D's one!

My cousin's son turns 1 on Wednesday.  I made this colorful card to send to him.  The cake is made from .75" strips of washi from Target.  The longest is 3" and each is .5" shorter than the one below it.  All are mounted on strips of cardstock, not just stuck to the card base. 

 Happy birthday, little man! 


------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Inky backgrounds

I decided to get inky today and use some Tim Holtz Distress Inks to make some background papers.  I chose several coordinating colors of ink, pressed the ink pads onto my acrylic block, spritzed it with water, and pressed it onto my paper.   I have Inkadinkado blocks which have wavy edges for the grips, so you can see the outline where the ink stopped on the paper.  I used more water on the pink paper so the colors blended more.  The green paper was a little drier so there are more speckles visible.

After the papers were dry, I stamped a MS bird with black ink and added some lace trim.  The wide lace is dyed with Tim Holtz Distress Inks, too.  I blotted it with a tissue to give it the soft colored look that the paper has.

Finally, I added a sentiment on a piece of dimensional adhesive.  These were fun and I am sure I'll make a few more.  I might try adding in some of my SU reinkers because I only have 5 colors of Distress Ink so there aren't many decent combinations I can make. 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

A CASE of the happy birthdays!

I saw Sandy's cute happy birthday card today and decided I would CASE it.  It's a simple design with just two patterns of paper, so it couldn't be that big of a deal, right?

I computer generated my sentiment (font: throw my hands up in the air) but stamped and colored the cupcakes by hand since I didn't have stickers that would work.  I added in the photo corner and took out the pearls and banner on the left side. 

The complication (because there's always a complication) was that after I cut all the paper for 36 cards, I broke my corner rounder on the first card!  Ugh!  It still sort of works, but it won't spring open after a cut, so I have to beat it on my desk top so the spring releases between each punch.  I suppose it's time to e-mail Fiskars to get a replacement.
------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Last of the 6x6 pad

Tonight I set out to finish up the 6x6 paper pad I started on Saturday.  I originally made 14 cards, then 5 last night, and finished up with 13 more tonight.  All told, I made a total of 32 cards from this $2 paper pad (and a bunch of solid cardstock, of course).  The embellishments came from left overs on my desk for the most part. 

The vellum sentiment on the bottom card was adhered with Xyron create a sticker.  Thanks to the poster of this tip on OWH's wall a few months ago! 

This brad is probably 8 years old and it just got a home on this card!

The card on the right is based on the Tuesday Tutorial "Scrappy Background."

Four of each of these cards in different papers will make their way to OWH. 

Now that I'm done with this paper, I'm going to leave the 6x6 challenge to the side for a while.  I'm a little burnt out from the pressure to finish all of that paper! 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

More from the 6x6 paper pad

I spent a few quick minutes in the craft room tonight to make some more cards from my 6x6 paper pad that I started working on over the weekend.

This time, I chose OWH Sketch #67.  It's a simple sketch with two papers, a ribbon, and a tag.  It would actually make a good kit card, I think.

I made 5 with different paper combinations.  All use the same ric rac by Wrights and the same SU stamp from Too Terrific Tags.  I colored the tags with Copics and attached them with brads from my stash that I believe are from Fiskars. 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Snowman Thanks

I based this card off OWH Sketch #37.   If you try the sketch yourself, please note that the vertical strip is marked 2.5" wide but I found that it looked better much narrower (as it's pictured in the sketch), so I changed it to 1.25" wide. 

This was one of those cards where I got 80% finished and couldn't figure out what to do to finish the card.  I picked the papers, cut the background and strips, stamped the sentiment, and could not decide on an image.  I finally found this snowman from Unity that I'd never inked up.  It was part of a grab bag that I got in the spring so I don't know what it's called. 

I used random supplies from my stash to make 18 kits of this card for my party.  That brings my total to 201 including my samples.  I actually have 18 different designs ready, too! 

Papers: K&Co (floral), Fiskars (pink vines), Making Memories (blue), stash (ivory)
Punch: Tonic
Stamps: Unity (snowman- unknown name), Heidi Swapp (thank you)
Coloring: Copics
Sketch: OWH #37
------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

My Mind's Eye 6x6

Kristie shared a tutorial on OWH Stars and Stamps recently in which she explained her strategy of using an entire 6x6 pad of paper to make cards before moving on to a new paper line.  I thought this was a cool concept, though I wondered if I would be tired of the papers before I finished the pad of paper.

