Finally, #144 and a Few Others

Well, I finally got that last OWH sketch from the 140s done.  Yeah!  So here it is and four others. 

 

This is OWH Sketch #144.  I had to tweak the sketch a bit to make it work, but I like it.  I am also putting this on the blog for the stripes challenge in the OWH Midweek Throwdown from March 27, 2013.  This is yet another critter and sentiment from Clear Dollar Stamps Cute Critters collection.  I printed it already colored.  I cut it our with a Spellbinders Petite Ovales die and layered it with Recollections Primary Pin Dot paper cut with a Spellbinders Petite Scalloped die.  The primary card layer is a Metallic white cardstock embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot folder.  The black and white stripe paper is from my paper stash.  The sentiment and the sentiment layer are cut with the Spellbinders Grommet Tags and attached with baker's twine from We R Memory Keepers.  I used Glossy Accents to make the raindrops pop a little bit.  I was happy to see that the raindrops shined a bit in the picture, so you can see it.

 

 

 

This card is not from any sketch.  However, I think it follows the rule of thirds from the March OWH Design Bootcamp pretty well.  I recently purchased the Inkadinkado Stamping Gear that allows me to stamp in a circle or oval evenly over and over with the same stamp.  I am having fun learning how to use it.  I made this "flower" and fussy cut around it, but it was just too big to put on a card.  I struggled for a while, but then realized that if I just took part of it off the card, it would really help.  The Inkadinkado stamp is from the Branches set.  The polka dot paper is from Recollections Primary Pin Dot 4.5" x 6.5" paper pack.  The dark cardstock layer and the white cardstock for the sentiment are from my paper stash.  The sentiment is from TPC Studio Greetings clear stamps and I cut it out with the Spellbinders Grommet Tags die.  Both ribbons are from Celebrate It.  The glitter dot in the center of the flower is from the Kathy Davis Happiness glitter epoxy dot stickers.  I was really happy to find these because it is nice to put something glittery on a card without it being a problem for our brave soldiers.  I have no idea where I got the itty bitty brads, but I love them. 

 

 

The next three cards use paper from the DCWV The Letterpress Stack.

 

 

This picture is quite poor, but I just could not get it right.  The flowers and the ribbon are both a bright coral color.  I really liked the base card print and I was looking for something to add to it, so I used the this print with the coral flowers.  I added a layer of white cardstock between the two prints.  Then I added this cute ribbon from Spool o' Ribbon and accented the flower centers with pearls from Recollections. 

 

 

 

I really liked this dandelion from the paper stack, but it was so close to the side that I could not get a Spellbinders die around it.  Of course, then I realized that I did not need that, so I used the Spellbinders Picot Edge Circle die intentionally taking it off the side.  Then I used a smaller of the same die set and cut our a partial circle in the red-orange paper from the same stack.  The criss-cross paper from the same stack has both the red-orange and orange so I put that behind the circles.  I cut out a slightly smaller circle in white and stamped it with the heart from Hampton Art Cupcakes and the sentiment from Stampendous Perfectly Clear Stamps Sunny Swirls.  The three metallic dots from Heidi Grace add just the right finishing touch. 

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #165.  This also is part of the OWH Midweek Throwdown for March 13, 2013.  It uses three papers from the DCWV stack, including the leaves, criss-cross and the solid blue.  The edger is from Fiskars.  The ribbons are all Spool o' Ribbon and the green strip under the cream ribbon is cardstock from my paper stash.  I really liked how this card came together. 

 

Well, that is it for now.  Hope you had a blessed Easter.  He is risen.  He is risen indeed!

More 140s

Well, I am back with more of the OWH sketches from 140 to 149.  I actually have not finished all of the 140s.  I have been unable to finish Sketch #144.  It seems like a simple sketch, but for some reason, I just cannot seem to get it done.  Well, here are the other six that I have not previously posted.

 

This is OWH Sketch #143.  The sketch has four angled strips.  I noticed that it had a textured cardstock paper with interesting swirls as well as a shiny metallic paper with exactly the same print.  I cut the strips out of the metallic paper and lined them up to match the cardstock paper.  It makes for an interesting effect.  Then I had a terrible time trying to figure out what to add to it.  I ended up going with this owl, from Inkadinkado, that I just love and a sentiment to match from Stampendous. 

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #145.  I really like this digi, but I am afraid that I have no idea where I got it.  It was available for free online.  The striped paper is from Creative Imaginations Signature Collection.  This paper also has color coordinated polka dots on the back.  The ribbon is from Celebrate It's Sheer Creations and the brad is from Bo Bunny iCandy brads.  I used the ribbon and brad technique that is talked about in the OWH Stars and Stamps blog on March 12, 2013.  The sentiment is from Stampendous Perfectly Clear Stamps Sunny Swirls set.

