Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Designed 2 Delight - Christmas for a Child Challenge

I made this card for the Designed 2 Delight Saturday Designer's Challenge.  The challenge is to make a Christmas card for a child.  I had my 8-year-old daughter in mind when making this one - she loves bling!  I used Designed 2 Delight's Christmas Snowman that was a Friday Freebie Challenge image not too long ago.  Also, I CASE'd a great card by Michelle Pearson (see photo below).  My snowflake die cut is from Sizzix.  The patterned paper is something very old from my stash. 


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Doodle Pantry - Pumpkin Birdie

Doodle Pantry has changed their rules a bit and is now allowing two entries for their Stock the Pantry Challenge #5, so this is entry #2 for me.  The image is Doodle Pantry's Pumpkin Birdie Pre-Colored, and the paper is from DCWV Harvest Gathering Mat Stack.  I did one with the Oval Nestabilities and another with the Circle Nestabilities. 


Monday, August 29, 2011

Designed 2 Delight - School Maisie Bell

What an adorable image Faith gave us this week to work with at the Designed 2 Delight Friday's Free Stamp Challenge.  Because I was using another school image, I decided to stick with the Doodle Pantry Primary Patterns Digi Paper Pack.  Those primary colors just seem "right" for school cards, don't they?!  The sentiment is from Doodle Pantry's Book Worm set.  I used the Nestabilities inverted scalloped circle die as well.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Hambo Hoedown - Pencil digi

This week's Hambo Hoedown image is the Pencil digi.  The challenge this week is to use primary colors (red, blue and yellow) along with the Pencil digi in a school-themed creation.  I immediately thought of my Doodle Pantry Primary Patterns Digi Paper Pack as the perfect paper to use.  The 1, 2, 3 are from Doodle Pantry's School Sheep set.  I threw in some primary red ribbon from my stash and used this week's Stars and Stamps Sketch #83 to pull it all together.



Saturday, August 27, 2011

Meljen's Designs - Blast from the Past

This week's challenge at Meljen's Designs is to share the first card you ever made with one of their images.  Here's the VERY first card I ever made using a free image from Meljen's Designs - Little Winged Heart.  I made this card in February 2011 - just the second month of making cards for Operation Write Home.  It's not the best card I ever made - I was pretty new to making cards and hadn't learned the secret of layering yet and didn't know how to re-size digital images either.  Wow, that seems so long ago, but it was only SIX MONTHS!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Doodle Pantry - Topiary Seasons

I absolutely LOVE Doodle Pantry pre-colored images and digital paper packs - they make card making a breeze!  I am entering this card in the Doodle Pantry Stock the Pantry Challenge this week.  All of the supplies, except the ribbon and green cardstock, came from Doodle Pantry and can be found here under Latest Releases: Rounded Wishes, Topiary Seasons and Four Seasons Digi Paper Pack.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Where Liberty Dwells

Here's the last patriotic card...at least for a little while!  I need lots of them because I send 2 care package boxes approximately every 1-2 weeks to units serving in Iraq and Kuwait, so I try to include a note on a handmade card to them in each box.  Just trying to bring a little bit of home to our deployed troops who are proudly and honorably serving our country.

Here is yet another patriotic pre-colored image from Melonheadz Illustrating, and there are even more that I haven't had a chance to use yet.  I used my "go-to" patriotic paper - Yankee Doodles from We R Memory Keepers.  And again, I'm re-visiting the sketch I've used before from Pollycraft (posted below card) which never looks the same twice!




Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Designed 2 Delight - Flower Row

This week's image from Designed 2 Delight for the Friday Free Image Challenge was this sweet row of flowers.  I wanted to make a birthday card for a dear friend of mine, so I paired the image with a sentiment from Scrap-A-Licious Times.  I used the Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps sketch #82 (see below), turned it on its side and made the back rectangle slightly larger than the front one.  The flower embellishment is from Prima.  The yummy paper is a new line from My Mind's Eye called Lost & Found - kind of retro, kind of shabby chic which aren't really my typical style, but I LOVE the colors!  This card will also work for the Designed 2 Delight Designer's Saturday Challenge since it's Anything Goes this week.


