OWH Vacation Challenge #11 - Use 10 or 20 things!

Here are my 10 ingredients:
4 pieces of paper
3 pink half pearls
1 button
1 piece of embroidery floss to tie the button on
1 piece of lace ribbon
HAPPY 2011!!

OWH Vacation Challenge #9: anything but pink

A day late, but here's my offering for the "no pink" challenge; it also fits with the "Missing You 4 Kids" challenge at OWH. I made the "hugs" sentiment on my computer. Thanks for stopping by! Happy New Year!

OWH Midweek Throwdown: Missing you cards 4 kids

I made a boo-boo on this card; shouldn't have stamped the giraffe in black! Oh well, live and learn. Thanks for stopping in!

OWH Vacation Challenge #8: Miss You!

Wow! It feels like ages since I made a card. The holidays were busy, and I'm glad to get back to cardmaking. I made two today for Vacation Challenge #8 (Missing You). I hope the HELLO one is a good masculine card and the yellow card would be cute for a girl to receive. I used SRM stickers on both cards; the words "miss you" are a little alphabet rubber stamp set. The papers on the HELLO card are SU; not sure about the other paper. Thanks for stopping by. Happy New Year!

OWH Sketch Challenge #47

Welcome to Julie, the new OWH sketch challenge coordinator :) !! I used Stampin' Up papers for my card. I just realized that putting the white flower there doesn't really go with the sketch, oops!

Midweek Challenge OWH

The challenge was to use ribbon creatively. I just made a bow (not too creative) but I thought I'd post it anyway. I pulled out my little chef digi and colored it with Prismacolor pencils; and I used an SRM sticker.

My Christmas Village

Just wanted to share a photo of my Christmas village!

OWH Sketch Challenge #46

OWH Sketch #45

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! I made this card for the OWH Sketch Challenge with Stampin' Up papers and lace ribbon, along with a couple of half pearls and rhinestones. Thanks for stopping by!

OWH Sunday Sketch #44

One more for the Archway Cookies challenge, using my free teenybopper digi! The next post down shows two more versions.
Off to the post office to get a box in the mail to Dixie.

More Valentines w/ my digi girl and Paula's digi!

Another Valentine using Paula's digi!

Paula's amazing Valentine digi really got me thinking out of the box on Valentine colors! I really like this color combo. Over at Operation Write Home we have a challenge from Archway Cookies to make 4,000 by 12/1 and they'll send an equal number of cookies to our troops overseas! If you'd like to help, go to www.operationwritehome.org!

Painted Wedding Invitations

Hi everybody, this is a photo of a neat wedding gift idea I thought of. People give me a wedding invitation and describe or show me photos of the wedding flowers. Then I paint them onto the invitation. Framed, it makes a really nice gift. If anybody ever wants one for a wedding gift, just let me know.

Thanks for your feedback!

I just wanted to thank all the crafters who left the wonderful comments at my blog. I hope you enjoy using my new digi to make cards for OWH.

OWH Sketch Challenge #43

Here is a Valentine I made today using Paula's great new digi from the bloghop!

Blog candy winner: Betty at Simply Scrapping!

Betty at Simply Scrapping is the winner of my blog candy! Betty, please post your email address here so I can contact you. Congrats!

OWH Be My Valentine Bloghop! Welcome!

Thanks for hopping over from Cleota's at What's Inking; hope you had fun at her lovely blog!

Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home (OWH) Be My Valentine Blog Hop! If you have time while you're here, feel free to look around at some of the other cards I've posted. If not I hope you'll come back and visit. If at any time you want to return to the beginning of the bloghop, here's the link to the OWH Stars and Stamps Blog, where you will find a list of all of today's bloggers and other goodies.

Isn't this a great day for OWH and all of us cardmakers? It's a chance to share skills, tips and inspiration; meet new friends; and support each other in the OWH effort!

If you're new to OWH, new to cardmaking or want to try making cards for our heroes serving far from home, there is tons of info at the OWH home page including the submission guidelines for cards, tutorials, sketches (suggested lay-outs), sample cards, discussion forum, fun challenges, etc.! There's always something new at the OWH website. I made my first cards for OWH just this past June; I set up my blog soon after; and this is my first time in a bloghop. I've had so many questions from Day One, and everyone has been so helpful to me.

I had trouble positioning my photos for today in the order I would like, but after fussin' and fumin' for awhile, I decided to just roll with it! My first photo above is of a little stash of yummy, no-calorie blog candy I'm giving to one lucky bloghopper. Just post a comment here at my blog by midnight Monday (I added a day because there are so many blogs to go through) and I'll draw the winning name from a hat. Please watch my blog for the winner's name so I contact you.

I made the two Valentines pictured above, using -- TA DA! -- my NEW DIGI! I used my Prismacolor pencils as well as papers from Colorbok (Target) and Recollections. I took a white gel pen and wrote "4U" on the heart. I found those tiny red metal stick-on hearts at A.C. Moore. I haven't found a "Happy Valentine's Day" sentiment stamp yet; hope I'll find a good tip for one on the bloghop today. I'll stamp the inside of the cards with it when I find one. I hope you have fun with my digi using various colors, papers and designs! Let me know if you make a card with it for OWH. Even better: if you post it to your blog or the OWH gallery, give me a shout-out! I'd love to see what you create.

