OWH ODBD Challenge - Masculine themed cards

The December Our Daily Bread Design challenge is to make masculine themed cards.  A lot of the men I know enjoy spending time out in the mountains.

This card was made by lots of stamping and masking with some very old scenic stamps.  The color was sponged in to create some of the colors of a sunrise.  I still need more practice because I haven't done this technique for years.  The punch is a McGill punch.

Merry Christmas 2013

Tex always enjoys finding a gift under the tree on Christmas morning.  His favorite part is tearing off the wrapping paper.  After playing with new toy for a bit, he allows Rudolph to watch him eat breakfast.

Me, I'm posting on my blog for the first time with a new computer.

Basket of flowers

In an effort to continue using card making supplies that I have and haven't used, I pulled out some more of my old wood mounted rubber stamps.

 

This stamp in from the Punch-Ins collection by Make an Impression.  The technique is to stamp the image and add flowers punched and shaped from cardstock.  I also stamped the basket on kraft cardstock and cut it out.  This made the basket available to tie the ribbon around it.  I have more of this type of stamp that haven't been used for a few years, so expect to see more of these cards in the future.

 

This card was made with a poinsettia die by Boss Kut instead of using punches.  The sentiment was part of the original collection.

 

Holiday memories

I've been busy preparing for Christmas and enjoying the holiday season.  I feel that I really can enjoy the season for the first time since I lost my dear hubby.  Memories will linger forever, but I also now feel that I can enjoy my life.

 

This airplane ornament is a personal tribute to my pilot husband.  It will always be on my tree, along with many personal ornaments.


It has been very cold this year for our little corner of the world.  I do live in the southern Nevada desert and mostly enjoy sunny dry weather.  This was a surprise and not so welcome to have such cold weather here.

 

 Our skies have cleared again and it's warmed up a bit, but some of the plants were frozen and will need to be replaced in the spring.  Time moves on, but we will always have our memories.

Few more Christmas cards

I think I've finished making Christmas cards for this year. 
I do make multiples of some of these, while others are singles.  Most of them are in the mail.

This was made with a gold metallic sticker by Gold Label.  The background is embossed, but that doesn't show up well in the photo.

This is another old wood mounted rubber stamp by Art Impressions from 2001.  I stamped it with Versamark ink and silver pearl embossing powder on the dark blue cardstock.  The background is a very pretty paper called Sheer Marble Paper by Embossing Arts.  I adhered it with vellum tape to the blue cardstock.  The sentiment and corner pieces are silver metallic stickers. 

I'm pretty sure these supplies are no longer available, but I'm trying to use these supplies I have hoarded for many years.

Desert snow

I know it's winter, but I much prefer summers in the desert.  Yesterday morning, I awakened to see our beautiful mountains covered in snow.

 

 This is a pretty scene early in the morning, but when I looked down, I saw the snow in my backyard.

 

Fortunately, the sun soon came out and melted the snow in the grass.  We had a clear cool winter day.  However, the clear skies allowed for the temperature to drop a little too low for this desert rat.

 

It looks like a good day to stay inside and finish up my Christmas cards.

Scenic card

I made this card for my brother's birthday.  It's not perfect, but he already knows that I'm not perfect and will appreciate the effort.

 

Scenic cards take some practice.   I stamped the mountains first, then masked them by stamping on a piece of Masking Magic.  I cut out the mountains and covered the stamped ones.  I sponged some ink around the mountains for sky and ground, then added other stamped elements.  The little mountain stream is created by masking everything except the water, then sponging on some blue ink.  The moose was created with a punch.

Don't forget thank yous

I'm taking a break from Christmas cards to make some thank you cards.  One of my pet peeves is that many people forget to say Thank You.  Be sure to make some thank you cards so they will be ready when needed.  It's always nice to have them available so you don't forget to send them.

This Core'dinations cardstock was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folders and sanded to make the words more visable.  Tie a ribbon around it and mount it onto a framing layer that works with the ribbon.  I mounted this onto a white base card, so it is ready to write a personal message inside when needed.

These cards are quick to make and can be made in multiples.  If I make more than I need, I can always send these off to OWH so our deployed troops can send messages to those who support them.

