S&S Midweek Throwdown

Hey All!  There's a new Midweek Throwdown Challenge up on the S&S Blog and the theme this week is Thank You cards!   Dixie, one of our awesome OWH shippers, has passed on her shipping duties after 2 years and OWH wants to share our gratitude with her.  So get into your craft zones and make some Thank You cards to send to our Nations Heroes!!

Thank You for your Service

I absolutely love my new stamps from La-La Land Crafts!  This one is Saluting Marci.  Isn't she just adorable!  I also have Saluting Luka but have yet to color him.  Part of the proceeds from both Marci and Luka will go to OWH.  The papers are from a K&Company Americana Specialty Pack and the sentiment is from Saluting Marci.  I hand cut out Marci and then popped her with some dimensional tape.  A little distressing to the flag layer and a few brads completed this card.

Thanks for checking out my card and make sure you go play along!!

Merry Christmas Crafters!

Hey all!  Just wanted to squeeze in a little blog post for those of you cruising the internet these holidays.

Merry Christmas

I made this card for my mother.  I always love posting my cards and sharing them with all of you but had to hold off on this one since she's probably my best follower.  This card was so fun to make!  I started with a piece of SU Vanilla card stock and embossed my Hero Arts music note stamp.  I then took some Tim Holts Distressed Inks and distressed the background until the music notes popped.  I then clear embossed my SU Dasher and distressed to make him pop as well.  I used the OWH Star Burst tutorial for my dsp layer and embellished with some Making Memories hat pins and poinsettias.  Finished it off with some letter stickers to say Merry Christmas!!  Oh, and that little bitty cute button too!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!  Merry Christmas!!

A Little Teacher Appreciation

Teacher Appreciation

Did you thank a teacher this Christmas?  I think teachers hardly receive the respect and gratitude they deserve for mentoring our children during the school year.  My daughter is only in Pre K but her teachers are so wonderful and she always wakes up excited to go to school.  She's learning sign language and better manners from these ladies and I am truly thankful!  I took some simple Christmas ornaments I found at Ikea and personalized them with each teachers name by using some Making Memories stickers that stay put!  I bought the little containers at Michaels and dressed them up with a little ribbon and stamping and filled them with chocolate.  They may be simple but the ladies loved them!

OWH Hero Arts SKIP!!

Hey All!  Have you enjoyed all the beautiful cards along the skip!  Our OWH gals are pretty amazing!  If you are lost or just happened to stumble upon my blog you can visit the beginning by skipping back to the Stars and Stamps blog.

OWH is giving away one of each of the Hero Arts stamp sets, and the 3 winners will be picked from all comments on all the blogs in the skip - the more blogs you comment on, the more entries you have! Winners will be drawn Sunday night!

I love you

Here's my card.  I used the Year Round Sentiments set.  I love this set!  My papers are actually from a Halloween pack I bought at Impress.  Never let the theme of the pack hold you back!  I added some stickles and topped them with glossy accents to add some much needed embellishment to my card as well as a few star brads!  

Close Up

Your next stop on the skip is Sandy at A Colourful World!  I know for certain she has whipped up something amazing for you!


Thanks for skipping by! Have a great weekend!

S&S Sketch Challenge #99

Hey All!  We are almost on our 100th sketch challenge on S&S!  How cool is that!  My card for you today is for the OWH S&S Sketch Challenge #99.  Before I share that one with you I'd like to share the one I made for last weeks sketch!

Happy Birthday CJ

I had to skip on playing last weeks sketch #98 in order to make sure my step son received his birthday card in the mail before it posted online.  I added a couple layers to the card and skipped on using a circle but I am very happy with how it turned out.  The boy image is Birthday Josh from Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps.  Sparkles stamps are deeply etched and stamp perfectly..I only wish to own them all! =)

You're so special to me

So this is my card for Sketch #99.  I love the whole star burst paper effect but have honestly taken months to try it out.  (Haven't tried it yet? Tutorial Here)  I'm very happy with the detail it adds to the card!  Love the Sentiment?  Is from the new OWH Hero Arts sets.. CL582 Year Round Sentiments.  I absolutely love this set!  The sentiments are the perfect addition to any stash!