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #146.  I love these hedgehogs!  They are just so cute.  I have them as a colored digi from the Clear Dollar Stamps Cute Critters set.  It comes with both colored and outline drawings of four different critters as well as a terrific set of "punny" sentiments like the one I used on the card.  I printed one hedgehog standard and then electronically flipped the other one.  I cut them out right on the outlines and stacked them.  I added Glossy Accents to the eyes for a little extra oomph.  The green plaid paper is the Paper Pizazz, Kelly Green/Yellow Plaid.  The brown plaid paper is from the Creative Imaginations Signature Collection.  The solid brown paper is from the K & Company Sheer Simplicity Neutral pad.

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #147.  When I saw that I needed to use at least three different papers, I went with my striped/polka dot paper from Creative Imaginations Signature Collection like I used in sketch #145, but in three other colors.  I used both sides of the deep pink and beige papers.  This digi is from Paula S. at http://paulaposts.blogspot.com/.   It is so nice to have an attractive sentiment in a circle.  So many sentiments are made for rectangles or squares.  The ribbon is from Celebrate It's Basic Narrows collection.  The three rhinestones are hearts from a K & Company pack.  So cute!

 

This is OWH Sketch #148.  Here is Mr. Spike again from the Clear Dollar Stamps Mr. Spike digital set.  The black metallic dots are from JoAnn Craft Essentials.  The eyelet is from blog candy I won in from one of the stops in the OWH Virtual Card Making Party.  Thanks Donna!  The baker's twine is from We R Memory Keepers.  The cardstock is from my stash.

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #149.  These wonderful digi picture and sentiment are also from Paula S. at http://paulaposts.blogspot.com/.  Doesn't she design great digis?  I printed the digi sun and then used a circle Spellbinders die to cut it out, excluding the four longest rays of the sun.  I layered it on black cardstock to make it really stand out.  The yellow and the orange patterned paper are from the K & Company Sheer Simplicity Warm paper pack.  The baker's twine is from We R Memory Keepers and the clear rhinestones are from Me & My Big Ideas.  I cut out the sentiment and the extra layer for the sentiment with a Spellbinders circle die.  I find that often if the layout is not working for me just offsetting something like the sentiment to the side rather than the center of the background layer can really make a huge difference.  This card is a great example of that.

 

Well, hope you all are having great card mojo.  I am so enjoying making cards ...so much that I had to remind myself to put these pictures on the blog.

Starting the 140s

Well, now that I have done all of the OWH Sketches in the 150s and 160s (to date), I am going to work my way back by tens.  If I start at one it seems to daunting, but when I do just ten at a time, I feel like I can actually accomplish it.  I have already completed seven of the ten, but I will just talk about three of them here.

 

This is OWH Sketch #140.  I used a digi from the Clear Dollar Stamps Classic Cars set and one from the Clear Dollar Stamps Classic Car Sentiments set.  I colored it with colored pencils and mounted them both on cardstock from my paper stash.  I love this patterned paper and the shimmer paper as well, but neither of them have any info on them.  I just got this Cuttlebug folder called gear box.  I saw it on someone's card on the OWH Star and Stamps blog and had to find it.  Thank you Amazon... I think it will go really well with all of my car cards.

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #141.  Yet another of the Clear Dollar Stamps Cute Critters digis.  I had purchased the actual clear stamps a while back.  I kept telling myself that I did not need the digis, but finally gave in.  I love being able to size the digis to exactly what I want.  Not to mention, sometimes, it is nice to just have it all done without needing to color it.  The sentiment is from the same digi set.  The four cardstock colors are from the Recollections Preppy Beach pack.  Both of the embossing folders are from The Paper Studio, sold at Hobby Lobby.  The small hearts embossing folder is landscape, so I usually cannot use it on a portrait card.  However, since the strip goes all the way across it, I was able to just emboss the top and bottom and ignore where the strip would cover.  The brad is from a set I bought years ago and the green dots are from Heidi Grace.  I really like this card.  It is clean and sharp.

 

This is OWH Sketch #142.  I have not information about the digi or the paper.  The paper has been in my stash for years.  I was trying to find a digi to use for this sketch.  The sketch shows a decorative edge where the sentiment is, but I did not find a digi I wanted to use.  Once I picked this digi, animal print paper seemed like the obvious choice.

