Wild Thing Challenge

  Hey ya'll...here's my card for Wednesdays Wild Thing Challenge over at Operation Write Home. I was actually in the middle of making a lot of paper shirts from the shirt tutorial that was posted earlier in the week. Scroll down and see some of them. But first...my "Wild Thing" is a Monkey which is kind of becoming my theme of sorts...what can I say...I like Monkeys and this little guy was just laying around from a previous project he never got used for. He is made of a stamp I got from the dollar tree and I stamp it twice...one on dark brown for the face and once on the light brown...cut out and "pop" the parts...then his tail was made from jute & of course I added googly eyes for humor. I think this could be a nice card for a child.

This is another card based off of Shirley's Sketch from OWH. The "gone fishing" sign came from my scrapbook factory program...I cut it out...added eyelets and wire.

Here is one of the "shirt" cards...I tried to keep it simple but also added the gone fishing sign to coordinate with the fish shirt theme.

This shirt I did in a checkered flag theme. The diamond plate stainless was actually stainless look contact paper run through the diamond plate cuttlebug folder. The letter tags came from the scrapbook factory software. Again this is based on the challenge #14 sketch!

...so I was in a groove making man appropriate cards and this one started out that way but took an unexpected turn. I goofed on my image which was to be a dad grilling. I had to do "triage" and swapped images -so I ended up with a summer theme & I liked it. The image is also from the scrapbook factory It is always more challenging (for me anyway) to come up boy and man cards so when I create one it is good! Thanks for looking...have a great evening...tomorrow is FRIDAY -woot woot!

OWH Sketch Challenge 14

Happy Tuesday to you all! Here's this weeks sketch by Shirley S. over at Operation Write Home. I made two cards for this one.

So there they are -hope you liked them! I also wanted to post some pics of my little bitty crafting area which is under my sons loft bed in his room...at least until the daughter moves out which is no time soon since she has about 7 years of college ahead of her -she wants to be a pharmacist -around here that's a PH-D! Here it is. My sons drawings are my inspiration - he loves to draw & color like Mom!

Today I sent this batch of cards off to Dixie...my OWH shipper for the "Make Someones Day Challenge and I also shipped a care package off to each of my adopted soldiers! That's it for today -Thanks for stopping by and ya'll have a great evening!

OWH Sketch 13 challenge & Hardware Challenge

   Hey ya'll...is it friday already? This week I did not get any scrapping done whatsoever until last night. In fact I almost missed the OWH Sketch Challenge 13 and 13 is my LUCKY # and I probably did miss the Digi Design Challenge over at http://designed2delight.blogspot.com/.

     The good news however, is that I did get my tiny crafting space re-organized...this is a good thing because my "crafting space" is actually the nook under my sons twin size loft bed-but it works for me since everything is in reach. I also received some sweet blog candy this week from Marcy Keifer At OWH and some lovely paper of all sorts from Karen Gori who also designed this weeks sketch (what a sweet lady)! And I won some more fabulous blog swag from Yvonne (Scrappy) over at http://big-scrappy-world.blogspot.com/ I am HOT...on FIRE...I hope this is NOT the start of menopause -lol!

     So without further adieu here are my submissions for the Sketch 13 by Karen @ http://kajikit.blogspot.com/ . This one was a little different but I like "different"! You'll notice both cards have the same layout...The "DAD" card however is a bit unusual because what I used here is some contact paper that has the look of stainless steel. I ran it through my diamond plate folder on the cuttle-bug and wallah! Never over-look contact paper as a possibility! Then I needed some hardware but I wanted REAL MAN hardware so I went 'a huntin' in the hubbys old junk drawer and found these thingamajiggies. Now I did add some FLOWERS but they are very MANLY-FLOWERS don't ya' think? What I really wanted to use was some checkered flag paper behind the diamond-plate but....alas I didn't have any -I've added it to my shopping list though!

     The next card (if I'm not too late) qualifies me for the Digi Challenge over at http://designed2delight.blogspot.com/. The little bear with flowers is a freebie from Faith S. - it's so cute -she gives you one every week if you play along. I layered the saying love ya' bunches over the bear to qualify for the sketch 13 again as well. So there it is...my creations of this week. TGIF!! Tonight is Crop Night at Michael's - See Ya there! - Woot Woot!

I Won Scrappi's Blog Candy -YUM!!!

Hey Ya'll I was just over checking out Scrappi's blog and her new cards shes made...of course they are awesome but I scrolled down to see "I won" her fab B-day blog candy...I got a prize on HER birthday! See it on her blog here ...It's a scrappy world ... She says to watch her blog because you never know when she may be having another giveaway! Now I am off to work on my "hardware stash" card for OWH's Wednesday challenge! Happy Scrapp 'n Thursday!