Thanks to my friend, Mark, for putting my drawing into digi format for me (I just like to draw, lol)! It's posted here in both .png and .jpeg format. Please don't sell it or claim my art as your own work. Simply left-click on the digi, then right click to save it so you can adjust the size when you use it:


A few important reminders from OWH: NO MORE HOLIDAY CARDS because the deadline has passed; and the deadline for VALENTINES IS JANUARY 7th!
SANDY'S SPECIAL MISSION: If our OWH shippers receive 4,000 Valentines from cardmakers by DECEMBER 1st, ARCHWAY COOKIES will match our cards with cookies for the troops!! We can do it! OWH'ers ROCK!

Also, don't forget to vote and ask all your friends to vote for OWH in the Joann Craft for a Cause Contest. We can vote once every 24 hours! OWH is one of three finalists thanks to all the entries sent in by OWH'ers! The grand prize would be a huge help to OWH for the costs of shipping cards to our troops!

I hope you have lots of fun on your OWH Be My Valentine journey! Here's the link to your next stop at Sheryl's awesome blog!

Thanks for visiting Bits of Cheer. Have a wonderful day and weekend!

God bless our heroes and their loved ones!

MWT: Missing You/Ribbon challenge

I got this idea from a magazine because I had some similar black and white paper. It was supposed to be turned sideways but I couldn't fit my tag that way so I just turned it vertically. I wanted to use that little "Note" rubber stamp, so I had to improvise and make a tag with a scalloped square. The "Missing You" sentiment is a separate little stamp I have.
Thanks for stopping by and see you at the Be My Valentine Bloghop this Saturday for my free digi and blog candy.

OWH Sketch #42 and Be My Valentine Bloghop HINT!

These are two takes on this week's sketch at Operation Write Home. The blue whale might make a cute Valentine for a boy; the rooster card indulges my love for the collage-y, vintage-y, country look (you can tell I'm not sure what to call this style)
I'm getting excited about the OWH bloghop next Saturday! I know you are, too. Here's my HINT: I'll be offering another FREE DIGI! It was so much fun offering my chef-with-cake digi during the OWH Birthday Bash, I just had to do another one! Plus, I'll have some blog candy to give away. See you Saturday!

OWH: Midweek Throwdown - Paper Piecing!

This is my first card and blog post in the past busy week; I was having cardmaking withdrawal! Good to have my hands inky again! I stamped the little girl onto PP, cut out her little dress, and pieced it onto another stamped image. Made my own little photo corner, paper bows for her hair, and layered on the paper flowers, half pearls and pink brad. Background is SU Square Lattice ef (love, love that ef). Coloring done with Prismacolor pencils.

Hint, hint: I'm working on a free digi for the OWH Be My Valentine Bloghop next Saturday, Nov. 13!! Blog candy, too!!

OWH Midweek throwdown: Almost anything goes!

I've been admiring the Pure Innocence stamps for quite a while and finally ordered two! They are so sweet. I used one of my new stamps for these 3 cards today, before I hurried up to the post office to ship a box to Dixie before the holiday card deadline! This stamp is handy for holiday, Valentine's Day, love and miss you cards!
Sorry I don't have the identities of the PPs. The scalloped oval is a Spellbinders die. I embossed with ProvoCraft's Snowflakes and Stampin Up's Square Lattice folders. I used my Prismacolor pencils, except on the monochromatic "white" card. I really like that snowy white look! The heart button might be too thick to "pass muster" but I thought it was perfect for this all-white them. I bought the white buttons at JoAnns. Other "ingredients": tiny snowflake punch, half pearls, ribbons from stash.
Hope you enjoy! Thanks for stopping by.

OWH Sketch Challenge #40

Watching football today (Redskins won!!) and working on cards, planning to send in a few more holiday cards to OWH before the deadline. This cute double-sided PP is "Figgy Pudding" by Basic Grey; the stamp is Recollections. I added a few little punched snowflakes, a punch button, and ricrac. Have a good week!

OWH Midweek Throwdown: cards for guys

The PPs for this card are from a Me & My Big Ideas mat pad. I just couldn't resist the blue flower and hope the black brad and rhinestone make it masculine! I also wasn't sure whether a guy would like the checked ribbon, but at least I didn't make a bow, lol!

Keyhole Cropping

For the keyhole cropping technique, I used this beautiful stamp that is part of the Stampin' Up Bells & Boughs set I just received from Holly. I don't seem to have a lot of stamps that work with the technique...guess I'll be goin' shopping! I used cranberry ink with the stamp and a swatch of SU PP also from Holly. Cranberry ribbon and green "rhinestones" from my stash.

S&S Sketch Challenge #39

I don't have any "storebought" note cards on which to write some AnyHero notes so I raided my box of scraps to put together some cards for the AnyHero shortage! This is one I made based on this week's awesome sketch! Bright and cheery but a tad crookedy.

