Boldly go into Stamptember...

Hey,

Happy Friday - I didn't post yesterday as it was a bit too busy on Weds and I just couldn't find the energy to take the photos - but to make up for it, I added a few sequins to my 'photography studio'.

One of the WOYWWer's had entered the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge this week - Boldly go into Stamptember..

You had to go bold with your stamping.

This was SO much fun, I made x4 cards (all going to OWH)..I decided to stick with roughly the same tools - Mustard Seed Distress Ink, a Heidi Swapp stamp, a Heidi Swapp heart stencil, and a Tim Holtz Honeycomb stencil.

The main photo is my entry and final card. Super pleased with this, love the turquoise against the mustard yellow and the little pieces of bling really work for me!

The next 3 cards are almost identical, they each have a little twist.

Adding Orange

Adding a punched heart (stamp did not work, spot the oops)

Different background stencil

What a fun way to spend an hour at my desk. I am already loving Stamptember and my stencil class - much braver now.

Have a great weekend everyone - I will be chilling and having a playdate with JT.

Cx

Simon Says Stamp...July Card Kit...

Hi,

Yesterday during WOYWW I showed one of the cards I have made using parts of the SSS July card kit.

I am currently away with work.hiking or something (Sadface)..I will be home later tonight, then I can comment on WOYWW.

My main photo is one of a batch of cards I made for OWH using the envelope and sentiment stamps from the set. I stamped the envelopes on scraps and then cut them out. Aren't they pretty!

Little Stack of Envelopes

I played with the layouts a LOT, finally I settled on placing the envelopes in the right place, stamping the sentiment - checking it a million times and THEN sticking them in place :)  I raised one envelope on a foam pad for a teeny bit of dimension.

Here's a different layout..

Portrait green envelopes

Because of the colour of the scraps I chose, I decided to make the focus colour of the cards either green or pink.

I love the sentiment stamps from this set, they are so elegant.  These were fun cards to make..I am loving this kit, it was made for OWH.

They both feel like Happy Mail :)

Cx

Sketch + hearts in summer colours...

Hi,

I saw 2 more challenges that I wanted to try and enter/play this week, but when I started looking at them I decided they would work really well if I combined them...

They are -
CAS-ual Fridays #133 - create a CAS project that uses hearts in Summer colours.

CAS(E) this sketch #84 -

I faffed around for ages trying to decide what to make..then I spied the SSS July card kit stamp set on my desk and an idea was born.

The sending lots of love sentiment is from the stamp set and the hearts are from my stash. The inks are all Studio G (Michael's $1 each), the card blank is from a box of American Crafts everyday solid cards.

This is the first time I have masked off an area and got it to work properly for me - so I am really pleased!

Also as there is no glitter, this card will be going into my OWH box..SCORE!

Cx

Missing You...

Hi,

OWH ask for certain themes and 'Missing You' is one of the most requested cards.

I bought a new stamp - which happens to be Hero Arts for OWH - so that I would have a more appropriate missing you sentiment.

As the stamp is round I decided to go with circles as a feature.

I like how this has come out, it's also great because you can use scraps. I punched a star in white to match the detail on the stamp and the colours of the card.

Here is a different version, where I have moved the sentiment circle.

Miss You Circles

I think I'll be making this in other colours and maybe a landscape version..

Cx

OWH - Masking with punches..

Hi,

Back to work now..boo! I did thoroughly enjoy the 3 day weekend.

I was thinking about simple but effective ideas for OWH, I happened to have a scalloped heart that I had punched on my desk and it gave me an idea...

My main photo today is one of the cards I made using my little idea..

I punched a scalloped square, adhered the scalloped heart in the middle of the square - using temp glue. I then took a fingertip ink dauber and inked around the heart - using it as a mask. I wasn't too bothered about my ink coverage, I think it looks better a bit patchy. I removed the heart and punched a smaller heart in contrasting paper and added a sentiment in the same colour ink.

Very easy to do and I think it would work with most punched shapes.

