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

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.

Mid Week Throw Down

I wish I remembered to check the challenges on the OWH Blog more often. This week was a thinking of you card. I happened to have CAS'd one from Pinterest this week. I love how pretty this is. It will be just as nice in the spring with pink/green/yellow. I made 6 of these for the OWH box this week.

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.

Bearly Adorable

This week, I am working on cards for four different efforts. First, I have a newphew away at a boot camp style school to graduate early and he gets my first card of the week. Of course, there are always OWH cards to be made, and then a set for a dear friend of mine to give as a gift.
This week's card to my nephew is a bit cutsie. He is going to be 18 in December, after all. However, our family name is Baer - and we have a soft spot for bear images.
This little guy is from Fiskars set and was stamped in Memento ink. And not too bad on the Copics if I do say so myself. It is a learning process for sure.
I made the background paper with some of the smaller images from the same set. The layout - I am sure it is familiar - that Gina K layout is a go to for me all the time. I stamped the image and sentiment, colored the image, then used an oval Nestie die to cut it out. A black fancy oval to mat and finished with a great SU! ribbon.
Of course, I made several for the OWH box while I was at it.

Bright Blue Bling

Over at Operation Write Home we have been on a kick to use the scraps or toss them.  These were all in my basket and coordinated so nicely.
To make this work I started by searching for a piece that had two contrasting colors - the blue and green.  That became the center.  Next I knew I wanted a monochromatic green and blue for the other two stripes.  One would need to be big and bold for the bottom and one small for the top.  I had several options, but like these the best.  Even though there is no border or visible edge of the card base here I did use a card front to adhere the strips.  One because they are paper and not sturdy stock and two so I could tie on that seam binding.
Next I cut a thick strip of the blue and a narrower one of the green - next time I will run one or both of them through the cuttlebug to add some texture.
Finally, the sentiment was two quick Stampin Up punches and some great bling.
I think all the cards I made this week had that TOU sentiment... must have been lonely while my buddy was sick ;)

Rounding it Out

  Most of us use that corner rounder like it is going out of style, but I hadn't seen this look before.  Just simply cutting two strips and lining them up in the corners instead of layering and rounding the inside edges.  Direct to paper stamped sentiment, some coordinating brads and a great piece of seam binding from the Paper Bag Lady on etsy.  

Definately ways to step up this design, but the basic concept of the corners rounded to the inside is really appealing to me.

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.