Operation Write Home Sketch

Hello Friends,
I made these cards for the Operation Write Home Sketch Challenge 43. (This will be a short post today. I fell off a ladder yesterday and broke my arm at the wrist. So typing is extremely difficult)
The first card uses a stamp from My Favorite Things. I heat embossed the image and used watercoloring.

The second card uses a Stampin' Up stamp. I used two inks to ink the stamp: Old Olive and Not Quite Navy.

Well, got to go. My arm is hurting too much.

Have a great day.

Karen

Operation Write Home Card Making Event

Hi Card Making Gurus,
The OWH card making event hosted by Suzanne Everett last weekend was a major success. We made 175 cards for our heroes. Suzanne has more photos on her blog too. Here are some photos of all of us.


That's Suzanne standing. She is the hostess with the mostest. LOL

This is my buddy Sharon. She is holding the card I designed for the event. I also won the stamp set Awash with Flowers in the drawing for people who sent in designs for the event. Thanks Suzanne!!! Suzanne changed the colors to use up some of her stash. Aren't the new colors great. See how happy we all are. On the drive home, Sharon and I discussed what a nice experience it is to make pretty cards for our heroes. The soldiers really do appreciate the cards so much. Hope y0u all have a lovely day. Take a moment to remember our service men and women today. I pray for their safety. Thanks

Karen

Garden Update

The garden is glorious right now. All the peonies are bursting out. The hosta have grown to gigantic proportions. The poppies and daisy are magical. I just had to photograph everything to share with you.

I have to out and put in more seeds in the herb/veg garden. I will be able to get to that today. The temps are not too high yet today. I'll just finish my cup of java first then out I go. Oh, I bought 3 sacks of Dahlia bulbs the other day to add to my collection. Last summer the chipmunks just about wiped out my dahlias so I had to start replacing them this year. It' s all good. Hope you enjoyed the tour through my garden. I will continue to add updates through out the summer season. Have a super good day everyone.

Karen

Just a Little Challenge

Joanne at Just a Little Something is celebrating. She is so excited because she has had half a million visits. Fabulous, right?! Congrats Joanne. To celebrate, she is hosting a Sketch Challenge ....Just a little challenge Plus three. Oh, and there is blog candy too. Here is the Sketch:

For the Plus Three part you add at least three items from the list:

gingham
text printed papers
ledger paper
twill
kraft paper
denim
stitching
bling
paper piecing

There is plenty of room for creativity. For my Plus Three I used:

gingham

Text printed paper

Twill

Bling

Well, that's four, but that's okay too. Here is the card I made.

The stamp is Blooming Good Day from My Favorite Things. I used Almost Amethyst and Certainly Celery CS from Stampin' Up. Some watercolor paper and watercolor crayons. DP from Dream Street Papers and Stampin' Up. And lots of bling. I call this card "Blooming Bling". So my Plus Three elements are: Lavender gingham ribbon, Yellow Twill, DP with printed text for background of card, and all the bling. Fun sketch and fun challenge. Thanks Joanne.

We are having super hot temps here. That's a good excuse to get some of the indoor cleaning done. Air conditioner is ON. I am having company this weekend so have to scrape the dust of the furniture. LOL No, it's not that bad. Hope you are having a super sweet day!!

Karen

Always Playing with Paper

Hi Girlfriends,
The Always Playing with Paper blog is making some changes. The blog will now be a Challenge blog. I got the news from LeAnne at Wee Inklings. She is a new Fabulous Paper Player. And , the design team is looking for a June guest designer. I would enjoy the challenge of being a guest designer. Firstly, because I think it would be fun, yes that's right, just good old fun. Isn't that what we are really trying to do: have fun? Secondly, I would enjoy the challenge to make myself a better card maker. Thirdly, being the guest designer would push me to get out all my fabulous Stampin' Up products more often! I have so many great stamps from SU. That being said, on with the projects. I made two cards with Stampin' Up products to show you today. The first is made with one of my fav sets. It is called Friends 24-7.

To make the background, stamp off once and then stamp the scroll stamp on white CS. Using a sponge or a cotton ball add a little Bordering Blue ink to the white CS. Stamp the bird with Chocolate Chip in the center. Layer with CS. Stamp and punch the sentiment and add some sheer ribbon.

Materials List:
Friends 24-7 Stamp Set
Curly Label Stamp Set
Bordering Blue CS and ink
Chocolate Chip CS and ink
White CS
Curly Label Punch
Sheer Ribbon

The second card for today is all Stampin Up stamps but, I also used a little DP from K & Company and ATD. I used the direct to paper method to add the color to the background. Then I stamped the image in Basic Black. Layered with CS and DP. I stamped some of the bamboo on the lower right hand corner too. The sentiment is from Asian Artistry. It was stamped in Basic black on Green DP and attached with dimensional tape. Two brads were added on the bottom edge.

Materials List:
Asian Artistry Set, Taken With Teal CS from SU
Black, Yo Yo Yellow ink from SU
DP from K & Company and ATD
Memento Inks

Here is a detail photo.

