Punched frame

I have a huge collection of punches and rarely use them.  I decided to play with the MS Punch Around the Page punches.  I chose this one with hearts for valentines for Operation Write Home.  Now, I know why I quit using them.  It takes precise cutting and positioning to get a good frame.  Here's what I came up with.

Pearl pen dots

Dimensional stickers

Rhinestones

Dimensional stickers

I wanted to add something to an otherwise simple card, so I added some dots.  I have problems getting the pearl pen dots even.  I like the Sticko Dimensional stickers because they are so flat and don't tear up the envelopes as much.  The rhinestones are pretty, but a bit bumpy and tend to tear envelopes.

Love from a distance

I'm rebelling against all this forced spending, when most of us can't afford it.  I refuse to buy more craft supplies until I'm out of debt.  My money is going to pay my bills, not buy more 'stuff' simply because it's on sale.

Our heroes are working hard to keep us free and I would rather support them and their families than to go shopping.  Since Operation Write Home must have cards a couple months before the recipients receive them, I'm working on cards for Valentine's Day.  I made 4 of these today.

This sentiment is a very old rubber stamp by Embossing Arts.  The love heart is an unmounted stamp, so I don't know who made it.  I stamped it in Versamark ink and embossed it with gold embossing powder,  I then cut out the heart with a Spellbinder Nestibility.

I put Miracle Tape on the back sides of this paper, then wrapped gold thread around the cardstock sticking it to the tape on the back.  I adhered this to a layer of the same color cardstock that I used for the heart.  This was then mounted onto a white card base.

OBDB Challenge

The November challenge from Our Daily Bread Designs was to make a card for our deployed troops to send home, using a tool or technique that we had neglected lately.

On this card, I used my Scor-It board make decorative score lines to highlight the heart.  I used to do this a lot, but have lost my touch.  I added gold stickers to the die cut heart.  The sentiment is also a metallic gold sticker.  Scanner just don't show the shiny gold.

The photo shows the shiny gold, but doesn't show the scoring as well.

More cardinals

I managed to assemble a couple more cardinal cards today.  This time I used the satin ribbon over the sheer ribbon.

Those sentiment stickers are shiny gold, but the scanner won't show that.

Cardinal stamps and dies

I've spent a few more days trying to make cards with the cardinal stamps and dies from Heartfelt Designs.  I think they are no longer produced, but I'm enjoying them.  I stamped the stamps on both white cardstock and red cardstock.  I used the die to cut out the red one.  I just added some color to the beaks and colored the leaves and flowers with Prismacolor pencils.

The first one is done with a sheer black ribbon and doesn't show up well in the scan.  On the second card I used black satin ribbon.  The sentiments are made with peel off stickers.

Cardinals, with love

I'm trying to force myself to make some love cards for the troops.  I used both the male and female cardinals stamps from Heartfelt Designs with stickers from Pop-Ups for sentiments.

I colored these images with Prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits.  I colored the gold metallic stickers with a red Sharpie, which I learned from the video tutorials at Pop-Ups.

Cardinals

I have always loved cardinals.  They are such elegant birds.  Besides, that was the name of our sports team in high school.

I bought some lovely cardinal stamps by Heartfelt Creations.  When I received them, I learned that they make dies to cut out the cardinals.  However, no one had them in stock.  They may have been discontinued.  I finally found some at another online store and ordered them.  Before I received the dies, I stamped and colored the images with Prismacolor pencils.  I'll work with dies later.

Operation Write Home has a request for more thank you cards for our deployed troops.  They like to thank those who send them care packages.

Missing you

I've had a real lack of mojo recently.  I think this is another stage of grief.  Holidays were always spent with my late husband.  Since I lost him over a year ago, I'm occasionally consumed with grief.  I just have problems making Christmas cards and Valentines.  I'm just skipping over those seasons for card making.  I'm working on springtime cards, but still having problems.

This card took me several days to make.

I recently got his new embossing folder from Craft Concepts.  It's pretty and I didn't want to cover it, so I just patted on a little ink to make the embossed images more visable.  I kept it very simple after trying so many different approaches.  The ribbon is very old and was given to me by a friend.  I added the blue heart brad to add a little interest.

Thanksgiving cards

Since I had my pressed leaves out for the previous post, I decided to use them for Thanksgiving cards.   These are for my personal use since I think the leaves are too fragile for Operation Write Home.