the sentiment on this week's Any Hero card because of Marlon Brando's and Karl Malden's portrayals in this magnificent film.

dp: Bo Bunny Liberty, browns: Core'dinations Vintage, blue: Bazzill Admiral, white: Bazzill or AC
sentiment: Stamper's Best heat embossed in Distress Ink Vintage Photo; garage sale brads
Creative Memories cutting system

For the card above, I tweaked the sketch. (Although, hubby could actually see the sketch in this one. Maybe there's hope for me yet!) I rotated the sketch 90 degrees, used a circle instead of an oval for the sentiment, and went with 3 brads instead of 2.

I'm really liking the way the blue and brown combo turned out. Love the texture of the core paper. Hoping one of heroes will feel the same way.

Parting Thoughts

Thanks to Paula for some helpful Focal Point feedback.

Think I need to get in a nap this afternoon to make it up for the Best Picture award. lol :)

Finally, will probably cut out elements for some Mother's Day cards while cheering on the hometown team during an afternoon college basketball game.

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

Words To Live By

Hi everyone,

Hope all of our east coast  cardmakers are warm, safe, and sound.

Today's Card: Words To Live By

Today's Any Hero card was inspired by OWH Sketch #159 and the Declaration of Independence.

paper: blue, sanded Distress Ink Core, kraft: AC Neutral
stamped sentiment: ???? in Distress Ink Fired Brick
other text: computer-generated in various font styles and sizes (red: 128, green: 0, blue:0)
embellishments: garage sale brads

This card feels like a bit of a departure for me, although I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it just feels more rustic than my usual cards.

The sanding of blue core paper was a happy accident. There was a small misstep that resulted in the decision to distress the paper so the misstep would blend in rather than stand out. I really like the texture and dimension that the distressing brings to the top layer.

There was a shade of Distress Ink core that I would've preferred to use for the center. However, the remaining piece that I have isn't large enough to go through our printer. But, I do like the font color on this kraft neutral.

I played with different inks for the stamped sentiment, different gems and brads for the bottom, and a variety of embellishments for the top. I ended up going with a single stamped star in the top left corner to balance the sentiment in the lower right. Finally, the blue paper is adhered with 3D dots.

The computer-generated text is something I've been playing around with for a couple of days. The full image is shown at the right. When I saw the sketch, I decided to use it as the bottom layer of this card. I initially had another idea in mind for this text. So, it may be making an appearance on another card sometime in the future. :)

In the end, I'm struggling with whether this little card needs something else or if it's okay as is. Hubby didn't have much of a reaction either way.

Parting Thoughts

I had to smile when I read Donna's and Carol's comments about the amount of work that went into the little cupcake card. They are absolutely right! The original plan was to make a simple, quick birthday card for a kiddo -- and then one thing led to another. But, we've all had cards like that, right?!

Stay safe and warm. Thanks for visiting and happy scrappin'!

A Cupcake Walt Disney Could Love

Happy weekend everyone,

Maybe it's just a piece of Disney folklore -- or a bit of wishful thinking, but there's a story I've heard about Walt Disney that I think of at the most random times.

As the story goes, young Walt was drawing flowers during an assignment to draw a still life. As his elementary school teacher walked past, she was shocked -- and dismayed -- to see flowers with faces and arms. When she informed Walt that flowers don't have faces, Walt replied, "My flowers do."

I can't ever watch Fantasia without thinking of this story. (And, I often times wonder what that teacher would've given to have kept that youthful drawing of smiling flowers.) I was reminded of the story once again when I saw a smiling cupcake face on the cover of Imaginisce's Hello, Cupcake! 6 by 6 pad.

Happy Cupcake to You!

Paper: Imaginisce Hello, Cupcake!, AC cardstock
Tools: Creative Memories cutting system
Techniques: fussy cutting, paper piecing, inking in Close to My Heart Desert Sand

This card was made for this week's OWH Midweek Challenge to make a "card 4 kids". The top of the cupcake is double layered. In addition, the cupcake edges were inked and this little guy was adhered using 3D dots. I'm thinking of trying Barb's marker trick along the inside edge of the teal outline circle.

In case you can't tell, a circle was cut out from the front of the card. The cupcake is attached to two circles on the inside of the card.

