miss you beary much

7 Responses »
Aug 012011

I had some crafting time Sunday which allowed me to get a couple more of the OWH July 4th weekend challenges completed just in the nick of time!  Brenda’s challenge was to use camouflage on your project, and Linda asked to “‘bear’ your heart for OWH” by including a bear and a heart on your card.  I had this cute image of a bear dressed in camouflage and figured this was a perfect time to use it and combine these two challenges.  The image actually has military medals on the bear’s chest, but I decided to put a heart-shaped brad there instead.  (Tip – have a brad in the shape you want, but not the color?  You can color it with a Sharpie marker or a Copic marker!  That’s how my brad became a red heart.)  I used this week’s sketch challenge layout from the OWH Stars and Stamps Blog for the layout.

This card also works for one of the Dare To Get Dirty challenges over at Splitcoaststampers.  The DTGD challenges are Splitcoaststampers’ way of thanking their Fan Club members by allowing them to play with the SCS “Dirty Girls” Design Team.  In all my years at SCS this is my first time joining in the DTGD fun.  I hope to work on more of the challenges during the rest of the week.

Anyway… here’s the card.

Supplies:
Digital Image: Camouflage Bear (Hambo Stamps)
Cardstock: Kraft (Stampin’ Up); Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink); red scrap from Sugar Rush 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Riding Hood Red [for sponging] (SU); printer ink
Other: markers (Copic); twill tape, dimensionals (SU); heart mini brad (Making Memories)

Posted by PH in VA at 12:00 am Basic Grey, Cards, Digital images, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Splitcoast challenges, Stampin' Up!

lots of love

6 Responses »
Jun 232011

Late last night I noticed that this week’s Midweek Throwdown challenge on the OWH Stars & Stamps blog is for cards with a “love you” theme.  Well, that was easy to meet since I’ve been making several for the Start the Second Million Challenge.  I’ve already shared my simply love you card.  Here are some more that I’ll be sending to Operation Write Home in the next few days.

First is another starburst card.  I did it as a mirror image of the Father’s Day cards I shared earlier this week because I get bored making too many near-duplicate cards.  Isn’t this bunny from Lawn Fawn adorable?  I just love him.

The next card uses the layout from OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #73.  Well, actually, it’s a mirror image too because I’d already used this sketch for a few “miss you” cards before I started on this one.  I also changed the sizes of the blocks a bit to add a couple layers.  Here I was trying for something more masculine that one of our military women could send home to her husband or boyfriend.

The next card twists the sentiment a bit but it still says the same basic thing.  I used OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #66 for this one.  Once again I was going for something that could work as a masculine card, but I think maybe this one really ended up more gender neutral.  Those are love birds, yes?

 

Even though my perfect pear card, my apple card, and my chairished card don’t specifically use the words “love you” I think they fit the theme too.  There are lots of ways to convey thoughts of love!

Supply lists:

The bunny card:
Stamps: My Silly Valentine (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Barely Banana, Very Vanilla, Always Amethyst (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Sugar Rush 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: Always Amethyst marker (SU); standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

The blue card:
Stamps: Everyday Sayings (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Wild Wasabi (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Two Scoops 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Blue Bayou (SU)
Other: Heart #3 Sizzlits die (Sizzix); chipboard; sponge

The bird card:
Stamps: Riveting (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Whisper White (SU); designer papers from Offbeat 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Baja Breeze (SU)
Other: standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

Posted by PH in VA at 9:30 am Basic Grey, Cards, Lawn Fawn, Lizzie Anne Designs, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches, Stampin' Up!

thinking of tulips

4 Responses »
Jun 062011

I know, it’s late in the season for tulips, but I think this stamp set is so pretty and I haven’t used it for a long time.

I made today’s card for Operation Write Home, using the green and purple color scheme from last week’s Midweek Throwdown Challenge on the Stars & Stamps blog.  I chose shades of plum for my purples.  Because I’d used this basic idea a few years ago, this was a quick and easy card to make.  The piercing in the corners of the green mat doesn’t show up well – one larger hole flanked by two smaller ones – but I think it makes a nice effect on the actual card.

