Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Slanted


Back again with more cards, this time using OWH's sketch #143. On this first one, I stamped the sentiment too close to the edge and had to make the slants go in the other direction. Oops! I think it came out okay. Old papers, as usual, and the sentiment is from a clear stamp set by Hero Arts. This is for my parents.



These two slant the right way. More old papers (yawn) and -hey! - some fairly new washi tape (navy with yellow stars) that I stuck down on white paper and trimmed. Hero Arts sentiment from the same set mentioned above. One of these became an Any Hero card for OWH, the other went to my pen pal Tom of Wish of a Lifetime. By the way, I got my first letter from Tom today! What a pleasure to get a lovely, handwritten letter from a new friend. It was the highlight of my day.


This one uses some zig zag trims I got in a packet of scrapbooking stuff years ago. This is definitely not the blog to visit when you want to see all the latest papers, inks, techniques and all that. I stamped the clouds (Close to My Heart) in light blue on the blue paper so they would show but not compete with the zig zags. The sun (by Printworks, I think) was stamped onto yellow paper and cut out, then addeed to the card. Sentiment from the same set mentioned above. This one is going to Cards for Hospitalized Kids. I actually made one last card using this sketch, also for CFHK, but I haven't photographed it yet. I used a rainbow idea for that one, using a Posh Impressions border stamp and various colors of Distress Inks on a piece of glossy cardstock. I will try to share that one in my next post.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Big Help


This past week was the second time I used my system of randomly selecting a card sketch (I use the fabulous collection of sketches at Operation Write Home) and then spending the week making cards based on the sketch. As you can see, I was able to get a lot of cards made this week! It was so easy to just dive in, since the design was already decided. And the more cards I made, the more ideas I got. First of all, the random number generator selected 175, so that's the sketch on which I based all of these cards. The first card is for my new pen pal, Tom B., with whom I was matched with the help of the Wish of a Lifetime organization. The patterned paper and stamps are very old Close to My Heart items. The most interesting thing about this card is that I used a trick I found online (probably on Pinterest) of painting plain brads with nail polish. It works great. I just stuck the brads in a dry kitchen sponge while I "painted" them.


This next card will go to Cards for Hospitalized Kids. I used my Cuttlebug (a million thanks to Caroline, the most generous person I know!) to make the dotted background. The snowman and little house are stamps from Darcies, and the sentiment is part of an OWH fundraiser set from Stampers Best.


This will be an Any Hero card for Operation Write Home. It uses more ancient CTMH paper, plus the fabulous set by Stampers Best. You can see I began deviating even further from the sketch when I didn't combine four small squares to make the larger square here.


These two Any Hero cards use very old papers from Keeping Memories Alive. Even after all of the paper purging and scrap wrangling I've done, I still have papers that are over fifteen years old. Crazy. The tree image is by Art Impressions. I sponged the backgrounds behind the trees with Distress inks.


One of these is a card for Sandy, the founder of OWH, and the other ... Well, it turned out so Spring-like, I thought I'd better save it for, you know, Spring. Card on the left uses more KMA papers, the one on the right uses purple CTMH; I'm not sure about the yellow and white. Sentiment is by Posh Impressions.


This last card is for the postal workers where Sandy takes her dozens upon dozens of OWH boxes to be mailed. I hope they'll get a kick out of the Israeli postage stamps. Patterned paper by Hot Off the Press, sentiment stamp by Posh Impressions.

And there you have it! I am so pleased with the way this system is working for me. I've got a new sketch number and am raring to start on a new week's worth of cards! 

And in case you're wondering...yes I am still knitting. Every day, in fact. I am almost finished with a big - and I do mean BIG - project, which I will share next month after it has been gifted. It has been a pleasure, but after a month and a half of working on only one project, I am more than ready to get some more diversity going.

Have a wonderful weekend!





Saturday, November 2, 2013

On a Sketch and a Plan



I have been trying to come up with a plan that will help me make more cards with less angst and agonizing. I realized that it is easier for me to pick a sketch and build the card around that, rather than pick a stamped image to use and then find a sketch that will work with it. I will be using a random number generator every Friday to help me pick one of the (as of today) 196+ sketches available on the Operation Write Home website.


Last weekend I got sketch #67. In some cases I modified the sketch a bit, but having that layout in mind really made the cards come together for me a lot faster and more easily. The first card is for my father's birthday and uses very old patterned paper from a Hot Off the Press booklet, some ribbon, and a stamp by Fiskars. The card directly above will be going in a packet of cards for Cards For Hospitalized Kids. I used some fun metallic corrugated cardstock and a dimensional sticker I found at my local arts and crafts store, and a ribbon that probably came on a gift. The sentiment is by Close to My Heart.


And this card is going to a friend. Here I used some very old Keeping Memories Alive patterned paper and stamps by Close to My Heart. I actually made a couple of other cards this past week, including the Any Hero card shown in my last post, which also used sketch #67. Now it is the weekend again, and I have a new sketch to follow and am nearly done with my first card of the week! I think this system may just be what I needed to spark my creativity and get me busy making cards...


Friday, November 1, 2013

Any Hero Card

I haven't posted in months, but I wanted to quickly share this Any Hero card I made for Operation Write Home. I used washi tape on a card for the first time! And my new Fiskars star punch (with little gold star stickers in the center of each). Tag was made using an old Close to my Heart template. I used OWH Sketch #67. Big thanks sentiment is by Printworks, small thank you by CTMH.