Christmas Fun & A Funky Outfit

Good morning my blogger friends! So how are you doing two days before Christmas? Are you still running around in a frenzy, or are your preparations done and you are relaxing? I didn't get all the things done that I wanted, but it's still good. I don't do the "frenzy thing" anymore. I've learned that since nobody but me knows what I've planned to do, well, nobody knows what I didn't get done. Consequently, I don't feel guilty anymore because I didn't fulfill everyone's expectations.

I'm not sharing cards today. I'm sharing some really cool and funny goings on at my house. First up is my little fur baby PeeWee. He's somewhere between a toy and a mini doxie.

My daughter, her feet are showing, always get him a Christmas outfit, none of which he likes or wears except for one photo. He always goes nuts-o and this year was no exception. One of my FB friends said his eyes look psycho. My granddaughter had to hold him long enough to snap a fairly decent photo... then off with the durn outfit. Always good for a few laughs.

Next up are some of the gifties my step-daughter and her family sent from Kentucky. She knows I love penguins so my box was full of them.

 

Coffee mugs for Christmas morning

Wine glasses for a little wine Christmas night

And a cute plate for my Christmas snack!

She sent a whole lot more but I'll save those till later. 

So remember boys and girls... "You better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake." 

Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit. Now go... enjoy your holidays!

Good morning friends! It's snowy, blowy, cold today as winter storm Draco is hitting my area. It's a good day to stay home and share some cards and good news from OWH.


First up I have two of the Christmas card designs I made for this year.

The sketch was created by Teresa for a challenge on the CardSwaps forum, which, is no longer in existence. I liked the design so much I knew it would make for fun Christmas cards. The DSP is by The Paper Co. that I got at Hobby Lobby. By the way, those of us from CardSwaps forum needed a new home so two of our members put their heads together and found us one. Thanks Judy and SusieQ for getting ScrapZee Community Forum up and running so we can all stay together. Love you gals! You can check out our challenges, swaps, and more, here.

Next... Eeeeekkkk!!!!!  Today Sandy, over at Operation Write Home, has introduced little 'ole me as their new Sketch Challenge gal for 2013. I'll be writing the weekly challenge post, and the sketches and sample cards will be provided for me. In addition to that intro Paula has me as the Featured Card Maker today on OWH's Stars & Stamps blog, along with my interview and some of my cards. Need to say it again peeps.... Eeeeekkkk!!! I know, I know, but I'm soooo excited.

You'll have to forgive me for leaving now. I've got to go calm down so I can finish my last minute candy making. Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

OWH sketch 151, just for fun!

Good afternoon peeps! Are you ready for Christmas? I'm about half way there, but that's normal for me. I thought I'd play around today... like I don't have a gazillion things still to do. But hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do... right? Right, exactly!

At first I wasn't going to do this week's sketch on Operation Write Home's blog Stars and Stamps.

But then I looked down at my mess... errrr work space, and saw some left over reindeer heads made from SU's owl punch. So I whipped up this card from leftover scraps.

Yep, that's right. It's all made from leftovers. The reindeer antlers are from pieces parts of the Pine punch by McGill. The scraps of DSP are from the Christmas Cottage 6x6 paper pad by Teresa Collins. Oh, almost forgot the holly ribbon by May Arts. It's kind of hidden behind the reindeer heads, but it's there. :)

Well peeps, there's more candy to be made so I'm gonna run. Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

OWH Sketch Challenge #150

Hello peeps, and Happy December! Boy, little did I know that when I posted on November 21st that it would be so long. I was a week longer at my son's for Thanksgiving than I planned, car trouble, and then computer issues when I got home. Loooonnngggg stories that you don't want to hear, and I don't want to repeat. Let's leave it at... I'm home, my car's fixed, and my computer is working. :)

Here's my card for this week's sketch challenge on Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps. I used white puff paint to give the whipped cream topping some dimension. I used a sheet of double sided paper by Little Yellow Bicycle for the background paper and the large scalloped oval.

I need to add a warning right here. Those of us making cards for our heroes to write home DO NOT use glitter of any kind. It can flake off and make our heroes visible through night vision goggles. The strip of blue across the center of my card is glitter paper... so it will go with my cards only for my family and friends. I did several "flake" tests [rubbing the paper on clothing, scraping with finger nail, etc.] to see if the glitter would come off, and so far it doesn't.

However... I do not use this paper for OWH cards for our heroes. I won't take the chance with their safety, and neither should you. DO NOT use glitter or glitter paper when making cards for OWH!!

Here's a close up of the cocoa mug stamp.

If you want to try this layout for yourself, here's a pic of the sketch along with the measurements.

