welcome, little girl

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Sep 302011

Today was a happy card making day because I needed to make a card for a happy occasion.  One of my friends recently gave birth to a little girl.  I know how excited her family is to have this new addition to their family, and how much that baby girl is truly loved by her parents and siblings.

I decided to use papers from Basic Grey’s Two Scoops 6″ x 6″ paper pad and the layout for the September Sketch For You To Try.  I paper pieced the birds, the star and the moon from Two Scoops scraps.  I think it turned out pretty cute, if I say so myself.  😉

I stayed pretty true to the sketch for this one – no major manipulations, mirror imaging, etc.  I did round the corners of the card itself. Here’s what the sketch looks like:

Thanks for visiting today!  Be sure to come back tomorrow for the Operation Write Home Holiday Blog Hop!

Supplies:
Stamps: Dream Big (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla (Stampin’ Up); various papers from Two Scoops 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: corner rounder, Cutterbee scissors (EK Success)

Posted by PH in VA at 4:30 pm Basic Grey, Cards, Lizzie Anne Designs, SFYTT sketches, Stampin' Up!

winter bunny

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Sep 262011

It’s been a busy few days around here but last night I made time to create a card for this week’s Clean and Simple challenge at Splitcoaststampers.  This time we’re doing paper piecing.

I honestly do enjoy paper piecing – well, most of the time.  But I had a hard time figuring out what to do for this challenge.  Finally I decided to add to my stash of winter cards for Operation Write Home and came up with a snowy scene.   I pieced together the sky and snow for the background.  I partially inked the sledding bunny stamp to get the image of the sled on the snow.  I used a brush pen to color in the parts of the sled that attach the seat to the runners. I stamped the rest of the image parts on scraps of designer paper and cut them out, and then assembled the seat of the sled, the bunny, and the bunny’s scarf.  Then I added the sentiment and a simple black mat before adhering the scene to the card base.

I hope you’ll join the rest of the CAS Design Team and me and participate in this challenge!  I’d love to see what you can create with your paper piecing skills!

Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Bunny, Critters in the Snow (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Plum Pudding (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up); scraps from various 6″ x 6″ designer paper pads (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: multiliner brush pen (Copic); Cutterbee scissors

Posted by PH in VA at 10:00 am Basic Grey, Cards, Lawn Fawn, Operation Write Home, SCS CAS Design Team

more birthday bash challenges

7 Responses »
Sep 212011

Have you been checking out the daily challenges this month on the OWH Stars and Stamps blog?  Today’s card combines a few of them.  One was to use a digital image on the card.  I had printed an extra one of these camouflage-wearing bears when I used this image several weeks ago, and I put it to use now.  Another challenge was to use the colors red, kraft, and either blue or black.  I chose navy blue.  Because the designer paper is a rather busy pattern, I decided a simple layout would be a good idea.  I used OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #9.  And today’s challenge is to use an image from Hambo Stamps – so that means I’ve combined three challenges for this card.

Supplies:
Digital Image: Camouflage Bear (Hambo Stamps)
Sentiment Stamp: Everyday Sayings (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Kraft, Riding Hood Red (Stampin’ Up); “Pocket Watch” from Boxer 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Night of Navy (SU); printer ink
Other: markers (Copic); Labels Twelve Nestabilities die (Spellbinders); brad (Making Memories)

Posted by PH in VA at 11:14 am Cards, Digital images, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches, Stampin' Up!

leafy thinking of you

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Sep 192011

This week’s Clean and Simple Challenge at Splitcoaststampers is all about leaves.  Stamped or die-cut, however you want to use them on a CAS card is up to you.

I haven’t had much free time for stamping this weekend, so this is what I came up with pretty quickly Sunday evening.  Coloring the leaf and cutting it out were the time-consuming parts of this card.  But the whole process still took me less than 30 minutes.

And now I have another card for the box I’m planning to ship to Operation Write Home in October.