Scenic sticker cards

I bought a group of these scenic metallic stickers years ago.  They are made by Mark Enerprises.  When I first bought them, I only knew how to use the outline portion of the stickers on cards.  I have recently learned that you can also transfer the negative portion of the sticker to your cards.  It actually creates a prettier image.  You can see a video at this site, just click on the Reverse Sticker Technique.

I used this transfer technique and placed the silver sticker onto a circle of blue cardstock, then layered it onto a couple of Spellbinder diecuts.  The embossed layer is a brushed silver.  The sentiment is also a silver sticker, made by Starform.

These cards were made using the same technique, showing both parts of a sticker by Gold Label.

These gold stickers are mounted on brown cardstock. 

I embossed the cream cardstock with tiny stars with an embossing folder by the Paper Studio.  I added a glossy gold layer, then a brown layer, then mounted it on Vintage Cream cardstock by Papertrey Ink.  The sentiments are also gold stickers.

Christmas Candle card

 

This stamp is another old wood mounted rubber stamp.  This one is from Magenta, but doesn't show a date.  The sentiment is Make an Impression and says 1997-2006.

After coloring the rubber with Marvy markers and spritzing it before stamping, I stamped it on smooth white cardstock.  The image wasn't vivid enough for my taste, so I added some color with Prismacolor pencils and Odorless Mineral Spirits.  This made the holly berries fade into the candle, so I added some small adhesive backed gems.

Gold Embossed Poinsettia card

With this group of cards, I dug deep and used a 1992 PSX rubber stamp.  I love these old good quality wood mounted rubber stamps because they give great images.

 

When preparing to heat emboss on darker cardstock, it's important to rub an embossing buddy (mesh bag full of powder) over your cardstock to remove any fingerprints that may attract the embossing powder, leaving specks around your image.  I stamped this image with Versamark ink, then applied gold embossing powder, cleared any excess powder and heated with my old Heat It Gun.

I added black and a glossy gold layers before adhering to white cardstock.  Once again, the sentiment is a gold sticker by Starform.

Watercolor Holly Christmas cards

Still using my well loved old rubber stamps, I created some Holly cards for Christmas.  This stamp is from 2003 and made by Penny Black.  I colored the rubber image with Marvy Brush Art Markers, the spritzed with water before stamping.

 

The embossed holly background is a Sizzix embossing folder.  Sentiment is a gold sticker by Starform.  The ribbon slide that holds the sentiment is a Spellbinders die.

 

With this card I used the same technique, but stamped the image on a paper coaster.  I bought a bunch of these years ago for a project that never got done.  The water absorbed a bit more in the material.  Since the coaster was too large for a card, I used a Spellbinders die to cut out the image.  I had to run it through my Big Shot several times to cut through that thicker paper, but it came out nicely.

Christmas Poinsettia cards

Instead of spending more money on the latest and greatest stamping supplies, I'm digging into my stash to use my well loved wood mounted rubber stamps.  The one thing I splurge on now is better quality cardstock to create my cards.

This poinsettia stamp is by Penny Black and is from 2004. 
I colored the rubber with Marvy Brush Art Markers, then spritzed with water before stamping.  I cut out the image with Spellbinders dies.  To get the tiny gold edge, I rolled the edges of diecut on the Versamark ink pad, then dipped it in gold embossing powder before heating with the heat gun.  The sentiment is a gold sticker by Starform.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone is having a nice Thanksgiving.  Here's the personal cards I sent out for Thanksgiving to my family and friends.

These cards are fairly quick to make.  The Martha Stewart punch set works well, if you cut the cardstock the correct size (3.25" X 5") before punching corners, then edges.  The stamp is by Paper Inspirations and fits well in the punched rectangle.  I adhered the paper to the brown cardstock, then embossed them for texture before adhering the sentiment rectangle.

Change of seasons

I love living in the desert because we usually have blue skies and nice dry weather.  However, we are now in one of our rainy spells.  Our tree in the front yard is showing lovely autumn colors, but no blue sky to show it off.

I haven't seen the mountains for several days, but this morning I caught a glimpse of them.  They are pretty with snow on them, but I'm glad it stays up high so I don't have to shovel it.

