April Fool's from Mother Nature

It seems like Mother Nature is playing April Fool's jokes on us in many parts of the country =)
We have a beautiful, spring like morning today with some of my flowers finally opening up, but we are in for a drastic change, again, tonight. Many people are still seeing snow and according to our local weatherman, it ins't out of the question for us to get at least another dusting in the next two weeks!

Faux Antique Auto Photo- OWH Sketch Challenge 218

My card for sketch challenge #218 at Operation Write Home this week.

It's a bit different from the sketch in that it doesn't have

as many layers, but follows the basic design.

I just love making faux antique photos 

with my old car image stamps.

I wish Stampin' Up! would have made more 

of these types of stamp images,

they are my favorite and most used stamps.

Antique Autos, Highways and Byways, sentiment from

Classic Pickups stamp sets from Stampin' Up!

Kraft, Vanilla and Glossy white card stocks

various brown inks

"Faux  antique photo" how to:

Stamp your image onto glossy white card stock with

a permanent ink.

Tape off the edges with removable sticky note paper

or removable tape.

Use a white crayon to add highlights before you sponge

ink onto the image (you won't see the white yet). 

Sponge on inks of your choice to create the look

of black and white or sepia photos.

Lightly rub with a facial tissue to remove ink from the 

areas you used the crayon, revealing white. 

Remove the sticky notes/tape.

Now for the distressing if you want to add a worn look...

crinkle, sand, tear and curl edges, splatter ink, sponge, etc to 

make the "photo" look well loved.

Faux brads how to:

Punch shapes from card stock

and coat with clear drying dimensional "glue".

Use a straight pin to carefully push the dimensional

liquid to the edges of the paper punched piece.

You want to be careful to keep it on the paper punched

piece only, if it goes over the edges it will stick to whatever

is below, making a mess as well as a deformed faux brad. 

Set aside to dry before adhering to project.

I used copper metallic card stock coated with Crystal Effects. 

Tip: I put little dabs of Tombow Two Way glue down on scrap

card boards strips to stick the paper punch pieces to while making them into brads.

 They are easy to remove if you let the glue 

get tacky, the removable adhesive state, before sticking them down. 

Thanks for looking =)

The Things You Find At Rummage Sales..............

........... Might just happen to be something you made !

Yep, I made this - about a dozen years ago and donated it to the

elementary school holiday bazaar that I organized for several years !

I originally made seven of them;

I always made multiples of seven , one for each class.

The school bazaar was in another town, too, which is what makes

it even funnier to me to have found it ! 

It is missing the ribbon,

but is otherwise in like new condition. 

I took my mom to a large rummage sale at a church yesterday.

By the time we got there things were well picked over, 

it was late in the day and the second day of the sale.

 In fact, to our surprise they were having a bag sale, 

whatever you could get in the bag for a set price!

We certainly didn't need anything , 

but went anyway because you never know ;)

There wasn't much, but we managed to fill two bags,

one of which was books for her to read.

I just had to toss the above ornament into my bag of miscellaneous stuff, 

after all it was something I had made a long time ago.

It was a precut wooden ornament I bought at Walmart.

I lightly stained it and painted the mitten with acrylic paint.

Maybe now that I have the supplies and know how, 

I think I will make a tag for the back with a photo

of my kids when they were little and add this to it:

Mittens warm 

a child's hands,

but Mom warms

a child's heart.

Super foggy with a heavy frost out this morning,

with the promise of a spring like day to come :)

This will be the first week we've not had below freezing temperatures 

and the first to see so many in the 50s or above! 

It's still been so cold, so dreary, so windy here. 

Winter wasn't ready to go away soon in many parts 

of the country last week, lots of places saw several inches of snow.

We had a light dusting of snow/ice early one morning

which of course caused the road crews to coat the roads with salt.

Argh, just when I am hopeful that the roads will be salt free

long enough to get the cars good and clean on their undercarriages..............

more icky weather, salt. 

Maybe the daffodils will finally bloom this week ?

Here's to spring finally making an appearance

in your part of the world, too !

Vintage Girl With Doll Cards

A set of four cards I made and donated to 

Operation Write Home.

The images were pre-printed and

pre-punched out on the tags.

I added a layer of printed vellum

over the white card stock base

and an organdy ribbon bow. 

Thanks for looking =) 

Little Yellow Duck Card

Woo, hoo - we are going to see a bit of rain today with spring like temperatures !

It is quite odd to hear that our area is still drought stricken after all the snow

this past winter (record setting flood last summer, too!).

It is so dry that there have been dozens of brush fires,

calling for "red flag" no burn warnings to be issued.

Not only is the rain needed to help with the dry ground conditions,

it will be wonderful to wash all the layers of salt off of the roads. 