Supplies:
Cardstock - medium blue for card base, white
DSP - Flurry Dot Tonal from the Winterings collection by Little Yellow Bicycle
Glitter Paper - POW! Glitter Paper by American Crafts
Stamps - cocoa mug by Studio G clear stamps by Hampton Arts; sentiment from 'Snowy Short Stacks' by Stampendous
Punches/Dies - Scalloped Oval dies by Spellbinders; Snowflake punch [discontinued] by Creative Memories; Modern Label and Word Window punches by Stampin Up!
Liquid Pearls - White Opal and Baby Blue by Ranger
Copic - E25, to color the cocoa
Ink - Salvia Blue by Marvy Uchida

Well peeps, I'd better be going. It's been a long day and an even longer one tomorrow. Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Turquoise and Silver... Oh My!!!

Good morning friends, hope all is well with you! I'm so excited about today's post, and card, that I can hardly stand it. eeeeeekkk!! Normally I'd post this tomorrow, but I'll be traveling to my son's for Thanksgiving so I'm posting it a day early.

Several weeks ago I was asked by Jan Hunnicutt to make a card for today's color Midweek Throwdown [MWT] for Operation Write Home's blog Stars & Stamps. For the colors I  chose Turquoise and Silver. I just love the look of these colors together and use them a lot for Christmas... so my sample card is a Christmas card. This is a very Clean and Simple [CAS] design and can be mass produced very easily.

The metallic silver card stock came with the scalloped edges and measures 4 1/4" X 5 1/2"; perfect size for a card front. I made sure I wiped my X-Static embossing pouch all over the card base before I stamped the tree and sentiment in Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.

Normally this ink dries very quickly, but on the somewhat shiny card stock it gave me enough time to sprinkle on clear embossing powder and heat set it. This is why the X-Static pouch is needed. It's filled with a talc like powder and really helps prevent the embossing powder from sticking where you don't want it. In a pinch I've used baby powder but I prefer the embossing pouch. I added a simple ribbon bow and in less than 10 minutes I had a finished card.

Now you know why I'm so excited about this post, and why I want to make sure it gets posted. You see, I don't have the best of luck scheduling posts in blogger :( I'm soooo honored to be asked to make a card and pick the colors for this week's MWT. I love making cards and I'm proud of my work. At times I can be rather anal about my craft because I want it to be the best work I can do. But... for Jan, from OWH, to recognize the work of lil 'ole me and ask me to make a card for their blog..... well that's just to the moon and back awesome!!

Thank You so much for stopping by... hope you enjoyed your visit! And please, if you're traveling like me for Thanksgiving, be careful and watch for the crazies on the road. Card Recipe follows.

Recipe:
Cardstock - Yours Truly Metallic Silver A2 Scallop Note from Archiver's
Stamps - Tree , I've had so long I don't know where it's from. Sorry :(
               Sentiment, Christmas Wishes set by Stampendous
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink, by Ranger, in Peacock Feathers from the Spring Bundle
Clear Embossing Powder and Turquoise ribbon from JoAnn's
heat tool

OWH sketch #147

Good evening peeps! Boy this past week has been crazy, and the last couple of days even crazier. Which, of course, is making me a little crazier than normal. My biggest issue is my car... the key won't come out of the ignition. What??? Yup, my car has so many issues it's one step away from being a whole dang subscription! But enough of that; I have a cute card I want to share that I made for this Sunday's OWH sketch challenge on their blog Stars & Stamps. It also meet the requirements for last Wednesday's Midweek Throwdown Challenge  for thank you cards. Our heroes need thank you cards to send out for the holiday goodies they will get.

Here is the sketch if anyone wants to give this a try.

Normally I would run away, fast, from this sketch because of those tiny strips. You see I usually make a mess of lining up such small pieces of paper. I decided it was time to put my big girl panties on and get over it. I'm glad I did because I'm pleased at how well it turned out. I'll admit to cheating. Yup! I adhered my paper strips to a piece of white card stock making sure the tops and sides were straight. When that was done I adhered the whole piece to my card front and then added the biggest piece of paper. Voila! All those tiny strips are lined up nice and even. I used my new Tonic Studios punch I won recently to make the horizontal strip. The punch is called Doily Strip and Bazzill makes the metallic silver cardstock I used. I'm afraid I can't say who made the patterned paper or snowflake stamps. I've had both for a long time and that was back in the day when I didn't know I should be keeping track of who makes what.

I wasn't quite pleased with this card at first because the white strips of paper [blue snowflakes on a white background] were so stark against the darker paper. The white tag with a computer generated sentiment was too stark as well. I used my Marvy ink pad in Salvia Blue, by Uchida, to add some small snowflakes. I still wasn't satisfied so I sponged some of the ink on the edges, working it into the tag.  Then I softened the edges of the white paper strips the same way. Now I'm satisfied... so much easier on the eyes to look at!

