Perpetual Playtime

Today I'm posting a card I put together for OWH (operation Write Home) for the Midweek Throwdown Challenge . I was asked to make a card with a Sweet Treat theme. When I was contacted regarding this project I looked at what I had in the way of sweet treat themed materials and realized that I had very little and half of what I had was glittered (which we all know, for the safety of our troops, is an OWH no-no). So I thought I either go buy better sweet treat themed materials or I improvise. I thought improvise was a good option because so often we see cards made with all the typical, pick it up at the local craft shop, materials and if I improvise I could show how you can put together a cute card with your printer and the internet - or, if you want to get even more creative, your printer and your computer. If you have a program like Photoshop you can make your own designer papers for the backgrounds. If you don't have Photoshop there are good, and, more importantly, F...

A couple of weeks ago, as I hopped along through the OWH Memorial Day Weekend Blog Hop I viewed several cards people had posted where they used a technique that Sandy Allnock, President of Operation Write Home , had highlighted in a video tutorial . I missed the original posting of the video and the Dimensional Ruffled cards, but I really liked the way they looked and since I already had the Martha Stewart punch she used I knew that one day soon I would  give it a try.   Well, today was that "one day soon". So off I go to the Craft Room - pull out the drawer of punches and my eyes immediately spy another edge punch that would work well also. So I decided to see how many edge punches I had that would work. Well, lets just say I didn't use EVERY punch that would work. But the punches that didn't get used today will definitely get used for this technique in the future.  Having as many "acceptable" punches as I did led to a new inspiration. I decided...

HELLO AND WELCOME  . . .  to the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop. I hope everyone is enjoying all the wonderful work crafted by the many talented folks who support OWH. And maybe you have even found some inspiration for your next project. If you came here from  Darlene, of  Expressions by da,  then you are on the right track. If you didn't, then please hop on over to the first stop on this blog hop by clicking here, so that you can enjoy all the wonderful work along the way.  I haven't done a lot in my craft room since the last OWH Blog Hop, but I do love a good Blog Hop and the OWH Blog Hop's are ALWAYS good, so of course I had to participate. For today's blog hop I have created a "Missing You" card using the Tilda Blowing Hearts stamp from the Valentine Collection by Magnolia. She is stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. The two purple solid cardstocks are Bazzill and the green...

HELLO AND WELCOME I'm glad you stopped by my hop spot on the Operation Write Home Bunny Hop Blog Hop. I hope everyone is having a hopping good time and that you have found plenty to add a spring to your step! If you came here from Shelly of "Confessions of a Wheelie Scrapbooker" then you are on the right bunny trail. If you didn't, then please hop on over to the first stop on this blog hop by clicking here , so that you can enjoy all the wonderful work along the way. MY CARD Here is the card I made to share with you today. Makes me think of chocolate bunnies and Neapolitan ice cream - yum!   The base of my card is Tutu Pink cardstock from Bazzill. The pink paper with white dots is from Creative Memories, it is from a pack called Tone on Tone from their Delight's collection (hard to see them in this picture, but there are small white dots on the pink paper at the top of the card). The brown cardstock is also from Bazzill - Iced Cocoa. I used an EK Success...

Well, I have been A.W.O.L for a while. I can't really blame any one cause for my absence, but I can see several factors that played into it. One was the World Card-making event's that I participated in several of which used up a lot of my card making energies. Another is, that while I did not post it, I did work on a set of ATC's for an ATC swap. Spent a good bit of time on those since several ideas I played with didn't pan out. One thing I learned is that I don't find myself very fond of ATC's due to the size limitation. None-the-less, I signed up for it and I persevered until I finally managed a finished product I was okay with swapping. Unfortunately I was so stressed and so afraid of missing my deadline that I mailed them off without getting a picture. Oh well. And then the third issue to is a major contributing factor is that I asked my DH for a Kindle for my birthday and he obliged and even let me have it as soon as it arrived rather than make me wait for ...