October Surprise Challenge

These are a few of the cards I'm mailing to Dixie today for the October Surprise challenge, which is to send Christmas cards to our OWH shipper by 10/16!

OWH Sketch Challenge

Here's my take on this week's great sketch. Made a holiday card to put in my October Surprise Challenge box which I plan to mail to Dixie tomorrow.

OWH Midweek throwdown challenge: Christmas cards!

I've been wanting to use Yolanda's cute digi and finally did today. I moved all my card making stuff downstairs and it took awhile to get back in business, so to speak.
Following Yolanda's technique, I CB'd the girl's jacket, hat & the snowman's scarf with the Provo Argyle folder, then cut them out and pieced them onto another copy of the image (Yolanda used the Herringbone folder, which I don't have...yet). I punched a few extra snowflakes for the sky and next to the sentiment. Thanks again for the freebie, Yolanda! www.yolanda-imaginemakeshare.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by.

October Surprise Challenge (OWH Homefront Blog)

Here's a Christmas card I made for the October Surprise Challenge at Operation Write Home! The challenge is to have Christmas cards in the shippers' hands by October 15. My Santa stamp is from A Muse Artstamps; the sentiment is from Recollections. I used my new D'vine Swirl folder to emboss the background. I made the scalloped square with a Paper Shapers punch from EK Success.
The card on my next post below was also made for this challenge, but since I posted it on the weekly sketch challenge at OWH, I wasn't sure if I could post it in two places, lol.
Be sure to visit www.operationwritehome.org, click on Blogs, then on Homefront Blog to learn more and join in the October Surprise Challenge!

OWH Sketch #37

I'm making Christmas cards for the Homefront Blog challenge so that's how I used this week's sketch.
Deets:
Background: CB D'vine Swirl ef
Christmas lights paper from stash; lost name but from Michael's or AC Moore
Stamps: A Muse Artstamps (tree); Studio 18 International Greetings (sentiment)
Thanks for stopping by!

World Card Making Day

Well I just made it before the stroke of midnight! Couldn't let the day end without making a card. This cute little doggie w/ his bone is a Jolee's sticker from JoAnn's.
I realized I shouldn't have put him on a white background, but couldn't remove him, so I lightly outlined the white parts of the sticker. I also posted this card at The Stamping Bazaar for its OWH challenge (although I did something wrong and you can't see the thumbnail).
Hope you had a great day!

AnyHero cards

Three quick & easy AnyHero cards inspired by Sandy's great new digi. I used papers in my stash that are blog candy from the Independence Day bloghop.

Meljen's Designs OWH Challenge: monochromatic card

Be sure to visit Meljen Designs DT blog to learn about their challenge for Operation Write Home:
www.meljensdesignsdt.blogspot.com
Meljen Designs challenged us to make a monochromatic card. I chose to use their Flutterby Fairy digi. It's so cute, and it inspired me to "go green". I printed the digi right onto PP; I hope it works. All the papers are from Heidi Grace Designs. I CB'd the middle piece of PP using the SU Square Lattice folder. I colored parts of the fairy image with Prismacolor pencils and added faux stitching. The sentiment is from Stampendous.
Last night of a great Birthday Bash month for OWH!

OWH Midweek throwdown

The midweek challenge is to make a card for a girl; I used this week's OWH sketch. I feel so rusty because I didn't make cards for a week. The vintage image is one I like from Digital Two for Tuesday. The paper is from Garden Party stack (DCWV, I think), plus a bit of paper I CB'd with my new Square Lattice folder from Stampin' Up. Paper edges inked with JH Distress Ink in Tea Dye. The sentiment is an SRM sticker. Thanks for stopping by!

Making AnyHero letters with kids!

The children made about 40 AnyHero letters today at the Alexandria Book Festival! They had a great time coloring and a few big people wanted to join in the fun and color, too!

Midweek throwdown and kids event!

Here is a birthday card for the MidWeek Throwdown at OWH. My mojo has been kind of stalled lately so it felt good to make a card! Also, I've been preoccupied with getting ready for the Alexandria Story Festival tomorrow, where I'll be making AnyHero letters with kids and reading my story. They are predicting 300-500 people will attend! I hope I have enough supplies...think I'll go back to the copy machine at Kinko's today, lol.

OWH Monday Wondering Challenge

Hi! I chose to make a Christmas card for Teresa Kline's challenge at Enjoy the VA Sunshine, which gave us a great sketch and asked us to make a holiday card.

OWH Pink birthday card challenge/Sketch #33

I used my little chef digi to celebrate OWH's birthday today! I printed him out smaller this time and colored him with Prismacolor pencils. He's very quick and easy to color. The pink pp's are from DCWV Garden Party Matstack; the background PP is My Mind's Eye Abbey Road. The sentiment is a no-name stamp I've had for awhile.
Everything I tried to make today came out crooked. Just one of those days, I guess.
Happy Birthday OWH!



I also finally made a card for the midweek challenge, which was to make a fall-themed thank you card. I used a masking technique that I learned at a workshop at The Paper Source. I cuttlebugged the PP with Spots & Dots ef; the sentiment is Stampendous and the leaf stamp is by Delta. Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a good week!