All supplies for this card are from Stampin’ Up unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Terrific Tulips, Sincere Salutations
Cardstock: Pale Plum, Mellow Moss, Whisper White
Ink: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss
Other: piercing tool (Making Memories); ticket corner punch

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Stampin' Up!

thanks, cupcake

4 Responses »
Apr 282011

I’ll admit it: even though I love crafting challenges, the inspiration challenges – where you are assigned a photo from which to draw inspiration for your creation – tend to be the most difficult for me.  I can’t really explain why that’s so.  I guess I feel a little overwhelmed by the choices – do I use the colors, or something from the layout, or does the photo remind me of something?

That wasn’t the case with this month’s InStyle Stamps Inspiration Challenge.  When I saw the inspiration photo, I knew right away that I wanted to use the yummy colors with this cupcake image.  I tweaked the OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #63 for the layout by rotating the card 90°, widening the image panel, and shifting the panel and the embellishment to the center of the card. Here’s my finished creation:

I dug out my bottle of Crystal Lacquer and added some to the dome to make it look more like glass. I haven’t used that stuff in a long time and it was pretty thick, so I had to use a paintbrush to apply it to the image.

Oh, here’s the inspiration photo:

This week’s OWH Stars & Stamps Midweek Throwdown is to make an Any Hero card – one with a note of appreciation and encouragement that would be delivered to a service member overseas to pick up his or her spirits.  I think if I can get over my shyness about what to write in an Any Hero card, I’m going to use this card for that purpose in my next shipment to Operation Write Home.

The supply list for today’s card:
Stamps: Tia’s Appreciation (InStyle Stamps)
Cardstock: Marina Mist (Stampin’ Up); Basics White (Papertrey Ink); designer paper from Cabana 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Inque Boutique)
Ink: printer ink
Other: markers (Copic); Crystal Lacquer (Sakura); Buttercup grosgrain ribbon (Really Reasonable Ribbon)

 

In the spirit of full disclosure, the image used on today’s project was provided to me by InStyle Stamps to aid in promoting their products.

Posted by PH in VA at 11:00 am Cards, InStyle Stamps, ISS challenges, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches

three little piggies

Comments Off on three little piggies
Apr 042011

Good morning! It seems a little odd not to have a Paper Therapy challenge to post today, after having them every Monday for the last six months. Be sure to tune in this Friday for the first challenge of the new bi-weekly challenge format!

Today I’m sharing another card I sent to Operation Write Home last month.  I got the idea for it several years ago from the Splitcoaststampers.com gallery and I thought it would be cute for the recent OWH challenge to make cards for kids.  It felt good to pull a retired Stampin’ Up stamp set out and put it to use, along with bright pink cardstock that I rarely touch.  I drew in the eyes.

Supplies:
Stamps: Fun With Shapes (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Positively Pink, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Positively Pink, Pretty in Pink
Other: Pretty in Pink buttons (SU); black pen (Sakura)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Stampin' Up!

bugs in the system

3 Responses »
Mar 282011

Hello! Welcome to the last week of March! Here’s hoping we finally get some warmer weather in April.

Today brings the last of the weekly Paper Therapy Design Team challenges. Starting April 1, the Design Team challenges will move to a bi-weekly format. A new challenge will be posted every other Friday, alternating with the Paper Therapy Mix it Up challenges. That means a new challenge will be posted at Paper Therapy every Friday, but you will have two weeks to complete each challenge!  I’m looking forward to the new format and I hope my readers will be able to join in more of the challenges.

This week, our challenge is to make a card with a bug on it.  I couldn’t decide whether a butterfly counted as a “bug”, since they are so pretty and elegant!  So I made two cards – one with a butterfly and one with a bug.  Both cards will be shipped to Operation Write Home either today or tomorrow along with the other cards I’ve been making for OWH since Christmas.

