Love You S'More Card

This weeks Midweek Throwdown Challenge at Operation Write Home :
Let Your Light Shine !   Go take a look at all the inspiring creations, there are InLinkz at the bottom of the post that have thumbnails of each card.




I had all sorts of ideas, but in the end I decided to make this card. It sort of works for the recent Punny Challenge, too (scroll down to see sentiment I stamped inside card) !

The light on my card:
starlight
light of the campfire
the childrens faces lit up with big grins

I Love You 

S'More Each Day ! 

 Campout stamp images and small scattered stars

background stamp are from Stampin' Up!

Snap Stamps for sentiments

Basic Black, Whisper White, Glossy White card stocks

Markers and inks, all from Stampin' Up!

sponge, masks, eyelet

Here is how I made the stamped /sponged image:

I started with a piece of white glossy card stock.

I stamped the images with permanent black ink.

This was a bit tricky since the girl and boy

are on a single stamp and are really close to one another, 

the campfire on a different stamp

I stamped the fire first then very carefully inked 

just the girl, stamping her off to one side.

I cleaned the stamp really well,

carefully inked the boy image

then stamped him off to the other side.

He is a bit closer to the fire, not intentionally.

I almost scrapped this piece and started again

because I didn't like him that close then thought

"You know, if it were real life a little boy

probably would be closer to a fire...."

though not THAT close !

I colored them in with markers from Stampin' Up!

and used a blender pen on the fire.

White crayon on the marshmallow and socks

to help resist ink when I was sponging. 

These are the masks I made to cover the colored in images

while sponging on ink.

Removable sticky notes are the best paper for this.

I tore a piece of scrap paper then laid it over my masked images.

I then sponged on a couple colors of brown ink to create the ground.

I removed the torn paper mask from the ground 

and carefully sponged on yellow and dark gray inks

to simulate a bonfire in the evening.

I really would have liked a black ink,

but I don't have a good, true BLACK ink.

The black ink I have always comes out dark purple looking. 

This was a dark gray ink, but it sponged on much lighter than I 

expected it to. Oh well...................

Closeup of the cute campers

making s'mores image .

These stamps are from an old set by Stampin' Up!,

Campout.

It is the first time I ever used it, gasp !!!!!!!

One of the two Snap Stamps sets I bought 

a long, long time ago.

Whenever I pull them out to use them,

I wonder why I didn't try to find more styles and sizes of them.

They are individual letters that you snap together

to form words to your liking, fun ! 

This is what I stamped on the inside of the card 

and made the banner sentiment with on the outside.

Goofy, I know.

I used a black fine point ink pen to add an

apostrophe between the S and M

after I stamped it on the inside of the card.

This was going to be a firefly embellishment on the card.

In the end I decided he was a bit too big -

and a bit too much -

for this particular card.

I have a stamp set with a jar in it,

I'll probably use it to put him in it

and add a "You Light Up My Life" sentiment. 

It was made with half of a Word Window Punch ,

 a trimmed off heart punch and small circle punch, from Stampin' Up!

The gold glitter is a glitter glue and it will be adhered behind

acetate when I use it on a card so it will be safe to send

to Operation Write Home (no glitter on cards !). 

Thanks for looking =) 

Free Digital Kits

Available through February 23rd only , get them before they are no longer free !

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2

http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

Love Squared Cards

I donated this set of cards to Operation Write Home.

The stamp images, inks, papers, square die and stripes embossing folder were all from Stampin' Up! though many of them are now no longer available.


Thanks for looking =)

OWH Sketch Challenge 212

http://operationwritehome.org/sketch-challenge-212/

My takes on this weeks sketch challenge at

Operation Write Home.

They don't follow the sketch exactly.

Click the link above to see many more

inspiring card samples.

I thought making a ribbon run through the card stock

rather than bitty banners on the front

would be a fun take on the sketch for the above card.

Finishing Flourishes stamp set, My Favorite Things

Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze card stocks - Stampin' Up!

