Ten favorites from my 2011 cards

Here are a few of my favorites among the cards I made in 2011. Hope you enjoy them!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you are enjoying the OWH impromptu trip down memory lane! Head back to the Stars & Stamps blog to continue hopping.

A cute kitty called Pounce!

I made this card for the Seems a Little Sketchy challenge blog, where my friend and fellow OWH'er, Allison, is on the Design Team!
Here is the fun sketch to follow for the current challenge:

And here's my card:

As you can see, I sized it down to an A2 size. The image is a cute freebie digi called "Pounce" posted at Stretch 'N Bubbles, which is sponsoring the Seems a Little Sketchy challenge this week. It says at Stretch 'n Bubbles that the blog/store is undergoing big changes and they're having a sale. Glad I was able to use one of their cute digis!
A family friend has a big orange cat named, appropriately, Marmalade (love it). So I decided to go with an orange theme for my card, with touches of aqua, using scraps from my stash.
Thanks so much for visiting; it really brightens my day! Happy New Year!!

Thank You card for OWH Midweek Throwdown

The Midweek Throwdown challenge at Operation Write Home is to make thank you cards for our heroes to send home to their loved ones. The challenge is in appreciation of Dixie, who recently retired as our East Coast shipper! Yay, Dixie!
I went with my favorite vintage style for my thank you card:

The dress form image is DP from My Mind's Eye "Lost & Found" 6x6 DP Pad. The small rectangle DP piece is from Cosmo Cricket "Odds & Ends". Sorry, I don't have the name/maker of the background DP. The lace trim & button are from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is done in an alphabet set I recently got from Inspired Stamps. I really like the font. I double stamped it, first in SU Crumb Cake and then Memento Black on top.
Thanks for visiting!

OWH Sketch #101

Still working on cranking the mojo up again! For this card, I used DPs from My Mind's Eye (Quite Contrary - Jack & Jill 6x6 DP Pad). I was happy to see AC Moore had a few new 6x6 DP pads in new styles like this! I hope they keep up the improvement!
Thanks for stopping by! I'm sorry if I've been remiss in visiting my friends' blogs lately; I'll try to catch up!! Happy New Year!

OWH Sketch #100!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I posted on my blog! My hip is a little better and, besides, I wasn't about to miss out on OWH's 100th sketch!! The stamps are from Lawn Fawn.
I felt a bit rusty making this card, but I've decided I have to replace my paper trimmer! It's not old, but it simply does not cut straight. (At least I'm pretty sure it's not me, lol)
Thanks for stopping by! Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah to you!

Getting Sentimental for OWH!

The new December challenge at OWH sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs is to make a sentiment the central focal point of a card. ODBD is generously donating the shipping cost for each box of 25 cards for the troops! I chose to use one of the Wordies at MelonHeadz Illustrating. Owner Nikki is back from a brief hiatus and it is so great to have her back doodling her wonderful digis!
Thanks for stopping by.

OWH Sketch #98

Here is this week's sketch at OWH:

When I saw the big circle I remembered a sheet of stickers in my stash by Deja Views called "Travel Stickers" and I thought it would be fun to design a card around this big compass sticker:

The tiny stickers and corner stickers are all from the same sheet. The DPs are from the Butcher Block 8x8 tablet from Deja Views and the Bloc de Passepartout by Me & My Big Ideas. Definitely a masculine card! I stamped a nice big HELLO on the inside.
Thanks for stopping by!

Hambo Snowball Fight!

This week's challenge at the Hambo Hoedown is to use this fun digi or another Hambo stamp and dry embossing. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Some pictures are worth a thousand words, which is why I didn't put a sentiment on this card!
Come back again soon.

OWH Midweek Throwdown: Use a digi!

I used this adorable Sliekje digi for my card:

Sliekje's cute kitty reminds me of vintage Valentines for kids. I colored the digi with black and grey Copics; I've never attached the ribbon this way but have seen Holley do it many times! The silver hearts are from JoAnn's and meant to be ironed on (I glued them on with ZipDry glue).
Thanks for stopping by; have a good weekend!