Well, that's about it for today. I have to get busy. I have to run errands today. I need some seeds for the garden, 2 bags of sand, 2 bags of white rock. And, a package of pearl accents. I have a lot of stops to make. Better get going. Have a super day today everyone. You are loved!

Karen

Simon Says Stamps Challenge

Hi Everyone,

This week at Simon Says Stamps Challenge is this cute sketch.

Check it out:

I have been wanting to try out a new Hero Arts stamp I purchased the other day. It is called Flower Medley (K5361). I thought it would be great for this sketch because of the central area for a motif. So, I got the stamp out and played round with it and different inks. This is what I came up with using the sketch from Simon Says Stamps.

Here is the materials list:

Flower Medley Stamp from Hero Arts

Card Stock: Certainly Celery, Brilliant Blue from Stampin' Up, White

Decorative Paper: Crate Paper (love, love, love this paper)

Inks: Brilliant Blue from SU, Wild Lime from Vivid!

Other: corner rounder, Tulle, Glossy Accents from Ranger

Here is a detail photo so y0u can see the accent pieces.

To make the card, I applied the Lime ink to the bottom half of the stamp and Brilliant Blue to the top. Then stamped on white cs. I inked the edges of the piece and layered it with Brilliant Blue cs. I made a second image the same way and punch two different sized circles ( three total). I positioned the circles on the card front and covered them with Glossy Accents. And, added some tulle of course. You gots to have fiber! LOL. Well, hope everyone is having a great day. I finished up all my yard work for now - Hooray! So I can take it easy today. Of course, now my house needs cleaning. Such is life. Bye for now blogger babes.

Karen

Impression Obsession Thursday Challenge

Hello Stamping Stars,

It is Thursday and time for the bi-weekly Impression Obsession Challenge. The theme is: make a card for a friend and mail it. Easy right?! I decided to get out my tea bag folding stamp (Tea Bag Cube #1 H4470 Impression Obsession). I use this stamp in other ways too. The squares make nice accents on the corners of cards. Here is the card I made for the challenge.

I stamped the images on white light weight card stock, cut them out and folded the squares. I glued them to a Brocade Blue square using a wet glue. The wet glue (Tacky Glue) works better than a tape runner. I layered this on a Night of Navy card. All card stock is from Stampin' Up. I stamped the sentiment (Sunshine and Joy A5506 Impression Obsession) on Night of Navy and embossed it. I added some ribbon and white brads. This would make a nice Christmas card in reds and greens too. Well, I had better get going. I have to go and make some dinner.

May the sunshine cheer you today.

Karen

Wee Memories Challenge

This week's Wee Memories blog challenge theme is Pink and Embellishments. Jen is offering some S.E.I. products as a prize. Deadline is Friday, May 21st. Here is the card I made for the challenge.
I used a Martha Stewart eyelet note card. I stamped the images on this one layer card. The stamps are from the Friendship clear stamp set by Inkadinkado. The Decorative paper is from Stampin' Up. I stamped the images with Memento inks : Lilac Posies and Sweet Plum. I added a strip of pink tulle, a sparkly ribbon, pink metal stickers, and pink pearl stickers. I think I used enough pink. Did someone say pink??!!
Have a great day. Be back later or tomorrow for the Impression Obsession Thursday Challenge.
Karen

Bird Theme

Hi to All My Crafty Buddies,

I have been feeling kind of burned out this last week. I took a few days off and did not make any cards for 3 whole days. But, now I back and feeling all crafty creativey again. I decided to get out some of the images I stamped when I was in Florida. I stayed up late one night stamping and stamping. I was using stamps from Elaine's fabulous collection. Thanks Elaine! I think the cards turned out nice. I made two of each. One for my stash and one for the Operation Write Home box. I used lots of wines and yellowy greens.

I did lots of distressing on the first card. I used Fired Brick, Tattered Rose, and Iced Tea from Ranger. The image is from Magenta. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up. I rounded all the corners.

Again, the image is from Magenta. I just did a tiny bit of distressing on the edges with Fired Brick. Same sentiment from Stampin' Up. I put Missing you sentiments on OWH cards and Thinking of you on the ones for my own use.

This Saturday is Suzanne Everett's Operation Write Home Card Making Event. It will be taking place in Hartland, Michigan. Should be lots of fun! Hope everyone has a fab day. I have to get out and work in the yard.

Karen

Vintage Contest

Clicking through a bunch of blogs today, I found a nice blog candy contest over at The Vintage Workshop. Check it out. It looks super sweet. The candy is a collection of very pretty vintage pieces to use on cards or scrapbooks. Thanks Cheryl!!

Wee Memories Stitching Challenge

Good Afternoon Crafty People,

Another Challenge today.

This one is taking place over at Wee Memories. Jenny decided to make the theme "Stitching" which is great for me as I love to sew. I found a cute fabric with a giraffe print in my stash. I haven't quilted anything in awhile so I thought the giraffe would look sweet all hand quilted. I layered the fabric with some dense thin batting and hand quilted it with quilting thread. I cut out the fabric with pinking shears and attached it to a card made with Close To Cocoa CS (SU). I die cut a frame (Sizzix) from some DP (K&Company) and secured it to the fabric piece with photo stickers. I added a Stampin' Up sentiment, ribbon and some buttons. I took a couple of stitches through the buttons and card stock to help hold the fabric piece to the card.