Supplies:
Stamps: Au Naturale (Lizzie Anne Designs); sentiment (Studio G)
Cardstock: Confetti White (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU)
Other: Premier colored pencils (Prismascolor); sponge

Posted by PH in VA at 9:00 am Cards, Lizzie Anne Designs, Operation Write Home, SCS CAS Design Team, Splitcoast challenges, Stampin' Up!

just a quick announcement...

1 Response »
Sep 162011

Congratulations to Kathryn – she’s the winner of the blog candy I offered during the Operation Write Home Virtual Card Making Party!  Here’s the link to her adorable card: Kathryn’s cards

Kathryn, I’ll be in touch with you via the email address you used when you commented on my post.

Thank you to everyone who participated in my challenge!  Let’s keep giving our heroes stationed overseas the ability to keep in touch with their loved ones at home.

Posted by PH in VA at 4:00 pm Miscellaneous

OWH VCMP challenges - part two

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Sep 152011

I was able to get a few more cards made today for the OWH Virtual Card Making Party challenges.  I suppose I’ll just get right to them…

This one is my favorite of the ones I made today.  It’s also the one that stumped me the most.  Tami at Tami’s Craft Connection had challenged us to make a card that one of our heroes could send home to a child.  That seemed easy enough because I have lots of images that would be suitable for a child.  And that became the problem – I had a really hard time choosing!  I finally decided I’d use one of a boy playing soccer.  It’s a digital image, and I had it all ready to print.  But then I switched over to the Stars and Stamps blog for some reason and the listing for Ciara’s challenge caught my eye.  I clicked on it for the details.  OH. MY.  What an inspirational Gibbs smack that was.  I quickly pulled up this digital image from K ‘n’ K Designs and figured out what I was going to do with it.  And here it is – a combination of Tami’s and Ciara’s challenges:

Michelle at Caffeine & Stamps asked us to “Splish Splash” by making a card that was black and white with a splash of another color.  I chose Marina Mist for the color, did a little embossing with a Cuttlebug folder in my Big Kick, added a few corner punches and brads, and came up with this:

Finally for today, I decided to take on the challenge that Dixie at What’s Next presented: to make a non-traditional Valentine.  I pulled out a Lizzie Anne Designs stamp set that hadn’t seen action since last Valentine’s season.  I’m glad I did.  There are a lot of nice sentiments in it that are love-related and would be great for OWH cards year-round.  I chose one of them for this card.  I added a pleated strip of designer paper for a faux ribbon.

So… three more cards today, plus yesterday’s four, plus my penguin card shared Monday, and my two sample cards for my VCMP challenge… that makes 10 more cards, all unique, to send to OWH!  Hooray! 🙂

Posted by PH in VA at 11:30 pm Cards, Digital images, K 'n K Designs, Lizzie Anne Designs, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

OWH Virtual Card Making Party challenges

4 Responses »
Sep 142011

I’ve been working on challenge cards for the Virtual Card Making Party that Operation Write Home threw last weekend.  Here are a few that I’ve come up with.  I’ll keep chatter to a minimum to help keep this post short.

Lisa at Stamping with a Mission asked us to celebrate nature by making cards using an element of nature as the focal point.  I chose to silhouette some flowers against a backdrop of a nighttime sky (at least I think it looks like a nighttime sky).

Next, Barb at Paper Therapy Ponderings challenged us to make a Christmas card using colors that aren’t typically used on Christmas cards.  I had this Madonna and child image left over from making our family’s Christmas cards several years ago.  I put it together with some Soft Suede and Perfect Plum cardstock.

Julie at Handmade by Julie is in charge of presenting the sketch challenges on the OWH Stars and Stamps blog each Sunday.  Her challenge was to choose a number between 1 and 85, and then use the sketch for that number to create a card.  I picked 34 and came up with this quick and easy card.

Jen at The Sparkle Within wanted everyone to “Keep it Clean” by making a clean and simple card.  I used the mirror image of sketch #34 for my CAS card and changed the middle strip to ribbon instead of cardstock.  The picture doesn’t show it well, but the blueish “blob” looking thing is a flower, just in a different color than the flowers in the background of the card.

And ta-da… 4 more cards for OWH.  I hope to share some more Thursday evening!