I made 6 cards in total - 2 of each sentiment in pink and blue. Here are the other 2 sentiments.

Masked Heart - Love You Very Much

Masked Heart - Thinking of You

My supplies were - Hero Art stamp (fuzzies), Lawn Fawn stamps (Love You Very Much), Bo Bunny stamp (thinking of you), Woodware heart, scalloped heart and scalloped square punches.Studio G inks and misc paper scraps. The card blanks were made using 100lb cover stock from Target - cut to A2 (US) and scored using the Martha Stewart board.

I will totally be trying this again with different shapes and different colour inks.

Cx

OWH..Having fun with 'scraps'....

Hi,

I hope you are all having a nice Bank Holiday weekend. I have been having fun with Hubby and in the craft room.

Most of my efforts in the craft room have been for OWH - which I will show you over the course of a few posts.

Today's versions came about by accident. I bought a box of patterned card blanks by American Crafts specifically for using for OWH makes. When I got them home I realised they were part of the Neopolitan series and I have papers to match :)

One of the papers looks like this -

So I had a lightbulb moment and cut it into little individual images...

The main card is one of my favourites from the whole batch - as you can see, I put a different sentiment over the one that was under the scooter. As with all the cards I made here I used some of the papers from the Neopolitan pack, but all of the papers I used were in my scrap box and I didn't up any whole sheets. I also used some plain co-ordinating papers. I also added pearls to the cards for a little bit of fun.

Here are the rest of the batch that are finished (there are some on my desk to be completed) -

OWH - Cards made using Neopolitan by American Crafts

All of the cards use die cut shapes - circles, squares, labels - a great way to get the most out of scraps. I also covered anything I didn't think was right with a punched element.

The final card uses one of the little images, but the rest of the stamps and the papers are not Neopolitan. The trainer (sneaker) stamp is from my Simon Says Stamp May card kit, as are the backing and stripey paper, the notepaper is a random scrap and a Lawn Fawn sentiment stamp.

OWH - Happy Birthday

I really like the final card - it's very boy and I find these quite difficult to make, so might replicate this for my own stash of cards.

They have all come out really well, looking forward to showing you the next batch.

Cx

WOYWW #259..My 100th Post this year!!

Hi,

I am most excited that my 100th post this year falls on the same day as WOYWW (join Julia and the gang on her blog Stamping Ground for more info about WOYWW).

Maintaining a blog is hard work, but made much easier when you have things like WOYWW and all your blogland buddies.

My desk is a bit random at the moment...I am doing a big OWH drive, so you can see some remnants from this - my 'love' stamp folder, newish glasses, scissors, inks, stamp press - with a stamp, mouse and some random stencils.

I am most excited about next week's ATC swap!! I made 12, 2 have homes already so if you want to swap, just leave a comment and we can swap addresses - I am based in NYC and don't mind posting to wherever.

I ran out of time to make a little card for you WOYWWer's..So I thought I would show you the pop-up Anniversary card I made for my President (Terry) to give to his wife for their 30th Anniversary..

Pop-up Card

Each panel was personalised as per Terry's request - aeroplane (travel), heart (love) - the 3rd panel contains a quote relating to food and family. I went for spotty papers, that didn't clash or overpower the rest of the details. The card was cut using a Silhouette template.

I love it, Terry loves it and I believe his wife does too :)

See you for a desk snoop later :)

Cx

WOYWW #237...Happy Valentine's Day..

Ha ha sorry to confuse you! But that's what it feels like here...

Before I tell you about it, let's do the important stuff. Today it is time for WOYWW...don't know what I am talking about? Get on over to Stamping Ground and meet our wonderful host Julia and the rest of the gang for the weekly global desk nose..

I am deep into Valentine's Day cards for OWH...as you can see from my desk - partially made cards, hearts, heart punches mini and small, Be My Valentine stamp, mini trimmer, glasses, tweezers, ATG, pencil, stack of completed cards and papers in Valentine hues!

