Cars and Sketch #30

A recent post showed some Disney Princess cards I made with holographic stickers. I can't leave the boys out, so I got a pack of Cars stickers at the same time. I made six of each card and used up both packs of stickers! 12 more cards for the OWH box. :)

These cards, based on OWH Sketch #30, use a couple of Cuttlebug embossing folders and some solid cardstock. I am waiting on the diamond plate embossing folder I ordered to come- it would have been perfect for these cards, but I was too impatient to wait a few days for it! I stamped a sentiment from Studio G. The background layer is also stamped with action words from KI memories in Versamark.

These stickers came from a dollar store. Do you ever find great craft supplies at places other than your LSS or big box craft store?

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

MWT- GlitterLESS Bling!

This week's midweek throwdown on OWH Stars and Stamps is to use bling that is safe for our heroes (read: NO GLITTER).

I used some holographic Disney princess stickers to make six cards for heroes to send their daughters. Each card has a sparkly crown embellishment, too. The stickers didn't photograph well since they have two designs, sorry!

Princess Jasmine:

Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora:



Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

CAS Thinking of You

This CAS thinking of you card is one of my favorite cards I've made recently. I used a cling stamp (perhaps from i-cling, but I've tossed the packaging and don't remember) to stamp tree trunks. I punched paste paper circles for the leaves and cut 1/4 inch strips for the trim from the same paste paper. I used a "Thinking of You" sentiment from an Easter set by SU. I finished the card by rounding two corners and lining the inside with white paper. This is such a simple card, but I think the paste paper's texture and shimmer makes it look more complex than it is. The shimmer didn't photograph well, but nonetheless, it's there.

I saw a card similar to this with three trees on a blog recently and I cannot remember which blog I CASEd from. If it's you, please let me know so I can link up to your post!

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #12

I got this bicycle rub-on at Michael's over the weekend. I would have preferred the stamp, but they were out. By the time I use the rub-ons in the pack, I'll probably be over the design anyway.

This card uses Sketch #12 from Operation Write Home. I'm trying to do all of the OWH sketches during 2012. :) If you want to join me in that goal, it's not too late! Resources can be found here.


Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #9

Just a few cheery cards made with some papers a friend gave me for my birthday a while ago. These cards use OWH Sketch #9. I'm having a hard time getting motivated to do season-specific cards, but these are bright enough to be spring cards, I guess. The papers are from KI memories, paper or felt flowers from Making Memories, punches from EK Success, and brads from my stash (probably JoAnn or MM brands).

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketches #23, 24, 26

These sketch cards are for Easter. I haven't been much for making holiday cards of late. I should get on it!

Sketch #23: I made 8 of these, my first multiples of the year.

Sketch #24:

Sketch #26:

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #10

Have you ever ripped a stamp in half? I did while making this card. In my last post, I commented about cutting a stamp apart so that an image and sentiment could be used independently. This is not the same concept. As I was removing the XOXO stamp from its backing sheet, it tore in two ragged pieces. I'd never used the stamp before, so it was really stuck to the sheet and I guess I overestimated what the acrylic could stand. Because I'd already been through my entire collection of love stamps to settle on this one, I was bound and determined to use it. I smooshed the two pieces of the stamp together on my acrylic block, inked it up, and didn't think the flaw was noticeable. Can you see the hairline on the second X?


This card was trying to be an attempt at a masculine love card, but I think it's less masculine and more non-traditional colors. The border punch and hearts make it feel girly to me. The card is based off OWH Sketch #10.

Papers from K&Co Boy Scouts paper pad, stamp by Studio G, border punch Cherish by Martha Stewart, heart punch by EK Success, tag corner punch by SU, and label punch by EK Success.

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

In Memory of a Friend

One of my co-workers passed away today. He had been fighting aggressive cancer for nearly a year and it was time for him to be at peace. I met J when I started my teaching career in 2008 and ate lunch with him nearly every day for those three years. While three years isn't a long time to know someone, I feel like J made a lasting impression on me and I know he's in a better place.



Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

OWH Sketches #20, 21, 22, 27, and 28

Using the Green Tea Stack by DCWV, I worked on some more OWH sketches. Love this stack's bright colors and foil accents!

Sketch #20:

Sketch #21:

Sketch #22:

Sketch #27:

Sketch #28:


Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #11

I've moved on to paper from the Boy Scouts paper pad by K&Co for my next few cards. The weight of the paper is nice to work with and many of the designs are versatile enough for everyday cards, not just Scouting pages.

I used OWH Sketch #11 for this card. I inked up this car stamp for the first time when making this card. I'd forgotten that I had it, but thanks to my idea to take some time last night to straighten up my stamps, I saw some that I haven't used yet. This particular stamp actually had a sentiment above and below. I didn't want to use them all together and don't think I probably will in the future, so I took my scissors to the acrylic and cut the stamp apart. I think it will make the stamp more versatile for me in the long run and is certainly less frustrating than selective inking.

Car stamp by Studio 112, sentiment by Hampton Arts, papers from K&Co, cardstock from stash.

