OWH MWT Autumn/Fall

Fall; my favorite time of the year, even though it means winter will soon be here. Love the crisp air and the colors of the leaves. This card is made using a Hampton Arts set that I had purchased earlier this year just for these cards. I sponged the paper for the log because it was just a little to light. All the papers were from my scrap pile which it way too large...need to get that worked down. I am starting to understand why people only save certain sized scraps.

OWH Sketch Challenge #75

I love love this sketch! I will definitely be using this a time or two! Finding paper to inspire me was no problem, settling on which one to use was. I ended up using the chipboard kola from my stash and put together the hugs from one the those letter packs. I just mailed off a package of 85 cards for the Second Million Challenge. Woohoo! I have now donated 362 cards for the year and July 1st has not yet arrived.

OWH MWT Love You!

I started out with a quick look through my stash of digis I had saved on my computer to see if I had anything that inspired me. I came across one that I have not used that seemed to fit. I thought it was from Handmade By Paula, but I did not find it there when I looked so I am not sure. I recolored the digi in MS Publisher in several colors and printed them out on some CTMH paper.

I creatively did some coloring on the scalloped border to add some depth and then cut the whole thing out The paper is from DCWV The Christmas Combo. I was going from a down home country feel, but it may have ended up as Christmas. We will be working on those soon enough!

OWH Tutorial--Paper Roses & Quilted Flag

I have to say when I saw Angela's card on the OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop I totally drooled all over my keyboard...what talent she has! Here is the link to her card on the OWH Stars and Stamps blog: http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2011/06/tutorial-paper-roses-and-quilted-flag.html.

I used several papers from DCWV Summer Dreams Mat Stack (the reds and blues) and the ivory papers were scraps. I did hand cut the flag out after tracing the shape as I have no die cut machine. I have to be honest and say that I was not smiling when I was making the flowers like Angela keeps repeating in the tutorial...but I kept thinking I should be. I am choosing to go sentiment-less on this card.

OWH Sketch Challenge #74

When I saw this sketch I knew immediately which stamp I was going to use: Autumn Leaves Card Sentiments by kezia whitteker. I had been working with some great paper from Making Memories, so I just grabbed some of it. My Fiskars circle cutter comes in very handy when I do not have a punch in the correct size.

The bottom card is what I started last night and did not have the energy to finish. I stamped a second sentiment just for it. I did a little creative coloring with markers for both to add a little pizazz.

Some card makers have a style that is their trademark. I think mine is that I really like mixing patterns, and have a hard time using plain card stock. I think it was developed in my quilting years.

OWH MWT Back to School

Two of my most favorite companies are October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket and they complement each other extremely well. I stamped the sentiment as good as I can using a wood block and it passed inspection so to speak. I started with the round "big school" sticker which I framed with another sticker and a punched circle. I thought the lined paper worked better by not centering it on the plaid. The circle border magically appeared as I was picking up a wee bit and I thought it emphasized the other circles in the card.

OTWC Challenge #55

I could not find a ribbon in my stash that fit with this card. I know...Gasp...Horror of horrors! No, not really. Sometimes I like things simple, so I left this one as is and easy to mail. Super easy peasy as they say. I really like this mix of textures of the papers.

OWH Starburst

This card is based on a tutorial that can be found here: http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2011/06/tutorial-starburst.html. What a super ingenious idea for a card. Papers are out of two separate Making Memories paper packs that coordinated perfectly together. This is definitely on my list of got to make more!

Get Well Card

My mother fell Monday and broke her hip. Life has been a blur and pretty stressful since then. She is going to a nursing home Monday for rehab. I made her a special card to remind her how much she is loved. I call these my "quilt" cards made using my inchie punch. Quilts take a lot of time and much love goes into the making of each one; they are a "blanket of love". Mom has made a few quilts and will appreciate it.

When I get stressed, I like to make cards to focus my energies on something positive. The process of making a special sympathy card helps me recall the memories of that individual's life as well as grieve for the loss. What do you do to deal with stress?

OWH Challenge #73

This sketch was challenging because of the diagonal cut and now I have quite a few scraps because it took me some trial and error on the cuts. The card has a lot going on visually, but little boys like that. No stamping because almost all of it was from a scrap kit I have been trying to use up on other cards for OWH. I have mailed in 277 cards previously and I have another 60+ to mail in for the Second Million Challenge that need to go to the PO sooner rather than later.

OTWC Challenge #55

I had a super hard time with this challenge as it is difficult to tell what color the middle balloon is filled with...dark blue, black or charcoal. I included it in the post so you could decide for yourself. I decided it was charcoal and then searched high and low for some paper that would go well. This is a great color combo...it really fits with Father's Day being next weekend.

I am not sure that the sentiment used really fits with the challenge colors; when I think of laughter I think of bright happy colors...these are more sophisticated in nature. Maybe it would work well for I am sorry card or a birthday card. I cannot send it to OWH as the ink has glitter in it. I need to add charcoal ink without glitter to my "I need to purchase soon" list. I tried out a new corner punch and broke out my bling(pearls), because while I love CAS, this card it was too simple without it.

OWH MWT: Thanksgiving

I can honestly say that I was not real excited about this challenge. The sweltering heat of the Midwest almost fried my brain, but I managed to cool off long enough to concentrate on this challenge. All of this card is made from scraps. Thanksgiving is about family traditions so I thought this sentiment worked well. I put it together from two separate stamp sets; CTMH & Heidi Grace.

OWH Sketch Challenge #72

Yesterday I got to go garage sale shopping with some friends. One stop was all scrapbook stuff because the woman had transitioned to totally digital. I had to keep myself from going totally wild. One of my purchases was a pack of Cosmo Cricket's Jack's World. I love all things Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon. The card is a little retro but very happy; reminds me of the "I think I can...I think I can..." as we march on the second million!

OWH MWT Color Challenge Purple/Green

I made two cards for this challenge but will only be posting one. I cannot take credit for the ingenious Hi card. Page 72 of Cards January 2011 issue has a wonderful card made by Carina Lindholm and I "case-d" it for this challenge. I did design the alphabet letters on the computer and left extra space for the Hi. I wanted to use chipboard letters, but they were all too big or the wrong color. I am thinking I should make a few more of this card and I can tweak the spacing a little more...

The For You is one of my "scrap" card creations. I have a hard time throwing any of it away so I developed what I call "art bit". Sometimes I actually stitch to kick it up a notch. I had this flower that I accidentally found that really seems to set it off.