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

United We Are Strong

Another patriotic card made with Yankee Doodles paper from We R Memory Keepers, a pre-colored image from Melonheadz Illustrating, and this time a sketch from Bugaboo's Christmas in July challenge (posted below the photo of the card this time).

Sorry this post is so short and sweet, but I've already started substitute teaching this school year - on the second day of school!  Lots to do and not enough time to do it in - isn't that everyone's story?!  I'm so glad to be able to help out the teachers at my daughter's school though.  :-)




Monday, August 22, 2011

First Day of School

Today is my daughter Kaylie's first day of school in the 3rd grade at Fort Worth Country Day School.  I made this card for her teacher Mrs. Goldman along with some other goodies (see the pics below).  We sure hope she likes them!
Card Recipe:
Image - Bugaboo digi stamp (JJ Calendar Months-September)
Paper - Scraps from my stash

I also made this cute mini clipboard for Mrs. Goldman.  It's great for jotting a quick note!  I got the idea from Amy Voltz's blog Love to Crop where she has all the dimensions for making this fun teacher gift.  I used cardstock from my stash and the apple is from the Cricut cartridge Locker Talk.  The "For my teacher" sentiment is from Doodle Pantry.  I made the rosette myself with a strip of paper that I scored every 1/4" and accordion folded - my first try at that and it came out looking great if I do say so myself!
For most holidays and occasions at school, I bake the best ever peanut butter cookies.  The teachers LOVE them!  The principal and her husband actually fight over them...I let him know when I've given her some so that she has to share and can't eat them all before heading home.  LOL  Anyway, that's what's inside these cute Chinese take out boxes that I bought year's ago on clearance after Valentine's Day.  These are for all four 3rd grade teachers, the head of Lower School and our new assistant head - we've already warned him how addicting these cookies are!  The tag uses a sentiment from the same Doodle Pantry school set as listed above as well as a Fiskars star punch.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Graphic 45 Christmas card

I found this paper from Graphic 45 with blocks of Christmas images and thought it would make a quick and easy kit for a card making party for Operation Write Home.  The green and ivory polka dot paper was on the back, so I had everything I needed to make 20 kits!  We will use these at the next party on September 1 at Cat's Creations in Mineral Wells, TX - don't miss it!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Hambo Hoedown - Geranium Digi

This week's Hambo Hoedown image is the Geranium Digi and the challenge was to score something.  Hmmm, you may not be able to see it, but I scored a border around my image as well as around my bottom layer of red paper.  I used several "old" papers from Making Memories, but I'm not sure where the heart paper is from.  The sentiment is from Stampin' Up along with the Word Window punch and Modern label punch that I used to punch it out.  Oh, and that's white Viva Pearl Pen that I used to make the faux brads on the sentiment label.  The sketch, of course, is from OWH Stars & Stamps sketch collection - #16.

Friday, August 19, 2011

God Bless America

I love all of Nikki's patriotic images, but especially the pre-colored ones because I can spend time making cards instead of coloring the images!  You can find all of her FREE images - color and black & white - at Melonheadz Illustrating.  I paired it with my favorite patriotic paper - Yankee Doodles from We R Memory Keepers - and used the Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps sketch #26.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Create A Critter Dinosaurs

Earlier in the summer Kaylie and I decided to try our hand with the Create A Critter cartridge from Cricut.  I had been seeing so many cute cards made with this cartridge that I finally bought it and I love it!  I've posted other cards before with images from this cartridge, but since this was our first attempt, I didn't turn these dinos into cards right away.  Why not?  We made the dinosaurs a bit too big.  They were so cute though that I couldn't throw them away, but not much else fits on the card except the dino!  Here they are:


Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Designed 2 Delight - Stitched Pumpkin

This week Faith at Designed 2 Delight was extremely generous (as usual) and gave us not just one but three different images for the weekly progressive challenge!  I chose the stitched pumpkin without the mouse for my card.  I used Stars & Stamps sketch #81, DCWV's Harvest Gathering mat stack, TPC Studio's Autumn Harvest clear stamp set (sentiment), Sizzix's Top Note die, Spellbinders Nestabilities (small circle and inverted scallop circle) and ric rac from my stash.


