Operation Write Home Card

Hi Everyone,
Today I have another card for Operation Write Home. I am slowly getting my box full. This card is an A2 size. And no glitter allowed. The inside will stay blank to leave lots of room for writing home. I used stamps from Impression Obsession. And, this card qualifies for their Blue themed challenge.

I stamped the bird with Versa Mark and embossed with blue powder (Stampendous). I masked the bird and stamped the background with Marina Mist ink from Stampin' Up. I added a birthday sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly! because OWH always needs bday cards. I kept the embellies to a minimum....the cards have to travel a long way and they pack better if not too bumpy. Here are a few detail shots.

I have a bunch of these on my work table half done. I did them in all different colors. I will add a variety of sentiments to them. I will share those with you too when they are completed.

Additional Challenges for Bird Birthday OWH Card;

Wee Memories: Make cards for Operation Write Home

Aud Sentiments: Birthday

Impression Obsession: Blue and IO stamps

Crafty Purple Frog: things with wings

Craft Us Crazy: one with nature

Cute Card Thursday: signs of spring

Paper Crafting Journey: winged things

Creative Inspirations Paint: Birthdays

I will be back later with the rest of the cards. See you soon!

Karen

Stampsmith Challenge - Try Something New

Hello Bloggers,

It is the first of the month and that means a new challenge at The Stampsmith Challenge Blog. And, since it is the first of the month, you may use any stamp company! We would love to see your Stampsmith stamps if you have them of course. The winner of the $10 gift certificate will be announced on the 15th! We have a very challenging theme today.

The theme is to Try something new....a new stamp, technique, supplies, layout, join new challenges, a new layout, or make something other than a standard card - something - anything - new to you!!

My "something new" is a technique that I have not tried. It is called faux tile or faux mosaic tile. It is fairly easy and the results are pretty cool. After I finished the center portion of the project, I decided to make a piece of wall art. Here is the project. Keep in mind that this is a large piece 8 x 10 inches.

There is a tutorial on Split Coast Stampers for this technique too. I started out by stamping the Norte Dame stamp from the Paris Full Sheet -Stampsmith Stamps on glossy paper with black dye ink. I cut the image into 6 equal squares and covered each with Glossy Accents. It takes quite a lot of Glossy Accents so make sure your bottle isn't too empty. Once covered, the squares had to sit and dry ( I worked on another project during the drying time). When dry, I layered the squares onto Black CS (Stampin' Up) and DP from Pixie Press in browns. Here is a detail of the center section.

It was at this point I decided to make this wall art (because it looked so cool). I found two mats in my stash of framing stuff and thought they were perfect. One is a corrugated cardboard and the other is black.

I took lots of shots of this project so you could get a good look. Here are a couple more. Can you see how shiny the stamped squares are?

I have this piece sitting on an easel on my sideboard in the dinning room. I hope you will join in the challenge and try something new. It's fun! Make a project and link up on the Stampsmith Challenge Blog.

A few challenges
Paper Take Weekly: Anything goes + something old - My old things are the frame mats.

Top Tip Tuesdays: Favorites - I used a new but favorite now technique- faux tiles.

Cheerful Stamp Pad: Anything but a card

That's it for me today. I have lots of cards to get done this week. Soooo, I better get to it. Hope you are having a lovely day!!

Karen

New Getting Geographical Challenge

Hi. Happy Monday!

It is time for a new challenge at the Stamping Vacation Challenge Blog. We have changed the State Your State challenge to Getting Geographical. Now we will include places from all over the world. And , this month the geographical location is Paris.

You have until March 28th to complete this challenge. All challenge entries qualify for the monthly $ 25 gift certificate drawing. Lets see what you can come up with. Make a project and link it up over at the Stamping Vacation blog. I have a stamp set that features fabulous images of Paris: The Paris Full Sheet from The Stampsmith Shop and I used one of the images from this set. I have continued with my stamping on tissue paper theme. Take a look at my card.

The Eiffel Tower is stamped with black ink on bright blue tissue paper. This is a piece of tissue I had just laying around. It probably was in a gift bag. So, I guess you could say I am recycling. I cut the tissue with a Sizzix die. To get the tissue to cut well layer a piece of cardstock under the tissue. The tissue will cut perfectly and you will have a tag to layer under the tissue on the card. The card base is Textured So Saffron from Stampin' Up. The DP is from ATD. I added a strip of Black ric rac and a sheer black ribbon. The sentiment is also from the Stampsmith Paris set. Here are a couple of close up shots for you too.

I am also posting this card on the Stampsmith Design blog. Head over there for lots of inspriation.

Of course, I found a few Challenges for "Paris Tag".