Sketch 99 Sample Card

My sample card for the challenge.  I used my CL582 Year Round Sentiments to create the background paper and for the sentiment.  Lots of dimensional adhesive to make my layers pop!

Well, thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous day!

12 Days of Christmas

Hey All!

There's a special treat for you on the Crafty Contagion Blog..The 12 Days of Christmas by the Divas!  Hop on over to view some very inspirational cards!

4 Calling Birds

My card is pretty clean and crisp.  I stamped the tree, birds, and snowflakes and then embossed them with clear embossing powder.  I used some Tim Holts distressed inks to help create the background.  I cut the snow piles from some scraps and ran them through my CuttleBug.  I used some silver cording I had leftover in my stash for a little accent.

Enjoy your weekend!!

Toddler T-shirt DIY

Hey All!  So today I have a post for you unlike all my others...a sewing DIY.  My little girl seems to be stuck in a growth spurt and running low on clothes that fit.  My solution..sew something new out of something old.

While we were still living in Seattle we went to a Storms game and received a few of their shirts for free.    Well, I can't quite send her to Pre K in a shirt that would serve her better off as a nightgown.  Time to get creative!

First, I grabbed two of the shirts and carefully cut the sleeves off.  I then cut and separated the fronts from the backs.  I took one of the back pieces and decided to crease and sew it wrong sides together every one inch.

Next, I gathered some freezer paper and a well fitting shirt and used this tutorial here to draft my pattern.

I then cut out all my pieces from the shirt trying to use the original hems.  Sew the front and back shoulders together.  Attach the sleeves and sew up the sides of the shirt.  Zig Zag stitch or serge to finish your seams.  Step back and admire your work!

The fronts still attached to the neck hole make perfect capes for the little men in your life as well!

(I promise you his socks are gray and not dirty!!)

Thanks for stopping by!  If you decide to make a shirt please share!

OWH Sketch Challenge #97

Hey All!  I have a cute House Mouse stamped card for you today!  There's a new OWH sketch challenge up on the S&S Blog that I'm finally back to playing around with.  When I first looked at the sketch I thought I should skip it...but I'm glad I changed my mind!

I really did not think this card would turn out cute.  I used some papers I picked up at a scrapbook store on the road trip here and the sentiment is SU Word Play.  The ribbon is something I won a while back and was hoarding.  I've been holding myself strong to my no more hoarding rule!  Thanks for stopping by!

Crafty Contagion Left Overs!

Hey all! Long time no blog.  We are finally all moved in and unpacked in our new home! YAY!  I'm not missing the Washington weather but my Divas are another story!  I miss being able to get together with friends and spend the day crafting but thankfully I have the Crafty Contagion to get my fix!  This weeks challenge at the Crafty Contagion is Leftovers!  Use up those scraps that you and I both know you have laying around!

Merry Christmas

I guess I should be honest and tell you this is my first personal Christmas card I've made this year.  I'm a little behind in getting started but at least it's still November! I used up some old SU! DSP and card stock and some yummy twine.  Every other one inch square is popped up with dimensionals.  I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  Happy crafting!

Crafty Contagion Pumpkin Challenge!

Hey All!  This sweet card share today was made for the new challenge over on the Crafty Contagion, Pumpkin!

I Miss You

I had a really challenging time making this card...HONEST!  We are in the middle of a cross country move and all I have on hand is a tiny pack of paper, some images, letter stickers, brads and a little ribbon and flowers.  We are talking less than a yard of ribbon and 24 sheets of 6x6 paper.  Oh and scissors...no paper trimmer!!  I'm sure there will be some triage to this card when we reach Arizona since I fully believe our troops deserve straight crisp cuts!

Have an awesome weekend and make sure to go play along at Crafty Contagion!!

Crafty Contagion Twine Challenge!

Hey all! There's a new challenge blog up and totally fun!  Crafty Contagion is a fun new blog started by my favorite group of monthly Stamping Together Divas!  The first challenge to kick off the blog is to use Twine! Soo easy!  Hope you all can play along!

tis the season

Have you ever had a card fully planned out in your head but couldn't get it to come to life?  Insert this card there!  I had something completely different in mind for this card.  It has grown on me though and now I like it but I was so disappointed when I first made it.  I used SU card stocks, embossing folder and brads to make this card.  I used my Copics to make a few of the snowflakes pop and Tonic punches for the deer.  The twine is from our crazy Stamping Together Divas order.  I don't think I'll ever buy twine again!