Here is a proper photo of the cards you can see on my desk...

OWH - Be My Valentine

I used an idea that I saw on Pinterest, I loved the idea of a plain card, with a simple sentiment and a busy focal point. Kasia Curry is the card maker and she makes such beautiful things, I love her work. I wanted to credit her, so she knows I am not wilfully stealing!

Card by Kasia Curry via Pinterest

Finally before this post becomes epic..I just want to say thank you to all of you for being such wonderful blog buddies during this strange and exciting 2013!! Have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are.

Cx

Special card for special people..

Hello,

Today is work Potluck Party day..I made fruity cupcakes, they look and smell good...here's hoping they taste the same!

I wanted to make a special Christmas card for the couple that drove us to DTown for Thanksgiving and did the bulk of the cooking. Phillip and Gregory are special people, they were so lovely to Hubby and I and I wanted to say thank you with an individual Christmas card.

The colour palette this week at Pals Paper Arts #183 lends itself to Christmas cards, so it inspired me.

I don't have the identical colours, but I think mine match. I decided to try something a little bit different with the layout and dug out an old RetroSketches sketch..

The stamp is by Kaisercraft and I used it a lot for OWH cards. The little Candi made the card for me and I like the vignette in the green paper.

All the papers are by Pebbles. The ink is by Versamark and is a chalk ink, I love the effect you get with a chalk ink.

The card is safely tucked in my bag and will be posted today.

Cx

A final bow..

..well, for this week at least :)

As you know, this week I have been playing with a Silhouette bow and I decided that one of my ready made bows would work nicely with the FMS Sketch this week..

I seem to be making a lot of Thank You cards at the moment..I think that's because I am working on a big batch of them for OWH.

I used American Crafts washi tape, Kaisercraft textured pink card, a bow cut with the Silhouette portrait, sentiment is by Hero arts..all the other elements are from my stash.

I am very happy with this card - the addition of the button to the bow really makes it a focal point. I am also enjoying this new gem-sequin scattering technique that I am trying out.

Have a great weekend everyone, I am going to see Dr Kevin to help him with the planning for his Christmas Eve party and then I will be packing some craft items for JT and I to play with next week. Can't believe it's less than a week before I see her - AWESOME!!

Cx

Saying thanks...OWH style...

Today it is Veteran's day in America.

So I thought I would share the OWH Thank You cards that I have been making.

On the OWH site, they mentioned that they were low on Thank You's and I love making them, so have spent the weekend making them...I am at 20, all slightly different.

I found this great set of Thank You sentiment stickers in Michaels and thought they would work well for OWH, as I could do all different things with them.

The main photo is a collage of some of my faves and here are a couple of bigger ones.

Thanks - using spellbinders flower dies and American Crafts papers

All I can say is...Thanks! - using spellbinders label dies and American Crafts papers

These were very easy and fun to make, it also meant I got a serious play with the Big Shot, who might feel a bit neglected with the new fancy Silhouette, but I am trying to spend quality time with him :)

These cards will be going out at the end of the month with my Valentine's cards!

Happy Monday to you all and don't forget OWH always needs generous cardmakers.

Cx

OWH Christmas Makes....

Hey,

As I have been a bit busy with the in-laws this weekend, I haven't made that many things, so thought I would show you some of my fave Christmas cards that I made for OWH.

I used a Bugaboo 12 days of Christmas stamp set, that I purchased using some Bugaboo winnings :)

I really love this set and had originally bought it to use for my own personal Christmas cards, but fast realised that it would be quite a lot of work to colour 40+

Using them for OWH meant that they went to a good home and as you can't have more than 20 'similar' cards in one batch meant that I could just make a set of 12 and be happy.

As you can see from my main photo they are really cute - 3 French Hens is my fave of all the stamps.

I used a 'recipe' for all the cards - a simple background paper (spots, stars, stripes or snowflakes), strip of paper to hold the punched sentiment and a foam star. I also tried to make the colours of each element compliment each other - so tonally they are all similar.