 

Finishing Out the 150s Plus One More

Well, as I mentioned in a previous post, I have been working through the OWH sketches 150 through 159.  I have last two in today's post plus the most recent sketch #163.

 

This is OWH Sketch #157.  I am working on combining patterned papers on one card.  This card includes three different patterned papers.  The pink on the top and bottom are from K & Company Sheer Simplicity Warm.  The center pink paper is from the Colorbok Patterned Paper Pack - Bright.  The patterned taupe and solid taupe colored paper came from the K & Company Sheer Simplicity Neutral pad.  The solid pink is from my paper stash.  The butterfly is from a Recollections stamp set that has butterflies and flowers.  I stamped it on the pink paper and embossed it with Recollections opaque embossing powder in plum for texture and shine.  I stamped the Thinking of you from the TPC Studio Whimsy Greeting Clear Stamps set directly on the taupe printed paper.  Then I found that I did not have any coordinating ribbon to divide the butterfly and sentiment,  I did not realize the color would be so hard to match.  Instead I stamped a "ribbon" from the Fiskars "borders" Clear Stamps set.

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #158.  The polka dot paper is from a Heidi Grace 8x8 paper pad.  The solid tangerine paper is the pack of the polka dot paper.  The solid light lavender cardstock and the butterfly cardstock are from my paper stash.  The sentiment is from the My Favorite Things Clearly Sentimental About Love clear stamp set.  The clear rhinestones are from Me & My Big ideas.  The hearts were made with the very smallest of the heart dies in the Spellbinders classic hearts set.  I did not emboss them, because on such a small heart the embossing looks a bit odd.  I almost forgot, the love love love, etc. on the bottom cardstock strip is from the Fiskars "borders" Clear Stamps set.

 

 

 

This is OHW Sketch #163.  Once again I am using the Hoot Hoots digi set from Clear Dollar Stamps.  I just love that I can re-size them.  I wanted to set up the owls so they looked like they were holding  hands, or wings.  I printed them colored, so I used the color scheme from the owls.  I cut them out using the Spellbinders Labels Twelve, excluding the wings from the cuts.  I liked the rose quartz colored shimmer linen textured cardstock (Gemstones) for behind the owls.  It helps to set off the owls without putting them on foam.  I actually put mini glue dots between the "hands" of the owls to also give a little definition without making the card too thick.  The mint colored grosgrain ribbon is from Celebrate It Basic Narrows.  I don't know who makes the light green plaid paper, but it is no longer sold at the local Joann's where I originally bought it.

 

Well, that is my three for today.  I actually have several more cards to show you, but I will put them in an additional post.  Thanks for looking!

 

Mr. Spike and Others

Well, here I am again with some more cards.  I am really enjoying digis.  I love the flexibility that they offer in size.  I also love that I do not have to find another place to store them.

Wondering why the title is Mr. Spike?  Well, I will show you.  I did not name him, but it seems about right to me.

 

This is OWH Sketch #159.  That sketch was just made for Mr. Spike.  The digi set from Clear Dollar Stamps is called Mr. Spike and the bone paper, main picture and the sentiment are all from this set.  It was pre-colored with the red collar, so I decided to just go red for the whole card.  The bakers twine is from We R Memory Keepers.

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #160.  I really liked the look of the sketch was was having a hard time figuring out what to put where the sentiment it.  I finally decided to go with this digi from Paula S. at http://paulaposts.blogspot.com/.  She has some lovely digis available.  I had already printed this for a card I never made so I had to alter some of the sketch measurements.  The printed papers are from a K & Company stack called Sheer Simplicity Warm.  The yellow cardstock is from Recollections Jewel cardstock paper pack.  The brad is BoBunny iCandy.  The  grosgrain ribbon is from Celebrate It.  I have never put a brad and ribbon together like this before.  Sandy has some great tips a video in the tutorial on the OWH Stars & Stamps blog from yesterday, March 12, 2013.

 

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #161.  I really like the colors of paper in the Recollections Preppy Beach paper pack.  I wanted to use the peach papers, so I decided to just use black with them.  I stamped the flowers with a ditto cling stamp and embossed it in black.  Then used two different Spellbinders dies to make the ovals.  I tried just two layers on the strip below the ovals, but it would not work, so I put all three colors together.  It seemed to work.  I embossed the background paper with the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder.  I tried adding ribbon to the strip, but I could not make that work.  It was just distracting, so I ended up adding three black metallic dots from Heidi Grace to the top right corner.  That helped balance out the card.

 

Well, I will likely have a couple more cards for you tomorrow.  Come on back and see.