The OWH Midweek Challenge last week was to create a card that a hero could send home to a child.  I decided to pair this cute ladybug stamp with some bright colors.  I’ve had this polka dot paper for a LONG time and it feels good to be putting it to use. The Midweek Challenge the week before was to use scallops, and you may be able to see some peeking out around the circle that the bug is on.  (I should have made that mat a bit larger.  Oh well.)

I keep reading that OWH still needs Mother’s Day cards, so I made a few extra to include in my shipment to them.  My second card is one of those.  It’s pretty clean and simple.  Just in case it doesn’t make it to the troops in time for them to send back home for Mother’s Day, I went with a non-holiday sentiment. I came upon this ribbon by a stroke of pure luck.  I recently received an order from Really Reasonable Ribbon and they had wrapped it around the plastic bag containing my things.  It just happened to coordinate excellently with this designer paper!  The butterfly is attached only at the middle, to give some dimension.

And now that I’ve gotten the bugs out of my system (LOL) I hope to have more cards to share with you in the next few weeks.  I hate that I haven’t been posting as much the last couple of weeks!

Here are the supply lists for today’s cards.

Ladybug card:
Stamps: Petite Phrases, Everyday Sayings (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up); polka dot paper (Creative Memories)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: markers (Copic); standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

Butterfly card:
Stamp: It’s Good to Be Queen (LAD)
Cardstock: Basics White (Papertrey Ink); Raspberry Tart designer paper (SU)
Ink: Rose Red (SU)
Other: Beautiful Butterflies die (SU); grosgrain ribbon (Really Reasonable Ribbon); half pearls (KaiserCraft)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, Lizzie Anne Designs, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Paper Therapy, Stampin' Up!

is it Spring yet?

3 Responses »
Mar 102011

Here in Virginia the weather keeps teasing us, going back and forth between warm sunny days and cold rainy ones. The mountains east of us had a dusting of snow on them Tuesday, and (yuck alert) yesterday morning we got a little sleet mixed in with the rain. Personally, I’m ready for more of the warm sunny days!

My daffodils and tulips are growing again, so I suppose Spring really is on its way. The daffodils have buds, but the stems are only about 8 inches tall so they still need to do some more growing before they’ll bloom.

Today’s card brings a daffodil in full bloom.  The image is from one of InStyle Stamps‘ newest sets, Patty’s Bunny Wuv.  I used Copic markers to color the image and used Nestabilities to cut out the image panel and its mat.  The layout is a tweaked version of sketch #54 from the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog.  I hadn’t made a square card for a long time so I just kind of scrunched up the rectangular layout to make it a square.  I added some designer papers and a ribbon cinched with some twine, and then assembled it all.  I used dimensional adhesive to pop up the daffodil panel.

I had the current Desert Islands Crafts Challenge in my mind as I was working on this card.  The elements I chose were making a square card, using nature as inspiration, having a hand colored image, using two or more patterned papers, using twine, and not putting a sentiment on the card.  The card also works into the Stars & Stamps blog’s Midweek Throwdown challenge to use polka dots on a card for a hero to send home.

Supplies:
Digital Image: daffodil from Patty’s Bunny Wuv (In Style Stamps)
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Tea Party designer paper, Prints series designer paper (Stampin’ Up); Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink)
Other: markers (Copic); Buttercup ribbon and Apple baker’s twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon); standard circle and big scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders)

 

In the spirit of full disclosure, the image used on today’s project was provided to me by InStyle Stamps to aid in promoting their products.

Posted by PH in VA at 12:00 pm Cards, Desert Islands Craft Challenge, Digital images, InStyle Stamps, Nestabilities, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Stampin' Up!

moum! parp!

2 Responses »
Mar 042011

I couldn’t help but think of a certain blog post on Hyperbole and a Half while I was making this card. If you’ve never seen Hyperbole and a Half, go check it out after you’re done reading this post.

Today’s card uses this week’s Lizzie Anne Designs sketch challenge layout.   The flower images above the designer paper panel were stamped and colored with markers.  The half pearls match better in real life than they appear in the photo.

