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

6x6 Sunshine - Tardis Cards

OK, I know this is a telephone booth to most but to Whovians, it can only be the Tardis.  Personally, I am not a fan of the show - but my life has always had several big Dr Who fans, so I am familiar :)

These are both OWH sketches layered with love to send to our troops.

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

And a sneak peek at all the cards I made

Simply Missed

A new stamp - found by a great friend who shared her Craig's List find with me. The background, called Old World Map was stamped with tea dye on the cream. Then I placed the lighthouse from Inkadinkadoo and heat embossed that. I layered brown satin and red ribbed ribbon down the side. Originally, I had the sentiment off to the right. But if felt like it was floating. So I anchored it with the brad through the ribbon. I think that really draws the eye right where you want it. I like that this card is very masculine and very simple - sometimes... I miss you - is really enough. Three of these were added to the OWH box.

Pink Thoughts

I found a sketch form Sweet Shop on ... I know... Pinerest! But I used papers from my stash, a SU Fancy flowers stamps, Copic'd lightly, Martha Stewart border punch and nesties for four pretty simple cards.

Inspired by this PIN

Pinteresting...

Yet again. I used a card from pinterest as the inspiration to make a birthday card for this weekend.

I used My Mind's Eye for the peach/orange layers and Miraposa is that butterfly everyone knows. And goodies from my two favorite etsy shops - all the trim and that amazing black half back pearl trim from Paper Bag Lady. Those big amazing velvet BoBunny flowers? Closeoutgirl Stampin up punches and stamps & gold smooch Martha's butterfly punch Recollection's black flourish and big pearl brad from the bridal section Gold brad from My Mind's Eye The inside sentiment is from My Favorite Things

Here is the card that inspired me tonight:

Repurposing a punch

This oval punch set form Stampin up is usually used horizontally with a sentiment. I

love how they fit nice and even and give such a polished look to a card. Well, on Pinterest (you know...my new obsession) I saw a card very similar to this - and I love it!! So cool to let that punch work in another way. Pocket Silhouettes fit just right. Four of these for OWH came together quickly.

Pretty Triple Time

This triple time stamping style just doesn't get old for me. Stampin Up essential elements set used here. And the fork technique to tie the gray sheer bow (found at the dollar store!) Six of these in the OWH box.

Red Thinking of You

Another straight up pinterest case. I wish I kept better track of who had the original card. But, since all four that I made go to OWH, I don't feel too guilty! These came together very quicky, less than an hour for all four and I think they really look sharp.

Merci for Pinterest

Remember those steps I gave you on CASing a Pinterest card a few days ago? I did it again! This has a subtle polkadot backround so the image just went right on there with the 'merci' stamp and some pretty bling. Very Vanilla seam binding and coorinating papers. I added some fleur di les on the inside and three of these for soldiers who seem to always be in need of thank you cards. Though, honestly, we need to be telling them Thank YOU instead!!

Layered Top Notes

This card is super simple, layered topnotes for the image (fro SU Serene Sillouette), layered punches for a sentiment, and a pretty satin ribbon. Five of these for a soldier to send a kiss home.

Sparkly Cupcakes

I used sketch #2 from Operation Write Home's blog. If ever the mojo gets stuck - head over here, pick a number and your favorite paper and just make a card. I used the amazing stamps from Kanban Fairy Cakes and the sentiment is from Stampin Up. The papers are from a coordinating loose paper pack from Recollections. I didn't snap a photo, but I ran the SU cupcake roller on the inside which I lined with white. A very simple Copic coloring, mostly because I didn't have enough to shade it properly and paper piecing for the bow. To finish it off I swirled some pink gel pen in the contours of the frosting. Ribbon is also SU. Four of these for the OWH box today as I hear my shipper needs 'every day' she can send right now.

Lovely Trees

Lovely as a tree – what an aptly named stamp set from Stampin Up. A girlfriend loaned this to me and she is coming to visit soon. She will probably take it back with her so I need to get busy!! This one is simple, pretty in blue or green. These will make a nice more masculine or at least not overly feminine card for OWH. I made two of the green and four of the blue.

Owl CASE her all day long ;)

The woman who writes this blog has the sneaky kind of talent. She makes paper crafting look easy! Her cards are the reason I am trying so hard to become better at copic coloring. (Not that there is any here) But she posted this great card made with digital images and I just had to case it. Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, you know ;) This one is mine:

Here is her card and blog: http://www.jans-gonestampin.blogspot.com/2012/09/paper-smooches-happy-camper_22.html

Recipe Challenge for the VCMP

A recipe challenge is where we are given certain items/tools/techniques, ect to be used on the card. This one was to use: 1 Image, 2 patterned Papers, 3 words. I saw this card on Pinterest and straight up stole it. Right down to the DP and pink fluffy trim. It came together so easily, I made six for my OWH box.

Retired

A gentleman at the office was retiring and I was asked to make a card for the group to sign and send on. I don't have much in the retirement category so I went off to Michael's to see what i could find. Not much!
There are lots of digis out there, but not one that I thought my still lacking copic skills could tackle.