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Miss U boy card

I've been trying to buy patterned papers that I think would be easy to use to make cards that young boys would like to receive from their deployed parents.  Since I have a girl, it's sometimes challenging for me to do masculine/boy cards. (Although she does like dinosaurs so I have LOTS of paper with dinosaurs on it!)  I thought this paper from We R Memory Keepers Out and About collection would be perfect.  I didn't even want to add an image, but rather I made the paper the focal point. 

I used a Stamp Fairy sketch from a recent challenge, even though I can't enter it into the challenge since it doesn't have a Stamp Fairy image on it.  That's okay though because I get most of my inspiration/mojo from sketches, and this was a REALLY good one!

I turned this one into a kit as well for another Operation Write Home card making party at Cat's Creations Scrapbooks in Mineral Wells, TX on Thursday, September 1.  After the success and warm fuzzies everyone got from making cards in July for the Operation We R Grateful contest and card drive, Cat decided to keep the momentum going and have a party every other month!  Yeah, Cat!

Card Recipe:
paper - We R Memory Keepers Out and About collection, cardstock from stash
sentiment - free digi from Handmade by Paula (another OWH'er!)
punches - Stampin' Up 1" circle and 1-1/4" circle
brads - We R Memory Keepers Out and About
sketch - Stamp Fairy (see link above)

Monday, August 15, 2011

Scrap N' Stash

I was going through my stash of already colored digi stamps and came across this Lion digi from Hambo Stamps and thought he would go perfectly with this patterned paper scrap that I was trying to use up.  All of the cardstock came from my scrap stash as well.  (Now you know why I called this post "Scrap N' Stash!")
Card Recipe:
paper - everything from leftover scraps
digi image and sentiment - Hambo Stamps (see link above)
die cut - Nestabilities Labels Four
flowers - Prima

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Sweet Land of Liberty

Here's another pre-colored FREE digi image from Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating along with We R Memory Keepers Yankee Doodles paper.  Another wonderful image for AnyHero cards for Operation Write Home!  I also used Stars & Stamps sketch #80 (kinda turned on its side) which you can find here!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Fetch-A-Sketch Challenge #4

I don't remember how I found out about the Fetch-A-Sketch Challenges, but I absolutely LOVE sketch challenges, so I've been collecting the sketches.  This is my first time to enter one of their challenges.  One of the things I REALLY like is that you have two weeks to complete the challenges, so I can ALWAYS fit that into my busy schedule!

Operation Write Home is in need of Thank You, Miss You and Love cards right now, so I made this sketch into a simple thank you card and let the paper take center stage!

Card Recipe:
Paper - We R Memory Keepers Out and About Collection and cardstock from stash
Sketch - Fetch-A-Sketch #4
Stamp - Stampin' Up Holiday Blitz
Punches - Stampin' Up 1" circle, 1-1/4" circle, heart punch


Friday, August 12, 2011

Hambo Hoedown - Hedgehog Digi

This week at the Hambo Hoedown, we were given a sketch (see below) to use with the Hedgehog Digi image.  I *LOVE* sketches, so this was the perfect challenge for me...not quite as challenging as some of them have been for me lately.  This hedgehog is sooo cute and I didn't have any before this one, so I can see using it with all kinds of sentiments.  Right now though, Operation Write Home is in need of general cards, like Love, Thank You and Miss You, which is why I chose this sentiment from Scrap-A-Licious Times.  It says, "I would thank you from the bottom of my heart but for you my heart has no bottom."  The patterned paper is from Cloud 9 Design Bay Blossoms collection.  I'm also planning to turn this into a kit for the upcoming Operation Write Home card making party on September 1 at Cat's Creations Scrapbooks in Mineral Wells, TX.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