Brown with white back card stock, Lasting Impressions

Early Espresso ink, Stampin' Up!

sponge for inking edges

5/8" chocolate grosgrain ribbon

ruler, straight edge and Xacto knife

Image Tree Swanky Upper stamp set

unknown clear alpha for "birthday"

Seasonal Solids stamps, Stampin' Up!

assorted inks, Stampin' Up!

Whisper White, Summer Sun card stocks, Stampin' Up!

textured bright blue cardstock, unknown

black Sharpie marker

paper crimper (I don't know the last time I used that!)

scrap paper to make masks for stamping over the balloons,

making it look like some are in front of others

Thanks for looking =)

Letter Pressed Love Cards

My first attempts at "letter press" cards.

The gold one was pressed onto a thicker hand made paper

so it worked pretty well.

The red one uses basic white card stock 

so there is not much depth to the pressed portion.

These were made last fall and donated to 

Operation Write Home.

Thanks for looking =) 

Digital Kit - Count Your Blessings

The newest digital kit from 

Loni at Grace Blossoms 4 You !

Count Your Blessings

Here are my Creative Team projects this month:

This is a greeting card front.

I can easily change out the sentiment

(my own text in a text box , this is not in the kit)

to something else since it is done

digitally and I have the files saved. 

I created this page with 8 (or more) papers

for a challenge at Scraps-N-Pieces.com. 

This was supposed to resemble a baby's quilt since I

was scrapping some old photos of the nursery set

I made many years ago.

It was my first attempt at quilting. 

If you like digital content for digiscrapping,

hybrid projects, etc be sure to check out the 

blog hop this weekend at

 Scraps-N-Pieces.com !

There are lots of pieces many designers

have created for free , 

perfect for use with Project 52 

Love You Much Cards

I totally forgot to share the "love" cards I made and donated to Operation Write Home last fall !
Here is another set I had fun putting together for some of our heroes to write home on.

The stamp image is from Stampin' Up!, long ago retired and I believe it is called Love You Much.

I added a tiny punched butterfly (Martha Stewart) and flower (Flower Trio punch, retired from Stampin' Up!) with a rhinestone center for extra impact on the water colored image.

Hand doodled edge.

Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Do any of you remember when these fun fibers were all the rage in crafting ? Do any of you still have a hoard of them like I do ? I'm afraid to admit that I probably have more than I will ever use since I bought numerous skeins of the stuff ! I think I should learn how to knit or crochet to use it for other projects ........

Thanks for looking =)

You Send Me Soaring Cards

A couple more cards I made and donated to 

Operation Write Home last fall.

I remember that the basic design came from

a card I saw somewhere that used a different stamp set,

unfortunately several months later

I do not recall exactly where the inspiration

came from. It may very well have been

a sample in the Stampin' Up! catalog.

Each are done a bit differently:

One card uses a blue card stock with hand cut clouds

adhered to the top. 

Thee other card uses the crayon resist technique.

I stamped the clouds onto white glossy card stock 

then colored them in with white crayons. 

I then brayered the blue ink over them.

The white crayon resists the ink.

Gently wipe the ink and crayon off

of the glossy card stock. 

Send Me Soaring stamp set and 

Clouds embossing folder are both retired

from Stampin' Up! 

Thanks for looking =) 

"Olive" You Card

I hadn't posted this card to the blog yet.

It fits this weeks Midweek Throwdown Challenge

at Operation Write Home perfectly :

Punny Cards!

This particular card was bits and pieces of an incomplete card front

that was in the stamp box I found at a yard sale.

I put it together and sent it to

Operation Write Home in the box of cards I mailed last fall.

Thanks for looking =) 

Pretty Princess Cards

Stampin' Up! images, inks, papers and punches.
The images are colored with ink pads and an aqua painter.
I left them blank on the inside so they could be used for any occasion.
These cards were donated to Operation Write Home.

Thanks for looking =)