Napkin Cards...

This is my attempt using Mod Podge and a pretty napkin to make a card.  I'll be sending these two cards to the two clients I cleaned on my birthday, Upstairs Paula and Downstairs Paula.  Both left goodies on their counter for me.  Upstairs Paula left a cupcake and Downstairs Paula left a cupcake AND a bottle of wine... I enjoyed it all!!


Thank you cards for a friend...

I received a request from a friend back in Massachusetts to make her some thank you cards for the guests at her 50th birthday party.  She also wanted me to write the messages that she penned, in my own writing.  What a fun task!  All the way around... from crafting, to writing, to walking them to the post office.  I hope she gets great feedback from all of them as I put nothing less than perfection into each and every card.  And if I get more orders like this one, maybe I could retire from cleaning houses. Just sayin'...  

Heartfelt Thanks...

This is an old Stampin' Up set I acquired from my mentor back in 2010.  On my February envelope, it said to use it.  SOOOO, I used it!  The set is called "Two-step stampin - Heartfelt Thanks".  I've never understood the two-step name when it is CLEARLY three steps.  But who am I to argue...

 

As I was finishing these up (I made 10), I learned of a fellow crafter who has entered Hospice.  I am quite stunned.  I will send this card to her as quickly as I can... and my heart is breaking. :(



From the Die-cut Swap...

We had a die-cut swap in the group Seongsook's Stampers back in October.  I finally got around to using these precious pieces.  We only got one but, boy, if I had twenty more of these I'd make twenty for Operation Write Home.  FIVE, I mean five... :) 

Since Sandy hasn't been receiving as many cards from cardmakers of late since the drawdown, she has requested we make no more than five on any given design...
 

All my "Get Well" cards...

 Here's all the "Get Well" cards I received when I returned to New Jersey from my emergency surgery ordeal while out in Ohio.  They are displayed on our mantel in New Jersey. To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. There's nothing like snail mail to help with the healing. I'm STILL beaming... :)

I was so touched, I decided to pay it forward by sending each and everyone who sent me a card, a card in return.  I made eighteen of these.  I picked a couple "Fall" papers at Hobby Lobby and combined them with papers I already had and created this Starburst.  I stamped the "thoughtful" sentiment, added the burnt orange ribbon and bada bing, bada boom, ready to mail!!  These all went postal Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week.  I think the majority have been received by now so I can "Go Live!" with this post... :)

 

This was relatively quick for me to do that I could easily do more for my final shipment of the year to Operation Write Home.  And with only recuperation time on my hands until the middle of November... well, my not?



Mixed Media again...

I seem to be making the same layout over and over but I'm really, really liking this mixed media stuff.  Thanks Susan!  This is wicked fun!  On this one, I was trying to work with "fall" colors on my gelli-plate and maybe partially accomplished that? What do you think?  I used Staz-on Saddle Brown for the Salamander and a pre-printed sentiment that comes on a sheet.  Who makes them is alluding me at the moment... do you know?



From morning to night...

The first thing I wanted to do this morning was get rid of some red paper.  So I found this card on Pinterest to CASE.  I made six.  The bad thing is, I only used up three pieces of red out of thirty I'd like to get gone... :(

Next, I wanted to take a few of these sentiments from a  lovely RAK I received from Sherry and turn them into cards...

 

I headed straight for my previously made Scrappy Backgrounds.  Wow!  Eight quick cards... :)  It's pretty evident though, that it's time for another "Scrappy" session.  I only have five left...

 

 

And this has to be my favorite from the bunch.  Probably because it is so bright and happy.  I'm sending it to a very delightful young lady (a friend of Zack's) up in Marblehead.  I bet it makes her day...

 

And finally, this evening, I did eight of these.  I picked six papers from my scrap pile, cut into strips and used the same on all of them.  Then I just did some old fashioned over and under and over and under stuff.  Pretty fun...

 

So ends this day of crafting.  If I'm counting right, that makes twenty-two.  That makes one very happy crafter here and a future FULL box to Operation Write Home... :)

 

Using up paper...

This is paper I've had a bazillion years!  Ok, maybe only six.  It's part of a Stampin' Up paper pack that has long since been retired.  I used it on a special album I made for my dad and his third wife and it took me almost forever to finish it.  The album was completed and presented as a 30th Wedding anniversary gift last November.  WAY too much emotion was charged into that project.  Since then, I've wanted to throw this paper away (just like I wanted to throw away the whole project more times than I care to admit)... but I'm the one who bought it!  Frugal me wouldn't let me.  SO, in my mission to use up what I have, it only seemed right to turn this into cards.  The rest of the paper is in the background and as you can see, there is still ALOT of it... ugh!