 

Posted by PH in VA at 11:30 pm Cards, Lizzie Anne Designs, Operation Write Home, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches, Stampin' Up!

buttondown birthday

3 Responses »
Sep 142011

I liked the current itinerary at Desert Islands Crafts Challenge so much that I created a second card for it.  It’s a pretty blatant CASE of a card shared at Splitcoaststampers by bfinlay, but I don’t care that it isn’t original because I really like the way it turned out.  The itinerary items I chose were kraft cardstock, a text print, twine (used in the buttonholes), buttons, a sentiment on the card, and a little green.

Supplies:
Stamps: birthday sentiment (Studio G)
Cardstock: Kraft (Stampin’ Up); Vintage Birthday digital designer paper (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Ink: Mellow Moss (SU)
Other: Soft Subtles buttons, Spring Moss grograin ribbon (SU); twine (source unknown)

Posted by PH in VA at 3:00 pm Cards, Desert Islands Craft Challenge, Digital images, Lizzie Anne Designs

so cool

2 Responses »
Sep 122011

Good Monday morning!  I hope you had a fun weekend.  If you’re looking for my OWH Virtual Card Making Party challenge, please click here -> Think O-W-H!

Today I’m sharing a card I made for several challenges.  This week’s CAS challenge at Splitcoaststampers is to make a card based off of this sketch used by Jenny C.  I’ve had this Lawn Fawn set here for a while and it was begging to be inked up.  So I decided to combine the CAS challenge with the OWH VCMP “Garanimals” challenge, to use an animal on a card created for a child.  I know it’s unusual for me to use sparkly bling, but I wanted to highlight the embossed snowflakes.  I’m glad I did because I had a hard time getting the snowflakes to show up in the photo.

This card also fits into the current Lawnscaping challenge…

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you’ll join in some of these challenges!

Supplies for this card:
Stamps: Critters in the Snow (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky (SU); Pure White Pure Luxury (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: rhinestones (SU); piercing tool (Making Memories); Snowflake embossing folder (QuicKutz); markers (Copic)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, Gina K Designs, Lawn Fawn, Lawnscaping challenges, Operation Write Home, SCS CAS Design Team, Splitcoast challenges, Stampin' Up!

Virtual Card Making Party: Think O-W-H!

7 Responses »
Sep 112011

Hello!  Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home Virtual Card Making Party!  I’m honored to be part of the OWH family, helping our country’s men and women deployed overseas to stay in touch with their families and friends back home.

My challenge for you is to Think O-W-H when creating a card for Operation Write Home by using techniques, products, images, or sentiments that begin with the letters O, W and H.  You are not limited to only using things with those letters, but your card needs to have at least one thing beginning with O, one with W, and one with H.

I have two examples for you.  In the first, the letter O is represented by the organza ribbon.  For W, I created a wreath that is stamped in the ink color Wild Wasabi.  The green cardstock is also Wild Wasabi.  My elements for the letter H are the sentiment, “Happy Holidays”, and the holly berries.

I had a hard time getting a good photo of my second card. There are scored lines underneath the image and sentiment but they don’t show up very well. Anyway… For the letter O, there’s an orange hat on this one layer card.  W is for the white cardstock and the wiener dog that was colored with watercolor pencils.  H is represented by the hat and the sentiment, “Hot dog! It’s your birthday!”

Got the idea?  Here are some more suggestions for each letter to help start your creative juices flowing.  You are NOT limited to these ideas.  Feel welcome to use anything else that begins with O, W and H!

O:  ornament, octopus, ostrich, oval, oak, orchid, olive, origami, OMG!, O’s and X’s

W:  wagon, wildflowers, world, wolf, wings, winter, woodgrain, wisteria, woven ribbons or cardstock, What’s new?

H:  hero, horse, hippo, heart, house, hunter green, heat embossing, half pearls, Hello!, How’s it going?

Don’t forget the OWH mailing deadlines!  If you want to use “Halloween” for your “H”, your shipper will need to receive your card by Friday, Sept. 16!