Desert Island Crafts Challenge: My 3 Picks - No flowers, only one pattern paper, sparkle.

Party Time Tuesday(they are back): anything goes

Woodware USA: anything goes

Shelly Images: use some ribbon

I did it Creations: punches or dies

Sentimental Sundays: anything goes

Have a great day! Lots of sunshine here today. Love ya.

Karen

Another Clean and Simple Flower

Hi!

I'm back with another CAS card. I seemed to have a thing about CAS flowers lately. This type of card is nice to go in my Operation Write Home box too. I am going to make a couple more of these and change out the sentiment on each one. Since it is for OWH, the inside has to stay blank. I usually add an additional white sheet, so there is plenty of room to write a long letter. Okay, so on with the card. I call this one "Friendship Garden".

I used a Rubber Stampede tulip stamp and a sentiment from See D's. I especially made this a friendship card because the sentiment was given to me by my friend Jude Haggerty. She cleaned out her stamping stuff and blessed me with some super fabby stamps. Thanks Sweetie! I am loving all of them. There was plenty of goodies to share with my stamping buddies too.

The tulip and sentiment were stamped with Coffee Bean Brilliance pigment ink and heat embossed with clear powder. I added texture with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I added a layer of dark brown CS and the card base is cream. Here is a close up.

I used two brads and little loops and threaded a plaid ribbon through the loops.

And, here a few super fun challenges for Friendship Garden:
Simon Says Stamp: Colors Cream and Cocoa

Crazy 4 Challenges: flowers

Pink Gem challenge: Use one or more of buttons, bows, brads,beads. I used brads and a bow.

One stop craft: Spring flowers

Sweet Stampin: Oh so girlie

Crafty Catz Weekly: For a Friend

Crafty Sentiments: Spring

Well, I guess that's all for me today. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Karen

Clean and Simple Challenge

Hello Everyone,

It is time for the monthly Clean and Simple Challenge at the Stamping Vacation Challenge Blog. This month the theme is:

Use FLOWERS

This challenge is due by March 26th and qualifies for the monthly prize drawing as do all challenges! The prize this month is a $25 gift certificate to the store of YOUR choice! How cool is that?!!

I used a Penny Black stamp for my Design Team card. Take a look.

The color scheme is black and white. I added a bit of texture with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I stamped the image on white CS and ran it through the Cuttlebug. I added on layer of black CS and made the card base from whits CS. Nice and easy. This is another card for my Operation Write Home box. Here is another look.

A Few fun challenges for Keep it Simple with Flowers:

Victorine Originals: Embossing

Sweet stamps Blog: Flowers

TSG Clear Stamps: Only Lined Art

Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps: Any Occasion

Do you stack up: Anything goes

Stamp Something: Flowers

Totally gorjuss: Black and one other color

That's all for now. I will be back with another CAS flower card. Have a great day! Love ya,

Karen

Blockheads Design Blog Sneaky Peek

Hi Everyone,

I am Guest Designing over at the Blockheads Design blog today. I will tantalize you with a little sneaky peek. I have posted an article on using dry embossing with Spellbinders die cuts. I used the Japanese Musicians stamp set from Blockhead Paper Arts. All the details are over on the Blockheads blog.

And here is the mess I made! There is more mess over to the right too. Oh my. Don't worry. I cleaned up when I was all done.

Hope you enjoy the tutorial. See you later!!

Karen

DeNami Color Challenge

Happy Monday Everyone,

We got socked with a ton of snow last night. It is definitely still very much winter here. So, I was very intrigued by the DeNami Color Challenge. It is a very bright and cheery combination. Kind of Springy too. Navy, Lime, and White. You have to use a DeNami stamp too. I used my new Mimi scooter stamp (DeNami). I also decided that I needed to get started on some cards for Operation Write Home. They posted this nice sketch yesterday which I used to make my card.

Lawn Fawn is having a neat challenge over at the Lawnscaping Blog too. Their challenge is to use paper piecing. Here is the card I came up with.

Mimi and the scooter are paper pieced. I punched the circle and had to hand cut the Night of Navy (Stampin' Up) circle. I added a birthday sentiment from Stampin' Up. Accents are a wide, sheer white ribbon and some pearl stickers. Here is a close up so you can see the paper piecing.

The Lime green CS I pieced for the scooter and the green DP for her outfit are from DCWV. Markers were used on the face, hair, and tires.

Since this will be going to Operation Write Home, I will leave it blank on the inside. The cards are sent to Military personal and they use them to write home. Well, I have one card done. About 30 more to go. I will make up a bunch and ship them off to OWH. They take care of the rest. Hope my springy colors brightened your day. Love ya,

Karen