OWH His and Her General Cards

Hey Ya'll...I finally got around to OWH's Wednesday challenge to do a his and her general card. I have been getting my cards ready to ship to my NC Shipper for the Make Someone's Day Challenge & realized I did not have any "any-hero" cards to include so I made these cards in a Patriotic color scheme. For my Hero note I will put a post it inside with my "thanks" and then my hero can use the card again as well! So the blue would be the "his". On the blue I used the little USA heart image which was a freebie fromdelightful inspiration I also used it on the little MS postage stamp cutout (purchased for 2.99 @ Tuesday Morning) on both cards. The red is for "her"and the little bear image is a freebie from bugaboo stamps. I colored his shirt and the flowers in red white and blue. I embossed the background of both cards with the stars folder. Below I used my last mosaic card-front with an adorable giraffe freebie from Melissa Jenkins .Thanks for looking and have a Happy Scrapp 'n Sunday!

No SCRAP left behind! - Idea/Tutorial!

     Hey ya'll...here's an idea! Do you like me; have a little box loaded with paper scraps that you just hate to throw away? This became a bigger problem for me recently because my box had gotten FULL which meant it was time to "put up or shut up" and sadly (boohoo) throw my tiny scraps away admitting that I would never give them the attention they deserved. Then low and behold I was perusing the stars and stamps blog and came across Debi Rice's blog. Her take on paper is a bit different...yet refreshing. In fact it got me to thinking about those tiny neglected odd-sized scraps and it also reminded me of a mosaic piece of art where no pieces are the same measurement or color but together create an interesting design. So my recycling "experiment" began!
     Here ill share what I learned with you as well as some of the cards I made. You will need your scraps, a cuttlebug & folders (if you have one/ if not - you can still do this without embossing!) and some matte mod podge and/or glitter (if desired)!

     First dump out that scrap box!










     Second choose some colors you like, never-mind the pattern! Then get to cuttin' 'em into even smaller pieces -no piece is too tiny -no scrap left behind! Take that Laura Bush! lol. You could do triangles and/or whatever -let the scraps dictate your shape and be "random" about it (or even use your punches if you want to end up with a different look - a whole page of butterflies/circles/stars would be interesting.) Get a sheet of card stock in a (background) color of your choice. I used White to make my pieces "pop". I sprayed my card stock with craft bond which stays tacky and makes for faster adhesion. It also apparently attracts dog hair but hey - who couldn't use a dog hair or two for extra embellishment? lol. You could instead use glue stick, tape runner, or even the mod podge but it does dry fast so be careful...maybe do a small section at a time and lay down your pieces. When you're done you'll end up with a sheet of card stock that look like this!

     Now you can cut your card stock into four equal card fronts. But I did not stop here because all those Carol Duvall shows kept creeping into my head. When I think Carol Duvall I think Mod Podge, for whatever reason, I do not know - but I knew I had to secure all these tiny pieces or my shipper would have a terrible time with the Aleenes and somehow it didn't seem quite "finished" to me! So I bought some Mod Podge (I used Matte for this project.) I used a Spouncer (is that a word? -I think that's what it's called) to dot on my Mod Podge in a light coat and waited a little bit for it to dry - I preferred the spouncer because most of my triangles had been cut from computer generated papers and it did tend to pick up a tad of the color especially the bright red pieces. Had I used a brush it would have been a big ole mess or... ?another interesting look? lol. So then I wondered...could glitter be added for a different effect? I tried it on one card front with some white iridescent glitter I had on hand. This turned out OK ...more on this later. Then after my card fronts dried I wanted to try my cuttle bug folders to add some dimension. It worked very well! On the three card fronts I had left I tried the swirl, traffic jam, and swiss dots.

 

 Pictured below are the three card fronts after embossing. I stuck them under my sewing machine light to try and highlight the embossing as I wasn't sure if the camera was picking it up -you may have to enlarge to see the detail.

     Ok so there it is...I thought it turned out to be really pretty card stock that could be the main focus of any card. The matte mod podge actually left a semi-gloss sheen that also gave a nice weight & professional look to the card stock & these pieces will never fall off - so mission accomplished! (Of note; the mod podge jar actually states that if your mod podge stays tacky you can use a coat of acrylic sealer over top but I did not find this necessary at all - even running them through my cuttlebug they did not stick to my folders or anything - but I made sure they were very dry first.
     As promised out of this experiment came another unexpected one... when I began using the mod podge...  I thought "wow this stuff would "trap" glitter and dry to clear - wonder if I could make some "OWH approved" glitter card stock this way? Well they do in fact sell glitter mod podge that already has it in there so you might try that but that is really no fun & as crafters we like to get our Messy On-don't we? So in my experiment using white iridescent glitter -it came out slightly lumpy when dry as the glitter had accumulated in some places more than others and it being white it was hard  for me to tell this...after it dried it did have a "glisten" to it and of course a bumpy texture. I would need to try it with a colored glitter combined with a colored card stock to say for sure if I like this method. One thing is for sure -the mod podge did successfully trap the glitter as though it was embedded so I think it would be acceptable for OWH cards. The picture below shows the card front with the white glitter. Enlarge and you may even notice the lumps at the bottom! It kinda gives the effect of snow.