Now it's time to wrap up my ramblings. Thank You so much for stopping by... hope you enjoyed your visit!

CardSwaps & OWH Challenges

Good evening peeps! Today is Veteran's Day and I want to say "Thank You" to all our veterans for your service. Whether you're in active duty or not, whether you are still with us or not, your service to America is greatly appreciated!

Today's also been one of those blaaahh days. You know what I'm talkin about... you know you should be doing 10,000 things and nothing gets done. Well not quite, because I got two, make that three, cards made. This first one of for the Member Challenge over at CardSwaps. Teresa came up with a sketch for us to follow and I really like it a lot.

This next card is for the Midweek Throwdown over at Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps. I also used a Bonus Sketch that OWH posted a little while ago. Since it's Sunday I'll mention that I'm a Convert. Yep, I used to make a card willy nilly, but then started playing with sketches. I've seen the light and been converted. Now it seems I have a hard time making a card without a sketch. The MWT call was for red, white, and blue on our cards.

I'll put this in my next OWH box as an "Any Hero" card. While I was at it I decided to do one in off white as well. You know what they say about hindsight having 20/20 vision... yeah if I had a do over I'd have distressed the edges with some color. I chose not to use embellishments but I'm not sure that was a good idea.

Recipes:
1) Cardstock - Bazzill red                                       Cardstock - Bazzill red
     DP - red plaid by TPC                                        DP - Glory collection by Authentique Paper
     Embossing - Cuttlebug 'snowflakes' folder         Embossing - Cuttlebug 'A2 stars' folder
     Image - don't know                                              Image - Not Forgotten set by Our Daily Bread
     Copics - BG10, R29, E25, Y38, C1
     Ink - Tuxedo Black by Momento for both cards
     Printed ribbon and bakers twine

Well peeps, I'm callin it a night. I'm going to take this tired 'ole body to my easy chair for some TV time. As always, Thank You for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit!

CardSwaps Challenge, OWH Sketch, and Pinterest Make For Strange Bedfellows!

Blessed Sunday my friends! I know this is a long post title, but it fits this card to a T! The challenge at CardSwaps last Monday was to have a wreath on your card. I so wanted to make a punch art wreath with branches, or snowflakes, or leaves... all attempts were fails. I should clarify and say 3 days of fails! :(   Then I saw a card on Pinterest with the cutest, and simplest, wreath. I eagerly abandoned my punch art fails and made the Pinterest wreath. Seriously, this wreath took all of about 10 minutes start to finish. Operation Write Home's weekly sketch 145 came out this morning on their blog Stars & Stamps. An A-HAH moment and it all fell into place.

I really, really like how it turned out. I was able to take a concept from Pinterest, modify it slightly, and make a card that fills the CardSwaps challenge and the OWH sketch challenge. It was quite easy to put together and would make a great kit card. Oh... and there isn't any stamping involved. Last year I found Rub-On sets by The Paper Company. It's an outside - inside set meaning the Merry Christmas is the front, or outside sentiment. The inside sentiment reads Wishing you peace, joy and happiness. Actually, I assigned Merry Christmas to the front because it fit with the sketch. Whichever way you use the sentiments it reads very well, so I don't think it matters.

For the wreath I punched the center circle first then centered the larger punch over it and punched. For the banner I used the 3/4" square punch, at an angle, to make the fishtail ends.

Ooops! I had to come back and add something. Don't ya hate when that happens? Here is the sketch we are to follow at OWH:

Supplies:
Card Stock: Bazzill red, white, green
Embossing folder - SU Petals A Plenty
Punches: 2 1/2" scallop circle(Marvy Uchida)
               1 1/8" plain circle (not sure)
               3/4" square punch (Creative Memories or CM)
               Small heart border punch, EKSuccess... I think.
Sentiment: The Paper Co (TPC) rub-on set Merry Christmas Multiples
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink in Festive Berries
Poinsettia & Leaf: Hero Arts felt embellishments
Liquid Pearls: White Opal

Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

I Have a CANDY Winner!!

Good Morning Friends!

This was supposed to get posted yesterday but I had computer issues. I think the information highway got flooded, or maybe blown around a little. Normally, living in NE Ohio I'm pretty safe from the effects of a Hurricane. Not so with Sandy... she's being a real witch! It's been raining for two days, and yesterday we had high winds. It's supposed to be the same for today. I'm not complaining... no! Compared to the east coast I've got it lucky.

