Thank You, Veterans

http://www.vfw.org/News-and-Events/Articles/2012-Articles/Celebrate-Our-Veterans-this-Veterans-Day/

VFW invites all Americans to celebrate the service of our nation’s heroes

November 08, 2012

On Veterans Day we honor every man and woman who has proudly worn the uniform of the United States military. We celebrate all those who have bravely defended our nation from the forces of evil and tyranny, and helped free countries around the world from the grips of despair.

This Veterans Day weekend, patriotic Americans will gather to remember the countless sacrifices our veterans have made. As we honor them, we should also reflect on the price paid for our victories, as well as the many liberties we enjoy today because of the selflessness of our nation’s heroes.

Our veterans cherish the values and virtues upon which our nation was founded, and generations have bravely answered the call to preserve them. We owe them so much, and we must not forget the thousands who are deployed all over the world defending our freedoms at this very moment. We pray for their safe return, and the VFW stands ready to support their families while they are away.

Over the course of America’s history, it has been those who have worn the uniform, those who have tenaciously defended our way of life, who we will be forever grateful to: America's proud Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Coastguardsmen. Every American, both stateside and abroad, reaps the benefits of their service.

Today and every day, we thank you for your service.

Cards I made and donated to an Honor Flight 

earlier this fall.

This also happens to be a photo I sent in to the

Photo Of The Week Contest in our local newspaper.

It was chosen to be printed , how exciting ! 

Stockings on Mantle Card

This card is one of the many I created from 

my box of scraps and unfinished pieces.

A few years ago I stamped the stockings

(it is one large stamp that I colored each stocking

separately with chalk inks)

on natural card stock card.

It was just way too plain and boring

having the four stockings sitting there, 

floating in thin air it looked like. 

I really didn't know what to do to improve it

back then, so it went to the scrap box.

Fast forward to 2012 and I finished it !

I cut each of the stockings out with scissors.

I hand drew with a permanent marker the stones for the fireplace

then I water colored details.

The mantle is a scrap of brown card stock.

The Martha Stewart foliage punch was used to make the greenery.

The "wallpaper" is a scrap of designer paper from an

old Christmas card kit I bought from Stampin' Up!

I think I may need to make a couple of little things to 

"sit on the shelf" on top of the mantle, it looks bare. 

Thanks for looking =) 

Front Door Wreath Card - Pattern

template I made

Here are the dimensions I used to make the template

for dry embossing the raised door panels.

It is sized for a piece of 4.25"  x  5.5" card stock.

I cut my template from plastic packaging 

that was around a die I bought. 

I used an Xacto knife and metal edged ruler

to cut it out. 

You'll cut out the middle sections.

Place your card stock face down over the template

and use a stylus / Empressor tool

 to dry emboss around the inner edges.

This will make the raised panels on your door front. 

I've seen this type of card done so many times over the years,

but I see it with cut pieces of card stock for the panels. 

I thought it would be easier in the long run to make a template 

to dry emboss the panels rather than try to remember the exact

measurements of the small pieces that needed to but cut

then try to line them up perfectly to glue in place.

After spending all that time creating the template I

better use it again several times !

Supplies:

Burgundy card stock

Martha Stewart foliage (not sure of the name) punch

scrap of 3/8" organdy ribbon

1/4' circle punch of gold metallic card stock

I may go back in and add red "berries" to the wreath

Thanks for looking =) 

Christmas Cards - One Sheet Wonder Pattern

I finally got around to using up another old One Sheet Wonder/Double Time sample, this time I made fairly simple Christmas Cards. I also created another pattern of my own. You can see my first pattern that I created for a One Sheet Wonder and the fall themed cards made with it here. This was a very popular technique years ago (and simple!), most certainly you can find many other patterns online for them.

Note: I did not use the two 1 3/4" tall strips on any cards in this set, 

the pattern was designed after I cut up my card stock to work around the 

way the sentiments were stamped. I did use the other sizes to

create five of the cards pictured. The 1 3/4" strips could 

easily be made into more cards or cut into thinner strips and 

adhered inside the cards or on envelopes for decoration. 

Basic Instructions:
Choose several stamp images and ink colors that coordinate to stamp a collage onto a single sheet of card stock. You then cut this homemade decorative paper up into several shapes to use on cards or other projects. Save yourself some time and use a piece of scrapbook paper that is already printed !
 TIP: depending on how your images are arranged on the paper and how you would like the finished project to look, some of the pieces may need to be used in a different way if there is wording that is upside down. I had to design this pattern to accommodate the images on the One Sheet Wonder I stamped because the sentiment stamp was facing right side up on the entire piece. I wanted the small pieces to be used on cards so that the words were still facing right side up. If they had been stamped randomly, twisted and turned all over it would not have been a problem (like my fall card set). Personal opinion/tip I thought I should share.

These are a bunch of them I made many years ago

and have yet to use ! 

I used inks and images from Stampin' Up!, most all of which are retired now.

Bold Basics stamp set
All Year Cheer ( not sure exactly which set the Peace Joy Love came from)
The Shape Of Things stamp set
Merry Messages stamp set
Glorious Green card stock and ink
Yo Yo Yellow ink
Real Red ink and card stock
Whisper White card stock
Circle punches
Aquapainter/water color brush
Red glitter glue
Red organdy ribbon scrap
Metallic silver card stock scrap
Decorative paper scrap -unknown

I should have taken a photo of the pile of scraps, lots of little bits and pieces I'd collected and decided to put to use to make cards from. There were also some really old swaps I reused in a different way (I did not take any photos of those before I changed them up either, silly me). I've a nice little pile of Christmas cards now after working on them the past two weeks or so. I think I may send them in to the Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes program (those without glitter). Of course that means I would need to make many more to send to my friends and family ........ aaahhhhhh, I have the time and the supplies =) Or I could forgo handmade cards for everyone as I did last year , instead concentrating on making cards to donate to the troops. I would make cards for a few special people that I know appreciate them though ;)  I'll be sharing the cards over the next couple of weeks or so.