 

I'm taking a break from making cards, but hope to get back to it soon.  I mailed my box of cards to Operation Write Home and mailed my personal Thanksgiving cards this week.

Cards for loved ones.

I've continued to make cards using a similar color scheme as the previous post.   These are basic love cards for our heroes to send home to loved ones, using the papers I had on my desk from my previous card.

New friend, new challenge

Many of you know that I live in small town and haven't met many others who make cards.  I was excited to see an article in a local online newspaper about another cardmaker who makes cards for Operation write home.  I initiated contact and we chatted by email.  A few days ago, she came to my home and we spent a couple of very fun hours together.

She gave me a set of clear stamps called Cupcake Party by Simon Says Stamps because she had duplicates.  I demonstrated my method of lining dark colored cards to give our heros a place to write their message home.  I had grabbed a piece of purple cardstock.  She then left me with a challenge to make a card using the new stamps and the card base I had just created.  Here's the resulting card:

I see more fun crafting days together in the future.

Another challenge was to make 2 patriotic thank you cards for the post office.  One will go to headquarters of Operation Write Home for her postal workers.  The other will go to my local post office.  Here's the result of that challenge.

 

I will write personal messages inside both cards for all the hard work done by the postal workers in handling all the boxes of cards created by our cardmakers across the country.

Hero cards

I've made 6 cards similar to this for Any Hero cards for our deployed troops.  The stamps are from Stamper's Best and will be sent to Operation Write Home with personal messages inside.

Playing with texture

I'm trying to come up with a design I like for more Any Hero cards.

Both of these stamps are from Stamper's Best OWH fundraiser stamps.  I used silver embossing powder on the
E Pluribus Unum stamp.  The sentiment is in Memories blue ink.  The image and the sentiment are popped on foam tape.  The background is a Tiny Stars embossing folder that I added blue ink before adding the paper.  It came out rather distressed, but you can see the stars.

I've continued making love cards and also missing you cards.

I'm trying to use my embossing folders to give the cards some texture.

OWH Boot Camp - Balance in Design

I always enjoy the monthy Design Boot Camps on the Stars & Stamps blog.  I learn from each of them and try to use the suggestions when making cards.  It sometimes takes me a while to really create a sample that I feel works with the design principle.  The October Boot Camp was on Balance in Design.

I think I have a tendency to make symetrical cards like this:

I'm working my way to creating more asymetrical cards.  I think this one qualifies for that:

After I cut the sentiment with the partial die cutting technique to demonstrate the technique to a friend, I was challenged to create a card with such a strong color and still allow the sentiment to be read.  The yellow paper was suitable for that, but made the card feel very heavy at the bottom.  I decided to punch some hearts from the scraps from the red paper to add a little weight to the top.

I also did a redesign of the card from the previous post by adding a layer of red around the stars.  I now realize that card is also symetrical.

 

OWH MWT - Seeing Stars

Since much of my current box for Operation Write Home is Valentines and Love cards, I decided it's time to make some Any Hero cards.  Coincidentally, this weeks Midweek Throwdown on the Stars & Stamps blog is Seeing Stars.

Front of card

Inside card

The red stars were stamped with a Stampabilities stamp called Star Bright Background.  The Hero sentiment inside the card is by Paper Inspirations.  The circles are all cut with Spellbinders dies.  The sentiment on the front is 2 separate stamps that are unlabeled.  I will write a personal note on the rest of the inside of card.  I plan to make several more of these cards since OWH is always in need of hero messages for our deployed troops.

More pink & green cards

I got started making pink & green cards and can't stop.  I didn't really choose that, but the paper dictated the colors.

OWH MWT - Color Challenge

Today, I've combined my Partial Die Cutting with the OWH Midweek Throwdown on the Stars & Stamps blog.  This is a color challenge to make a card using pink & green.

I tried taking photos of my process for cutting the 'love' part of this card.  The tutorial I used can be seen here.  Since I don't own the individual letter dies, I tries a word die from Memory Box.

Cutting with partial die

Cutting with craft knife

Trimming tools used


These photos are just the process of cutting the lower part of the cardstock from the top portion. I didn't attempt to show the rest of the cards. I embossed the pink dotted paper with hearts with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.