Masculine Valentine/love card

I thought I'd try to make a Valentine/love card for a guy with this week's OWH Sketch #97:

The DPs I used are My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found" and Cosmo Cricket's "Odds & Ends".
Need to get my Valentine/love cards in the mail tomorrow to OWH for the Archway Cookie challenge!

"Embossed kiss" technique

Maureen posted a fun tutorial at the OWH Stars & Stamps blog. Here's my attempt at her embossed kissing technique.

That's a Cuttlebug embossing folder but I don't know the name of it. The Solid Butterfly rubber stamp is from Memory Box. It's really fun to see what pattern emerges when you stamp onto the embossed paper and then onto another sheet of paper!

OWH Midweek throwdown: love cards

This is a cute clear stamp set from Lawn Fawn. I love that you can put different messages on the paper in the typewriter!

Hambo Hoedown Week 44!

This week we were challenged to use Hambo's new computer digi and something soft. I like the little vase of flowers in the digi; flowers are soft, so I decided to use paper flowers. The "XO" is a rubber stamp. Now I can contribute this as a Valentine/love card for OWH!
Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks a Latte!

Here's a little thank you card which I will post at Crafty Contagion (thank you cards) and Tuesday Throwdown (lots of circles):

Thanks for stopping by, and to everybody for the lovely comments yesterday!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy First Birthday to Inspired Stamps!

I was thrilled to be invited by Antoinette to be a Guest Designer as her company, Inspired Stamps, celebrates its first birthday! I sing in a choir at my church; when I saw the Choir Boy/Angel set, I knew I wanted to create a choir card! The tiny church in the background is from the Me & My House set. I've never made a stairstep card before, so this was a fun personal challenge for me!

Card recipe:
Inspired Stamps products:
Choir Boy/Angel
Me and My House set (church)
Perfect Christmas Sentiments
EK Success Intertwined Arches edger punch
DP: Music Notes, Recollections, Michael's
Stickers: Jolie (holly, ribbon, bell, music note)
Twine: Angela's Happy Stamper, Reston, VA
Copics
Glossy Accents
Stampin' Up Modern Label punch
McGill Fancy Square punch
Embossing folder: Provo snowflake
Here are 2 more views of my boys' choir card:

And here's a link to the stairstep card base tutorial at Crafty Girl's blog.
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I made two other cards for today using Inspired Stamps. Here is my little patriotic Valentine:

Card recipe:
Inspired Stamps: His Little Ones Patriotic Girl with Heart
DP: Passion Fruit Journal by BoBunny
Pink striped DP in a small pkg at AC Moore
Twine: Pink Paislee
Sentiment: Inspired Stamps Perfect Christmas Sentiments
Stampin' Up Jewelry Tag punch
Copics
Glossy Accents

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I have been making cards since June 2010 when I read about Operation Write Home (OWH) in a magazine. I had been looking into ways of marketing a children's book I wrote and illustrated earlier that year. My book happens to be the story of a lady who makes cards for people, so it seems like fate that I would fall in love with cardmaking. There is a link to my storybook blog in the right hand column.
So, of course, I wanted to make a card for today using one of Inspired Stamps' winsome little soldier stamps:

Card recipe:
Inspired Stamps: His Little Ones Soldier with Helmet
Bible Verse: from Choir Boy/Angel set
DP: from open stock at A.C. Moore
Camo type ribbon & green star brads: Michael's
Provo embossing folder: stars
Copic sketch markers

Before I sign off, here are two cards I made recently using David's Shepherd. I won't list all the card ingredients here but they can be found in my October posts. Basically, I indulged my love of paper piecing!

Thanks for hanging in there for this extra-long post! I hope you enjoyed your visit. Thanks again, Inspired Stamps, for inviting me to be a guest designer and congratulations on your 1st Anniversary. Thank you for the sweet and beautiful stamps you create! I wish you continued success!

OWH Midweek Throwdown: All Occasion card

You know how much I love paper piecin'! I used My Favorite Things' Pure Innocence Aim High clear stamp set:

I confess to liking her red socks & shiny shoes the best! Thanks for stopping by!!