On Saturday, I got a new 6x6 pad by My Mind's Eye called "A Happy Heart."  For $2 on clearance, I was ready to see how many cards I would make from one pad.  I didn't have the desire to sit and make 20-30 cards in one sitting, so I stopped halfway through the paper pack.  With 12 sheets of patterned paper used (and at least that many sheets of solid cardstock), I produced 14 cards.  I took my cue from the title and made love cards for the most part.  

Most of these cards come from OWH Sketches.  The others were just designs in my brain!  

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Birthday kit

As I make cards for OWH, I stamp the backs, tuck them in envelopes, and store them in the shipping box divided up by theme.  One reason I do this is it saves me time when the box is full.  Another reason I do this is to make sure I'm getting a good variety of themes made.  I tend to make oodles and oodles of love cards if I don't make an effort to switch it up.  I noticed that the birthday section of my box was very small, so I decided to make a kit of 12 of these birthday cards.  There were lots of layers to cut for this card, so it wasn't a quick kit to assemble, but I like the final look.  I also did the corner punching for the sentiment and adhered those two layers together.  My friends will just need to adhere the layers and make the ribbon embellishment.

This is OWH Sketch #107 turned sideways.   Just for fun, here's the first card I made with this sketch when it was posted in February. 

The papers are from a KI Memories pack I've had for a while.  Ribbon is old MS.  The stamp is from my favorite set of Inkadinkado sentiments.

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Cream in my coffee

Look!  It's a masculine love card!  And it's brown!  Perfect for OWH!  I made 12 kits for next Friday's party.  Oh, I am so ready to be done making kits!  I think I'll do two or three more kit designs this weekend and call it finished.

Sketch: OWH #114
Stamps: TPC Studios Coffee Cafe
Papers: American Traditions Road Trip
Coloring: Copics
Brads: Stash (probably Colorbok)

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Kits- DCWV A Type of Art Stack

Here are two more kits for next Friday's party.  I've got 15 different kits made now with just over 150 cards ready to be assembled.  Both of these cards were made with OWH Sketches (#100 and #2) and use papers from DCWV's A Type of Art stack.  I made a dozen of each of these.  At first, I only made six of the top card and then I saw Joanne's post on the OWH FB page that encouraged us to use up all of the paper in our stash once we designed a card.  I realized I had another sheet of each of the patterned papers, so I ran with it and made double the kits.

Sketch: OWH #100
Stamp: SU Whimsical Words
Die: Sizzix Flower #2
Embossing: Cuttlebug Script
Punch: EK corner punch (not sure of the name, but it has an orange body) 

Sketch: OWH #2
Embossing: Sizzix/Tim Holtz Swirls
Twine: Whisker Graphics Divine Twine- Peach

 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Unity FWF: I enjoy your company

Here's a card I made for a friend who visited me last weekend.  I wanted to send her a short note to thank her for coming and for the sweet jam she brought as a hostess gift.  The inside stamp reads, "I enjoy your company."  Stamps are by Unity Stamp Co.  I haven't linked up to FWF for several weeks, so I decided to post this card on Friday to get back in the game! 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Unity Missing You

I have had this Unity Stamp Company set for a little while now and I hadn't inked up the mailbox until I made this card. 

I made 6 kits like this for my card party.  I left the coloring for my friends since they seem to enjoy coloring more than I do.  
------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Alien Invasion!

This alien card was made with papers and stamps from TPC Studios.  This sketch, OWH #92, is a great one for showing off a neat patterned paper and using a small image.  I've used this kit at least three times since it was first posted. 

I made a kit for this card for my party at the end of the month.  I'm thrilled to say I have over 125 kits ready to go in about 10 different designs.  I hope to get my total to at least 200 this weekend, more if I can manage.  It would be awesome to get an entire box out of the party!  I'm going to post this card to the Midweek Throwdown to use red and green since I included both colors on this card.  :)


------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Simple Christmas

I'm looking for a simple, elegant card design for Christmas.  I'm going to make a few sets and dontate them to my church's holiday bazaar and make some for OWH.  This might not be the final design, but I like its simplicity.  

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Patriotic card kit

Cindy posted that she was looking for ideas for easy card kits for teen boys to put together.  This idea immediately came to mind because it's very hard to do badly and it leaves some room for individual choice. 

