OWH Stars and Stamps Hambo's Wee Henry Challenge

I am in a mad rush this morning, but I just had to post my Wee Henry Father's Day card. One of the reason's I love the Stars and Stamps Challenges so much is that it challenges me to do things I would not ordinarily do(I know, I've said this before). This is my first time to color a face with Copic markers - and it is as hard as I thought it might be for Henry's face to look as good as other faces I have seen - but the "first time" is done and I realize what I need is slightly different colors and a LOT of practice. I also used my brads that have screw heads, which I just love for a masculine card. I have had them forever and can't remember where I got them.

Hope all of you have a wonderful weekend and thank you for coming to visit! Blessings

Stamps: Wee Henry Fishing (free Hambo digi) - Thank you Hambo, Sentiment was done on computer.

Paper: Indian Summer Fall Stack (DCWV), Pure Luxury Chocolate Kiss (GinaK), Solar White (Neenah)

Ink: Vintage Photo (Distress Ink/Ranger), Various colors (Copic)

Accessories: Brads (unknown)

Spring Floral card for Operation Write Home

Hello everyone. I am so happy with the card I created today. I was in a "blue funk" which usually doesn't lend itself to creativity, but today I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps it is because I allowed myself to use the most special "stash" of paper my husband and I purchased during our last visit to Kelly Paper. It is Curious Translucents paper in Kiwi Iridenscents. A little on the expensive side, but just the most gorgeous paper one could ask for. By far, the picture does not do it justice. Yes, I am an addict - I wish there was such a thing as PA - Paper Anonymous because I would love to meet a group of people who would help to enable me!

I am making multiples of this one as most of the work is die cuts and so it is an easy card to make. Since we will have snow all day tomorrow, this will be a great project to work on! What do you think?

Stamps: Spring Florals (GinaK), sentiment (SU)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), B23, B00, YG93 (Copic)

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Navy Blue ?? (Kelly Paper), Kiwi Iridescents (Curious)

Accessories: Labels 8, Renaissance Hearts Pendant (Spellbinders), Birds and Swirls Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)

Ribbon: No Name (Wal-Mart) on sale

Birthday Card for Our Niece

Here is a birthday card I created for our niece, Tanya. I do have to say I enjoyed using glitter as a change of pace! I don't think you can tell, but the card is quite dimensional as the butterfly and the flowers are put on with dimensional glue dots and the ribbon is very thick because of the pearls woven into it so I will have to put it in a mailer to send it to her. The butterfly is encrusted with Stickles! I hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I did making it!

Stamps: Butterfly from Wonderful Wings (Stampin Up); Sentiment (Our Daily Bread), Flowers (Technique Tuesday)

Ink: Butterfly embossed with Metallic Copper (Judikins), Butterfly BV02, BV04 and flowers C01, R11, Y08, Heavenly White (Twinkling H2Os)

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Grey Speckled (Kelly Paper)

Accessories: Star Dust Glitter (Stickles), Braidnpearl Ribbon (Offray)

Operation Write Home S&S Challenge #4

Thanks to Kathy R. for the great sketch! Today it will reach 70 degrees with patches of snow still on the ground so I had my head firmly implanted (no pun intended) in Spring and thinking about the gardens. Here is the result:

Stamps: Hello Spring (Stampin'Up) (discontinued)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Pretty in Pink (SU), Y02, Y08, RV25, Rv23, YG03 (Copic)

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Luxury Stack (DCWV)

Ribbon: No Name (Wal-Mart) on sale

Some quilling for my daughter's wedding

As I had indicated earlier this week, here are some of the items I made for my daughter's wedding. Everything is made of either 1/4" or 1/8" wide strips of pearlized paper that are 24" long. All of the flowers and leaves are handmade and the bells are made from the paper as well. The colors for the wedding were olive and ivory and I can honestly say I never got tired of working with these colors. I hope you enjoy viewing my quilling and please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

This was the topper for the wedding cake.

These are the small votives. I made 65 of these!

This is the memorial candle for some very special people in the kid's lives.This is the large votive. It stood 13 inches tall and I made 20 of these.

OWH Technique Challenge #1

First, let me say that I did not follow the rules for the challenge exactly, as I did color 1/2 of my image a bit with Copic Markers. They say it is better to ask forgiveness later than permission before - how does that go? I was happy with the results and I hope it will make a great card for our soldiers. I have 12 of them made so far.

Stamps: Day & Night (Rubbernecker), Sentiment done on the computer

Paper: Designer Paper: Best Occasions (Wal-Mart), Solar White (Neenah)

Accessories: Lace (Wal-Mart), Detail Gold Embossing Powder (Stampin'Up)

OWH Stars and Stamps Tri-fold Shutter Card

I have wanted to do a tri-fold shutter card for the many years I have been stamping and never have. Guess I have been afraid of it. But, Thanks to Marcy K's fab instructions on the S&S blog (http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/), I thought I would give it a try. WOW! I did it!! It is not nearly so hard as it looks - mostly cutting the paper to piece on the card and all of us know how to do that especially when all the measurements are provided for us at the end of the S&S blog post!

Stamps: Elegant Flowers (GinaK), Sentiment (Stampin' Up)

Paper: Card base is Chocolate Kiss (GinaK), DCWV Latte

Ink: Copic: Lavender Lace (SU)

Accessories: Ribbon: Leaf Ribbon (Papertrey Ink)

Mother's Day Card Design #1

Mother’s Day will be here before we know it and I hope that everyone saw Sandy’s blog post that the original deadline posted needed to be moved up to April 1. Mother’s Day is a special holiday for me. Living with my husband, Chuck, and I is my very special 93-year-old MIL whom I treasure and love. We are both crafters – she crochets afghans and afghan squares every day for Warm Up America! which distributes them to battered women’s shelters, victims of natural disasters, etc.

I have to admit with this card, I am really happy to have an electric Big Shot!

Stamps: Aster Digi Stamp (Fred She Said), Sentiment (Stampin' Up)

Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Cranberry Tart (GinaK), Designer (K&Company)

Ink: Copic: RV21, RV23, RV25, YG93, YG95, Y08, Baroque Burgandy (SU)

Dies: Spellbinders

Accessories: Ribbon: Joanne steel 100 yards for $2.50, white Liquid Applique for flower center then colored with the Copic Y08

Stars and Strips Spring Challenge #1

Here is a challenge from the Stars and Stamps blog which is part of Operation Write Home. Our color challenge inspiration image is this pretty little Easter dress! We were to make a card using these colors. I love this dress because it reminds me of one of my favorite Easter dresses as a child!

Color Challenge #1: Spring!

The colors were a challenge for me because I tend to lean toward jewel tones. In my craft supplies, the only things I had in these colors were strips of quilling paper. So here you are – a quilled card. If you are not familiar with quilling and would like to see more, check back on my blog next week as I am going to load some of the pictures of items I did for my daughter’s wedding.

Operation Write Home (OWH)

I started this blog in order to be able to post some of the cards I have crafted for Operation Write Home, an organization near and dear to my heart. Many of our parents and grandparents went to work in factories during the last couple of wars to support the country and troops. Things have changed, but I still like to feel like I might participate to support those who are fighting to preserve our freedom and way of life. Operation Write Home is the way I have found. You can find out more more about OWH by going to www.operationwritehome.org. I can tell you that this organization is filled with wonderful people and talented crafters.

Here are a couple of the cards I didn't forget to photograph:

I would love to have feedback!