Hambo Wee Henry Turkey digi

The challenge at the Hambo Hoedown this week is to use the new Wee Henry Turkey digi and a tag!

I have been using shipping tags quite often lately, so this was a welcome challenge! I embossed the tag and inked the raised parts; and I inked the edges of the tag in a darker color. I also inked the edges of the background DPs and attached an antique brad from Stampin' Up! I colored Wee Henry Turkey with Copics and a gold gel pen.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!

Our Daily Bread Challenge & die cuts from Donna!

Here's the link to the Our Daily Bread Designs (ODBD) challenge at OWH Stars and Stamps blog! It looks like my card is #27 and Sandy is aiming for 50, because ODBD will generously pay the shipping for a maximum of two boxes of 25 cards each month!
My new OWH friend, Donna M. in GA, very kindly sent me an envie chock full of Cricut cuts for me to play with. I decided to try them out on this love/Valentine type card, combined with the Stampin' Up bird punch; flourish and corner stamps from my stash; pearls and pretty pink Bo Bunny DP:

OWH Sketch #95

We are done with Christmas cards at OWH, but I wanted to use this cute new stamp set I got from Hambo Stamps for a "winter wishes" card for OWH. I flipped the sketch, as you can see.
Hot chocolate, anyone? Thanks for stopping by.

Hambo Hoedown: Camera Guy digi

The challenge at this week's Hambo Stamps' Hoedown is to use their new Camera Guy digi and a frame somewhere in the design:

Can't you just picture this big guy snapping photos of his latest catch? So, the fish paper (Carolyn Holt Designs, "Go Fish Mini Fish") floating behind the frame seemed perfect! Luckily, this frame was in a Deja Views "Butcher Block" tablet I've had in my stash forever. I paper pieced Camera Guy with DP from The Natural Stack (DCWV) and kraft paper. The blue strip is from The Linen Closet stack (DCWV) and the houndstooth DP from The Natural stack. I had fun with my silver pen, both coloring the camera and trying to make his belt look like Western silver/turquoise beaded. I added Glossy Accents to the camera lens. I just bought these little screw brads recently and I'm glad I did. This would make a great birthday, Father's Day or Hi Dad card!
Thanks for another fun challenge, Hambo!

OWH Sketch #94

I had a bit of trouble finding the old mojo on this one but you can always count on the pretty Martha Stewart butterfly punch!
Quick post tonight; thanks for stopping by!

OWH Inspiration Challenge!

For this week's Midweek Throwdown at OWH, Jan posted this photo of an amazing t-shirt for an inspiration challenge:

Here's the card I made:

I saw a beautiful sheet of DP at Michael's (Deja Views) with a gold flourish on it and thought that would be perfect for this project. The colorful t-shirt inspired me to bling up my card quite a bit with rhinestones and pearls!
Stamps:
Bird and corner stamp: Inkadinkado
Sentiment: Stampendous
Branch is punched out from an SU punch
Thanks for stopping by!

Trying the Tapestry technique!

Hambo has given us another great challenge at this week's Hoedown, as well as this cute Leaf Snail Rake digi. Our challenge is to choose a technique from the Resources page at Split Coast Stampers. For my background paper, I used Beate Johns' Tapestry technique:

Click HERE to go to the Tapestry tutorial.
I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out, for my first try at this technique! I'll definitely use it again. Before I chose the Ranger Distress Inks I wanted to use for the background paper, I looked at my Copics to make sure I had coordinating colors for the digi.
Thanks, Hambo, for inspiring me to try something new!

OWH Sketch 93

For this little Valentine type card, I used Designed 2 Delight's Be Mine Bear colored with Copics (I need to get more pinks!) plus paper, ribbon & button from stash. One oops: I didn't get the little sentiment stamp placed correctly. It feels kind of funny to make a Valentine on the day before Halloween, but that's the fun of OWH: they need to get the cards overseas early so the troops can mail them home to their loved ones. And, after all, the calendar already seems a bit cattywompus: it snowed here in VA yesterday on October 29!
I hope you have a fun Halloween tomorrow and a great week!