I originally cut out the cupcake that was on the cover of the paper pad. However, it was a little too large for the cut-out circle. So, I scanned the cut-out cupcake with our computer's all-in-one printer and printed slightly smaller images. The printed images aren't as glossy. But, printing out multiple images allowed me to double up the top of the cupcake, which I couldn't have done if I'd just used the cover cut-out.

If you look closely, you'll see three of the candles on the front of the card also have flames with smiling faces. I'm hoping this little card will bring a smile to the face of a little one knowing that someone special is thinking of him or her on their special day. :)

Parting Thought

Happy cupcake, happy weekend, and happy scrappin'!

A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Today's Any Hero Card

Hi everyone,

Today's Any Hero Card is a pretty loose interpretation of OWH Sketch #158, although it didn't start out that way. I swear I tried to follow the sketch. :)

navy dp: Bo Bunny Liberty, red cardstock: Bazzill watermelon, white cardstock: stash; jute
star punches: Martha Stewart and The Paper Studio; hole punch: EK Success

                      

• At first sight, the sketch seemed to be begging for a navy background with a vertical strip of jute topped with a white rectangle -- making the jute piece a little larger than shown on the sketch. 
• Next, I punched the big star in the white strip and placed a strip of red cardstock behind it. However, when I put these elements together, the card seemed a little too plain -- especially when the pieces were centered as shown in the sketch. 
• To add additional interest, I placed the three red strips across the card. I toyed with the idea of adding a strip of something -- cardstock, border sticker, or twine -- across the bottom but eventually decided against it. I wasn't able to find just the right element to add.
• I also tinkered with the placement of the jute and white strip and finally decided to place them a little right and a little lower than shown on the sketch.
• Next, I punched out a couple of the smaller stars -- using the smallest punch I had. When I placed a couple of smaller stars next to the large star, I decided one was enough and chose to place a pair of stars to the left of the white strip to counterbalance the strip's location.
• Finally, I punched out tiny circles to place on the stars to add a few accents of red to the white stars and of blue to the red stars.
• Oh, and by the way, this one received hubby's seal of approval. :)

Parting Thoughts

I had a chance to put some thoughts on paper for the Mother's Day card idea I mentioned in my last post. It might turn out to be really, really cute. Crossing my fingers and getting out the cardstock. :)

Have a great week! Thanks for visiting 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'!

First OWH Shipment of 2013 -- v2.0

Hi everyone,

In case you didn't know, postage rates are going up on January 27. So, Operation Write Home is sponsoring a new card challenge.

I am pleased to say I sent in my first card shipment of the year this afternoon. The box was filled with lots of kid-friendly Bo Bunny Blast Off cards along with a mixture of others, including a few spring-flower-inspired cards and a few Any Hero cards. :)

So, how do you celebrate the first shipment of the year?

By starting on shipment #2, of course!  The card below was inspired by this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge to make a thank you card -- and my love of travel.

Computer-Generated background and sentiment
Ranger core paper; miscellaneous gems

So, this is version 1.0 of a card expressing "thank you" in lots of languages. [Wish the scan had turned out better. Looks like I need to take a closer at look at Nancy's tutorial on taking better photos :).]

I'm planning on playing around with this concept a bit more, but this is the process I used for this first attempt.

• Using Mistral font and an online translator, I created several backgrounds as a Word document file. (Please e-mail me at cards[dot]by[dot]sybrina[at]gmail[dot]com if you'd like me to e-mail my Word doc files.)
•  I chose a classic black and white palette with a red accent.
• Next, I decided to use crystal gems and placed these under 3 of the words that would be among the most familiar.
• I tried several shapes and several shades of red before deciding upon the nested ovals shown, with the larger oval cut from Ranger Distress Ink core paper.  (This was one time I sure wish I had a Cricut that could make a fancier, more elegant shape.)
•  Penultimately -- following a consultation with hubby, I added a few gems around the smaller oval for a stronger connection between the background sentiments and the focal sentiment. 
• Lastly, I cleaned up my space! :)   

Don't you hate it when the men in our lives are right?

So, I showed the card above to hubby. As normal, he wasn't thrilled by the gems -- and said something about a man not being to send a card like that. 

Then he offered a couple of suggestions. 

So, an edited Word document and a couple of sheets of Ranger Core Paper later, the card below was born. As much as I hate to admit, I really do like card fit for a man. :)

Ranger Core Paper, sanded and inked with Distress Ink Vintage Photo

 

 Parting Thoughts

Hoping to try a few more versions of this multi-language thank you concept, including a suggestion or two made by hubby. Thanks for stopping by. 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!

