Shopping tips, OWH Rule of Thirds Bootcamp, and more Masculine Swap cards from Julie's kit

I wanted to start today's post off with a couple of money-saving shopping tips.  First of all, you have probably seen Sandy's "Precious" if you've watched OWHtv.  It's her gigantic roll of dimensional foam tape.  Sold on Amazon for $32.91 for 38 yards, it's cheaper than buying smaller rolls of Scotch adhesive elsewhere.  I've been buying small rolls of another brand from Big Lots for about two years because I didn't want to deal with the storage of a gigantic roll nor the big sticker price all at once.  When I picked up a new roll yesterday, I decided to do a price comparison.  The Scotch stuff is 1/2" wide by 38 yards (114 feet) long.  The price works out to 29 cents per linear foot or 5 cents per square inch.  The Big Lots brand "Front Porch Treasures" is 3/4" wide and 16 feet long for $1.50.  The price works out to 9 cents per linear foot or 1 cent per square inch.  So, if you've been buying the Scotch brand and want to save some money, you can save at least 2/3 off the price by shopping at Big Lots.  I've found it to be plenty sticky and it's marked as photo safe, so I feel comfortable using it on my cards.  

Look in the stationary aisle or the hardware aisle.  I've found it in both places. 

Another great deal at Big Lots yesterday: Elmer's brand washi tape was in packs of three rolls for $1.  Each roll is 30 feet long.  These were in the stationary aisle in my store. 

I put some of the black and white washi on this card made from one of Julie's kits.   I think the placement of the tree and washi stripes makes this one qualify for Paula's Rule of Thirds boot camp.  I love reading her design lessons and was honored that she used one of my cards as an example.  I never took any studio art classes after 8th grade, so all of my learning on the topic has either been theory (in Humanities class in high school) or through helping my college roommate with her projects.  She majored in art but recognized that I had a better eye than she did for layout so she would always have me help her with her collage projects.  All that is to say, I enjoy reading the theory behind why some of my cards work better than others!  Now, I just have to remember to put it into practice all the time. 

The other card I made from Julie's kit with a sentiment of my own:

I used the extra sentiment from Julie's kit for this card: 

A left over scrap of the orange paper from Sandi's kit made it onto this card:

Have an excellent week!  Remember that the OWH Mother's Day deadline is just a week away. 
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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.

Masculine Swap Kits from Jen and Sandi

Today I received my 6 masculine swap kits in the mail.  These monthly swaps are fun and keep me busy making detailed cards.  It's so nice to have someone else do the tough work of choosing all the elements.  Tonight I worked on the kits from Sandi and Jen.  That leaves me four kits to play with later. 

Sandi sent a fisherman digi.  I could not figure out a layout I liked that allowed me to use the sentiment on the card with the fisherman, so I took the scraps and made a second card.  Gotta love a two-for-one kit!

 

Jen sent a kit using the OWH Hero Arts fundraiser set.  I haven't purchased any of the Hero Arts sets, so it was fun to play with the clocks and sentiments.  The grommet eyelet things were cool, too!

  

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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.

Part 2 of February Swap

I took a few minutes to make the next two kits from the February swap into cards. 

The bear card is my ODBD challenge card for March.  The challenge is to make a card with scallops.   I don't have a full complement of Copic colors, but when I have the opportunity, I try to practice shading.  I'm especially lacking in browns, so this poor bear is just one color all over.  His hat, however, was where I tried shading.  I need some more markers because I think the hat came out OK and it would be awesome if the whole image was shaded. 

Ann's Kit (I think this is a MFT stamp set)

Jen's kit reminded me so much of her style.  I really admire card makers who have a distinct style.  You can look at their work and know that it's theirs.  I tried to channel Jen's style while I made these cards. 

Jen's kit #1

Jen's kit #2

Mary's kit and my own kits are left, so you'll see those another day.  Don't forget to go post a card with scallops for the March ODBD challenge!
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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.

Part 1 of February Kids Cards

I hosted a card kit swap with members from Scrap to Treasure.  Here are the cards I made with the kits I received from Beth (monster/alien) and Julie (robots). 

 I still have several kits on my desk to use.  I am amazed at how productive I can be with these kits.  I never realized how much time I spend hunting down just the perfect papers!
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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.

Spring Card Swap Finale

Here are the final cards I made from spring swaps I received through Scrap to Treasure, a FB group of about 100 OWHers.  This was the January swap which Katie hosted.  We sent in kits for spring cards.  I hosted the February swap, so now it's time to get cracking on making those cards.
  

Julie's kit included a pretty image to color and some bright, fun papers.  I colored with Copics and was so pleased to see that I had colors to match the papers pretty well.  

Katie's kit included a doily- a first for me in card making!  I colored with watercolor pencils

This was my favorite kit of the swap and I think it was from Cindy.  I just loved each and every piece of this kit.  The papers were beautifully textured, the colors were typical of my choices, and the trim was a unique touch.  Love it!

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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.

Scrap to Treasure Swaps

A few weeks (months?) ago, a swapping page for OWH was started on FB. I am not a huge swapper since I have almost 10 times more than what I need of most things, but I have participated in two swaps when things sounded good or when I had something to share that someone else wanted. People always want to send something in return (which I understand), so even if I'm hoping to downsize some things, swaps won't make that happen.

Here, I am showing off some things that Karen G. sent me about a month ago. She sent me great Debbie Mumm Christmas papers and I used all of those up right away. They're pictured in a previous post. She also sent a pack of four cross embellishments and I knew I wanted to make this design, but I had to wait until I got the Swiss Dots folder. It was getting hard to find in stores, even at regular price, so when I had a coupon for AC Moore and it was in stock, I snatched the last one.


I apologize for this card's rotation. IPhoto has been giving me fits recently and I'm not motivated to upload the pic again to straighten it. Karen sent me the alphabet stamps. We'll be making 23 more of these at my card party on Friday night.
Next, I'll have to get cracking on the label die cuts that Laura S. sent me. They're beautiful, so I'm saving them for just the right card.


Can I ask you a favor? Please go vote for my card at Spotted Canary http://goo.gl/34Q6o. If I win, I'm going to donate the prize money to OWH. You need to be logged into FB and you may vote once a day until Sept. 7th. Tell your friends!!! Thanks so much!

Cards shipped to OWH (as of 8/2/11): 964