So let's get to Candy business right now. A week ago Monday I posted my card for last week's Operation Write Home sketch challenge. Here is the post. Since it was also my birthday I offered my 1st ever blog candy, with the winner being chosen from the list of comments. Thank you all for leaving such wonderful comments. I really appreciate getting them.

Random.Org picked #5, Debbie, from the list of comments. Congratulations Debbie! If you will send me an email with your mailing info I'll get your prize to you. Send it to:

marlened00@gmail.com               [that's marlened zero zero not oo]

I might add that I'm a winner as well. Tonis Studios, who sponsored last week's challenge, offered a prize of some of their punches. I just learned that I'm the winner! I'm really excited because I don't have any of their punches. I'll post a picture when I get them. :)

I've gotten a little behind in my work so no projects... at least not right now. :(  I'm working on some things so maybe I'll have something finished later today. Thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Fancy Fold Twisted Greeting Card

Hello my crafty friends!

On Monday, over at CardSwaps, Margaret posted a new challenge on the Member Challenge board. The link is here. Margaret's sample card turned out beautifully, and she included a link to a video tutorial, by Kelly Gettlefinger, that you can find here. This fold looked pretty easy so I gave it a try. It's an odd shape, but fits into an A2 envelope. This fold creates a pocket on the front as well as the inside of the card. The pocket here on the front would be the Turquoise & White dotted paper. I taped it shut.

This is the inside. I think my cardstock for the base is too heavy for this fold. The card wants to stay half open. You can see the pocket here with a gift card in it. This gives you a better look at how oddly the card is shaped.

Well, that's it for now. Thanky you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

OWH Tutorial, Reverse Iris Folding

Hello Peeps! Although today is almost over, it was Tutorial Tuesday over on Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps. You can check out the great tutorial, with instructions & template, here. Several years ago I tried Iris Folding but it was time consuming and I never quite mastered it. You had to cut individual strips of paper, fold them in half, then tape them to a specific layout to create a design or shape. Yeah... mine never really resembled anything, except a hot mess.

I decided to be brave and give this version a try... and I really like it!

I hate photographing red, but other than it's not quite the same red as in real life I'm very pleased with it. I'll definitely be doing this Reverse Iris Folding again.

Well time for bed. Thank you for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

"Thank You" Mom, & A Sketch Challenge

Hello friends, wow it's been a week since I've posted. I spent all last week trying to kink a cold that knocked me on my patootie and sent me to bed for the better part of 3 days! I'm starting to feel human again instead of a zombie.

First I want to say "Thank You" to my mom for giving birth to me 65 years ago today. I can honestly say she's my best friend! Dad passed 25 yrs ago, but I'm thankful to God that I still have my mom.

Second in line is the Sketch Challenge over at Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps. We're up to #143 already! I have candy so read the entire post. Tonic Studios is sponsoring this week's sketch. On the sample cards Tonic Studios punches were used to create the stripes. I'm sad to say I don't own any of their product so I improvised. Here is the sketch we are to follow:

I flipped it on it's side and added some washi tape I got as a prize. I ran the white cardstock, with tape, through my Cuttlebug using their Snow Flakes embossing folder. Then I got stuck on how to finish it. :(  Don't ask how, but I decided to punch a 1 1/2" circle in the top layers and make an ornament.

For the inside I punched a 1 3/4" circle of of the red and embossed the sentiment in white embossing powder. It looked kind of blah... so I put a strip of tape across the bottom and added an extra little sentiment. I used some baker's twine to make the hanger and bow.

If it looks like the twine goes through the crease in the card... it's because it does! I used my piercing tool to poke a hole in the crease and ran my twine through it. On the inside I taped the end behind the sentiment circle. On the front I covered the end with the bow. Just a little finishing touch so there are no stubbly ends. :)

Earlier in my post I mentioned candy. I feel very blessed, and since it's my birthday I'm offering some goodies to one lucky person who leaves a comment on this post. You'll have 1 week, until midnight EST Monday, October 29, 2012. I'll draw a random lucky winner on Tuesday, the 30th. Please make sure you leave me a way of getting in touch with you, or check back here next Tuesday for the winner.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by; hope you enjoyed your visit!

Thinking of You makes me smile!

Hello friends! As the old saying goes, "I'm too pooped to pop"! Yesterday I had a small family party for my mom who turned 90 yrs young on October 9th. It's means a lot of shlepping food and party fixins to the nursing home... but well worth it. Mom loved it! And yeah, I'm tired today. But, today is Sunday and that means a new sketch challenge over at Operation Write Home's blog, Stars & Stamps.

I made two versions, one masculine  [Authentique Papers 6x6 pad "Original" colletion]

... and the other feminine.   [Carta Bella Paper Co. 6x6 pad "Paris Girl" collection]

This is the sketch from this week's challenge:

I was able to cut pieces and parts out for 4 more cards. But, I'm just not going to get around to putting them together today.