I have a little something to award one lucky person who decides to take on this challenge!  Use Mr. Linky below to link up your card before he expires, and on Friday, Sept. 16, I’ll announce the winner of a one-pound block of 6″ x 6″ Bazzill Basics solid colored cardstock!  If at least 20 people link their cards, I’ll include a few extra surprises.

So, go get creating, and then share your card with us!  I’m looking forward to seeing what happens when you Think O-W-H!

Supplies for the wreath card:
Stamps: Medallion, Warmest Regards (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler (SU)
Other: petite scalloped circle Nestabilities die (Spellbinders); organza ribbon (Michael’s); universal hole punch (Making Memories)

Supplies for the hot dog card:
Stamps: Party Animals (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Pure White Pure Luxury (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: watercolor pencils, blender pens (SU); scoring board (Martha Stewart)

Posted by PH in VA at 3:30 pm Cards, Lizzie Anne Designs, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

Paper Therapy challenge - heavy metal

2 Responses »
Sep 092011

It’s time for another Paper Therapy Design Team challenge!  Today we’re asking you to use metal embellishments on your project.  Use a little or a lot – it’s up to you and it’s all good.  Just be sure to share your project in the September 9 thread on the Paper Therapy challenge forum by October 8, 2011.

Here’s what I created for the challenge.  The flower centers are brads, and a small frame highlights the sentiment.   I also worked several of the current Desert Island Crafts Challenge itinerary items into this card – flowers, nature inspired, a sentiment, a little bit of green, and dimension.  And I don’t think it’s too lumpy for Operation Write Home.

Supplies:
Stamps: Artfully Asian (Stampin’ Up); Tag Lines (Gina K. Designs)
Cardstock: Confetti White, More Mustard (SU)
Ink: Always Artichoke (SU)
Other: Always Artichoke marker, blender pen, Hodgepodge Hardware, dimensionals (SU); flowers (Prima)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, Desert Islands Craft Challenge, Gina K Designs, Operation Write Home, Paper Therapy, Stampin' Up!

simply thinking of you

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Sep 082011

Just a quick post today – I need to make sure I’m ready for Operation Write Home’s Virtual Cardmaking Party coming up this weekend!  Check out the OWH Stars and Stamps blog starting Saturday morning for all the details. I’ll be hosting one of the challenges on Sunday, and I hope you’ll join in!

Here’s a pretty quick and easy card I made recently for OWH.  It’s a pretty direct CASE of a card I found in the Splitcoaststampers gallery.  I simplified it by leaving out the brads and the texture.

Supplies:
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Afternoon Tea designer paper (SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky (SU)
Other: standard circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); sponge

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

sole mate - and some happy news

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Sep 052011

Happy Labor Day!  I’m thrilled to announce that some of the labors of my stamping have paid off because I was chosen for the Splitcoaststampers.com Clean and Simple Design Team for Fall 2011!  I’ve tried out for it a few times before and was chosen for a couple guest designer spots, but this time I finally made it through to the full-fledged design team.  I’m super excited!  🙂

I have to confess that my excitement was dashed a bit when I received the assignment for my first challenge as a DT member.  It’s a theme challenge – shoes.  I have exactly two stamps – both tiny ones –  that would work for that theme:  the boots from Stampin’ Up’s Branch Out set (and I’m still not sure why they put those in there), and a flip flops stamp.  It wasn’t too hard to choose the flip flops.  After a lot of thought, I finally came up with a sentiment that would be nicely suitable for Operation Write Home.  Like a lot of the sentiments I use, it’s a pun.  Then I hesitated on using it because it looks like I misspelled a word in it.  Finally I decided to go with it anyway, because the pun becomes pretty apparent when you see the flip flops.

Then I got to thinking that “sole” could also be interpreted as “only”… so maybe it’s another way of saying “You’re my one and only.”  I suppose it’s all up to the hero who chooses it to send home to his or her loved one, and what the recipient reads into it.

I discovered something pretty cool when I was adding a bit of color to the flip flops. Coloring Apricot Appeal marker over Pretty in Pink marker results in a color very very similar to Groovy Guava (at least on Naturals Ivory cardstock). That’s what I used for the tiny flowers on the flip flops. My Bliss Blue marker (yes, most of my SU markers are THAT old) turned out to be a really close match to Soft Sky.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you get to enjoy a day of rest and relaxation.