So, I did what any good crafter does... I raided someone else's stash! I asked my facebook group of fellow crafters for goodies - three days later an envelope came stuffed with stamped sentiments... including a completed card!! Though the card was lovely... I didn't think Jim would appreciate the pink.
I am really liking this 6x6 style, it just presents really well. The craft and black stripe and damask are from the same sheet of Graphic 45 paper, layered on Stampin Up's cherry cobbler. All of the ivory was inked up with Tim Holtz's tea dye to coordinate with the G45 paper.
That image, stamped in the same cherry cobbler, and embossed is from Inkadinkadoo.
Some great brads to finish it off.

Rock My World

Webster's Pages, really rocks my paper world. The 6x6 paper pack had the globe here in the corner and I have been trying to think of a way to make this really pop. Until I realized I could cut it out and use it like a stamped image did a sketch come to me. The Stampin Up You Rock My World seems a great sentiment for someone from so far away. I really tried to keep it on the masculine side and thought bringing in that striped paper helped with that. And a bit of a chain border punch for fun down that st

rip. And something I rarely do, but really like here, I stamped the sentiment on a solid matching paper.

This is one of my favorite sketches and I go to it often. This time I used some Inkadinkadoo inchie stamps. Pretty layers, a bit of twine that came from a swap - and that Stampin Up set for sentiments is the perfect finish for this card.

Mojo Monday

I went in search of mojo and found this great MoJo Monday sketch.  I didn't follow it to the letter.  Operation Write Home cards tend to be a big on the simpler side.  But I think this has just enough to make it fabulous and not too much to be busy.

What I liked about this image was the large circle as a focal point.  That seemed a great way to showcase some of the beautiful Echo Park papers I have been hoarding.  So I first selected the butterfly print as my focal.
I started with a kraft colored card base and a front in Rich Razzleberry.  That color was just a bit too bright for the EP paper line so I inked the edges with Tim Holtz Tea Dye.  And stamped my favorite large script, also in tea dye.  That brought the base down to a softer feel.
I just love making my own background papers with Perfect Pearls or embossing or stamped images and decided to do that with the side panel here.  I started with a piece of yellow faux parchment.  Next, I cut out butterflies from the coordinating EP paper with a Martha Stewart punch and glued them down.  Then I ran that concotion through an embossing folder.  The finished look is as if the butterflies are part of the paper.  Really sharp.
The butterfly paper I selected as the focal point was cut with a SU 2.5inch punch. I layered that on a pointy nestabilities die and one final time on the slightly larger brown. I didn't like it just on the pink or just on the brown and this combination seemed to give the best effect.
While I like the circle and pennant on the original sketch, all my attempts just felt like to much on an OWH card.  Though I could see using it for a fellow cardmaker.  I needed to tame it down, keep it flat enough for the USPS and stay with my kind of mellow color pallet.  So I punched holes and threaded the bow through.  I really like that.  Originally, I had thought about adding another butterfly, but when I did it was just too cutsey.  (Heaven forbid!)  Which meant the ribbon on the bottom would be two fibers, which I rarely ever do.  But the punched sentiment gave it that horizontal fee.  In hindsight, maybe I should have layered on the circle and the side panel.
This kraft card base needed a white liner on which I added a little bit of the DP and stamped butterfly.
So - my Monday Mojo toned down made 4 (not so quick cards) for OWH.

Masked Purple

We all have a style that is predominant in what we create.  Though, I am willing to try lots of new techniques and products, I am, at heart, a monochromatic-low-fuss-crafter.  This card started with a 3x3 square of white.  I blocked off the edges and inked the entire surface with Stampin Up's Perfect Plum.  Next, with black, because I wanted it to stand out - I added the beautiful flower from the Creative Images set.

Some simple layers, seam binding from the bag lady on etsy, a quick sentiment and viola a super simple - super pretty card.  I made 4 of these for the Operation Write Home box.

Mom's birthday card

Here is a card I made for my mom’s birthday.  When you have a card maker in your family, the card you make for them is a bit daunting.  So I employed Google!  This card uses the Stampin UP Nature Walk set, which is my favorite du jour, for sure.

As with most easel cards the top portion is scored halfway – at three inches here.  And the card base is only applied to that lower third.  The designer paper is from SU and made a good base.  The next layer is a bit of my own design.  I used the bee, bird cage and flower from the stamp set.  I stamped each one randomly on the cream card stock.  To make it feel more designer paper – ish, after each set, i.e. I stamped all the bird cages with versa mark then brushed on a shade of perfect pearls.  Next I stamped the bees and brushed a second color of PP, finally the sprig that I covered with an olive green PP.  To set it I used a liberal spray of Smooch spray.  To finish it off I added some Tim Holtz tea dye to the edges.  I just hated to cover it all up, it was so cute!

The bird is embossed and stamped in green on a scrip background that also got some tea dye to the edges.  That is layered on the reverse side of the base DP.  A nice big satin ribbon helped ground that deliberately off center bird.  One pretty gold flower from Karla’s Etsy trim and a great smooth stone added to the center.  I don’t often get to use my big lush ribbon roses on cards, but since this one doesn’t have to go through the mail- I thought this was just the perfect finish to the bottom of this card.

Since easel cards show off the inside, I decided to bling it up.  My mom loves sparkly, what better card stopper than that thick shiny embellie from Michael’s?  The sentiment is stamped on cream with some Tea Dye, layered on chocolate chip, layered on a generous portion of white core paper.  I love to use that paper in an embossing folder and then run the emery board to show some of the white.  Of course, a bit more gold bling on the sentiment so it didn’t look so lonely.  All of that topped on a pearly finished green with some corner detail.