First, punch/cut a bunch of stars in coordinating papers.   
I used Graphic 45 A Proper Gentleman papers with Sizzix stars dies and EK success star punches.
Second, glue the stars to background card stock, trimming off any excess that hangs over the edges.  
Kraft looked great with my papers.
Third, emboss the entire card front.
I used The Paper Studio's star folder.
Fourth, add a tag with a sentiment.    
Sentiment by Inkadinkado.  Punch by EK Success (punched twice to achieve the size shown)

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

OWH Sketch 138

Sketch 138 sort of stumped me.  I tried it yesterday and had the measurements all wrong because the stamps I wanted to use didn't suit the sketch.  I tried again today using some crazy patterned paper I had.  The stamp is a really old SU set called Furnished with Love.  It's the only kitchen-themed stamp I think I own.    I can see a hero sending this card as a thanks for a care package. 

Wouldn't this patterned paper be adorable if it were paired with a chef stamp and a sentiment that says, "What's cooking?"  I don't have either, so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled.  :)

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Sending love and cheer

A few of my elderly family members are going through some rough times at the moment, so I made these cards over the weekend to send their way!

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Kits- Love cards

I found an awesome deal on sticker sheets at Tuesday Morning yesterday.  I got a set of 25 12x12 sheets of cardstock stickers for $1.99!   They're meant for Valentines, but the messages are generic love sentiments, so I turned a few of the stickers into simple kits for my friends to assemble later this month.  One of the things that can be a pain with stickers is that you can't often design kits around them because the pack usually contains such a variety of sizes and designs.  By getting 25 identical sheets, I was able to design a couple of kits.  I will probably make at least one more kit from the pack if time permits. 

Here are two cards that I designed.  The squirrel card is an OWH Sketch, #8. 

 The background on this one is actually navy.  :)

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Washi Birthday

I just wanted to share a little birthday card I made for a good friend!  Her birthday was last month but she's visiting this weekend so I decided to save the present and card to give to her in person.

I used a very old SU birthday stamp and washi paper tape from Target.  I can made so many fun cards with this tape in so little time.  Love it! 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Graphic 45

I snagged some of this Graphic 45 paper at Tuesday Morning because it seemed like everyone so loved Graphic 45.  I have had a miserable time trying to use it.  The colors don't match the cardstock I own and the patterns compete with each other every time I try to use more than one pattern on a card. 

I finally got one more pattern (the pinstripe) last weekend hoping it would mellow out the others.  I was inspired to make this card using OWH Sketch 52.  The sentiment is a digi by Melonheadz. 

The Glossy Accents hasn't quite dried yet!

I'll kit this one up for the party I'm having at the end of the month.  Digis are great for kits since you can print several to a sheet and not worry about the quality of your stamping!

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

New TPC stamp set!

Last weekend, I picked up an adorable stamp set at Tuesday Morning by The Paper Company.  It's got cute kids playing winter sports and corresponding sentiments.  I thought it would be good for coloring. 

Here's the little skating girl decked out in pinks and purples.  The card screams little girl to me, especially with the shimmer paper in the background.    

Papers: Stash

Stamps: TPC Winter Activities

Punches: Fiskars Medium Corner Rounder, SU Oval, Marvy Large Highland Snowflake

Ribbon: JoAnn

Coloring: Bic Mark-its, Sakura Gelly Roll silver pen

Embossing: Cuttlebug Snowflakes

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Angry Bird Card

This angry bird wants to be happy!

I CASEd this card from one that Sandy posted to the OWH Facebook page.   I changed a few of the punches based on what I had on hand.  I don't have many of the SU punches and those are so frequently used in punch art creations that I sometimes try to improvise. 
I punched out enough pieces for a dozen cards that I'll have my friends assemble at my OWH Birthday Bash party later this month.  :)

For anyone who wants a "recipe," here's what I used:

For the background:

• Inkadinkado sentiment and black Versafine
• 4.25 x 5.5" card front in orange
• 4 x 5.25" cloud paper
• 4 x 2" green paper
• 4 x 1" white paper punched with Martha Stewart Scary Fence punch

 For the bird:

• 3.25" red circle
• 2.5" tan circle
• .75" white circles (2)
• .5" black circles (2)
• .75" orange square
• Black "photo corner scalloped" from EK Success
• Red and black (one each) "round flower layering punch" from EK Success

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Cricut snowflakes

Snowflakes, snowflakes, snowflakes!  I spent some time with my mom last weekend and decided to play with her Cricut.  I wanted to make some snowmen, but I got discouraged by the amount of pieces/layers needed and the fact I didn't feel great certainly didn't help my motivation.  I settled on making a bunch of these snowflakes.  Mom cut them and I had the fun of peeling them off the mats and getting the excess paper off the mats.  I think the name of the cartridge is Accent Essentials, but I'm not 100% sure. 

At home, I paired the snowflake with a nice, thick celery green cardstock with a bit of texture and a matching strip of blue textured cardstock punched with the MS Cherish border punch. 

I think my friends will be assembling the rest of these at the party I'm having in two weeks.  :)

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Patriot Day- Remembering 9.11.01

Here are a few patriotic cards I made this week to commemorate 9.11.01.

This card is based off the sketch that Sandy offered up today on the May Arts blog.  

Stamps: Amuse
Papers: K&Co Americana matstack

Brads: Making Memories
Punch: EK Success 3/4" circle
Coloring: Copics

Other: 1960s Singer for sewing

 This card is a kit for my party at the end of the month.  It should be simple enough for anyone to assemble! 

Stamp: ki memories
Ink: Tim Holtz Fired Brick 

Punches: EK Success 3" star and Ek Success for American Girls star border punch
Patterned Paper: DCWV Indian Summer Stack
Cardstock: stash/Tuesday Morning sale

I'm excited that my OWH box is almost full.  The bottom of the large flat rate box is just about stuffed from two rows of cards.  Another 40 or so will fill in the space on top!  I should be able to mail the box before the end of the month.  :)
------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Kits part deux

I spent a little time today coming up with more ideas for card kits for my OWH Birthday Bash party at the end of the month.  I grabbed some good deals at Tuesday Morning yesterday while I was visiting my family.  They had lots of colored cardstock packs on sale for $1.99 each.  The quality isn't top of the line, but it's certainly better than some of what's out there.  I was able to snag several packs of patriotic colors plus some other favorite colors.  I spent $46 for 400 sheets of solid cardstock (a mix of 8.5 by 11 and 12 by 12), 50 sheets of 12x12 patterned cardstock, and two packs of stamps.  That paper should make well over 1000 cards!  :)

I love this new stamp!  I got it at Tuesday Morning with a few other outdoorsy stamps and sentiments for $4. 

 

Paper from Tuesday Morning!

This idea came by way of Julie.  Originally by Shelli Gardner, CEO of Stampin' Up. 

This MelJens digi is adorable!  My friends like to color, so we'll see how well they do with a card that depends on good coloring. 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Paper Smooches!

Hi everyone!  Did you have a good weekend?  I got to see some friends who I haven't seen since 2003, so it was an awesome weekend for me!

I made this card using free digis from Paper Smooches.  You should check out their adorable designs, most especially the "Circle of Honor" stamp set, because its proceeds benefit OWH.  How awesome is that?

Stamps: Digis by Paper Smooches
Twine: We R Memory Keepers
Papers: Stash
Embossing: Darice Stripes
Punches: EK Success border and Fiskars Circle
Coloring: Copics R24 and R29

There's also a special sketch posted this week on OWH's blog to pair with Paper Smooches stamps.  I turned the sketch on its side.  I think I might have done OK shading this, too.  Score! 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Holiday card kits

This post is edited with some new photos of updated cards thanks to suggestions from Scrap to Treasure ladies who were kind enough to leave feedback.  I appreciate your help!   

I took the plunge last night and committed to having an OWH Birthday Bash party at the end of the month.  I tried to design a good kit or two last night and came up with these.  I would LOVE to get your suggestions and feedback for how they can be made better.  Or, if they're not great and you have better ideas, I would LOVE to hear those!

 From the Triple Time stamping tutorial that Donna shared during the VCMP

Remade with darker cardstock, a layer around the sentiment, and a snowflake embellishment.

Inspired by Sybrina's snowman card during the VCMP

Remade with a different hat size (still a bit wonky!), an embossed background, bling on the snowflake, and a googly eye instead of a button.

This last card still has me a little stumped.  I am a bit limited on Christmas stuff I actually like and I think the reason I'm not having good luck with this card is that I don't love the paper; I don't usually do vintage.  I'll come back to it in a couple of days! 

Missing something?

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Winner!