Now you can NEVER throw away those scraps again - lol. Below are a few of the cards I made using the recycled card stock! I hope you liked this idea/tutorial. I can only take half of the credit and humbly owe the rest to Debi Rice for inspiring me to try her project! Check out her blog if you can because she has a lot of other (outside of the box) creative ideas for card making in her archives! 

In the next pic the flower "parts' were made with the mosaic card stock.

For some reason I REALLY liked the look of using the black and white neutrals along with the funky mosaic pattern.

I also thought this mosaic would make a colorful birthday card. Here I used the "glitter" experiment paper. You didn't think I was going to throw it away did you?

Thanks for looking! If you decide to make your own mosaics - and you have time...leave me a link-I'd LOVE to check out your work! Cheryl

OWH sketch 12 challenge

     Hi everyone this is my submission for the sketch 12 challenge over at OWH this week. This sketch is by Carol L. The background paper with the stitching I printed to near (oops) exact measurement from my Scrapbook Factory program onto white cardstock and attached to the front of my tan card. This little image is another freebie from http://meljensdesigns.blogspot.com. Isn't it cute? I colored it with markers (cheap ones) lol.. I also used my new MS border punch  I got the other day for ($3.99-WOW) from Tuesday Morning  - I punched both sides of the checkered yellow card stock then layered my ribbon over that, underneath I used OWH "approved" sparkle paper (its the kind that has the sparkle embedded so no sparklies all over my floor or the soldier who receives it) -YAY!!
     Below I made a "MAN" card using the sketch #10 from an OWH past challenge by Ali Manning. Layering plaids on top of solids I thought made a pretty neat "MAN" card -they are so hard for me to do because I can't use flowers - and the little car was a clip art cut out from my Scrapbook Factory program. I stamped on the dad letters after everything was put together. Anyways hope you like them and I hope you have a happy scrapp 'n hump day! :)
                                                                                                                                               Cheryl

bugaboo bloghop challenge

This card I created for the bugaboo blog hop challenge which was to create a card with a bug in it. It is also based off of the sketch challenge over at Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Mojo Monday + MelJen Girly Colors Challenge

Hey ya'll. Today's card is another challenge combo.I started with the sketch (by Janette Olen) challenge contest over at Mojomonday. I used girly colors to qualify me for the the #2 challenge over at MelJens Design Team Blog. I also used her cute as can be "Cuppa Tea" digital freebie. You can find it here...http://meljensdesigns.blogspot.com just scroll down a little bit! I started with lavender cardstock...did I mention I am making my own cards now rather than using the pre-bought ones as before...this gives me more color choices...I got tired of white. I used the cuttle-bug diamond-plate folder on the card base front. Then I used paper studio papers and some papers printed from my "scrapbook factory" program. I have a LOT of paper but I find myself going back to the printable ones over and over. I think because it is easier than flipping through those huge paper books...lol. I changed up the design slightly by turning the card on its side so my peony nesties would fit! Thanks for checking it out and have a happy scrapp 'n friday! Cheryl

OWH color challenge

Hey y'all and thanks for popping in. Here is my submission for the color challenge (browns and blues) over at OWH. I am also entering it into the Thursday challenge at MelJen's designs as the digi is one of Melissa Jenkin's cute freebie images. Its getting entered into the sketch 11 challenge at OWH as well as this is Caryl P's stampsnstitches sketch turned upside down. Finally this card also qualifies me for challenge 85 (make your own flowers)over at cupcake crafts. Whew that's a first for me...one card ...four challenges!!

OWH Sketch Challenge

Here is my submission for this weeks sketch challenge over at Operation Write Home but first here's the sketch by Caryl P. 
For Meljens #1 anything goes challenge the card for that challenge is at the bottom of this post!

...and here is my submission. Note that I combined the OWH sketch challenge with  Designed2delight's free digital image "spring peep" challenge and a color challenge of lemon yellow + grass green + aqua (unfortunately I cannot find that color challenge now to link to it - these are the drawbacks to being a newbie - i'm learning). However I did "add" a smidgen of orange with the ribbon and flower center so I may have disqualified myself there anyway. Of note the little image of the skating bear in the Christmas card below is a freebie from http://dulemba.com/index_ColoringPages.html.Well thanks for stopping by & happy scrapping...if you have time check out my other cards below for inspiration & please leave comments & suggestions! Cheryl