Is it too much sewing?? I'll let you decide.

Hope your day is lovely.

Karen

Sketch Crazy??!!

Happy Monday Everyone,

Hope all enjoyed Mother's Day.

Here I go again with another sketch challenge. I am already up to my allotted challenges for the month of May. Well, almost. I try to keep to a manageable number so I don't go crazy. I saw this sketch a I heart 2 Stamp and thought it was so cute --- I just had to try it. Here is the sketch:

And this is the card I made:

Materials list:

Stamp: My Favorite Things- the Tea Pot from "In the Background"

CS: Almost Amethyst from SU, Textured Yellow from DCWV

Dec Paper: K&Company, Frame is from Provo Craft

Ink: Tuxedo Black from Memento

And a bunch of accents.

I went pretty simple. Stamped the Tea Pot on DP and cut out and layered onto a punched circle.

So, that's about it for today. I should get going on some household things. Like cleaning up the kitchen. What do you think? Should I clean or make another card??

Have a super sunny day. Bright and sunny here but chilly.

Karen

Impression Obsession Thursday Challenge

Hi Craft Buddies,

I finally finished up my card for the Impression Obsession Thursday Challenge. This week's theme is to use an Impression Obsession stamp in an unconventional way. I used the Espresso stamp. This is what the stamped image looks like:

I turned the image upside down and used the steam as flower stems.
The image was stamped with black ink. I applied color to the background with the direct to paper technique - with Bashful Blue ( Stampin' Up) and New Sprout (Mememto) ink pads on white CS. I layered with Pear Wine Sorbet DP (Cloud 9 Design), Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery CS (Stampin' Up). I arranged some Felt Flowers from Stampin' Up at the top of the image. I added a few buttons from my stash and a pretty bow (Ribbon- Certainly Celery from Stampin' Up.
Well, I have to get going. Have company right now and have to get some dinner going.
Happy Mother's Day to everyone!
Karen

Mother's Day Card

Hi Everyone,

This will be a quickie post. I thought I would show you the card I made for my Mom.

I used a Stampin' Up set: Fifth Avenue Floral. Embossed and watercolored it. Scrunched up a piece of tissue paper and layered it under the flower. The card is made with Blush Blossom CS from Stampin' Up. The frame is Sizzix die cut using paper from the Mariposa collection from DCWV. The other DP is from K&Company. The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly!. See, I said this would be a quickie. Have a great evening!

Karen

Mojo Monday 138 Sketch

Hello Crafty Ones,

Well, I know it is not Monday, but I finally got my Mojo going today. I made a card using the Mojo Monday Sketch 138. It was designed by Julee Tilman. Check out the particulars on the Mojo site.

After a couple of tries, I came up with this cute birdie card. I am still loving all things birdie. I used a stamp from the "Love Yourself" set by My Sentiments Exactly!. The decorative paper is from Basic Grey and the CS is textured from DCWV. I used Brocade Blue ink from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is a fabric sticker I picked up at JoAnn Fabrics. I punched the scallop squares with a Martha Stewart punch. Well, I have to get going. It is Challenge day over at Impression Obsession too and I want to get going on that. I hope everyone has a great day today.

Karen

Operation Write Home Card Making Event

Good Day Everyone!

Today I am posting two of the cards (designed by me) that we will be making at the Operation Write Home Card Making Event sponsored by Suzanne Everett on May 22, 2010. Click on her name to go to her blog for more info. Sounds like lots of fun. And there will be prizes too!!! Plus, we get to make cards that will go to our heroes overseas. The service personnel love getting the cards. Check out the Hero Blog and read some of their emails to OWH. The messages are really inspiring!
Okay, so back to the cards.

Here is the materials list:
Of The Earth Set
Three Little Words Set
Baja Breeze CS
White CS
Inks: Baja Breeze
Polka Dot embossing folder
Light Blue Ribbon
Pink Giga Square punch

This card is very simple and easy. A good design for making multiples. Just stamp the bird image and cut out. Layer it with CS in a coordinating color or the same color as ink - I used a punch to punch out this piece. Emboss a piece of white CS and layer on a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card. Add some ribbon and stamp a sentiment. This design works well with any color.

The second card has a few more steps but is still pretty quick to make.

Materials list:

Bloomin’ Beautiful Set
Vintage Labels Set (Happy Birthday)
White CS
Brocade Blue CS
Inks: Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke
Pattern 1 Texture Plate
3 Blue Brads

Make the card from White CS. Run a piece of White CS through the Cuttlebug and the Texture plate. Stamp the flower on this piece using two ink colors. Cut to size and layer with Brocade Blue CS. Add this piece to the White Card and add three brads.

It is a beautiful day in Dearborn, Michigan. I better get going. I have to mow the lawn today.

Hope everyone is having a super day!

Karen