Tonic Challenge

Hey Friends!  I have a super cute card to share!  There's a challenge up on the Tonic blog to create a fall themed card using one of their punches.  I don't own many punches but I am fortunate to have a friend who does and she had this cute tree punch by Tonic.  Makes a great inchies card!

a Tonic hello

Are they cute or what!  I used a Tonic punch to create this card and carefully cut around each tree to form 1" squares (I finished wishing for a square punch!) and used dimensional foam to make them pop on colored 1" squares.  The card stock and sentiment are from SU! as well as the Square Lattice Embossing Folder.

Happy Birthday Kaden!

Today is my handsome little nephews 1st Birthday!  I made the following card special just for him and decided to make a couple extra to send to OWH.

Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday Kaden!  Aunt Sam and your cousins can't wait to meet you!

S&S Sketch Challenge #88

Hey crafty friends! I've got a card share for you today.  There's a new sketch challenge up over on the OWH S&S Blog so be sure to check it out and play along!

Merry Christmas

I'm finally cutting up all the pretty paper I love to hoard!  It feels great to use up that stash!  All supplies for my card are SU!

I'm So Grateful Challenge

I swear we are blowing up blogger today!  Another Birthday Bash Challenge to share with you.  If you'd like to play along click HERE.

Thanks

I really wanted to make an AnyHero card that wasn't RWB.  There's nothing wrong with those colors at all and thats how I normally do all my cards but I felt a small need for change.  I love ruffled cards and I remember seeing one done with circles so I gave it a shot.  It's a little hard to get them lined up straight but I think the end result was well worth it.  A sweet Hero message from my mother is written inside.

I also wanted to add that since my twine was so thick I used a hole punch on the edges not only to keep it in place but to help it fit the envelope.

Birthday Bash Challenge: CASE our featured cardmaker!

I took a break from the VCMP to go work on some of the Birthday Bash Challenges.  One of the many fun challenges going on was to CASE the featured Cardmaker.  Kelly Rae has several beautiful cards shared on the post but I decided to CASE her black flower card.  I mostly chose to copy the layout and add a bow.

Princess

I used SU DSP, a Bugaboo image, some Twine and eyelets.  I think any little princess would enjoy this card!

VCMP Challenge 3 Unique Christmas

Challenge 3 of the VCMP is to make a Unique Christmas card without the traditional Christmas colors.  It was a little harder than I thought it would be for me and I am honest when I say I colored this image three times before it became non traditional.  My daughter was tasked to color too but decided to go hang out with her daddy instead so I had to do the work this time! Enjoy!

Celebrate!

I hate that my camera makes it look red.  It's actually a deep pink, light pink, green, and blue.  The papers are from my stash.  The image is by Broken Box Stock and the sentiment is by SU!  Thanks for looking!

VCMP Challenge 2 Nature

I'm so glad that my card making mojo decided to come back just in time for the VCMP over on the S&S Blog.  The second challenge was to create a card with the theme of Celebrating Nature.  If you would like to play along too please click HERE.  Here is my card.

Celebrating Nature

Yes. I. Know.  VERY BRIGHT COLORS.  Thanks to my awesome 4 year old and her amazing coloring skills and paper choices!  I love the image and her added sun and sky.  This would truly make me smile to receive in the mail.  The DSP is from my stash (I should say her stash) and I used Melon Mambo and Chocolate Chip CS.  I gave credit to her on the back of the card by simply writing "Colored by Lainey Age 4"  Get the kiddos involved in your life.  I find them to be the best inspiration!

VCMP Challenge 1 Garanimals!!

It's Virtual Card Making Party time over on the S&S Blog.  Lots of prizes and fun and inspiration worthy of following along!  The first challenge asks for animal cards for kids.  If you want to play along visit HERE.  I love kid cards! Here's my first post for the day!

Moose Birthday

So I used a random stamped image in my stash probably from one of my coloring adventures with Sandy and added some glossy accents to it.  The DSP is retired SU.  I used chocolate chip and whisper white CS and my Square Lattice EF.  The brads were white ones from my stash that I used Copics on to make them brown.  Super cute and my daughter loves it so I believe I am kid approved!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you get a chance to play along!