Thanks so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Midweek Throwdown Challenge

Hello my bloggin friends, what a beautiful autumn day here in N.E. Ohio! The sky is crystal clear blue, the sun is shining, leaves are their beautiful colors, and the air has a crisp nip.

Yesterday was the Midweek Throwdown Challenge over at Operation Write Home. Our task was to make an Anniversary or Love card.

I chose to make an Anniversary card, not only for our Heroes to send their love home, but I need some for my own personal use as well. All the designer papers are from my stash, and were on clearance when one of my local scrapbook stores went out of business. No, I don't know who made them. The colors are an off white and a creamy beige. I kept the layout simple and the embellishments minimal. I used 1/8" ribbon and a paper flower for accents. The sentiment is silver stickers. I'm a firm believer that sometimes less is more. :)

Thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Fall Is In The AIr

Hi my friends!

Earlier today I promised you another card. My cupcakes are done, and frosted, so on to my card. I made this Autumn card using this week's Bonus sketch at Operation Write Home. All of the sketch cards can be found here.

This is the Bonus sketch:

This is what I came up with:

I don't like what my camera did with the designer paper. It's way too bright and in your face, when in reality the colors are very muted. I'm not sure who makes the paper, or where I got it. I found three 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" pieces in my stash. I trimmed it down and matted it on dark brown cardstock. The sentiment is I added 4 burlap strips, a little Tea Dye Distress Ink by Ranger around the edges, a few leaves punched out using Creative Memories leaf punch, and it's time to call it done!

Let me tell ya about those burlap strips! Now I can really drool when I see what other card makers do with burlap. I figured... how hard can that be? Yeah right! Really?? The dang gum piece I bought has a mind of it's own and wanted to go every which way but straight.

Time Out For a Short Post

Hello my blogger friends!

This week's sketch over at OWH had a bonus.... the regular sketch #141 plus a bonus sketch. Yeah, I'm still up to my eyeballs in birthday preparations. But I was just crazy enough to put that aside this morning and do the sketches... both of them!?!?! Sooooo..... here they are:

 

      

             

The sketch calls for a 5 1/4" circle, cut in half.  I made the top one first. Not wanting to waste the other half of the large circle, and since everything was out, I made the one on the bottom. Both cards are from one 12x12 designer paper called "Believe" by Bazzill Basics Paper. I love double sided paper and couldn't resist the wood grain/holly combination. The sentiments are in the "Snow's Woodland Pets" clear stamp set by Inky Antics, artist Tammy DeYoung.

Well, it's time for the cupcakes to come out of the oven. I'll leave you now and come back later and post the Bonus sketch for this week.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Busy week ahead: A Sketch Challenge & Candy!

Good morning friends!

This week will be a super busy one for me. It's week 1 of The Birthdays! [da da da dunnn] October is Birthday Central for so many of us in the family. This week [yesterday] two granddaughters celebrated their big day; Kaitlyn turned 11, and Kiara turned 8. Today my lovely mom is 90 years young. I'm having a small party for her this Saturday so it's busy, busy, busy!

This week is my turn to host the Member Challenge over at CardSwaps. It started Monday [yesterday] and runs through Sunday, Oct 14th, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Note: you'll want to read my entire post... there's Candy involved! Here's the sketch I came up with, and 2 samples:

My first sample is Christmas themed. The papers are from the "Peaceful" collection by Authentique Paper. The sentiment is a sticker from the "Details" sticker sheet of the same collection. The gray is shimmer cardstock and I used VersaMark ink by Tsuneko to stamp small snowflakes for an all over design.

My second sample is also Christmas themed. The red and green designer papers are by The Paper Studio. I matted both papers on green dotted swiss cardstock by Bazzill Basics Paper.

Now for the Candy!
Each week at CardSwaps Member Challenge one lucky name is randomly drawn, by the host, from entrants who post a photo of a card made using this sketch. The winner receives Candy from me. Pop on over, enter a card, and you'll be entered in the drawing for Candy. Here's the link again.

Leave a comment on this post by 11:59 p.m. EST Sunday, October 14th, 2012. Next Monday, Oct 15th, I will randomly draw a name from the commenters to win more Candy from me.! I'll post the winners here next Monday. Please... in your comment leave a way for me to contact you.

Thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

World Cardmaking Day, delayed

Blessed Sunday my friends!

Saturday, October 6th, was World Cardmaking Day. Over on Operation Write Home's Stars & Stamps blog they had a huge Blog Hop. There were 97, yes 97, blogs to visit with tons of inspiration. I'm putting the link here directly to the Blog Hop post. I urge you to hop over there, after you're done here, and take advantage of all the creative inspiration. OWH has fixed each link so you'll go directly to the host's post. No Hunting!!