My Favorite Martian

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year's Eve!

A quick post for this week's OWH sketch.  The large rectangle seemed like a perfect place for a Bo Bunny chipboard ET. :)

                    

Bo Bunny Blast Off! dp and chipboard embellishments
AC and Core-dinations cardstock
stash ribbon

Parting Thoughts

First of all, I want to give a huge thank you to Julie for her wonderful sketches and wish her all the best in her new OWH role!  It will be exciting to see what Marlene has in store for us. :)

It will also be great to see everyone's Top Ten. There will be lots of mojo and creativity for all to see!

Thanks for stopping by. Happy scrappin' -- and ring in the new year safe and sound.

A Miss You Card Fit for a Gent

Hi everyone,

A quick post of a card for this week's OWH Midweek Throwdown challenge.

Momenta Paper
sentiment heat embossed in Distress Ink Fired Brick
black rhinestones

For this card, I went with one of my favorite go-to layouts. Two tips for asymmetrical pocket cards for OWH: 1) Adhering two pieces of cardstock back-to-back make the overlapping corner "sturdier" for shipping purposes, and 2) A width of 4 inches allows the card to fit nicely in A2 envelopes in spite of the overlap. 

After quite a bit of deliberation, I decided to go with Fired Brick instead of Black Soot for the sentiment. Maybe it's the OSU Buckeye fan in me, but I'm glad I did. :)

I wanted to make an elegant card that could be sent to either gender -- a card that I could give to hubby or hubby could give to me. And, since it got the hubby seal of approval, I guess this little card fits the bill. 

Parting Thoughts

Started work on those birthday cards earlier this evening.

Thanks for visiting and happy scrappin'!

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'!

OWH Sketch #140

Hi everyone,

It's always great fun when one of the OWH blog team members contacts you about helping out with a challenge. So, I really enjoyed making a couple of sample cards for this week's sketch.

Sample Cards

Because of the month-long Birthday Bash, it's taken awhile for this sketch to post. So, the cards below were actually made during a summer trip to the beach and mailed awhile ago. 

We R Memory Keepers Down the Boardwalk collection; pop up dots for "Notes" rectangle

Bo Bunny Liberty; jute; punched-out stars, heat embossed with clear powder; pop up dots for middle star

I have to admit that I initially struggled with how to use the two vertical strips. When making sample cards for Julie, I stick exactly to the sketch -- which, as many of you know, can be a challenge for me. :)  But, I think these turned out okay.

In addition, I used a few of my favorite techniques on the patriotic card:

• heat embossing with clear powder to give the stars a little shine, and
• pairing jute with navy for an unexpected texture.  
  
  
   Inside Surprises
  
  

  Finally, there were a few cards in one of the OWH blog hops that had "surprises" on the inside. This seemed like a nice touch. So, I added simple surprises to the inside of each of these cards.
  
  
  
  
  Parting Thoughts

Can't wait to see what you do with these three rectangles!

On another note, kudos to Jeri and her amazing Scrapbook Art OWH team for a wonderful card-making birthday bash! A grand total of 1424 cards were assembled today! The ATG guns were ablazing! I think I went through 5 or 6 rolls of ATG tape myself. :)  More details to follow.

As always, hanks for stopping by and for supporting OWH. Happy scrappin'!

OWH Challenge Cards

Hi everyone,

The day's checklist is going well:

• Walk off [some of yesterday's] Calories -- check!
• Watch football -- check!
• Read outside -- check!
• Make a few cards -- check!

So, I have cards to share for both the Sunday Sketch and Midweek Throwdown.

OWH Sketch #137

Two of the following card were made: one Any Hero Christmas and one blank card for our troops.

Moxxie Winterland, Bazzill cardstock, AC Cardstock Christmas; Sizzix embossing folder; border punch; ribbon, gems

  

OWH Midweek Throwdown

This week's challenge is to make a kid card with scallops. I've been waiting for just the right challenge to use some of these garage-sale-find chipboard stickers. And, after selecting the focus chipboard sticker and complementary papers, the card pretty much made itself.  :)

DCWV Stack 6, Cardstock Warehouse Paper Co.; K & Company Wild Saffron chipboard stickers

Parting Thoughts

Hoping to make a few holiday cards this week. Have a great week!

As always, thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'!