OWH Midweek Throwndown

The OWH Midweek Throwdown theme is Autumn.  To be honest, I hate making Autumn/ Fall colored cards.  I just have the worst time with the colors and the papers.  I pulled myself together though and created something to share with you.

Thinking Of You

Not too bad right?  I totally took the easy way with this one.  I chose to use a nicely pre colored image and kept it my version of CAS.  I printed this image in B&W too but my skills are not quite to this level yet.  I'll keep practicing! The paper has a pretty foil finish so I tied it to the image with some gold brads.  I love the use of black to calm down a crazy pattern and tie everything together.

Thanks for stopping by!!

OWH Birthday Bash We R Challenge

Hey crafters!  I am playing catch up with all the fun challenges going on over at the S&S blog in honor of OWHs Birthday! So much fun and tons of creativity and prizes.  Go play along if you haven't already!!
The We R Keeping an Eye on You challenge is a fun one.  To make a card with eyelets (or brads) and be creative!  I have no eyelets but plenty of brads.  Here's my card!

Hello Hello

I used my brads to frame my colored image.  I colored the bird and cut it out and popped it on another colored image.  The greeting of 'Hello' came from a SU set from the summer mini.  The paper is from a huge stack that I cut down to card fronts and told myself I WILL USE THESE!

Feel better Soon

This is my inspiration card.  A good friend of ours was sick a little while back and I made this to show her we were thinking of her.  Brads and Twine..YUmm!

Well that's one challenge down! Go play along and make sure you check out the Virtual Card Making Party this weekend!!

OWH Midweek Throwdown & PPA Sketch!

I think I need an award for the most inconsistent blogger!  Shame on me!  I've been making purses and stethoscope covers and hair clips and bracelets oh my but not posting any of it! I've made a few cards here and there and that's what I've decided to share with you today!

This weeks OWH Midweek Throwdown is to use inchies!  I also really liked the PPA Sketch 107 and thought it would work perfect with such inchies!

Welcome Baby

I'm not really sure why I decided to make a Welcome Baby card.  I don't know anybody that is pregnant or even thinking of being pregnant but the cute little outfit from my SU set was calling me.  I'm prepared now!

close up

I added some glossy accents to the hearts to give a simple card a little jazz!  Clean and Simple.  I like it! =)

In my last entry I told you all about the new addition to our family.  Meet my new baby girl..Gemma!

Gemma

Thanks for stopping by! Have a FABULOUS weekend!!

Where have I been!

I can't believe it's been almost 2mths since I've posted on here.  Life has really gotten away from me.  My oldest stepson graduated high school, I reorganized my craft space and we got a new puppy..good things!  I've been doing a lot more sewing lately but I did manage to get a couple cards in!

4 You

The image is from byLORIdesigns and the papers are random scraps from my slowly shrinking pile! I found myself swallowed by paper in my latest reorganizing task and found a lot of paper to cut down to card front size.  I've been using it a lot more now that I don't have to thumb through all the piles.  I only cut up the papers that I knew for sure I wouldn't use to scrapbook and the ones I had 3 or more of.

Elmo and Cookie Monster

My daughter has been crafty too!  She and her friend had so much fun putting these cards together.  A 4yr old using Nestabilities! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!  Teach them young! We are submitting these for the Midweek Throwdown over on OWH S&S.. cards for kids!

OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop

Happy Saturday Bloggers and Friends!  Welcome to the OWH Blog Hop. If you hopped on over from Veronica's blog then you are in the right place!

Elmo Miss You

It's Elmo!  The theme for the hop was to create a Missing You card that our Heroes could use to write home.  If you'd like instructions on how to create the characters as I did visit my previous blog entry!


You next stop on the hop is the fabulous Holley!  I know she will have something truly inspirational for you!

Visit the Guidelines Page for more!

  

It's ELMO!!

Hello All!  I have a little treat for you.  I finally compiled a few pictures and directions on how to make the characters on my Sesame Street cards found here.  Yay!  I hope it helps inspire your creativity!

Sesame Characters

These characters are so much fun to make.  Elmo and Big Bird are very easy to make (My 4yr old can).  Cookie Monster is very close to being easy but Grouch is a far cry from it.  Have patience with him!