Hello and Welcome!  You are on the CardSwaps World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Faith Skrdla (Designed 2 Delight) - http://designed2delight.blogspot.com/2010/09/cardswap-blog-hop.html . If you got here differently, make sure you start at the beginning and work your way around.  Comment on every blog by midnight CST, October 3, 2010, to be entered into a drawing for prizes. The full list of prizes are on Lora's blog . For my part in the Blog Hop I was assigned an Individual Challenge. The Individual Challenge I was assigned is: Recipe Challenge - Create a card using the following items: 4 brads, 3 flowers, 2 patterned papers, 1 image. (Okay, I'm going to give everyone a good chuckle here. Being relatively new to cardmaking and challenges I had to ask Lora what the "recipe" part of my challenge meant. Did it mean I had to actually put a recipe on or in the card? Eek, do I have a recipe that will fit on a greeting card? Well, she ...

SRM Stickers is also sponsoring a challenge featuring Operation Write Home (OWH). This is my entry in the SRM Stickers Challenge. The cardstock is AC Textured White and the printed paper is from the Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage 6X6 mini stack. I added some of that generic grosgrain ribbon that I got on eBay (no name brand to share on that), and the small red square is part of some generic cardstock I bought from Michaels Craft Store years ago.The Hello stamp, gee I don't really know for sure. A very simple card. And easy to put together, the hardest part was probably the bow, but even that was easy enough - I used the "Fork Bow" method. I found this on several blogs and forums, but I originally found it on Diana Gibbs blog, Stampin with Di & everyday this 'n that .  And, Here is the sketch provided for this challenge: I rather enjoy doing challenges that also offer me the opportunity to add to my OWH collection.

Dutch Dare is featuring Operation Write home in honor of OWH's first birthday! In featuring OWH, Dutch Dare put out a challenge that simply required the card meet OWH criteria and have a Birthday theme. Well, they said any theme would be accepted, but since it is a Birthday Party they were hoping for a Birthday card. So I made a Birthday card. It's a very simple card, but I was kinda pushed for time since I was not able to get any card making done over the weekend most of my Monday was taken up with things that needed to be done. Not the least of which was to get a very large box out of the middle of my scrap room floor. The card base cardstock is generic cardstock I bought from Michaels years ago. The Pretty blue flowery inset is from a Nana's Nursery Baby Boy mini stack by DCWV that my little sister brought me a few weeks ago on her way back home from a trip. It has shiny little blue flowers, to add a little glitz. And the sweet little kitty is from my Cricut Create-a...

Today I have two cards I made for challenge entries. Operation Write Home Midweek Throwdown Challenge - Wednesday, September 22, 2010 The challenge for this week is a technique challenge. We had to make an easel card. Now, I had made an easel card once before, but I didn't have the size constraints of making it fit the A2 size. This time I needed to make it fit the A2 size (the recommended, but not mandatory OWH size). And, as always happens I could not find the tut I used the first time, which to me was easier to follow than the one OWH linked us to. Since I was negligent in saving the first tut, I did save this one, and if I ever find that first one again, you can be sure I will save it!  (edit to add - Julie posted a link to an easel card tut that is on the OWH site and to me it made better sense in regard to the direction of the folds. For anyone interested, I have saved both tuts on my "Saved Tuts" page.) Okay, so, for this card I decided to try my Tim Holtz ...

H ere is another card I made for the OWH (Operation Write Home) Stars & Stamps Sketch Challenge . The solid cardstock is some generic paper that I got from Michaels several years ago and the print paper with the bats I recently purchased from Oriental Trading. I believe the cute little trick-or-treaters and the small bat at the top (on the purple stripe) are Inkadinkado sta mps. The small "boo!" is from a Lawn fawn stamp set. And I added some black three  dimensional dots using Pearl paint from Viva.  And here is the sketch provided for this weeks challenge: I will send this card to the OWH project, but since the majority of Halloween themed cards have already been processed I will hold this one and work on adding to the Halloween theme for next year. I could have, and maybe should have made a more generic "Thinking of You" or "Miss You", but I had Halloween papers out for another cards and was on a roll.

I made this card for the OWH (Operation Write Home) Stars & Stamps Sketch Challenge . It was quick and easy. They provided the sketch, the color scheme and the theme. I used a variety of paper - the solid pink, solid green and large polka dot paper are from DCWV stacks. The tiny polka dot ribbon is from Creative Memories and the cake is from the Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cart. I am also making a bunch of rather generic cards for the OWH project , but I don't have enough of those to take a group shot, and since I plan to make several dozen I'm not sure I want to post all of them one by one. But I will post something about them when I get far enough along with that project. 09/21/10 - adding the image of the sketch: