VARIATIONS ON A THEME

When I designed this card, I couldn't decide which I liked better - the darker or the lighter designer paper. I asked Mom what she thought and she liked the darker. I asked Chuck what he thought and he liked the darker. Since I couldn't decide which I liked best, I made 12 of each. Just one of life's many compromises. Which one do you like best?

My progress in coming along for the 232 cards I pledged at the Spring Break Bloghop! I have about 80 cards done so far. But I realize that I haven't participated in the challenges and that is one of my favorite things. So I will probably slow down a bit on making cards and participate more in the challenges on the Stars and Stamps blog.

Lighter card:

Darker card:

Thanks for stopping by - as always I appreciate that you share some of your precious day with me.

Stamp: The Digi Shack, Sentiment is from my computer

Die Cuts: Spellbinders

Paper: Mixed Media Pack at Wal-Mart; Blush Pink by Papertrey

Ink: Copic

Accessories: Offray Ribbon

Thank You Everyone! 232 Cards to Make!

I wish to thank everyone who commented on my blog during the OWH Spring Break Blog Hop! I had 116 wonderful comments which means that I will happily make 230 cards for Operation Write Home and our heroes. A special thanks to Sandy and the team for making it possible to have so much fun!

Blessings to you all and thank you so much,

Here's How to Make 2 Cards in Less Than 3 Minutes

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Spring Break Blog Hop 2010. If you arrived here from Amy Catalogna's blog, Greetings, after starting from the OWH Stars and Stamps Blog, then you are in the right place!! If not, you may wish to start at the Stars and Stamps Blog to get ALL of the details on the hop!!

I have very high hopes for this card! I pray it will leave the man, woman, or child who receives it with a feeling of hope, a feeling of spring, a feeling of new life! Well, maybe I have gotten a little carried away – but I do know this – the person who receives this card, or any OWH card, will know that their deployed hero is thinking of them whether they are in Afghanistan, Iraq, or another place far from home. Our heroes will know that we support them as they make many known and unknown sacrifices in their lives for us.

Now, as the title of my post indicates, here is a little known secret of how YOU can make two cards in less than three minutes. Simply go to the end of this post and for each comment left in the Comments Section, I will make two cards for OWH. I so enjoy reading your comments and I am hoping that if almost everyone leaves a comment, I might have to make around 200 cards!

Next, please hop on over to Joscie’s blog, OHScrap! and thank you so much for coming by. Don't forget to leave your comment! Enjoy the hop! Blessings,

Card Recipe: The card created for today’s hop uses a digital image that was donated to the Stars and Stamps Blog compliments of Fred, She Said Digital Designs for the Stars and Stamps Tulip Trio Tutorial. I added the sentiment to the image on my computer, printed it, and colored it using Copic Markers (RV21, RV23, RV25, YG93, YG95, and C1). I used a stamp from Wonderful Wings by Stampin Up for the butterfly and colored it with Copic’s V12 and V15. (PLEASE NOTE: The butterfly has glitter on it, which cannot be sent unless one covers it with something such as Crystal 3D effects so that the glitter cannot come off the card. (Glitter can make heroes visible at night.) The paper is Solar White (Neenah), Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon (Papertrey Ink). I used pink grosgrain ribbon by Offray, half pearls purchased in bulk from eBay, and die cuts by Spellbinders.

Oh what a beautiful spring day it has been! Perfect temperatures and sunshine. I was able to dig in a couple of the planter boxes today to get the soil ready for what is to come. Some gardening and some stamping - two of my favorite activities! This card is based on a sketch challenge we had not too long ago. I have made quite a few of these with various colors of Iris. It is a fun card to make!

Thanks for stopping by. I really enjoy reading your comments!

Blessings,

Stamp: Spring Floral (Gina K); Sentiment (Computer)

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

Ink: V12, V15, YG93, YG95, C1

Accessories: die cuts (Spellbinder); butterfly (Anita's Art Stamps)

S&S Sketch Challenge #8

Hello everyone and thanks for spending a few minutes of your day here! I had a lot of fun making this card - it was easy and a good sketch for someone who is just starting out. You can not distinguish easily from the photo, but the purple cardstock is embossed and the lavendar is debossed. I thought the look was interesting and really stands out when you see the card in person. I don't recall where I got this image - it was on my computer and is very easy to size, print, and color by using a Word document. I also enjoyed using my Copic markers on this image as it lends itself well to shading. Shirley, thank you for the sketch.

Here is the sketch:

Stamp: Digi (unknown); Sentiment (computer generated)

Paper: Lavendar Moon, Plum Pudding (Papertrey Ink); Solar White (Neenah)

Ink: G21, G24, YG93, YG95, V12, V15
Accessories: Embossing Folder D'vine Swirls (Cuttlebug); Ribbon Kendra White (Offray); Labels 4 (Spellbinders)

S&S Sketch Challenge #7

Greetings to all of you and thanks so much for dropping by! Since we have almost 6" of new snow and it is still snowing, no church this morning! We never take my MIL, who is almost 94, out in the snow and ice. We are afraid that Mom might injure herself and since she is in such good health and gets around quite well with a cane, it hardly seems worth the risk.

So, this is what I did this morning. . .

Paper: Latte Stack (DCWV)

Accessories: Adhesive Tags (Stiko)

Thank you Erica P. for the great sketch:

Blessings on your day! Louise

Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge #6

Here is another fun challenge brought to us by Stars and Stamps and Velda who designed our layout. I was surprised when I looked at the card and got the illusion that the designer paper was cut away rather than the oval flower being placed on top of square paper. It was a simple and quick, but fun, card to make. In retrospect, the bow is too large for the card, but it was already stuck down – and I wish I had every card I have ruined by trying to tweak it after it was completed – Sandy, Kris, and Dixie would each need an extra person to help them for a week!!! (LOL)

Here is the sketch:

Here is my card:

Stamps: Floral Digi (Fred She Said), Sentiment was done on computer

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

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), V12, V15, G24 (Copic)

Accessories: Ribbon (unknown)

Thank you for coming by – I hope you had as much fun seeing the card as I did making it. Please feel free to leave a comment - I am always happy to read them.