Hambo Newscaster card

The challenge over at the Hoedown this week (Hambo Stamps) is to use this fun new Newscaster digi with NEWSPRINT. When I read through our local paper and saw this article about the "Older Electorate" I thought that it was perfect for a funny birthday card! So here's the newscaster broadcasting the birthday news from this little flat screen TV. I put a piece of sheer plastic over it so it would look more like a TV screen. One of my favorite little touches is the green sticker brad, which looks like the "On" light on our TV! This was so much fun; check out the Hoedown if you want to take part in this weekly progressive challenge!
Now, back to your regularly scheduled broadcast...thanks for visiting!

Polka dots & a shipping tag

The Midweek Throwdown Challenge at OWH Stars & Stamps Blog is to use polka dots. I just took part in a tag swap so I decided to use another shipping tag for this card. It's a lot of fun; there are so many ways to decorate (or alter as they say) a shipping tag. You can scroll down to the next post if you'd like to see the tags I made for the swap!
The image on this card is from Digital Two for Tuesday. I love the lime green and black together. Thanks for stopping by!

Tag Swap at Scrap to Treasure

I took part in a tag swap at Scrap to Treasure, a Facebook page started by OWH cardmakers but not affiliated with OWH. These are the tags I made and I can't wait to receive my package to see what the other crafters came up with!

Cute little Pollycraft witch

This is the first Pollycraft digi I've bought. I visited their site and saw so many cute stamps and digis!! The background DP is from Cosmo Cricket's Matilda stack. I colored the little witch with Copics + Glossy Accents. The little "Boo" is a clear stamp from my stash.
Just for fun I'm posting this at 3 challenges:
Pollycraft Challenge Blog - Spooky Goings On"
Crafty Contagion: Pumpkin
Card Cupids - Halloween
Thanks for visiting! I love company.

Inspired Stamps October Challenge cont'd.

So I used the same cute David's Shepherd from Inspired Stamps and paper pieced again, but with a different palette. It's still kind of an experiment, tho -- a Christmas card w/o red or green! The DPs are from DCWV's Linen Closet stack. I stamped the face and hands on kraft paper. I stamped the eyes and the little lamb on white paper, fussy cut. Colored the eyes with copics and added Glossy Accents. I just love those big eyes! I used an EK Success border punch, teal floss and string on the belly band.
I like the gentle feel of this card; I hope you do, too!
Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired Stamps Oct. Challenge- my B&W palette

I like this silver & black star paper so much; it inspired me to try a "black and white" palette for a Christmas card. I wasn't sure it would work, but I think it has a kind of elegant Christmas effect.
First I used Inspired Stamps' David's Shepherd clear stamp (love it), Memento ink, and used a Nesties Labels die.
Then I stamped on a few striped DPs from my stash, fussy cut and paper pieced the image. I colored the face and staff with Copics, adding Glossy Accents to the eyes. I haven't heat embossed in a long time. I used my Recollections Noel rubber stamp and white opaque embossing powder. I don't usually use Stickles on my cards for OWH, but I wanted to bling this one up, so I added a border of Diamond Stickles to the image and the flower to give it a Christmas sparkle.
My next post is a 2nd card I made for the October challenge. Thanks for stopping by!

OWH Sketch 92 - a card for a hero

My eyes were playing tricks on me today; I didn't quite "see" the new OWH Sketch 92 correctly! So the little strip (I used a ribbon) isn't placed according to sketch. So much for my bifocals!
I used a pre-colored Melonheadz words digi, as well as a Liberty Bell digi that I found at Tidbits Trinkets. I colored in the background of the Liberty Bell digi. The color matches the precolored digi pretty well, I think; pay no attention to my crookedy cutting! The embossing folder is Stampin' Up's Square Lattice folder.
Melonheadz has been on hiatus while Nikki's family moves. I love Nikki's digis and hope she can start creating them again soon.
Hope you enjoyed my card for a hero! Have a good week.