I spent Saturday being creative too! I got a total of 22 cards make, all of which will be mailed to OWH so they can be sent to our troops to write home to their families and friends. This is such a worthwhile cause that allows us, on the home front, to do our part.

It's wonderful to help the living for a change. Let me explain... 5 1/2 years ago I joined the Patriot Guard Riders, or in short, PGR. I heard about the PGR through my son who is a member, and in fact I'm still a member. This is a national volunteer organization, recognized by the Us. S. Government and U.S. Armed Forces. We have ONE purpose for existing, and that is to honor our fallen heroes killed in the line of duty. Many, many of our members are Veterans themselves.

Our members, at the request of the family, form an honor guard of American Flags outside the Funeral Home during visitation, and then later at the cemetery for burial. We also help shield the family, upon their request, to form a non-violent barrier between them and the press or radial groups who want to get in their face.  Yes friends, any time we honor a fallen hero is a sad time. And, I'm sad to say. I've participated in way too many of these missions here in my local area. There have been way too many of our young men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice. These brave heroes have laid down their life to protect and defend The United States of America.

So you see my friends, when I learned of OWH two years ago I jumped at the chance to join the group. I'm doing something I love, which is card making, and I'm helping our heroes keep in touch with home. I can't begin to tell you how rewarding this is for me. I know receiving a box of OWH cards brings smiles and joy to the faces of our troops. I've seen the photos, and read the letters, they've sent to OWH. I know it brings smiles and joy to the families and friends who receive an OWH card from their loved one. I've read the the letters they've sent to OWH.

I fully intended to show you my cards in this post. As you can, or can't, see... this isn't happening. For some reason I'm having trouble uploading the photos to my computer.

For more information on OWH please click here.
For more information about PGR please click here.

Thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

A Tropical Thank You

Hello my friends!

My little card today combines the CardSwaps and OWH Midweek Throwdown challenges together. On Tuesday CardSwaps posted their CardMaker Corner Challenge to use a sketch from CardMaker Magazine. I'm using sketch #20 from the November 2010 issue as I already had this set out to use for Christmas Cards.

On Wednesday OWH Stars & Stamps posted their Midweek Throwdown challenge to create a 'Thinking of You' card. So I thought... why not combine the two. I'm slowly learning to combine different challenges into one card.

I had some Graphic45 paper left over from a summer project. The background paper has fish on it but you can't tell it here, it's one side of paper called "Oceania". The tropical bird is from one side of paper called "Botanica". This particular piece of paper has several birds and other tropical images, 9 altogether, and I love that. They come in handy when Mr. Artha Ritis won't let my hands do fine, detail coloring. The image already had the distressing around the edges. I distressed my cream card stock so it would somewhat match. I used dark blue card stock for matting and some dots of Liquid Pearls for bling.

Papers: Graphic45, Tropical Travelogue Collection
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics Paper, Admiral; Cream from my stash
Ink: Ranger Tea Dye Distress Ink
Embellishments:
Ribbon - My Stash... and I wish I could find more. :(
Liquid Pearls Ocean Blue by Ranger

If you've ever been intimidated about combining challenges I say 'go for it'! It's like anything else, once you do it a couple of times it's not so intimidating. I'm sure glad I tried it. It gets easier every time I combine challenges.

Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Authentique Paper, Part 2.

One last post for today. Boy... it sure has been a busy one for me. I made another project for Authentique Paper's September challenge. This Haunted House was both fun and time consuming to make. The template for the house came from Winnie Thacker, owner of The Scrapbook General Store in Flatwoods, Kentucky. Winnie is the sweetest lady EVER! Whenever I visit my son, who lives 30 minutes away, her shop is my LSS away from home. Without further ado, here's my Haunted House project.

It's on the small side, measuring 2 1/2" x 4 1/2", but cool things come in small packages.

Untie the ribbon, open it up, and Voila... oodles of pockets for tags and mini photos. How cute is that?? The individual bats were cute apart from the Bat Ribbon I used on the previous card.

Here's a close-up of one of the tags. I had so much fun decorating all the tags and pockets. I kept everything pretty simple, and flat, 'cause it goes to a cute little girl.

Paper: Authentique Paper's "Enchanted" paper & "Details" & "Elements" sticker sheets.
Ribbon: May Art's (yay, I remembered where it's from)
Miscellaneous: black card stock and chipboard from my stash.