I love the way they turned out and hope the troops do too..

Here are a few more of them..

2 Turtle Doves

6 Geese a Laying

12 Drummers Drumming

5 Golden Rings

11 Pipers Piping

Remember OWH always needs card makers like us to donate cards to them - check out their website and give it a go, you don't have to make 100's of cards like me, 10 or 20 cards will be most welcome.

Have a great Tuesday, we are off to Tommy Lasagna with the in-laws...yums!

Cx

Moving Along With The Times...Jingle Bells!

Well not quite.. but the MAWTT challenge theme this week is Christmas Cuties..

The wonderful stamp on my card today is by Lawn Fawn and I bought it to make OWH cards - which have now been despatched (and I am working on VALENTINES!!)

I love this stamp, so easy to colour and the sentiment is really sweet.

I used Promarkers to colour the Owl, the background paper is by Michael's - I love spotty paper, the glittery die cut was made using a Spellbinders die and I finished off with a bit of bling!

Here is the OWH version - no glitter allowed no bling and the actual card is much smaller :)

OWH - Owl I want for Christmas is you

For those of you that don't know what OWH is, it is Operation Write Home..you make cards for US troops to send home to their loved ones..I used to do it when I lived in the UK, but I'm not allowed to now :( so I do it for the US troops instead..giving back is giving back right?

Hope you are going to join our little taste of Christmas this week and enter the challenge. Don't forget to have a nose at the fabulous team creations.

Good luck.

Cx

WOYWW #227..my desk is a mess!

Yep, it's that time again where we join Julia over at Stamping Ground for the weekly desk nose...pop along and see what I am on about!

I enjoyed my first week as a DT, I got to comment on some fab things and it was nice to see so many entries.

This week my desk looks a bit dark and cluttered this week. You can see a stack of Thank You cards waiting to go in envelopes, my trusty pink notebook, I've covered over a card for my DT post on 31st Oct (sorry) and to the right of that you can see some ideas forming for 40 for 40..tools, post-its, tape, glasses..all manner of stuff!

No makes to show this week, as I have Nkem here until tomorrow AM and that ends our spate of visitors until Hubby's folks arrive at the end of the month. Meaning I can get back to crafting normally and not in the twilight zone :)

Here's a pic for you of Lemon, Nkem and I on Sunday (we walked the Highline, as the ferry wasn't running).

Nkem, Moi and Lemon on the Highline, NYC

Happy WOYWW, I am off to the hospital today for most of the day (nothing serious, all routine) and will be home early enough to have a proper nose at all your lovely desks.

Oh and I posted my first batch of OWH cards this week.Yay!

Cx

OWH final stages..

As you all know I make cards for OWH and the current deadline for delivery (including Christmas) is 15th of October.

I have been furiously labelling, tucking and making cards.I have a few more days left of making and then I want to post everything before Lemon arrives on 25th of September.

I thought I would show a few of my latest makes..

Main photo - With Love cards, using a stamp I had forgotten about (more about that later). I embossed the background, die cut the coloured rectangle and coloured the stamp using watercolour pencils!!
I love this technique - the flowers end up looking great with the variation of colour in the petals as you lay down the colour.
It's easy to do, all you need is one of these and some watercolour pencils or Letraset Aquamarkers,  then you colour a little square of colour onto some card and taking the aquabrush apply the colour to your image - easy!
Here's a photo of all the variations I made...

With Love - Watercolours

I've also decided to link to the OWH challenge, with my main card today, it seems only fitting :)

The next set of cards was made using 2 new stamp sets - Teresa Collins Far & Away stamps (for the balloon) and a Hero Arts sentiment stamp set.

Just Saying Hello - brown

I made 3 versions of this card and used different colours for each of them. I used the reverse of journalling cards for the main background, as the fronts are hideous, but on the reverse they have really nice patterns.
Here is a photo of all of them - 

Just Saying Hello - all colours

Final card is really simple..just a punched scalloped heart, some papers, a silver sticker and a stamped sentiment/ They came out really well, every single card has a heart punched with a different paper.

