Any Hero Monday!!

Another Monday, Another chance to tell some deployed soldier or sailor

THANK YOU!

I made two of these ready for notes from the Chicago chapter of DAR to send to someone over seas.  Sure hope it warms him/her up and tells them here at home - We miss you, We are grateful for your service...

Thank you!

6x6 Sunshine - Lovely As A Tree

Stil at it!!  I made two just like this for the OWH box featuring the Lovely As A Tree stamp set.  It could definately go to a woman, but I challenged myself to make birthday cards suitable for men.  And I could definately send this to my dad - so it fits the bill

Here is the paper pack... what's left of it :)

And a sneak peek at all the cards I made

Throwin' Down a Pun

I haven't participated much in the OWH challenges lately.  But since I am gearing up to support my son in law's deployment I thought I would check them out.  Just so happens the Mid Week Throw Down on writehome.org/starsandstamps/">The Stars and Stamps Blog is puns!! One of my favorites!!
I made this card with the MME Sunshine 6x6 stack, that I plan to show you over the next week or so.
I cut the 'staches with a sizix die and layered away.

I made 21 cards from the 6x6 pack below and will show you over the next week...ish (shown below)

Cards In Envy Challenge - three layers

Well, I think my time as a design team member for Cards in Envy is coming to a close. I have learned so much from these women and from all the cards you folks have entered. Sometimes, I sit back and think....life is good! Thank you so much for all the kind comments and support the last six months. I have truly enjoyed my time on this Design Team. I wish I had kept count of how many cards were sent to OWH directly because of this effort, but I can say A LOT! Any way... enough babbling... This month's challenge is three layers.... Me loves some layers! LOVES This card was made with the Authentic 6x6 paper pack. When using several designer papers, I find the packs the way to go. You know they will coordinate nicely.It doesn't show too well on here, but that butterfly is punched out and only adhered on one side so he has a little movement. All right, your turn. Make a card - that fits in a standard envy, link it up and then send it on to Operation Write Home! Thanks!!!

Retirement Card

Another card for work.  This one was much easier to make. Also a woman I admire (They are dropping like flies in my office) Who is retiring fairly young and I couldn't be happier for her!

For this one I used Close to My Heart stamps for those squares on the left, I stamped off the first blush of the ink to make the squares a bit more muted.  I dried them with embossing gun so that when I went to heat emboss the pocket sillouette in black - it would be cleaner and more vivid.

Cards In Envy Challenge...Stitch it UP

This month's Cards In Envy challenge is to use some stitching on a card - real or faux... I opted for faux. I found this bicycle stamp on clearance and the sentiment I bought from a crafty friend cleaning out her supplies. I love how bright and cheery this is. Can you see the DP has little bicycles on it? I rarely use two ribbons on a card, but I liked the feel of these two and feel like it added some good texture to the card. I wish I would remember to add that faux stitching more often, it adds such detail. Hope this makes you want to join us!! Remember the only rule is OWH friendly - make it fit in a standard envy with no more than 1/4 inch of thickness. Make a card, link it up and send it to Operation Write Home.

Funky Pink 'Shrooms

Not too long ago I attended an auction/dinner benefit for the American Theater Company.  A good friend of mine was heavily involved in gathering donations for the auction.  If she told me once, she told me 10 times she had secured a 'HUGE' basket of Stampin Up goodies. 

I could read between the lines... I was to bid to win! Well, I did!  And there were so many great papers, this Funky Four stamp set, the Blossom Punch seen here was in it, too.  I am so glad I won it, Seems like the next 20 cards I made had some of these goodies.

Yellow and Embossed

This was one of those cards that was really hard to make.  A woman I really admire from my office has decided to resign.  She is a true welath of knowledge and personally, I have really looked up to her.  She is the exact opposite of me.  She is quiet, thinks before she speaks and never insults anyone.  Since the day I met her, I have tried (believe it or not) to imitate her style to a degree.
There is no sentiment on this card because, well, frankly, I didn't have one that fit the situation.
I used an embossing folder directly to the card front - leaving the left side untouched and rounded the edges.  The strip down the front is that French Script stamp I can't ever get enough of.  I layered that on a little bit of a scalloped edge.  That pretty yellow flower was from a swap and since this one doesn't go in the mail I used a big, fat, lush ribbon and larger than usual brad.

