2011 OWH Top 10

It was hard to pick 1o of my favorite OWH cards for 2011, but I gave it my best shot. These are in no particular order. Have a Happy New Year!

OWH MWT Thank You and SSC Sparkle & Bling

I am a little under the weather with a cold...so I made one card for two challenges. The links for the two challenges are: http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2011/12/thank-you.html and

http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/its-all-sparkling-at-sweet-stampin.html.

I accidentally ran across this Hero Arts stamp that I had won and thought it would be perfect for the Thank You card I was making in honor of Dixie and all her hard work as a shipper for OWH. Glad she is still providing support in other areas!

OWH Sketch #101

Merry Christmas! I worked on this card while waiting for my rolls to rise. I do not know about you but banners on cards "scare" me. They never lay quite right to my eye, but I set aside my fears to give it a try.

OWH MWT Happy Birthday

No stamping today (on these three cards), but I was inspired by these three embellishments and my Basic Grey paper pack. I am partial to the orange and green one; which is your favorite?

OWH Sketch #100

My mojo is fading, which probably explains why I am not totally in love with either card. The paper is awesome so it has got to be me, right? Maybe I need to be working on Christmas stuff. I need to at least figure out where I am at and what I still need to get.

OWH Thanks to our heros at Hero Arts!

A card to thank Hero Arts for partnering with Operation Write Home and I am definitely mailing this to them! They definitely deserve some snail mail!

I cannot wait to get me at least one of the sets!

Card uses Sketch #99 cause it is so darn cool.

MFW: Tuesday Trigger

This week I was inspired mostly by the colors (tone on tone) and of course the image itself at http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2011/12/tuesday-trigger-and-partridge-in-pear.html. Are you inspired? Play along!

I had never inked this wreath image before and decided that it was time. I added some pearls and curled the edges. I am hoping the curling adds to the card; it seemed too plain as just a circle.

OWH CASE the Skip

I decided to CASE Yolanda's card (the first one) since I already have a clock face stamp (even though it is not as yummy as the new one from Hero Arts). I teamed up Bo Bunny with Basic Grey. I love when the paper already looks distressed! Cannot wait to see the Hero Arts stamps up close and personal! To join the skip, please start here: http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2011/12/happy-hour-hero-arts-stamp-blog-skip.html.

OWH:MWT & Tuesday Tutorial

I made a goal to not use the sentiment of Happy Valentine's Day on any of my cards to give them all a little more versatility. I kept to it with the Bee Mine card although it seems perfect for a Valentine. I did mail in 40 cards for the Archway challenge so I probably will not send this in until after New Year's which will work for a "spring" card. The second card is for the Bargello tutorial. I did not read the instructions too well because I was short 1 strip. A lesson learned for the next card using this technique which I really like!

One card = Two Challenges

I hardly every make a card that works for two challenges but this week is different. This card is for http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/things-with-wings.html and http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2011/12/sketch-challenge-99.html

I almost threw this card away before I finished it because I thought it looked dumb (I printed it out on the pink) even though I love the sweet corniness of the image and sentiment. I grew up on a milk farm so I have a fondness for cows! The image is by Bugaboo Stamps; the sentiment is by me because I wanted a miss you card for OWH. This was a freebie at one time, but now can be purchased at http://www.bugaboostamps.com/Cow-Humor--holy-cow_p_2349.html.

I cannot color well with markers (or any other media) so I was definitely outside my comfort zone on this one. I did gloss the cow's nose to add a little interest.

MFW: Deck the Halls

I thought long and hard about the inspiration photo...what was it I always liked about these Christmas ornaments? The shine of the glass! The light bulb went off and I went to work. The O in joy is made using an acrylic mirror, some ink and super fine glitter. I did stamp the background as well. The rest of the sentiment is printed using my computer. I decided since I was spending so much time designing this card that I needed to make it my GNO Christmas card which just happens to be tonight. Got a few more to crank out as well as some baking so gotta run.

If you want to play, please go here: http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2011/12/tuesday-trigger-deck-halls.html.

OWH MWT: Make your own background

The background is stamped using the same image but I did it in three colors. I was going for a kid's birthday card. I had started with a different chipboard animal and thought about using my computer to make a sentiment but my plans went awry. Oh well another card for another day. It's been a crazy week and I am beat!

