Love Card Without Hearts

The July Mid-Month Challenge for OWH is to make a love card without using hearts. I used a rose image from the GinaK Stately Flowers 6 stamp set and colored it first with Tombow markers in green and dark pink. I stamped the image, then water colored it with an aqua brush. The mats were cut with Lil Inker stitched rectangles and the sentiment circle was done with a bottlecap die and my Quickutz. 

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope your day is a great one!

Carol

OWH Sketch #258

Here's my take on the OWH sketch #258 using a cute Penny Black image colored with Copics. I've already sent my final box to OWH, so this card will be heading to Cards for Hospitalized Kids. I took a picture of my final box of 238 cards, but somehow it's become a file that Windows can't open, so I'm unable to share it with you. Having OWH closing it's doors is definitely a bittersweet moment for me as I've enjoyed donating cards to our military tremendously.

I used as many bright colors as I could find to make this cheerful. The banners were made with snippets from a Recollections collection I've had since I made a Disney scrapbook for my DGD. I added another ribbon brad with a little snippet of orange ribbon just for fun. I left the sentiment off because the image will hopefully bring a smile to the recipient.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope your weekend is fantastic!

Carol

A Hero's Thank You

This is one of several "any hero" thank-you cards I'm enclosing in my final box of cards heading to OWH before they close. I used a retired SU! image and sentiment for this, embossing the image on kraft with gold embossing powder. I drew lines around the Nestabilities Labels 2 die before cutting the image, and then colored with Copics. I put it on a dark green piece of cardstock, and punched 3 gold stars using a SU! mini star punch. The banner was done with SU! framelits and I drew around that with a fine black marker before cutting - just like the image panel. I don't anticipate being able to use this image too often after OWH closes, so I'm making cards to thank our heroes.

I'm sharing this with the OWH ODBD July challenge to make "thank-you" cards for our heroes.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Carol

Red and White

Today I have a CAS card which I find more difficult to make than a heavily layered version. I began with the Technique Tuesday sentiment and put it into brackets made with my SU! tab punch. I added an embossed panel done with a SU! mini hearts ef, added a narrow strip of red cardstock, and a die cut "Love" from MFT die-namics. Done!

I'm sharing this one over at the Little Red Wagon challenge #296 which is to use red and white in celebration of Canada's birthday.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great weekend!

Carol

Red, White, and Blue Love You

I have a card today that might be the last one going into my final OWH box of cards. With July 4th being just 2 days away, I'm in a very patriotic frame of mind and have made quite a few cards using red, white, and blue.

I used a sheet of Pebbles dsp for the background, and the strip of navy stars on the tag was the edge of the 12x12 dsp. I cut 3 feathers with a Memory Box wild feathers die, and tied them together with some red, white, and blue twisted twine. The tag was done with a SU! scalloped tag punch, and I added 2 mini star brads, along with some white satin ribbon. The red panel was done with a Lil Inker stitched diagonal die, and I added some random heart pieces from my doo-dad box. The sentiment was done with a SSS small "love you" die.

I'm entering this into the Memory Box Challenge #2 - use a MB stamp or die (I used Wild Feathers die) and use the colors red, white, and blue.

I'm also sharing this at the Snippets Playground #183 - use snippets

I'll have something else to share later on this afternoon, so stay tuned. Make it a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Patriotic Thinking of You

With the 4th of July just around the corner, I've been in patriotic mode, making lots of cards in red, white, and blue colors. For this I used a SU! framelit die for the large tag, a SU! scalloped top punch for the striped panel, and 2 more SU! framelit dies for the red and white panels. The sentiment is from LOTV, and I added a strip of light blue dsp diagonally, with 3 negatives from a SSS star border die. The embossed background is from Darice, and the bow was done with some divine twine from Whisker Graphics.

I'm entering this into the Shopping our Stash #208 challenge which is to use a button, a bauble, or a bow.

I'm also entering this into the Cards in Envy challenge which is red, white, and blue.

Last but not least, I'll enter this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge which is anything goes.

Have a great last day of June everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

OWH sketch #257

Here's my take on the OWH sketch challenge #257 using a piece of dsp along with it's reverse side, as well as some bashful blue cardstock. I used 2 different SU! flower punches, and added some mini brads, along with some pearls from Kaiser. The sentiment is by SNSS.

                              

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope your day is a great one!

Carol

Mosaic Top Note

I enjoy making mosaic panels for my cards when I have lots of small left-over snippets of dsp, so here's one I made and cut with a Top Note die. I randomly snipped tiny pieces of MB dsp and placed them in a pile. I took a piece of scrap A2 cardstock (those stamping mishaps are good for this), and ran it through the Xyron to lay adhesive on the entire piece, then randomly placed the snippets on the sticky side, leaving spaces between them which I sprinkled with white ep and heat embossed afterward. After it was embossed, I cut it with the Top Note die. This looks great with dark cardstock and gold or sliver ep as well. It takes time but I find it extremely relaxing, so every now and then I make one to use my snippets. The butterfly is from MB using the vivienne and darla dies, and the sentiment is SU! I embossed the background dsp with a SU! square lattice ef and I'm pleased with the way this feminine card turned out.

I'm sharing this one over at the Snippets Playground #183

Thanks to Bonnie for her comment letting me know about the new Memory Box Challenge #1 which is "butterflies" where I'll be linking this too.

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you a great Sunday!

Carol

Friday FWF

I've challenged myself to try to use up paper pads that have been collecting dust before buying anything new. The paper pad I used for today's cards came as a free gift with an order I placed several years ago. I wasn't fond of the dull colors, but I met the challenge and used them to make cards for OWH. This design is one of my favorite OWH sketches, and all I did was add a sentiment from a Unity missing you Itty Bitty stamp set, 3 punched hearts, and this was done. For me, it has a bit of a masculine feel.

Here are some of the grey/red papers from the same paper pad, but I should have used a darker color for the hearts because they don't show up too well. I made 3 more cards using this sketch and paper pad, so I partially met my challenge. It would have been ideal to use the entire paper pad, but I don't have enough time to accomplish that before OWH closes on August 1st.

I'm entering these cards into the Friday FWF challenge.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great Friday!

Carol

Hello Quilt Card

I love playing with this MFT stitched quilt die, so I've made a red, white, and blue card for my last OWH box. I added a G Studio sentiment heat-embossed with white ep, then added 2 punched flowers using a SU! boho blossoms punch, and a white mini brad in the center finished this card.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Cards in Envy - red, white, and blue

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - anything goes.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

OWH Cards

The OWH mid-month challenge for June is to use banners. I've been trying to use up all of those strips of dsp that I've kept after cutting into 12x12 sheets, and today I've made several cards with them. These are all patriotic-themed birthday cards using 2 different SU! sentiments and some punched stars.

Here's the rest of them....

Here are some more colorful ones using a Sweet'n Sassy Birthday die, along with a Simon Says Stamp "happy" word die. I added a MS punched cupcake on each one, running the base through a paper crimper and popping the "icing" up on foam tape with a little gemstone. 

Here are a few more using another SU! sentiment. I used Tombow markers to color in the globe to match the rest of the card.

Here is my take on the OWH sketch challenge #256. I used GinaK Wild Lilac card stock with a CB Cape Cod ef, and a Unity sentiment. The hearts were done with a Lil Inker stitched hearts die set and I added some matching mini brads from my stash.

This card strays a bit from the sketch but I like how it turned out. I added a mini punched flower with a pearl, and some PTI green ribbon to match the card base. The ef is from the Sizzix curlique & hearts set.

                                      

I've been making multiples of cards lately to use my supplies and get my final OWH box ready to mail in plenty of time. It feels good to clear out some of my stash and put it to good use.

Happy first day of summer, and a very happy Father's day to all the great dads out there! Thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Sending Love Your Way

I wanted to include some love-themed cards for my last OWH box, so I pulled out some Unity stamps and took some inspiration from their monthly challenge by way of the sketch and colors, and this is what I came up with.

The borders were done with a MS doily punch and I added some yellow ribbon from my stash. The Unity balloons were colored with Tombow markers and the sky was sponged with some Ranger Broken China ink. The sentiment (from Itty Bitty Sending my Love) was matted with a Lil Inker stitched rectangle, and all of those tiny hearts were in my doo-dad box of negative die cuts. Lucky for me, I had just the right colors in yellow, red, navy and sage!

I'm entering this into the Unity Friday Friends with Flair, as well as the Unity  "Be Inspired" challenge.

Thanks for the visit, I always appreciate it!

Carol

CAS Miss You

Here's my take on the Crooked Stamper Sketch challenge CCSC#5.

I'm filling up my last box of cards for OWH by using stamp sets specifically bought for OWH cards. This card includes a Hero Arts sentiment, along with some GKD wild orchid cardstock and black ribbon. I stamped the SU! Mosaic Madness images with black ink, colored them with a matching Tombow marker, and punched them out with a Mosaic punch. I added black mini brads to the centers and called this one done. I've made several more in different colors, but this was my favorite.

I'm also sharing this over at the Snippets Playground #180 since I used snippets of white for the Mosaic pieces.

Thanks for stopping by today. Make it a great day whatever you do!

Carol

Watercolored Quilt

                      

This is my second post today, and I'm entering the following card into the Watercolor Blog Hop hosted by Pretty Pink Posh.

I added color to the watercolor card background with yellow, orange and pink reinkers and used an aquabrush to blend and move the colors together. After it dried, I sponged circles of assorted sizes with white pigment ink; which is called the Bokeh technique. If you click the photo to enlarge it, you will see some of those white circles which really enhance the watercolor design. I used a MFT stitched quilt die to cut the colored panel along with a black panel, and swapped the colored pieces back into the black frame, adding 2 punched flowers done with a SU! punch and a black mini brad to the center. The sentiment is from Hero Arts and seemed perfect to blend with a cozy and warm quilt.

Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check out all the beautiful water color entries in this challenge - you'll be inspired to get out your watercolors and play along!

Carol

Catching up with OWH challenges

I've been playing catch-up with the OWH challenges this month because we've had a wedding, birthdays, graduation parties and all sorts of events to keep us busy. Here's my take on the OWH sketch challenge #255. I made a two minions using the SU! owl punch, and stacked them on top of one another, adding an Inky Antics sentiment and a couple of punched hearts. The dsp is Echo Park and I matted with daffodil yellow, red and navy.

                                            

Here's my card for the OWH June ODBD challenge which is to make "missing you" cards. I used a free digital image that was offered several years ago through the OWH website and colored it with Copics. Using Lil Inker stitched rectangle dies, I cut the image panel, the cardstock, and dsp panels too. I added a Casual Fridays sentiment for the final touch.

Thanks for taking a few minutes to stop by today, it's always great to have you! Happy Monday everyone!

Carol

Make Your Mark

Deedee's Digis is sponsoring the Addicted to Stamps #147 challenge this week, which is "make your mark" - use markers.

I chose this adorable line image from Deedee's digis called "Daniel's Sweetheart" and colored it with my Copic markers. I matted it with some black and orange, using a SU! punch for the scalloped border, and placed it on a piece of yellow dsp with a black mat beneath that. The sentiment is also from the same digital stamp set, and was matted with black. I added a piece of 1/4" satin ribbon for the final touch.

Here's a little reminder that Deedee's Digis monthly progressive challenge for June is into full swing, and you can earn free digi stamps by playing along. Check all the details here.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're having a great Wednesday!

Carol

Friday FWF

I love navy & yellow colors together, so I used them for my Unity Friday FWF card today. I used a Unity background stamp called "cooped up notes" and stamped one in yellow, and one in navy. The yellow panel was embossed with a Tim Holtz alterations embossing folder by Sizzix, and I went over the raised embossed lines with a navy marker. I matted with yellow and blue cardstocks, then added the satin flowers, yellow brads, and a few tiny butterflies. The sentiment is a Unity Itty Bitty.

Thanks for stopping by today, and good luck! Someone commented on my blog last week and won a grab bag of stamps from Unity, so you never know when you might be a winner for commenting too! :)

Carol

Red, White, and Blue Love You

I have another red, white, and blue card today that's going into my final OWH box. I used a PTI Center Stage coverall die to cut the red self-adhesive cardstock panel, and adhered it to a navy card base. I added the white MB prim poppy die cut, along with a SSS small "love you" die cut sentiment, and this card was done!

I'm entering this into the little red wagon challenge #291 - which is to use red, white, and blue colors.

Have a wonderful Thursday and thanks for stopping by!

Carol

Stenciled Panel

This is my 2nd post today, and I have a card that was made with a Tim Holtz "Burlap" stencil. I embossed the stencil onto a piece of vanilla cardstock and sponged it with Ranger Antique Linen, Tea Dye, and Vintage Photo inks. I tore the lower portion and sponged on more Vintage Photo ink to make it darker. I added 3 copper-colored brads, and a Hero Arts sentiment stamped with Vintage Photo ink. For the final touch, I added some vanilla seam binding; but I had 2nd thoughts that adding some burlap may have been a better choice. This is heading to OWH in my final box of cards.

I'm entering this over at the Simon Says Wednesday challenge which is "Stencil It."

That's it for today, but thanks for spending a few moments of your day with me.

Carol

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!

Today America honors her fallen veterans who served our country and paid the ultimate price for our freedom.

My dad and my uncle were both Navy veterans, while my father-in-law served in the Army and my brother-in-law served as a proud Marine. They're all gone from our lives, but never forgotten. I never got to meet my husband's father, but I miss my dad, my uncle, and my brother-in-law all the time - especially on Memorial Day.

With the drawdown of our troops, the closing of OWH (Operation Write Home) will take place later this year, so I've been on a mission to fill my final box of cards and send them in by the deadline of August 1st. I'm using stamps and supplies that I've acquired through the years specifically intended for cards for our military and OWH. 

Today's card uses a stamped image from Heartfelt Creations that I borrowed from my friend Mary Anne some time ago. For some reason I hoarded it, probably because I liked it so much. (I worked in flag manufacturing for the better part of my life, so that may have something to do with it?) It's time to let it go now, and send it in for someone else to enjoy. I used a Hero Arts sentiment with a navy cardbase, and cut the panels with Lil Inker stitched rectangles and this was done. I'm going to miss making cards like this, but I thought it was ideal to post it on Memorial day, since I'm especially missing my heroes today.

Thanks for stopping by, and I wish you a great day of remembrance for your loved ones as well.

Carol