Elmo: You will need a large red scallop, a large black circle cut in half, two white 3/4" circles and one orange 3/4" circle.  I used small circles from my SU OWL Punch for the black of the eyes but you could possibly use a standard hole punch.  Glue the mouth and eyes down first then finish with his nose.

Big Bird:  One large yellow scallop, two white 3/4" circles, two black small circles,  one 1 1/2" yellow oval and one 1 1/2" red oval cut in half (I used my Cricut for all of the oval shapes).  Glue the eyes to the scallop.  Fold the yellow oval in half and add the red oval to the inside.  Glue beak on top of eyes.

Cookie Monster:  One large blue scallop, one large black circle cut to about 2/3, two white 3/4" circles, two black small circles, two kraft 3/4" circles.  Adhere eyes and mouth to scallop.  Color on two cookies and cut one with scallop scissors or punch.  Glue inside mouth.

Grouch: One large green scallop, one black 1 1/4" oval, one brown medium circle, two white 3/4" circles, two small black circles and one 3/4" red circle cut to about 1/3 it's size.  This guy is tricky!  When doing his eyes and eye brows I punched out the shapes then put them back in the punch to trim them down.  To help hold the shapes in the punch I used a thin piece of scrap paper and regular tape to make a handle.  Trim down two sides of the white circles to make his eyes...do circles really even have sides? =o) ... and trim off a small portion off the brown circle for his eye brows.  I cut mine in half to add to his mean look.  Glue down his mouth and eyes first followed by his eye brows!

Handle shot

Well there you have it!  If you have any questions please let me know!  Also, I would love to see the cards you create!  Share your link to a photo here!

OWH MWT

Hey all!  I've got 3 cards to share with you for this weeks OWH Midweek Throwdown!  The challenge this week was to make cards our Heroes could send home to their spouses to show their appreciation.

I Appreciate You

This card was made to be the inspiration for the MWT.  I really like how it turned out with all of the white and a splash of color.  It's hard to see from the thumbnail view but if you click and look closely I used photo paper behind the embossed piece.  A great way to use up the extra scraps.
{SU Supplies Used: Square Lattice EF 119976, Whisper White CS 100730, SU Classic Inks}

You Give Me Strength

This card was my attempt to go patriotic.  I stamped my own background and then used glossy accents to make the stars pop.  It looks a lot better in person!
{SU Supplies Used:  Seeing Stars 115352, Basic Black CS 121045, SU Classic Inks}

You Are So Special To Me

The final card.  I really wanted to try to make a card with a cut up sentiment so this was my first shot at it.  I'm happy with it.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend!

OWH Ruffled Card

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share my ruffled card that I made yesterday after watching Sandy's tutorial on UStream.  If you missed it you can check it out by clicking here.  Have a great remainder of your weekend!

Wish Big

I love that you can use up your scraps to make this card!  I recently thought I scored big by purchasing a paper pack for $3 but it turned out to be 30 sheets of the same paper!  I cut half of the stack to card front size and had tons of scraps left over.  This card was perfect!  The image is from Sparkle Creations and the sentiment is SU Word Play (120651).  Thanks for taking a look and I hope to see you play along too!

Midweek Throwdown!!

This weeks OWH Midweek Throwdown is a totally easy one for me..ANY HERO!  I love to make patriotic cards and I love anyway possible to thank our Heroes for all they sacrifice.  

America Proud

Such an easy card.  A little hemp twine, a few brads and some CuttleBug action.  If you like the sentiment it's a freebie by OWH that can be found here.  Thanks for stopping by!! 

OWH Sketch Challenge #66

Hey all! What a challenge this sketch was for me and I really don't even know why!  I stamped so many images and cut up a lot of paper and just couldn't make it work.  I took a 'night' off and came back to it and everything finally fell together so smoothly.  Crazy how things work out like that.   My mojo was just out of whack.  But here it is..my card for the OWH Sketch Challenge #66.