Well friends, I'm ready to call it a day. Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

Authentique challenge for September

Did you ever make a project for a challenge, set it aside for something to dry, and then forget it? Yep, that is what happened to me. [said with a sheepish grin and very red face]

Every month Authentique has a challenge, starting the 1st Saturday of every month, and it's open for that entire month. Towards the middle of September I bought some of their new Halloween collection, paper & stickers, called "Enchanted". I got busy making Halloween cards for the grandkids and I made one for this challenge. After making my card I added some Stickles to the cobweb paper for sparkle, then set it atop my cabinet to dry. Yep... I forgot about it, how embarrassing. Luckily the challenge ends tonight at Midnight PST, so I'm still able to enter my card. Here's the card I made:

Here's the card sketch we were to follow:

Papers: Authentique "Enchanted" papers and their matching "Details" sticker sheet & "Glowing" elements 2.
Stickles, Frosted Lace, by Ranger
Bakers Twine and Bat ribbon from my stash.

Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit.

Revisiting a forgotten technique.

Gooood morning friends, and 'Happy Hump Day'! I think my Mojo is workin in overdrive this week. I'm not complaining because it's been kinda slow lately. A new Member Challenge was posted Monday over at CardSwaps. Elaine has a water color technique for us, and I had so much fun with this forgotten technique that I couldn't stop creating. It makes for a quick, easy, and stunning CAS card.

The first method [cards on the right] is by coloring directly on a stamp using either water based markers or watercolor crayons, mist the stamp with water and stamp on paper. I don't have the crayons and my water based markers have long since gone to the craft pile in the sky, so I improvised. Ahhhh, good 'ole Improv! I used Ranger Distress Ink in three shades on my stamp, and misted it with water.

The second method [cards on the left] is to use reinkers and drop a couple drops of color directly on a stamp block, then use a brush dipped in water to spread the color on the block and stamp the color on paper. Then, stamp an image over the color after it dries. Time for Improv again. :)  Using Distress Ink pad I pounced the pad on a stamping block and misted it with water, then used a water pen to swirl the ink.

I know you're supposed to use watercolor paper but I couldn't find mine, so I used white cardstock. When the color dried I found a very nice, almost velvety texture, where I had stamped. [Happy surprise.]

Ink: Ranger Distress in Dried Marigold, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive, and Bundled Sage. Memento Tuxedo Black.

Stamps: Exotic Bloom by Hero Arts, Sentiment by WordStamp.

I won't rattle on and take up more of your time. It's fun revisiting techniques you haven't done lately. Try it!

Thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

New week, new OWH sketch.

Blessings to you, my friends, on this wonderful, sunny autumn day. It's the start of a brand new week and, of course, the day the weekly OWH sketch comes out. Can you believe we're up to #140 already? I absolutely LOVE this sketch and couldn't wait to try it. Really, I mean I don't remember when I've actually made a card and posted it the same day the sketch hits the OWH Blog. I happily present my card:

I matted everything on black cardstock to make it pop. The DS paper and round sticker are from the "Carefree" 6x6 paper pad, and 12x12 "Details" sticker sheet, by Authentique. I used Jan Hunnicutt's tip from Saturday's OWH Blog Skip... adhere your sticker to your paper first THEN punch or die cut. Thank's Jan!! I adhered my sticker to the black cardstock and then used a Fiskar's 1 1/2" scalloped circle punch to punch mat and sticker all in one. Perfecto! I think the black and white ribbon is from May Arts, but I'm not sure. I bought loads of it a while back and don't remember where I got it.

Thank You so much for stopping by... hope you enjoyed your visit!

OWH Midweek Throwdown

This is the last week of OWH birthday month, and this week features SRM stickers. Soooo, we are to use stickers. Now I'm not a big fan of stickers but, I have to admit, these new stickers that are coming out are really cool. The edges/backgrounds are clear so no more awful white that really looks stickerish. [Yep, just made a new word.] I chose OWH sketch #131 and turned it on it's side.

Aren't those penguin stickers sooooo cute? If you know me then you know I love penguins. When I saw these whimsical, happy stickers at Hobby Lobby I just had to buy them. I mean really... don't you think they're cute? I'm really happy with how this card turned out and I think this will be one design for this year's Christmas Cards.

Papers: Authentique 6x6 paper pad, Peaceful collection
Stickers: "Cute Penquin Stickers" by Hobby Lobby
Sentiment: "Christmas Assortment" clear stamp set by Scrappy Cat [gems included]
Border Punch: E.K. Success

As always, Thank You so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

2 Challenges = 1 card

Hi peeps! Yes, I was able to combine two challenges into one card this time. Now that's not an easy task for me, doing two things at once. :)  I figure it I do this enough times I'll get the hang of it and it will be a lot easier.

