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!