Thanks for looking !

November Birthday Cards

Three birthday cards I sent out this month.

All stamps and supplies used were from Stampin Up!,

most all of which are now retired. 

Thanksgiving Card 2

Stamp the image with black ink, color in then cut the images apart. Glue them onto light blue card stock, leaving a small gap around each image. Trace that square of blue card stock on the olive card stock with a stylus on a scoring board to create dry embossed lines around the blue square. Die cut the olive green card stock then use the hold punch to punch a hole on each scallop.

All supplies Stampin' Up!

Card stock:

Naturals

Old Olive

Bliss Blue
Throughluy Thankful stamp set

Basic Black ink

Stampin' Pastels

Blender Pen

Scalloped square die

1/8" hole punch

stylus and score board

Thanks for looking =) 

Thanksgiving Card 1

I spent some time in the craft dungeon recently. I should have been outdoors working in the yard, but the box elder bugs were horrible this year, thousands upon thousands of them swarming the house and in my flower beds. Normally we see ladybugs by the zillions, but not this year. When there are so many bugs flying about and landing on me, in my hair and getting in my clothes, I don't go out. This is just one window of the house, multiply the number of bugs in this photo by about 100 at this particular time!

So I decided to start in on Thanksgiving cards and Christmas cards. I already made a set of cards I coulduse for Thanksgiving in early October for the World Card making Day Blog Hop using a one sheet wonder template that I designed. You can see them here .

I didn't have quite enough cards from that set so I made two more from another stamp set. This is the first one. I'll share the other tomorrow.

The images were colored with Stampin' Pastels (chalk) and a blender pen. I never really cared for that coloring technique, but I have so many chalks and blender pens not getting used, time to put them to use.

Stamp the image with permanent black ink then color in by lightly touching the tip of a blender pen to chalks, rub into image. It is supposed to be more of a water color type look by using the blender pen, but I almost always seem to make a muddy mess of it as well as ruin the paper. I also used some of the chalks dry with a small foam tipped applicator that came with the set. Using the chalks dry creates a softer look.

This card is an almost exact copy of one from an old Stampin' Up! Idea Book. All supplies used, unless otherwise noted, were from Stampin' Up!

card stock:

Naturals

So Saffron

Really Rust

Chocolate Chip
ThoroughlyThankful stamp set

Basic Black ink

Stampin' Pastels

Blender Pen

Orange eyelet

Scrap of narrow organdy ribbon, Offray

Thanks for looking =) 

Ribbon Find

Did you remember to set your clocks back and

change the batteries in your smoke / carbon monoxide detectors ? 

NOT that I need more ribbon by any means, and this wasn't really a fantastic bargain, but I felt that it was a good enough deal to get them. What I liked best are that the colors match ! There are polka dot and solid ribbons plus a few fun ribbon designs in select colors that match each other should I ever want to create a project with two types of ribbon on it that match perfectly =) PLUS many of them coordinate with card stock colors I have already!! I found them at our local Big Lots store (first time I've been in there in so long , always fun to peruse because there is never the same thing twice it seems). Each roll has four feet on it. Each package was $9.00 but I received a 20% discount on them, making it a slightly better deal.

I've no idea where I'm going to store these lovely rolls of ribbon though, my boxes are already overflowing......

You are welcome if you want to thank me for sharing this find and you buy some for yourself; I'm always glad to help other hoarders crafters like myself add to their stash, ha ha !

Fall Around the Yard - MDS Page

Despite the extreme drought this year, there was still a little bit of color to be seen for a short while here. I didn't take many photos, but here are a few I threw together on a quick scrapbook page using My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!

This page started as one of their premade designer pages (I think it is called Sun Garden), looking like this:

I simply deleted the elements I didn't want, changed the color of the scallop border punch and made a new title. I could have added other embellishments back on to it or even changed the background papers, but I left it as is, quick and easy.

Thanks for looking =)

Missing My "Garbage Disposal" - MDS Pages

Actually, it's a dog that I fed our scraps to ! She is one of the abandoned dogs (there were several as well as at least a dozen cats) neighbors left behind in early September when they moved away. As much as I wanted to keep her, I knew in my gut it was not a good idea. Through the modern day grapevine that is social media, I was able to find her a new home. I do miss her :( 

Anyway, here are a few photos I snapped of her. I used My Digital Studio (original version) from Stampin' Up! to make these pages. I bought the Wonderfall digital kit add on for half off this week, specifically for the leaf punches. I used papers from the kit on both pages as well as frames from Downtown Grunge, Tasteful Trim punch, Smitten Alphabet punch, Noteworthy alphabet stamps, Torn Edges hand torn stamp and Taffeta Trimmings ribbon. I am so anxious for MDS2+ to come out on disc, this page could use some tweaking using new features in that program.

Edited To Add:

This post was written before Hurricane Sandy and the devastation left behind.

My thoughts are with those affected by it as well as

those responding to help out in any way possible.

Remember, The American Red Cross

is the best way to help out by donating funds.

Thanks for looking =)