OWH's Sweets for Sweets Challenge

OWH is partnering once again with Archway to match sweets for sweets. Archway will send goodies to our troops for Valentine and Love cards received by December 10.

This year the goal has been upped from 4,000 to 5000...lots and lots of love cards need to be sent homeward to carry our heroes' hearts to their families!

• Deadline is Dec. 10th (cards can still come in til Dec 31, but will count for the match only til the 10th) and must be received on or before that day.
• Cards need to be LOVE or VALENTINE themed
• Cards need to meet OWH guidelines (no glitter, A2, etc)
• Kids can send the "love" AnyHero coloring pages here or here and we'll count those too
• Send in a packing slip with your cards with your info filled out, card count, and write "ARCHWAY" on the challenge line

So, while my mind has been drifting to thoughts of stocking stuffers and cookies for nephews, my hands have been making Valentines for our troops to send home to loved ones. The cards below were made from Reminisce paper.

Reminisce's Hearts Afire Paper

Reminisce's Flirt Paper, background texture created
with 4 layers of white tulle stapled on brown cardstock

Hoping to get a few more done before the December 10 deadline.

My First Craft Show

By day -- and some nights, I am a math content editor for a text book publisher. At our office, the Activities Committee holds an annual Holiday Bazaar for employees and their family and friends. This year, the bazaar is on December 1 and monies raised from table rentals benefit a canine rescue group.

I've decided to dip my toes into the craft bazaar world. So, after making OWH Christmas cards and before starting OWH Valentine cards, I've been busy making cards for the craft show. My goal is to raise money for OWH -- donating part of my profits for shipping and using the rest to purchase adhesives for 2012 cards.

My intent was to have holiday cards that would appeal to three distinct groups: kid-oriented, artistic, and traditional. A friend encouraged me to include a non-holiday, generic card -- which explains the birthday/celebration cards. The following are sample cards that I will be selling:

 

For the Kids-at-Heart: A Snag 'Em Stamps

baby Rudolph on paper from 

3 Bugs in a Rug Deck the Halls collection,

with a red stickled nose and collar and a shimmery ribbon.



For the Artistic Folks: An embossed ornament 
detailed with metallic curves and icicle stickles
with a heat embossed sentiment and ribbon
on DCWV Christmas Winter Combo cardstock matstack.



For the Traditional Folks: A punched-out whimsical tree
on cardstock, which is placed on
Bo Bunny Father Christmas Collection Paper --
with a few brads for added shimmer/dimension/texture.

Birthday/Celebration Card for Kids

Birthday/Celebration Card on paper from
Bo Bunny Snowfall Collection

Parisian-inspired
Birthday/Anniversary/Celebration Card
from DCWV All Dressed Up matstack

So, wish me luck. More details to follow.

Shop Small

I just read Sandy's post on the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog reminding everyone to stop by their local scrapbook store on Small Business Saturday on Saturday, November 26.

By all means, pay a visit to your favorite scrapbook store when doing your holiday shopping. While big coupons can certainly come in handy, there is no doubt that you will find something fabulous at your LSS that you just won't find in a big box, chain store.

Happy scrapping and happy shopping!

OWH Challenge

Hi, everyone,

Sorry it's been such a long time between posts. I've been busy making holiday cards for OWH heroes -- and for a craft show at work. More on that later.

For now, I wanted to let everyone know about a challenge and opportunity.

• Our Daily Bread Designs will be making shipping donations to OWH based on the number of cards linked to their post. (Check out ODBD Shipping Opportunity for more information!)
• Since OWH is turning its attention to hearts and valentines, how about trying your hand at a Love or Valentine's card and then linking your card for this OBDB shipping opportunity.  

The above card was made using a stamp that must have gone with last year's We R Memory Keepers Valentine collection. (I picked it up a few months ago when scrapping with a friend.)

The patterned paper came from a bargain pack from Target. The image was stamped (and hand-drawn stitches were added) to light blue cardstock. Finally, a few gems were added to complete the look.

Since I don't have a fancy cutting machine, I traced the scalloped frame from a die cut. Then, I scanned, copied, and re-sized it using our home printer/scanner and computer.

Now it's your turn. Try your hand at a Valentine's card, and link it to the OWH post. Can't wait to see your creations! As for me, it's back to craft show cards...

Oak Creek Printworks

Just  a quick posting to let you know about a fabulous company out of Simi Valley. I found these fabulous people online while searching for protective card sleeves. I ordered sleeves Thursday evening -- following a very helpful phone call -- and received the sleeves on Saturday. Wonderful service paired with a great product -- quite a combination!

You might want to check out Oak Creek Printworks. I'm so glad I did!