Thank You

{SU Supplies Used: For All You Do stamp set 115360, Real Red Taffeta Ribbon 119251, Pinking Hearts Border Punch 117649, Brights Collection Cardstock 119706, Real Red Classic Ink 103133, Old Olive Classic Ink 102277, Tangerine Tango Classic Ink 111834, Melon Mambo Classic Ink 115656, Whisper White Cardstock 100730}

Hope that you've enjoyed my card!  It's another 'gorgeous' rainy day here in WA so what better way to spend it than in the craft room! =)

OWH Sticker Skip

Hey fellow crafters!  Welcome to your final stop on the Operation Write Home Sticker Skip!  I hope you've enjoyed all of the wonderful inspiration along the way.  If you just happened to stumble upon my blog and would like to start the skip from the beginning you should head on over to Stars and Stamps.  Also, make sure to comment on all of the blogs involved in the skip for your chance to win a special prize!

Sticker Skip Line Up!

OWH Stars and Stamps

Barb at Paper Therapy Ponderings

Erica at Creative But Messy

Jan at Jan's Gone Stamping

Sherry at Bits of Cheer

Julie at Handmade by Julie

Velda at OldStamper Musings

John at John VM's Cards

Steph and Robin at SR Cards

Paula at Handmade by Paula

Samantha at Expressions of a Craftaholic {ME}

Alright, on with the cards!  I have 3 to share with you! 

Sticker Skip 1

I love these butterfly stickers!  They have dimensional tape under their body and have a clear wing layer that I just love.  The sentiment is also a sticker.  My camera made it look really vanilla but it's clear.

Sticker Skip 2

The robots used here were a pack of 4 that I bought at the local craft store.  They also are dimensional.  I attempted to stamp on vellum but smeared it so I dug out some shiny silver letter stickers and fell in love!  The best part about letter stickers is the ability to write exactly what you need. 'Bot' Day looks so much better than Birthday!

Sticker Skip 3

Here is my totally fun girly sticker card!  My daughter is turning 4 next week and I let her buy a bunch of stickers.  She picked these ones for me to make a card with..eek!  She loved the finished card and I'm pretty happy with it too!

Well I hope you had fun skipping along!  Enjoy your weekend!  I'm out for a fun filled girls shopping day!

{SU Supplies Used: Basic Gray CS 121044, Whisper White CS 100730, Melon Mambo CS 115320, Pacific Point CS 111350, Brights DSP 117155, Neutrals DSP 117157,  Pinking Hearts Border Punch 117649.   Stickers, Brads, Vellum and Twine from Stash) }

OWH S&S Sketch Challenge #64

Hey all!  I really liked the S&S Sketch Challenge #64 this week.  I just thought up so many possibilities and was glad to see myself get one finished and on to a card base.  My husband is leaving this week to start training to be a drill sergeant so when he's packing I'm crafting!  It's going to be a lot harder with him gone since I love all the free babysitting (is it babysitting though when it's your own children?) but my kiddos are pretty crafty so we will still be making cards!

Rainy Day Ruby

I just love this image!  From the moment I first got to take a sneak peak at it, I knew I had to have her!  She looks like my daughter so I colored her like so.  I hope you've enjoyed!

OWH and Random Cards

Hey there!  So tonight I got really crafty and worked on two cards to share with you!  We've had a friend of ours staying with us the past two weeks so I was itching to make something!  Our guest room is also my crafting space so I tend to get kicked out from time to time.  Enough chit chat, here's the cards!

Cupid Emily

Another one of Sparkle's adorable stamps!  I had actually made this one with thoughts of participating in a challenge that was being sponsored by Sparkle but didn't pay much attention to the deadline..oops!  But it's still here to share with you!  DSP, Card Stock, and Sentiment are SU.  The Dew Drops were clear but I guess I finally found use for my Copic 100 marker =)

HB2U Frantoonie

The Digi on this card is a Frantoonie made for use ONLY on OWH cards!  I made this one for the OWH Sketch Challenge #62 and the Midweek Throwdown K-9 Challenge.  I'm really happy with this card.  I challenged myself to use up scraps and broke out some stickers!  The paw prints and the sentiment (Happy Birthday To You) are from the crazy drawer of stickers that only seems to keep growing.  I was so amazed when digging through it that I found stickers that had actually gone bad!

Thanks So Much

I really wanted to add this card since I made it for a previous Sketch Challenge and never posted it.

Well I hope that you enjoyed looking at my cards and I wish you all a fabulous weekend!