Supplies for this card:
Stamps: A Little Love (Stampin’ Up); computer generated sentiment
Cardstock: Naturals Ivory, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava, Afternoon Tea designer paper (SU)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU); printer ink
Other: Bliss Blue, Pretty in Pink, Apricot Appeal, and Chocolate Chip markers, dimensionals (SU); standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); white Signo gel pen (Uniball); corner rounder punch (EK Success)

Posted by PH in VA at 7:30 am Cards, Operation Write Home, SCS CAS Design Team, Splitcoast challenges, Stampin' Up!

black, white and read all over

9 Responses »
Sep 032011

In honor of International Literacy Day on September 8th, Cas-ual Fridays is presenting a challenge to create a CAS card that’s inspired by a book – but there’s a slight catch. You also have to use the colors black, white and red.

After giving this challenge some thought, I decided to make a card based on one of my all-time favorite books, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.  I figured since fall is approaching, it was appropriate to have red leaves.  Instead of pulling out my distressing tool, I roughed the edges of the focal panel with my thumbnail to distress them just a little bit.  I chose the sentiment for two reasons – it relates how Francie felt after one of the other characters died (I don’t want to give away too much of the story for anyone who hasn’t read it!), and because I wanted to make another “missing you” themed card for Operation Write Home. I used textured cardstock for the card base to add a little extra visual interest.

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Branch Out, Three Little Words (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White textured (SU)
Ink: Real Red (SU); Onyx Black (VersaFine)

Posted by PH in VA at 12:30 pm Cards, CAS-ual Fridays challenges, Operation Write Home, Stampin' Up!

two sketches, two cards

1 Response »
Sep 012011

Since I slipped up and forgot to post earlier in the week, I decided to share two cards with y’all today.

The first one is just an easy peasy one using this week’s Stars and Stamps sketch.  I had printed the digital image a while ago, so all I needed to do now was color it and cut it to size.  Embossing the background took just a few moments. I decided to use twine instead of ribbon, so I used three pieces to give some width to that feature of the sketch.  And within about 20 minutes, I had a card.

I actually made today’s second card about a week ago.  This time InStyle Stamps’ Chloe is happy to present someone with a gift.  I’ve always interpreted it as a birthday gift, but there’s no reason this image couldn’t be used for any other gift-giving occasion – Christmas, Hanukkah, Mother’s or Father’s Day, or even as a thank you.  Just change the colors and add a sentiment of your own to suit your needs.  That’s one thing I love about creating my own cards – there’s no really “right” or “wrong” way to make them!

Anyway, back to the card.  I used the Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge #83 for the layout and decided to make it a birthday card.  During the OWH CAS Blog Skip a few weeks ago, Kate at Hello from Kate! had used this floral print designer paper with the sandy-colored background.  I’d always been kind of stumped as to how to use it, and she inspired me to give it a try.  So I paired it with a multicolored stripe paper from the same package, and used the colors in the striped paper to determine my color scheme for the card.  After all,  just because there’s a girl on the card it doesn’t mean the card has to be pink.

And there they are – two more cards for Operation Write Home.

Supplies for the bunny card:
Digital Image: Bunny Hug (Amber Ink.)
Cardstock: Kraft, Pink Pirouette (Stampin’ Up); Basics White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: printer ink
Other: Premier colored pencils (Prismacolor); odorless mineral spirits (Houston Arts); D’vine Swirls embossing folder (ProvoCraft); brown sugar twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon)

Supplies for the Chloe card:
Digital Image: Birthday Chloe (InStyle Stamps)
Sentiment: It’s Your Birthday (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Bashful Blue, Delicate Dots designer paper (SU); Basics White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Bashful Blue (SU); printer ink
Other: Premier colored pencils (Prismacolor); circle and petite scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

Posted by PH in VA at 10:00 am Amber Ink, Cards, Digital images, InStyle Stamps, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches, Stampin' Up!
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