I'm really happy with how this turned out and hope you like it too. I used this week's OWH sketch #139 for the layout, and this week's Member Challenge at CardSwaps, which is to use the colors of fall. The two strips of paper at the bottom of the sketch is the same paper. I just love double sided paper! :)

Card Base: embossed chevron cardstock by Core'dinations.
Designer Papers: My Mind's Eye "Autumn Splendor" collection from last year.
Frame: Rust cardstock from my stash.
Brown Baker's Twine.
Die Cut: Cuttlebug, "With Gratitude" die using the word thanks; and "Combo Damask Frame" die using just the frame.

Thank you so much for stopping by, hope you enjoyed your visit!

I'm back again!

Boy there sure have been a lot of disruptions lately. Some good, some bad, but all are part of life and life really is good. I try to keep my blog current but sometimes life has other plans. My original plan for my blog was a place to showcase, and share, my love of paper crafts and card making.

Lately I've been thinking of adding what I call "therapy writing". Some of you that have been following me know my mom is in a lovely nursing home and the staff loves her. Still... it's difficult for mom to accept she can no longer do simple things for herself, and it's difficult for me to watch her struggle. So, from time to time,  I will write about some of our struggles.

First on my list today is to share a recent photo of Mom and I, taken last week at my cousin's home.

Mom is the last sibling out of 8 children my grandparents had. Some of my cousins and I, children of mom's sister Esther, have frequent "get togethers". Mom has always been an integral part of these gatherings and we bring her when she's up to it.

Clearing out mom's home that she's lived in since 1946, and that I was born and raised in, is no easy task. Mom, being raised in the Depression, has saved everything! It's time consuming going through her possessions and, yes, emotional. I keep telling myself it's easier doing it now while she's living, but it's difficult non the less. It's also difficult trying to take care of things in a non objectionable, unemotional manner when the emotional child within me wants to throw a temper tantrum and run and hide! I was recently down at the house and for some reason went into the basement. SHOCK!! Half the basement had water in it. I called the plumber and the main sewer line had gotten blocked with tree roots. It took the poor plumber two and a half hours to snake out the line and remove tons of roots.

So, thank you for taking time to stop by and say Hi!

Christmas in Spetember

I made this Christmas card for the Member Challenge over at CardSwaps. This week it's a color challenge with red being the dominant color.

The cardstock is darker red than the photo shows and looks much nicer. (Sure wish I could take good photos) I used a brand new embossing folder and stamp. The folder is from a new to me company named Crafts-Too and it's called Snowflake Banner. After embossing I used my craft knife to cut out the center so the white card base would show. The new stamp is Christmas Peace by Stampendous and was inked with Festive Berries from the Winter Bundle by Ranger. (I don't know if this bundle is still available) Some touches of Stickles, a white bow, and call it done!

Thank you so much for stopping by... hope you enjoyed your visit!

An Authentique Halloween

This week's sketch #136 is up over at OWH's Stars & Stamps. I made a card using all Authentique paper products. Well... except for the sparkly ribbon. I'll admit I'm not one of millions who get into decorating for Halloween. Gasp... the horror!! Yeah I know, I'm a rebel. I do, however, love making Halloween cards and I figured this challenge, along with some new paper, would give me a jump start.

 

The houndstooth print and polka dots papers are from Authentique's new Enchanted collection. There are really fabulous papers and stickers in this new collection. Yeah, I'm a BIG Authentique fan! The tickets and spider web circle are from the Enchanted Details sticker sheet. I mounted them on black and orange cardstock. The sentiment is from the Enchanted Elements sticker sheet. Love the sticker words and alphabets! I mounted the black words on orange cardstock. To finish it off I added some sparkly ribbon from May Arts.

 

Thanks you so much for stopping by... hope you enjoyed your visit!

Gift Card Holder

I made this gift card holder for my mom to give the kids. Can you believe... it's made of an envelope and a couple of folds!Soooo stinkin easy!!

 

The red cardstock is cut slightly smaller than the folded envy. I die cut the fancy tag from Spellbinder's Shapeabilities set called Antique Frame and Accents. I used Cuttlebug's Polka Dot embossing folder to give the tag some dimension. Next I cut a black swirl using PoppyStamps die called Ivy Tendrils. I added some more dogwood flowers, like the ones I used on the card.

 

 

 

I got the brilliant idea to use the small flower box die from PoppyStamps Inc. This is one idea that actually looked as cute on paper as it did in my head. (heeheehee) For a little extra dimension is popped the window box up using foam tape. I love dimension!

 

 

Here's a photo of how the envelope looks after it's folded. I'm trying to do a tutorial on this for later in the week. Stay tuned!

 

Again - Thanks you so much for stopping by.... hope you enjoyed your visit!