You're the best

I am pleased with how all of the OWH cards have been coming out. I'll show you Christmas before I send them, I am particularly pleased with those ones.

Cx

Christmas in July..

Well not really and it is August!!!

In fact it is the 1st of August and so I am wishing my Ma a Happy Birthday - I wanted to do a longer post about missing Ma, being excited to see her in 3 weeks and more, but guess what...NO CARD PIC. Yep, I stupidly sent her the amazing card I made her (even if I do say so myself) and didn't take a photo...idiot!

Anyway, I have been making Christmas Cards for OWH and decided to enter the cute Rudi into the Always Playing with Paper blog Merry Monday Challenge - Christmas in July.

I love these Rudi's by Bugaboo Stamps. They are such fun and this card is so simple, because it's for OWH, so no bling, no glitter and not too much dimension. Meaning you can make stacks of them..very quickly!

I went with spotty paper, as I seem to have misplaced all my Christmas paper in the move...an excuse to buy more if ever I needed one :)

Whilst colouring a big batch of these Rudi's my Cinnamon Promarker ran out!! It's the first one in x3 years to ever run out - how crazy is that?! Total VFM I say!

Happy Christmas / Birthday Ma.

Cx

WOYWW #217

Hey its that time of the week again, where we all join Julia over at Stamping Ground for the weekly global desk nosy.

Thanks for all the lovely comments last week about my cards and OWH..I am still working on them, I have given myself until the October Christmas deadline to get my first batch of cards in..

On to my desk...meh! Today (Tues eve..) it is slightly staged, as I wanted to show off my goodies from JT - she sent me a craft care package, that has cards and some new goodies (birds, deco felt and stamps that I forgot to include, as they have already been used) for my stash!

The cards (Cupcake and Snazzy Crab) form part of our regular card exchange - email me if you want to play card exchange with me :)

She sent me this little pack of wooden birdies and I had this idea of how to use them, as they are a bit trixsy...

Wooden Birdies 

I wanted to showcase the bird, as they are so detailed. What do you think?

Finished Birdie

Kim from Happy Homeschool Room made a suggestion re: my winning stash from a couple of weeks ago, so I made her a card, as per her suggestion and it's complete and on it's way to her, but I can't show it to you until she gets it :)

I am really happy to be back at work, but one of the things that I really miss is being able to spend the majority of my day nosying at desks on a Wednesday :(

Cx

WOYWW #216 Time to give back...

Happy WOYWW!!

This last week has flown! Julia confused the hell out of me putting the post up early, but it keeps us on our toes :) Go to Julia's blog Stamping Ground to join us on the weekly global desk nose..

What's on my desk...inks, a finished cards, some digital stamps waiting to be coloured, a pen, a perfume bottle? and a half made card for JT - aaargh what a mess...and a big stack of cards for Operation Write Home (OWH) - briefly this is an organisation that encourages us lovely cardmakers to make cards for US troops based overseas...they can't get to a card shop and shop bought isn't as personal...so that's where we come in.

As I have only just moved to the US, I don't want to start selling my cards just yet, but need to keep my idle hands busy...I used to make cards for a similar organisation back home in the UK, so did some research and voila!

I love making these cards - super easy, no glitter, not too much dimension, limited sentiments and a set card size means that you get to plan and crack through heaps of them at a time. They prefer it if you don't make similar cards e.g same image different paper, but it's ok in small quantities.

Here are a few close-ups of some of the cards in the stack.

Missing You and Thank You - made using scraps

Crab Kite Birthday - stamp by Bugaboo Stamps

Flower Garden Missing You - stamp by Bugaboo Stamps

Finally a big shout out to Darnell and Kim, who took the time to respond to my requests from WOYWW #215 - Jodie I am nearly finished your 'creation'

Off to have a peek at desks now.

Cx