ODBD December Challenge: Sentimental

This is my last post for today. I love the stamps made with quotes from kids...they are so cute and so true. I really like the map look of the background paper but did not like image so I covered up it with some brown. I am having so much fun with my new cricut cartridge and all the different diecut frames I can make!

OWH needs at least cards linked up to get the maximum postage donation from Our Daily Bread Designs. How cool is that!!! To play along please go to: http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2011/12/odbd-december-challenge-get-sentimental.html and yes, there are prizes!

OWH Sketch #98

I ran across this little metal tag that served as the inspiration for the card. I had purchased "life of the party" Basic Grey pad that I really have not used much of. I am done making OWH valentines... there were 40 in my last box. I thought about adding a ribbon but decided against it and now regretting that decision. I was going for a more simple masculine affect. Oh well...on to the next card!

SSC: Snow Something

Here in Iowa we did see a little snow this week but it did not stick. I am definitely not ready for it. I did take the opportunity to use this challenge to make my mother's Christmas card...She loves snow "people". If you want to play along please go here: http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/is-it-snowing-at-sweet-stampin.html

Even if you do not want to play, they had 207 entries last week and that is a lot of eye candy to look at if you like to check out other people's stuff. The hats, scarves, and heart are all paper pieced. The image is by Dilly Beans. My mom is going to love this!

OWH MWT: Digital Image

A quick card for the challenge using a digi from Free Digital Stamps that I had saved way back in April. They remind me of the bunnies in the movie Bambi. Unfortunately, the creator did not name it in such a way I can find out who made it and give credit. Sorry! :(

Since I am not planning to mail out any more boxes this year I thought this would make a great Easter card. I did not measure the pink paper, so after I attached everything I realized the dimensions were off. I added the blue strip to the side and it does not look too wonky so I am good with it.

OWH Sketch #97

I think I made this sketch harder than it needed to be...but it was a challenge after all.

It is hard to see but I did fussy cut and pop out the hearts on the top block for dimension as well as the hearts and leaves in the others. I thought about adding ink stitching to each block. I tried it with white, which did not show up so I had to start over...don't really want to do that again!

SSC: Punches & Dies

I made one card but I did not think it was good enough (not enough stamping) for the challenge so I started over. If you want to play along please go to http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/punches-dies.html. My digi was made by Paula and can be found here: http://paulaposts.blogspot.com/2011/04/free-digi-and-more-dad-cards.html. The sentiment is by Stampin Up and I was lucky to find it at my local Goodwill. I knew it would be perfect with Paula's digi which is one of my favorites (easy to color and great for guy cards!). I had been looking for a Cricut cartridge to use for card making. I think I found a winner!

OWH: More love cards...

Two love cards...at the opposite ends of the spectrum...one silly...one not. I am packing up my last box of cards for 2011...need to meet the 11/30/2011 Any Hero Christmas deadline and the 12/10/2011 Archway Challenge deadline. Wow...it will be time to start Mother's Day Cards.

OWH MWT: Love You

I have been working on Love cards for a couple of weeks. These are a few of my favorites.

MFW: Rustic Red

I went uber CAS for this challenge. I love rustic country; whites, linens, woods, and a happy punch of dark red. All of which inspired me to make this little love card for OWH. If you want to play please go here:

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2011/11/tuesday-trigger-red-rustic.html

SSC: Happy 2nd Birthday!

Surprise! Yes I even surprised myself. I like a little bling now and then but I wanted to push myself a little further! My card is 5x7 which gave me a little more room to work with. I even used pink...gasp! ;)

I am linking to: http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/2nd-birthday.html Hope their birthday is uber fantastic!

OWH Sketch Challenge #96

I looked at this sketch and thought no prob, until I was going through my stickers for a little inspiration and realized that the ones I was interested in using would not work. I finally decided on the house and using the sentiment you see here. I kept wanting to use pink as an accent color but I was going for a more universal appeal so I chose the blue.

I recently bought a Sweet Nectar solid mat pad from K&Company. It has just enough visual texture to make me happy but appears as a solid. 72 double sided sheets of yummy colors great for layering (matting)!

Just because...

I decided I needed to challenge myself today so I made a CASE card. This card is based upon the one on page 70 of the January 2011 Scrapbook Trends Cards magazine by Mandy Starner. It is fun take on a ruffle card! I am not super happy with the stitching but it does add a little something. I think I need to add some liquid pearls to this. . .