Thanks once again to everyone who made this past weekend's VCMP so much fun.  I think I've finally made it around to comment on all the hosting blogs and on all of the cards that were posted for my challenge.  Everyone is so creative and pours so much love into the cards made for OWH.  It's such a joy to volunteer for this great organization.

I had a little blog candy up for grabs for anyone who posted a card by midnight last night.  There were 37 cards posted at that time and the lucky number is 18!  Patricia is the winner of 4 rolls of yellow/orange washi paper tape and a package of birthday stickers.  There might be some extra prizes in the package, too!  Please comment here by Sunday night with your e-mail address so I can get the prize to you.  The spam filters foiled my attempts at leaving a comment!

If you haven't had a chance to link up a card yet, please do.  The Inlinkz is open through this weekend.  

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

B-day card for a little man

In the past two years, my family has experienced a baby explosion!   The cousins on my dad's side of the family now have 8, soon to be 9 (this week!) children and we're not done quite yet.  I wanted to do something for their birthdays but presents seemed a little over the top, especially since I won't get to see any of them on their birthdays due to geographic constraints.  The kids will, however, be getting cards! 

This is for a little man who's turning 6 on Friday.  Life's been busy lately for this little guy.  He welcomed a new little brother last week and started Kindergarten this week.  I heard he had a rough time on the bus because it was "overwhelming and loud."  What an articulate child! Hopefully this super hero will put that endearing grin I love to see on his face. 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Glitter: A Do and Don't Example

Glitter.   It's basically the bane of my crafting existence.  Once you release it, it happily settles into nooks and crannies and gets ready to attack by attaching itself to you, your clothing, or your crafting supplies at the least opportune moment.  I really regret ever buying glitter, particularly the microfine clear stuff my SU rep adores.  Messy, messy, messy!  On top of the mess, glitter is dangerous for our heroes because it makes the heroes visible to night vision goggles if it is inadvertently stuck to a hero's clothing. 

Here are my "do" and "don't" cards to make my point.  They use different materials but the same basic layout.

Do use minimal glitter if you choose to use it at all.  The best choice is to use no glitter at all, but if you must add some sparkle, buy a lovely tube of Glossy Accents and douse all glitter spots with GA to seal the glitter in.  On this card, I used three tiny spots of glitter glue on the focal point.  When they had dried, I added a layer of Glossy Accents over the top.  Still shiny, and very safe.   P.S.- Thanks to Linda for the inspiration to use a snowflake shape to make a "bow" on top of a present. 

DON'T use copious amounts of glitter or glitter products that can't be completely sealed in.  This card is NOT for OWH.  I am sending it to a relative who is turning 3 next week.  (I'm going to add her name to the plain purple strip, but I didn't want that to be posted.)  This glitter paper from DCWV is not to be trusted.  At first, I thought it was sealed.  I've since had a few problems with the edges leaving stray glitter on things.  I had a real glitter disaster when I put this paper through my mom's Cricut- there was glitter everywhere!  As a result, I only use this paper for personal projects and I protect my work surface and clean my tools afterward.  

 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Hay there!

This Lawn Fawn card could just as easily be for kids as adults.  I sewed around the panels, tied on the bell with twine, and colored the image with Copics.  This isn't a sketch, but I think it could be tweaked into one. 

The funny thing with this card is that I tried to add a googly eye to make it appeal to kids more and suddenly the cow looked like a mutant! FYI- googly eyes aren't always a good plan.  Thanks for stopping by! 
------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Hey Chickadee

This Lawn Fawn stamp set reminds me of my former coworker who always called me, "chickadee." I wanted to make a CAS card but I don't think this is really CAS.  I paper pieced the Lawn Fawn Critters on the Farm stamps using Lawn Fawn Bright Side papers.  The red details on the hen were colored with Copic R24.   
------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Lawn Fawn/OWH kids cards

Lawn Fawn is graciously sponsoring this week of OWH's birthday bash.  I have two sets of LF stamps (Critters on the Farm and Quinn's Alphabet) as well as a pack of their Bright Side paper.  I can tell you the quality of the stamps is far superior to all of my other clear stamps.  The photopolymer really makes a big difference in the stamp's quality.

Here's a card using my LF supplies and the bonus sketch provided for this challenge.  I also used my sewing machine to stitch around the panels of paper.  It was fun to finally put my Singer to use on some cards. 

------
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.