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #13

I don't know if it has anything to do with the superstition that 13 is an unlucky number, but I had a terrible time making a card for sketch #13. I finally came up with this card after a lot of missteps, but I still plan to revisit this sketch in a while to come up with something I like better. Do you ever find a layout that is very challenging for you?



Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #5

OK, I was wrong. Here's another card with that MM paper series. Sorry! There were still some scraps hanging around and I knew I could make one more card from them. This card is based on sketch #5.




Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketches #33, 48, 54, 63, and 64

The last of the patriotic cards! Now I have enough blank Anyhero cards for a long time.
Sketch #33

Sketch #48

Sketch #54

Sketch #63

Sketch #64

I'm up to 50 sketches completed now! I am loving the sketches because when I pair them with a kit, there are very few decisions to make and I can make cards easily.

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #7

Using nothing but scraps in my scrap bin, I whipped up this card from OWH Sketch #7. I love a scrap card! I didn't want to turn the sketch (I was being stubborn), but I also didn't have a single vertical sentiment, so I had to make one from alphabet stamps. If I use this sketch again, I will use the strips as a background and place an image on it or a horizontal strip across with a sentiment.

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketches #15, 45, 47, 61, and Bonus #2

One more group of patriotic cards based on OWH sketches.

Sketch #61:Sketch #45:
Sketch #47
Sketch #15
Sketch Bonus #2:

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Another CASE of a CAS card

I've been watching people post cards from the CAS class and I've been CASEing most of them. A recent technique had square or rectangles of ink with images embossed in white. I might have messed up the order (I embossed first, but now I think I should have inked first), but I like this card and will make similar ones in the future.

I used a stamp that I got for 20 cents on clearance at Michael's. It's supposed to be a snowflake, I guess, but I think it just looks like a medallion to me, so I'll use it all year. The "miss you" stamp is an old Studio G clear stamp.

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketches #14, 18, 32, and 46

Here's another batch of cards made with the OWH sketches, Colorbok papers, and K&Co embellishments.

Sketch #14

Sketch #18

Sketch #32

Sketch #46



Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Hambo Hoedown #49 and OWH Sketch #105

Here's a two-fer. This week's Hambo Hoedown challenges us to make a card for kids using the new Bailey digi image. This card also uses sketch #105 from Operation Write Home. I'm trying to do all the sketches this year. They make me feel very organized when I start on a card and are a great jumping off point, even if I sometimes veer a bit away from the original design.

What a cute puppy! I colored him with Bic Mark Its and Copics and added Glossy Accents for that wet puppy nose. I made the sentiment myself in MS Word. The patterned paper on the card is from Creative Memories and it's been in my stash 3 years, so I was glad to use a little piece of it up!

This is one more card for my Operation Write Home box. :)

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #4

OK, last card with this paper for a while, I promise! Here's OWH Sketch #4 using Making Memories 5th Avenue line.

At this point, I have finished almost 1/2 of the current OWH sketches during 2012. How are you doing on your cardmaking goals?

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Easter card FB challenge for OWH

Sandy posted a challenge today for us to make Easter cards. I had already made some today, but they're scheduled to post later this week. (Yes, I've been so productive of late that I've been pre-scheduling some posts for the work week.) I decided to dig in my stash and do something undeniably spring/Easter themed.

Due to the call for more cards for OWH, I have decided to go back to making multiples. I had completely cut them out following the call for slightly less cards. I figured if the shippers were going to be sending less boxes, they wouldn't want to have to work harder to split designs up. Now that OWH actually has more contacts than before, we can go back to our normal levels of making cards. For me, that means making some multiples when I have the time and the supplies.

I started with this ribbon. I've had it three years or more and I used the entire length of it tonight. I made six identical cards, which also means I used up the entire sheet of patterned paper. Doesn't that make you feel good, when you can use something up? I know it makes me super happy! The stamps are from a very old SU set "Miracle of Spring" that I picked up on ebay a few months ago. It has a row of tulips, "Happy Easter," "Thinking of You," and some butterflies in addition to the two stamps shown.

This card used Sketch #92, so that's one more I can cross off my list.

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketches #19, 25, 36, 55, and 63

A few OWH sketches from a patriotic kit by Colorbok and a few packs of K&Co Americana embellishments:

Sketch #36

Sketch #25
Sketch #55


Sketch # 63


Sketch #19

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Black, white, and...

...purple!

OWH asked us to make cards with black, white, and a splash of color. Most people are going for red, and I can't blame them. Black, white and red cards are some of my favorites. I had this piece of purple cardstock sitting on my desk from another project, along with the white cardstock with embossed hearts so I decided to put it to good use. I punched two additional hearts from my Sizzix Hearts #2 die, added Halloween ribbon (can you believe it?), a stamp by Scrappy Cat, and some gel pen accents.

Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Sketch #3

More Making Memories paper for Sketch #3. The acrylic buttons just jumped out at me when I saw this sketch. The sentiment is a sticker from the paper pad.




Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695