Serene Masking

I am pretty sure this was a Pinterest case, but I am not too sure.  The white area is left because I punched a piece of scrap paper and used a tiny glue dot to hold it in place.  Then I inked over it.  I think the irregularities of it all really help make the feeling of a sky.  Then I used a little matching DP scrap paper for the top and bottom, added a SU punch and sentiment and coordinating brads. 

Hello There...

I never can get enough of animal prints.  This card is so versitile it can be used all year round.  The giraffe here is from SUs Zoo Review and the sketch is a Gina K classic.

A Little Shabby Card for a Change

This card was a bit different from my usual OWH style.  I don't often use the shabby methods of a nail file to the edges and extra inking.  Guess I was in the mood for a change.  I layered some papers from Prima, ripped, filed and shabbed em up.  Stamped the beautiful cage from SU's Nature's Pace on a tag.  A little button and some twine to connect it al together.

Cards in Envy Challenge #3

This month the Cards In Envy challenge is things with wings...
 

 I use a lot of 'things with wings' in my cards: butterflies, birds, bees so this one was easy for me. The paper is from Echo Park's 6x6 Splash collection. I just love how it naturally had a center point, but I wanted to accent it not to hide it. That is kind of hard given the location. So I decided to make the butterfly just hover over it. For the image, I stamped that beautiful Stampin UP butterfly on white card stock and embossed with white. This allowed me to ink over it with several shades of yellow/orange.

 As you run your dauber over the image, the white lines stay white while the background paper picks up all those pretty tones. I deliberately cut him off center to let more of that inking show and to feel as if he is in motion. Originally, I wanted just the butterfly image, and I don't mind a card without a sentiment - but this one looked naked without. So I layered some punches and placed that off to the side.

Are you inspired??? Remember the only rules for these challenges is the cards should fit in a standard envy with no extra postage. I hope so - make a card, link it up at CIE and send it to Operation Write Home!!
 

Cards in Envy Challenge #2

Time for another Cards In Envy challenge. Remember, sketch on the first Monday and challenge on the third. This time we were to use paper strips as ribbon. This is a great way to keep the bulk down on OWH cards. I used the Stampin Up Serene Silhouette image here and a nice purple color I don't play with often. Since it wasn't over the 1/4 of an inch rule we have at Cards In Envy, I added a second paper strip that I used a border punch on. Hope you find the time to play in the challenge and send that card on to Operation Write Home

Father's Day on My Mind's Eye

My Mind's Eye paper pack was the inspiration for this set of pretty cards. I don't do as many of the masculine cards as some. But I sure do try for Father's Day. My brother lives in Wyoming and is a real old cowboy. This horse stamp had me thinking of him. I think these are the kinds of cards that one of his four boys just might give to dad.

Authentic 6x6 paper pack

Lovin LOVIN this. Cranking out a stack of lovely cards, using up my favorite goodies all to send some homemade love to our heros. One evening of junk TV and these five cards are in the box.

Valentine Series

My daughter's married name is Kee, so she is a sucker for romantic keys - of course that means I am, too. This one has a pretty doily to keep it company. I really enjoyed working with these little images and hope to find another sheet like this for next year.

Love Cards Don't you?

Simple card to showcase a simple sentiment. I like the focus of the sentiment here and the layers of paper with ribbon to add that pop. Hope you do, too.

Valentine Series Puppy Card

I found a sheet of 1.5x2.5 little valentine images like you would trade in school. All on one 12x12 sheet at Michaels. For the next few days I am going to show each one. They are simple, but when the image is the same size I like how the sketch kind of shows through. Stay tuned and let me know which is your favorite!!

Valentine Series Light me up

I found a sheet of 1.5x2.5 little valentine images like you would trade in school. All on one 12x12 sheet at Michaels. For the next few days I am going to show each one. They are simple, but when the image is the same size I like how the sketch kind of shows through. Stay tuned and let me know which is your favorite!!

Sailing By

New stamp sets are big inspiration for me. This one came today from Stampin up. Just a simple layer of crumb cake stamped world map on top of cranberry. A bit of sheer ribbon on the side. The ship is embossed and the brad is from My Mind's Eye thought this would be a good masculine card. Three of these for OWH tonight.