 



At first, I wasn't fond of this card but as I worked on it, it has grown on me.  These will get added to my current box which SHOULD have left last Friday and didn't... :(  So, it'll go this week.  These 8 and the Christmas 8 put me closer to my goal of 50 - 100 cards in the month of June using ONLY what I have...

 

Using Sherry's folder...

Well... Governor Christy did ask us to stay in.  And it IS a major mess outside.  So, who am I to go against the grain?

 

SECOND post in a day... woo hoo!

 

I had done a card around the beginning of January that I had CASEd from something I saw on Pinterest but I didn't have the embossing folder that was used and had to improvise.  Sherry asked me to forward her the pic from Pinterest and lo and behold, she had the folder.  She sent it to me on loan and I've embossed several pieces of white for future use.  I really like this.  I wanted everything to be matchy, matchy so I searched thru several pads of paper 'til I came up with what I liked.  The "Thank You" is a set of stickers by Sticko.  I mounted it on black. The gray is Stampin' UP's Basic Gray...

 

I think it's coffee time now... :)

 

Give a dog a bone...

And then maybe he'd stop eating my flowers... :)

These are some of the images I colored out in Columbus last week (see link here).  I got this set (and the paper) in the early part of last year while visiting an LSS in CT but it took until now to ink it up.  Insert: head hanging in shame...



Card Bowl 2014...

Sketch # 210... ON THE SAME DAY!!  I thought I could get this in before game time and I did... woo hoo!!!  Now to go watch the commercials.  Uh, I mean game...

 

One messy desk...

 

The challenge from the OWH facebook page is to make something from what is already on your desk.  Honestly, I don't know what happened in here.  This is not how I left it!  Look, there's even stuff on my Genesis... and stuff on my chair.  Talk about ridiculous... 



 

But I did find some neat things to work with.  All scraps, including the ribbon.  The circle behind the banner is actually a leftover from a mistake.  I die-cut a circle on another project and it was too big so I die-cut another out of the same piece.  The leftover ring looked pretty cool so I set it aside.  I CASEd this card from one I saw on Pinterest (view here) and threw in my extra ring. 

I liked it... do you?



OWH Sketch #206

 

Wow!  I'm actually doing a Sketch the same week it came out... woo hoo!!  I loved all the samples I was seeing on this sketch over on the OWH website (link here) and I just had to jump right in.  Except for the yellow paper (Hobby Lobby) and the red paper (Hollo's), all are scraps.  Including the ribbon and bling...

 



School colors...

 

I spent two weeks at the end of August getting Zack set-up and acclimated at his college, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL.  He asked that I make him a few thank you cards to send to various people for the gifts and scholarships he received.  He asked that I use the colors of his high school; red and black AND the colors of his college; blue and gold.  The first challenge of the Virtual Card Making Party this past weekend with Operation Write Home just seemed to tie in so well with his request.  I even thought they were semi-masculine.  I hope he likes them.  These will go in his first Care package from home...



Card Therapy...

 

Almost three months since a post!  Yikes!  Where does the time go?

 

The beginning of June marked my marriage to Ernie, my son Zack's graduation from high school and my move to New Jersey.  By the way, all in the same weekend!  I have been buried in boxes ever since...

 

Finally uncovered enough supplies to do something... so here's the beginning of my wedding thank you cards.  I can't even begin to tell you how wicked awesome that was!

 



A thought in the night...

 

I have over forty of these Scrappy Backgrounds that I've put together while in New Jersey during the Renovation.  I've wanted to do something a little different than I have been doing with them... and this came to me in the wee hours of the morning (that and the cat telling me it's time for her to be let out... btw, she has a cat door but feels she MUST go out the people door... geesh, cats!)

 

I used a new die-cut that Zack gave me for Christmas and I can see this will also be a great way to use up some ribbon and washi tape too...

 

 

Supplies used...

• Neenah Solar White 110# card base
• Recollections Black
• Scrap strips in various widths
• Washi tape and ribbon pieces
• StazOn Jet Black ink
• Sentiment from "A Word for You" by Stampin' Up
• Spellbinders Labels Twenty

Midweek Throwdown...

 

For all that we are grateful for this month, here is my thank-you card for the Midweek Throwdown at OWH.  The leaves are punched from a Creative Memories punch and embossed with different folders to add depth.  The sentiment is by Ditto and was found in a dollar bin at Jo-Ann Fabrics and then popped with dimensionals.  Add some bling and scrap paper and voilà... a quick and easy card!



More from the same 6" x 6" pad...

 

Just so there is a visual log, these are the final scraps used from the 6" x 6" pad that inspired this post.  That makes a total of TWENTY cards that came from one pack.  I find that so motivating!  Whenever I'm stuck, I'll just pick up a new 6" x 6" pad and get ready to roll!