With rain on the way, I decided to share this little ducky card I made

last year and donated to Operation Write Home.

Stamp image from Stampin' Up! , colored with ink pads and an aqua painter.
Summer Sun, Night Of Navy, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White card stocks.
Yellow organdy ribbon, dollar store find a long time ago.
Blank on the inside so it can be used for any occasion.

Thanks for looking =)

Purple and Yellow Challenge- Flamed Pickup Truck Card

As posted at Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Blog today:
"Since it’s the fourth Wednesday of the month, it’s time for our Color Challenge. This month your challenge is to combine PURPLE AND YELLOW!"


There are sure to be lots of floral cards with that color combo, so I decided to make a "masculine" card - or one that maybe even a hot rod loving lady would like to receive !

It is blank and has no sentiment on the front, as most of the cards I make for Operation Write Home are, especially the masculine ones. This way the hero can use the card for any occasion or send it to a female if they would want to, as in this case since there is purple on it. 

Image from the old 

Classic Pickups stamp set

by Stampin' Up!

(NO, I will never part with this stamp set!!!!)

stamped with Basic Black ink

water colored with classic ink pads and an aquapainter

fine point Sharpie marker to draw the line around the edge

silver Signo gel pen for the chrome accents

Darice diamond plate embossing folder

white, silver metallic, golden yellow and dark purple card stocks

Car cruise / show / race season is just around the corner 

for us in this part of the country !

That is, if Spring ever arrives.........

another cold day today after waking

to a bit of snow/ice yesterday morning.

Thanks for looking =) 

Stitched Love Card

I made this card using some card stock scraps and this little 

 kit I found on clearance at Target.

Although it took much more time than just stamping,

I like the extra texture/dimension from the stitching !

Thanks for looking =) 

Bright Birthday Card

Die Cuts With A View decorative papers
Wish Big is a stamp from Stampin' Up! that I colored with water based markers
polka dot ribbon, unknown and attached with hot glue



Thanks for looking =)

OWH Sketch Challenge 217

I created an Any Hero Card for

Sketch Challenge 217 

at Operation Write Home

this week.

I'm ever so slowly getting cards made

 to send in for our heroes to write home on.

Since I make each of my own cards,

most all of which no two are alike,

it does take me a while to fill a large Priority mail box.

If you would like more information about this 

terrific organization that helps our heroes

keep in touch with home

as well as sends notes of thanks for their service, 

take a moment to read  more at 

http://operationwritehome.org/

(edited to add completed card photo, 

however I did not use the faux brads

due to a "manufacturing problem", ha ha ......)

I have some little stars to add to the corner

of the speckled white panel still.

They weren't quite dry yet and I was impatient,

wanting to get this post done ;)

"Weren't dry yet ?" you ask ?

Yes, I created faux brads by paper punching

small stars from card stock

then coated them with Crystal Effects

(clear dimensional "glue")

to create a faux brad. I do that often.

They are a bit less bulky for mailing

and I can make different colors, shapes

to coordinate with different projects. 

Real stitching across the top of the ribbon;

two layers of dry embossed images.

3D star is created by cutting out one of the embossed

star designs, lightly pinching in each point

then attaching with a generous dollop of hot glue

Stamp image is from A Muse Studio, Hero Mail

Kraft, Red, Navy, speckled card stocks

Navy marker

Cuttlebug stars embossing folder

Stripes embossing folder, Stampin' Up!

I used a marker to ink up

each word separately on the long, single line sentiment

so I could stamp it into three separate lines.

I still prefer red rubber, wood mounted rubber stamps,

but clear stamps sure do come in handy for this technique !

Make sure the stamp is totally clean

before stamping the next section or 

you can have "ghost" images

of the previously inked portions show up. 

That happens to me when I use

black ink on red rubber for some reason.

Even when I use stamp cleaner it still seems

to leave light images behind from other portions 

of the stamp at times. Try it on scrap paper first !

I've had this 2" wide piece of  navy blue "ribbon"

saved since two Christmases ago ! 

It was wrapped around a fleece blanket originally.

I knew that one day it would come in handy for

some crafty project.

I cut one of the Velcro ends off then 

trimmed the points on it to make the banner.

Thanks for looking =) 

Welcome Baby Card

Gosh, this is such an OLD card idea ! 

I made so many of these for new babies,

girls and boys both, 

over a dozen years ago when I first

discovered Stampin' Up!. 

It was my go to at the time when I only

had this stamp set (Cuddles and Tickles from Stampin' Up!)

for babies and limited supplies. Plus it is pretty easy to make !

The basic design will work with all kinds of stamp images

and for all sorts of occasions.

Thanks for looking =)