American Hero by Melonheadz Illustrating

I love the colored images by Nikki at Melonheadz Illustrating, especially the patriotic ones.  They are so easy to use to make AnyHero cards for Operation Write Home!  I used We R Memory Keepers Yankee Doodles paper on this one.  I started out with the intention of using the OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #76, but I didn't have a Nestabilities circle die that was large enough, so I used the largest I had and improvised.  That's what I love about sketches - they can just be a "jumping off" point!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Doodle Pantry Digital Challenge 15

I absolutely LOVE Doodle Pantry's digital images and purchased quite a few a while back (and some of the new release ones this week as well) after consistently seeing the images on Jan Hunnicutt's blog.  So, it wasn't hard to enter this challenge that only requires the use of a Doodle Pantry digi stamp.  The hard part was deciding which image to use!  Plus, this week just for entering everyone receives School Sheep and School Time Digital Paper Pack.  I love the sheep and cards just come together so easily with Doodle Pantry's matching digital papers so I HAD to enter this week's Doodle Pantry Digital Challenge 15.
Card Recipe:
Doodle Pantry - digi image and sentiment (Super Birdie), digi patterned paper (Stars & Stripes paper pack)
Operation Write Home Stars & Stamps blog - Sketch #54
Spellbinders Nestabilities - circle, scalloped circle
We R Memory Keepers - corner chomper
ColorMates cardstock - Dark Belgium Blue
The Paper Company cardstock - Primary Red

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Hambo - Bird Hero digi

I'm trying to catch up on AnyHero cards for Operation Write Home and to include in my AnySoldier.com boxes that I mail to Iraq and Kuwait once per week.  I still had a few Bird Hero digis hanging around from a Hambo Hoedown Challenge.  My 8-year-old daughter Kaylie had already colored this one for me.  It's great to have a helper, although now that she's doing her own cards at her own blog she doesn't help me as much! 
Card Recipe:
Hambo Stamps - Bird Hero digi and sentiment
Mark Richards - black nailhead stickers purchased at Hobby Lobby (Love these! Flatter than brads.)
My scrap stash - all patterned paper and cardstock

Monday, August 8, 2011

Melonheadz AnyHero Card

I'm getting low on AnyHero cards and have lots of pre-colored images from Melonheadz Illustrating that I need to use.  Nikki makes the BEST patriotic images ever...and they are FREE!

This is my second card using the Pollycraft Monday Challenge #104 Sketch by Paula.  If you look back at yesterday's card, these both use the same sketch but turned out completely different.  That's what I love about sketches - no two every turn out exactly the same so you can use a sketch over and over again!
Card Recipe:
digi stamp - Melonheadz Illustrating
all digi paper - Doodle Pantry
tools - Spellbinders Nestabilities (circle, scalloped circle), Sizzix (top note die)
sketch - Pollycraft

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Designed 2 Delight - Cupcake Mouse

This week at Designed 2 Delight's progressive challenge, we were given an entire ZIP file of images and sentiments to use called Cupcake Mouse.  If you haven't played before, this is the week you can join in for free by downloading the image and then playing every week.  Faith's images are always very versatile and if you keep playing every week, you keep getting more free images!

I also discovered a new challenge this week - Pollycraft Monday Challenge.  I follow a blog called Handmade by Tillymint and saw her cute card using this sketch.  She had the link to the challenge, so I decided to join in.  I'm LOVING this sketch!  Apparently, so is she because she did another card with the same sketch.  I will be posting another card tomorrow with this sketch that has a completely different feel - that's what I love about sketches!