 

What a Hoot!

Well, hello again with my chronicles of cardmaking.  I was trying to figure out what to do with Sketch #155.  I was really struggling because I am working through the sketches in order (starting at 150) and trying to follow the sketches very closely, just as a challenge.   I found some adorable owl digis at Clear Dollar Stamps and my mojo kicked in.  I made two cards yesterday and I just love them.  I hope you will, too.

 

This is OHW Sketch #155. I am also going to add it to the links for the midweek throwdown because it has an blue, an oval and embossing.  I was borrowing one of my mom's embossing folders that looks like wood, made by The Paper Studio.  I thought that would be a great background for my card.  I embossed it and inked the result with a brown ink pad.  Then I cut out the oval with a Spellbinders die to create a window.  I hand cut the branch and colored it a bit with the same brown ink pad and a colored pencil.  I also hand cut the green foliage, using three different colored cardstock papers.  The digis and sentiment are from Clear Dollar Stamps Hoot Hoots digital images.  It came with outline drawings as well as colored images.  I actually printed the colored images and cut them out.   

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #156.  As you can see, it has another cute owl and sentiment from the Clear Dollar Stamps Hoot Hoots digital images.  You cannot tell from the picture, but I printed it twice and put an extra layer on the claws with mini Glue Dots and an extra layer on the beak, glasses and eyes with foam.  The pearls at the bottom and on the eyes are from recollections and the embossing folder is Turkish by The Paper Studio.

Spirelli and Chocolate

I must be hungry because spirelli sounds like food to me right now... and who couldn't go for some chocolate right now!

I made two cards last night.  I found some great 12x12 paper stacks on clearance at Michael's yesterday, so I had to try them out.  They are both K & Company Sheer Simplicity stacks, Warm and Neutral.  Not to mention, the spirelli looked like fun. 

 

This is OWH Sketch #153.  I really love browns, so I decided to use some of the brown paper in my new Neutrals paper stack; both the patterned paper and the layer behind the digi are from this stack.  I needed a square sentiment so I pulled out this digi that Paula S. at http://www.paulaposts.blogspot.com/ created.  It is super cute with clean lines.  In the OWH Design Bootcamp about color in January, Paula wrote about color combinations.  Since I had picked out my brown, I looked at the color wheel and decided to go with complementary colors.  Brown is a shade of orange, so the complementary color would be a shade of blue.   (Shades are the pure color with black added.)  The blue stripes are 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon from Details & Accessories that I picked up at Dollar Tree. 

 

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #154.  I was just getting to this sketch, so it seemed like a prime time to try the spirelli technique (info at http://operationwritehome.org/tutorial-spirelli/).  I tried out my new Warm stack on this card, the print and both violet papers.  The light green is just from my paper stash.  Once again, I decided to use the color wheel to set my colors.  I selected the paper for the scalloped circle which is essentially a violet tint.  (Tints are pure color plus white.)  I wanted to add some leaves to make the scalloped circle more obviously a flower, so I went with split complementary and added a yellow-green tint paper from my stash.  With split complementary there is a third color which is yellow-orange, so I added the printed paper that is behind the flowers.  The spirelli floss is We R Memory Keepers Sew Easy Floss and the sentiment is from Stampendous Perfectly Clear Stamps Posie Greetings.  I really enjoy this stamp set because it has an additional section of squiggly line for a landscape card, but is easy to shorten for smaller areas. 

 

Thanks for looking!

Five new cards

Well, I have been working on some cards.  One fits into an OWH Midweek Throwdown challenge so I will link it.

 

The Gnome Sweet Gnome card is just fun.  I just got this Recollections Garden Gnome stamp set.  I wanted to try it out and this is what I came up with.  I stamped the butterfly directly onto the parchment paper since I did not think I could cut it out.  I also added some glossy accents to the wings and body.  I cut the sentiment out with Spellbinders wonky squares.  The other three items, the gnome, flower field and bird, I cut out after coloring.  I am really working on coloring;  I use colored pencils and am working on shading. 

 

 

The rest of the cards are based on OWH Sketches.

 

This is OWH sketch #152.  I have had a Martha Stewart Heart and Flower Clear Stamps set for a long time, but yesterday is the first time I have used them.  Both of the plaid circles are stamped on.   I really enjoyed stamping the circle and then cutting it with a Spellbinders scalloped circle.  It is always nice when something actually works out the way you plan.  The "Love You" sentiment is from TPC Studio Whimsy Greetings Clear Stamps.  I am finding this set even more versatile since I have started stamping parts of the sentiments separately.  What I mean by that is this sentiment is just one line on the stamp.  However, when I stamped it, I just stamped the "Love" on one line then stamped just the "You" as a second line.  It gives me a lot more flexibility with the stamps I have.  The last thing I added to the card was the pearls (also Recollections).  The card needed a little oomph and the pearls seem to pull the card together.

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #150.  This is my least favorite of the five cards in this post.  However, it happens to fulfill the Midweek Throwdown.  The challenge requires us to use three of nine possible elements on one card.  The three elements included in this card are tags, oval shape and embossing.  The yellow is embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile folder.  The sentiment on the tag is one of the great new stamps I won as blog candy from Donna in the Presidents Day Virtual Card Making Party. (Thank you, Donna!)  The stamps are the My Favorite Things Clearly Sentimental About Love set.  The flowers on the oval are from Inkadinkado Flourishes.  I am not happy with how this turned out.  I think if I had either added a layer behind the oval or inked the edges it would have helped a lot.  I will keep that in mind for future cards. 

 

 

 

This is OWH Sketch #151.  I think this may be my favorite of the sketch cards.  The colors on the card are actually a bit cheerier than in the picture.  The large polka dots are actually embossed into the paper.  I really like this paper.  I don't know why, but it is cute.  I embossed the cream paper with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dot folder and then inked the dots.  Then I used the previously mentioned Martha Stewart clear stamps set for the plaid hearts and embossed them with gold embossing powder.  I used a Spellbinders circle die to cut and emboss around the hearts and popped them on foam dots. 

 

 

This is OWH bonus sketch #18.  I chose this sketch to try to use a new border punch that I received as a gift.  I was unable to use the punch for the card, but I liked the final product anyway. 

 

Hope you like some of these cards.  Let me know, good and bad.

 

Two More OWH Challenges

Today I put together two cards for OWH challenges:

 

Our Daily Bread has challenges each month on Operation Write Home.  The March challenge only requires the use of scallops on the card.  I thought this little pup was cute and it worked great on one of the OWH Bonus sketches.  It has a 4.5 inch square card base with a circle sticking up above.  I had never tried a card like that before.  I tried to go fairly simple, but before I put the pearls around the scalloped circle it was just boring.

 

 

 

The sketch challenge for today on OWH seemed easy, but my first try went badly.  I think this one is fairly cute.  The colors are bold and bright.  The little blue bows may be a bit much, but I like them.

 

I would appreciate your comments.

 

 

A little of what I have been doing this week

I just wanted to post some cards I have been working on for the last week or so. 

 

This boat is a digi from Paula at OWH.  I really liked it so I decided to put it on a card.  I decided that I wanted to use the twine as "rope" and looked up a sailor's knot online.  I used three strands of twine for each half of the knot.  I could not make the knot and the digi to work together.  I kept trying different papers for the background and kept switching back and forth from portrait to landscape.  I looked at several different sentiments and finally got my layout when I pulled out the Big Hugs stamp.  I grouped the three items together to make a unified focal point and added the blue layers to the digi and the sentiment.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out. 

 

 

A New Paper Pad

I have just started trying to work my way through a 12 x 12 paper stack.  I did not buy this pad and likely would not have purchased it since I usually look for smaller patterns.  It is a bit of a challenge, but I am enjoying it.  I am also working on putting two patterned papers together on one card.  I generally do not do it, but often enjoy the cards that others prepare with two patterned papers.  I am also working on the using the bonus sketches as well.  So here are the three I recently prepared.

 

In the sketch it is a landscape card, but I did not have a sentiment to do that. 

 

 

With this card, I liked that I was able to use a cardstock that I rarely use as the card base.  I found the placement of the sentiment somewhat hard, but I like how it turned out in the end. 

 

 

 

I had some fun with this card.  I guess the strawberries just really worked for me.

 

Thanks for taking a look.

OWH Midweek Throwdown Challenge

The OWH Midweek Throwdown had a challenge to follow a recipe for a card. 

The recipe is to use:

 

1 Embossing Folder

1 Border Punch or Die

2 Patterned Papers

1 Ribbon or Twine

 

Here is what I did.

 

 

I used two different colors of the same print on the pinwheel, which felt made it easier to combine, two patterned papers and an embossed design.  I prefer to have one rounded corner on each part of the pinwheel.  In order to keep the pinwheel as the focal point I popped it on foam and tried to limit the color in the bottom section of the card.  I had considered lacing the ribbon through the punched strip, but I felt that the accent was too great and competed with the pinwheel.

 

Hope you like it.  Thanks for looking.