You’re probably wondering why I’m showing a Mother’s Day card at the beginning of March, when Mother’s Day isn’t until May here in the United States.  It’s because I’m trying to get a start on my next shipment for Operation Write Home.  They need Mother’s Day cards by the end of March so there’s enough time to send them to our heroes overseas so they can send the cards to their loved ones here at home.

Speaking of Operation Write Home… you’ll want to be sure to tune in tomorrow, because OWH is hosting a HUGE Bunny Blog Hop tomorrow!  Over 130 blogs are participating!  WOW!

Here’s the supply list for today’s card:
Stamps: It’s Good to be Queen (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Vintage Cream (Papertrey Ink); Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue, Petal Patch designer series paper (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Close to Cocoa (SU)
Other: Blush Blossom, Bashful Blue, and Certainly Celery markers (SU); pewter half pearls (KaiserCraft)

Posted by PH in VA at 4:00 pm Cards, LAD sketch challenges, Lizzie Anne Designs, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Stampin' Up!

what's up in the barnyard

Comments Off on what’s up in the barnyard
Feb 102011

Hi there! Just a short post today because I’m feeling a little under the weather. Bleah.

Today’s card incorporates several challenges from the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog. I used two recent Midweek Throwdown Challenges – one to make a card that a hero could send home to his or her child, and one to make a card using a barnyard theme.  I combined those ideas with their sketch challenge #54.  These cute little animals from A Muse always make me grin, and I hope they bring a smile to your face, too.

Supplies:
Stamps: Animal Wishes (A Muse)
Cardstock: Confetti White (Stampin’ Up); various papers from “Green at Heart” 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: Threading Water punch (Fiskars); linen thread (SU); standard circle and petite scalloped circle Nestabilities dies (Spellbinders); markers (Copic)

Posted by PH in VA at 12:00 pm A Muse, Basic Grey, Cards, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches

thinking of you... and retired products

6 Responses »
Jan 082011

While I was making this card I had it in my head that I was using all Stampin’ Up products (well, except for the adhesive, but nobody sees that), but it wasn’t until it was mostly assembled that I realized that nearly all of them were items that had been retired by the company. In fact, the only part of this card that you can find in their current catalog is the ivory cardstock.

This is my first Operation Write Home card of the year.  I followed this week’s OWH sketch layout and I took up the Midweek Throwdown “Shipper’s Choice” challenge of making a “thinking of you” card.  Other than turning the sketch on its side, I didn’t make any revisions to it, resulting in a very flat card that will be easy to mail.

Because the card base is so dark, I lined the inside of the card with another piece of the ivory cardstock.  I decided to dress it up a little by adding a rose to the bottom right corner.

I hope to do more OWH sketches throughout the year.  But there are so many other challenges I enjoy too.  I wish I had enough time to do them all!

Supplies: all products are from Stampin’ Up
Stamps: Wild Rose, Warmest Regards
Cardstock: Cranberry Crisp, Mellow Moss, Naturals Ivory, Recollections designer paper
Ink: Cranberry Crisp, Mellow Moss
Other: Stamp-a-ma-jig

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, OWH Stars & Stamps sketches, Stampin' Up!

valentine birds

3 Responses »
Nov 262010

Today’s card is just a quick and simple one that combines two recent Splitcoaststampers Clean & Simple challenges. Last week they had a sketch to follow, and this week the challenge was to use sponging as a technique. I decided to make another card for the Operation Write Home special mission and this is what I ended up with.

I don’t often use heart shapes on cards, so I don’t feel like I can justify the purchase of the heart-shaped Nestabilities dies set. I have a few Sizzix dies but they’re all pretty small. So for the heart on this card, I traced around one of my cookie cutters and cut it out with my trusty Cutterbee scissors.

Supplies:
Stamps: So Much Love (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: So Saffron, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine); Rose Red (SU)
Other: So Saffron and Rose Red grosgrain ribbon (SU); sponge; Premier colored pencils (Prismacolor); odorless mineral spirits (Houston Arts)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, Lizzie Anne Designs, Operation Write Home, OWH Midweek/Midmonth Throwdown, Splitcoast challenges, Stampin' Up!
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