Christmas is for Kids

The last few weeks have found me making Christmas cards for OWH troops to send home to the little ones in their lives. A bunch of bright and shiny reindeer were crafted from Caboodle's Deck the Halls kit. The stamp itself is one of Imaginesce's Snag 'em Stamps. Final adornments included painting with watered-down acrylics and stickling noses and collars. Honestly, the image doesn't do justice to the way the noses and collars pop!

In addition, the shipment that will go out on Monday will include more colorful penguins from this year's Jillibean Soup Christmas collection. A little stickling added some pop to snowflakes, tree stars, and tree ornaments, as well as to the backgrounds of the last two cards.

Just a reminder about using glitter, glittered paper, and stickles. Operation Write Home asks that glitter never be used. When using glittered paper or stickles, please be sure that the glitter does not rub off. Even the tiniest speck of glitter can be detected with night vision equipment.

Please go to OWH Card Guidelines for more information on guidelines on cards being made for Operation Write Home.

Falling for You Snowman

I'll admit I have Christmas cards on the brain. So, the OWH challenge to do something round  at Robyn's Fetish meshed with my earlier VCMP "Falling for You" challenge. And this little snowman came to life.

There are a couple of things I love about this card.

• It was my first time to use the heat embossing technique I learned in a card-making class.
• The card combines two of my loves: card making and painting.

The circles forming the body and the snowflakes were punched from a metallic-like, textured, light gray cardstock. The sentiment was embossed with EK Success silver embossing powder. Since I have a rack full of acrylic paints from my tole painting days, the following paints were used to bring out this little guy's personality.

• Light Ivory for the spattered background,
• Midnight Blue and French Grey Blue for the shadows on the right side of his body,
• Light Ivory and Warm White for the highlights on his left side, 
• Sand for his arms,
• Burnt Orange and Heritage Brick for his nose, and
• Soft Black for his eyes and buttons. 

Not bad for a first combination painting/card making effort. I'm thinking future Falling for You Snowmen cards should be on darker blue cardstock -- with a more gray/ivory/white embossing powder. But, all in all, I'm pretty pleased with the way this little guy turned out.

A Whimsical Ornament

The card below was inspired by three separate Operation Write Home posts: this week's Stars and Stamps challenge to "do something round" from Robyn's Fetish, the Virtual Card Making challenge to do a paper piecing card, and Sandy's blog post about strip cards.

I played with a number of paper combinations before I came up with this one. The patterned paper is from Caboodle's Deck the Halls kit and the sentiment is a Best Creation's peel-off-sticker. Finishing touches include a hand-drawn hook, a shimmery ribbon, 4 gems, and a little stickling. The natural affinity for odd-numbered things entered into the ribbon/ornament/sentiment arrangement, as well as the choice of 1 and 3 gems. I went with 1 gem at the top -- with the larger bow -- and 3 gems at the bottom -- with the smaller sentiment -- as a way of striking a balance of elements. Finally, the 3-D glue dots nicely raised the ornament, but created a shadow when the card was scanned.

I'm thinking this would make a nice card for family and friends since my cards for OWH have already been planned out -- and in some cases, completed. However, if I manage to master the fork bow, a few of these might make their way into my next OWH shipment.

This card's design is a little out-of-the-ordinary for me. I'd love to hear what folks think about it.

Scrapbook Art

July 30 was a wonderful day for Central Ohio paper crafters! That was the day that Scrapbook Art, one of their favorite scrapbook stores, reopened  after being sold by its original owners to one of its staff members.

Soon after SBA hosted our McGraw-Hill card-making party for Operation Write Home, Caron and Amy -- who were huge supporters of OWH -- sold the store to Terri -- another huge supporter of OWH.

Today is another big day for SBA. It marks the day that the store's new Web site goes live! Take a few minutes to make a virtual visit.

http://www.scrapbookartpolaris.com/

A Few Cards for Family and Friends

Inbetween autumn and Christmas cards for OWH, I took a short break to make a few cards for family and friends.

The Halloween card materials were included in a wonderful package from http://notimetostamp.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ that had: Matilda 6 X6 papers from Cosmo Cricket, 5 coordinated ribbons, and black rhinestones.
Of course, the two ghost cards are going to nephews. The thing I was most excited about was that I was able to print the sentiment (in Chiller font) directly onto 6 by 6 papers. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities...

Pumpkins were cut from one of the pad's papers. Candy corn stickers came from Creative Memories. Stickles added a little sparkle to the ghost and pumpkins.

This Good Luck card will be going to a friend at work who has accepted a position with another company. (My only consolation is that she is so excited about this new opportunity.) The paper is from SEI's Moonshine collection. The card is adorned with Prima Festive White flowers that were transformed using pastels and small metallic brads.