Card recipe:
Designed 2 Delight - Cupcake Mouse image
Pollycraft - Sketch
We R Memory Keepers - Corner Chomper (1/2" rounded corner)
Zva Creative - Bling colored with Bic markers
My stash - paper scraps
Challenges:
Designed 2 Delight - free August image
Pollycraft Monday Challenge - #104 Paula's Sketch

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Hambo Hoedown - Little Indian/Tic Tac Toe

This week's Hambo Hoedown Challenge was to use the Little Indian digi image and elements chosen from a tic tac toe grid (see the grid below the card - I chose: die cuts, flowers and piercing).  This was a great challenge because I don't often use more than 1 or 2 elements on a card at one time.  Because of the tic tac toe part of the challenge, I think this is one of the best cards I've made in a while.  I'm going to keep that tic tac toe grid around for more inspiration.  Plus, I may have finally found my fall-themed mojo - an added benefit.  Thanks, Hambo!
Card Recipe:
Paper - DCWV Harvest Gathering Mat Stack
Sentiment stamp - TPC Studio Autumn Harvest
Inks - Ranger Distress Ink Spiced Marmalade, Memento Rich Cocoa
Flowers - Prima
Brads - stash
Die cuts - Spellbinders Nestabilities Lacy Ovals


ribbon





eyelets



punches



die cuts





flowers


piercing
(not piecing)



buttons






sparkle



lace

Friday, August 5, 2011

OWH Midweek Throwdown - K9 Challenge

OWH President Sandy Allnock's dog Ciara became an honorary soldier.  In honor of Private Ciara, this week's Midweek Throwdown Challenge is a K-9 theme!  I found this cute dog image and sentiment in my collection of Bugaboo Stamps and thought it would make the perfect card for this week's challenge.  I paired it with some very old paper from Scrapworks and some paw paper from my stash.  All of the die cuts were done using my Nestabilities.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Stampin' Up Christmas Cards

I'm still on a roll with Christmas cards for Operation Write Home!  My friend was going to have a yard sale and sell some of her stamps, so she gave me first dibs on them (What a great friend you are, Pam!).  I bought the Stampin' Up set Stipple Celebrations from her and used the ornament stamp on these cards. 

Everything on this card is from Stampin' Up - stamp, ink, cardstock and DSP!  I also used Stars and Stamps Sketch #27 for inspiration.
On the second card, I used some very old Christmas paper from a DCWV stack along with my Nestabilities.  Everything else is still Stampin' Up, including the sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set and the Word Window punch and Modern Label punch.  These are my "go to's" for sentiments!
I turned both of these cards into kits as well since Cat at Cat's Creations Scrapbooks in Mineral Wells, TX said she'd like to keep having card making parties for Operation Write Home at her store.  Our goal is to fill a large flat rate box at each party.  That's anywhere from 300-350 cards - WOOHOO!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Hot dog, anyone?!

Oh my gosh, is this not the most clever sentiment you've ever seen from Paulette at TLC Creations?!  When I saw it, I asked her if she had an image of BBQ condiments and she was able to draw exactly what I had envisioned in my mind - like she had ESP or something!  The digital hot dog paper is from TLC Creations also.  Cute, huh?!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Designed 2 Delight - Happy Brrrthday!

This week life interrupted Faith at Designed 2 Delight, so instead of giving us a free image for the progressive challenge, she gave us a voucher to the store and let us choose an image to use.  I chose Happy Brrrthday since Kaylie's birthday is in December.  The little penguin was just too cute with his snow cake and fish at the end of his balloon string.  This digi comes with the penguin image and 4 sentiments - what a bargain! 

I also used 3 buttons on my design so that I could enter the Design Team Saturday Challenge at Designed 2 Delight as well.  Two of the buttons are white, so they are a bit hard to see, but they are there!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Hambo Hoedown - Rebel

This week's Hambo Hoedown challenge was to use the rebel digi image and sentiment along with some stitching - faux or real.  I've not done much of this, so there's only a tiny bit of faux stitching on my card...didn't want to ruin such a cute card with some of my lame-looking faux stitching!  LOL  Any suggestions?  Should my holes be closer together?  farther apart? different kind of pen?

My husband loved this image.  He used to participate in Civil War re-enactments when he was in high school.  He thought my colors were pretty authentic but did suggest that the blue on the uniform trim could have been a lighter shade.  WOW!  He knows his stuff, doesn't he?!