Odds and ends = cards

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was cleaning my craft desk this weekend.  It's been quite the undertaking since I'd let it get out of hand.  Now, instead of simply filing scraps or getting rid of them, I've been making cards.  I also had a large stack of semi-completed card fronts that needed attention.  I guess I ran out of time or inspiration when I first made them and I just haven't gone back to finish them over the past several weeks. 

Here is the first group finished off into a set of 16 identical Mother's Day cards.  Just to be fair to all the dads out there, I should disclose that my mom and I were shopping at JoAnn together a year or two ago and when she saw the stamp, she requested it for her Mother's Day card that year.  It's nice to offer some humorous choices for Mother's Day; why are the fathers the only ones we can poke fun at?  :)  I used the same paper I'd used for some Mother's Day cards last year since Caro had commented how nice it was that they weren't pink. 

 
The butterfly cards came about in much the same way.  There are nine of these in my box now.  I was so pleased to finally find a project on which I could use this American Crafts ribbon.  Since purchasing it, I've all but sworn off printed ribbons, with the exception of neutral or subtle patterns because I can never get them to match.

 

My box of cards is about half full with 153 cards and a goodly stack of kids Any Hero letters.  I wonder if I'll actually get it ready in time for the Mother's Day deadline or if these cards will be waiting for 2014.  
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
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.

ODBD Missing Home

Does this card look like a Christmas card?  That wasn't my intention, by as I put it together, I felt like it ended up screaming Christmas.  That bummed me out because I was so thrilled that I had actually colored something!  It should probably have some sort of sky but I didn't know where to start on that, so I left it alone for fear of ruining it. 

 The image stamp is by ODBD and the sentiment is from a $1 clear set by Studio G. 
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
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.

Paula's digis= missing you!

Many thanks to Paula for sharing her talents as a graphic designer in the form of these great digi sentiments.  She has many, many free digis on her blog, so you should absolutely go check it out!  I printed off a few sheets of them and went to work making sets of multiples for OWH.  I made 20 of the pink/white/black card and 3 each of the others.

For the card below, I changed Paula's digi to print in blues using MS Word's recoloring features.   I have a tough time freeing diecut paper from this Nestie so I didn't make very many of these. 

I hope to share one other similar card with another of Paula's digis if I can figure out why my new laptop doesn't let me upload rotated photos.  I wouldn't want you to have to tilt your head!  
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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.

Wonderful Washi

I found some great washi tape at Goodwill today.  A package of four rolls was $1.99.  It was originally from Target and from what I read online, you can probably still get other colors in the same patterns for $4 a pack at Target.  I like this kind better than what I got at Walmart and wrote about a few days ago.  This kind is thinner, more sticky, and less opaque.  It's much more like masking tape than the Studio G stuff. 

I was able to make a bunch of cards with this washi in almost no time.  It's certainly easy to put these cards together and I love the colors!

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 620 blank and 200 AnyHero (as of 4/24)
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 #107

I used some scraps that were siting on my desk and a vellum quote for this card. The hardest part was choosing the ribbon- I just didn't have the right color to match the pastel scheme so I had to use white!

This card is based on OWH's Sketch 107. The February ODBD challenge is to use ribbon. I will link this card so I don't forget to enter. Many of my cards use ribbon, so this was an easy challenge!

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

Kids missing you

The shippers have mentioned that they need more "missing you" cards of late, so I grabbed my favorite stamp with that sentiment and went to work. These papers from an 8x8 DCWV pad had been sitting as scraps on my desk for a while. I believe they're from Animal Crackers or All About Boys but I can't be sure which one.

I stamped the elephant from Studio G, colored her in, and added a scallop circle from Nestabilities. It's finished off with ribbon by Offray. The card makes me smile and would be great for any little kid.

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

OWH Sketch #103

I set a goal for 2012 that I would make a card for each of the OWH sketches. Thus far, there are 103 of them, but by the end of the year, there will be over 150! A new sketch is posted every Sunday morning here and there is other great inspiration throughout the week. I figured one easy way to stay on top of this goal is to make a card each Sunday for that day's sketch.


Here's my version of sketch 103. I have seen all of the shippers ask for more missing you cards, so I decided to make that the theme of this card. I also wanted to keep this card unisex, so I went with shades of blue and stars. It's flat for easy mailing, too- a bonus because it means more cards can fit in the box and it will not have any problems making it home to a hero's loved one.

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

Dino-mite!

Over the summer, I picked up these puffy dino stickers and I finally got around to using them today. Aren't they darling? I tend to make really simple cards for kids. If figure there are less parts to come off if the cards are really well loved and carried around like I've heard sometimes happens. These cards, as simple as they are, really make me smile because of the happy dinos!

Cards shipped to OWH (as of 10/20/11): 1642

Miss you beary much

Well, I'm officially into digis. For a girl with well over 1500 stamps, that's not necessarily a good thing, since it will mean my real stamps will get used a bit less.

I started playing in Hambo's challenges a couple of weeks ago and had a good time with my cards. Here's yet another Hambo digi stamp, the camouflage bear. It was a freebie one time for Operation Write Home and is now available for sale at the Hambo store.




I found the camo paper a few months ago on clearance at JoAnn and knew I needed to get some for OWH cards, even if this isn't the camo pattern that our heroes are wearing. I made the sentiment look like dog tags by using a corner rounder and silver metallic paper. The green cardstock is embossed with a Fiskars embossing plate and my Cuttlebug.




Cards shipped to OWH (as of 9/12/11): 1325

Combo Challenge for gel-a-tins and Sassy Studio Designs

Gel-a-tins challenged us to use their sketch to create a card for fall. I made a "Hall-no-ween" card (a Halloween image with a generic sentiment so it could be used at other times) with the sketch. I used an image from Sassy Studio Designs and played along with their challenge to make a card with either a "thinking of you" or "miss you" sentiment. Both of these challenges celebrate Operation Write Home's birthday. :)

SPECIAL NOTE: OWH's Halloween deadline has passed. They do not want additional Halloween cards for this year. I will probably hold onto this one for next year. Now would be a good time to work on Christmas cards which are due on Oct. 31. :)

Materials:
Image: Sassy Studio Designs digi
Sentiment: Studio G
Papers from We R Memory keepers (green), K & Co (purple), and unknown (orange)
Tools: star border punch from EK (American Girls brand), tag corner punch from SU, one inch circle punch from EK, 1.25 inch circle punch from Marvy
Ribbon by Offray





Cards shipped to OWH (as of 9/12/11): 1325