What a Hop!!

I was completely overwhelmed with the Memorial Day Blog Hop.  It was incredible!  Not only did I get ALOT of love on my post... wow!! But I saw SO MANY incredible things on all the other blogs I hopped to.  It took me three days to visit everyone and there is no doubt in my mind that I'll be visiting them again and again...

One of the blogs I visited, The Efficient Crafter, had this tutorial on "Assembly Line Cardmaking" that just blew me away!  The whole ride home from New Jersey to Massachusetts, I was cutting in my head; thinking of zillions of combinations while I was driving.  So, the first thing I did this morning was this...

Is that cool, or what!!  I did have to replace the third middle piece with a navy blue piece because I couldn't figure out how to get the sentiment to show up on the patterned paper.  In the tutorial, she turns that piece around and stamps on the back but the back of my paper was a stark white color and I didn't think it went with the cream color of the patterned paper.  It certainly gives me "food for thought" for the next time around.

And the next time around was... this afternoon! ...lol

This was one of the combinations that was running thru my head on the drive home.  This is SO festive to me.  I really, really like this tutorial and will definitely use it again...

Memorial Day "Sketch" Blog Hop...

Welcome, welcome, welcome!  This is my first ever Blog Hop... woo hoo!!  My life has been so full of many "firsts" since I got involved with OWH... :) 

So this card is my take on Sketch #90.  The card itself will be the front to an "Any Hero" note from the students at Marblehead High School.  My son Zack, a Junior at MHS, ran a campaign at the beginning of March to get every student to write a note to a hero who is deployed.  The principal extended their homeroom one Monday so they could write and we received 710 notes.  Since then, we've colored in the notes (which were plain, see this post below) and made card fronts for them.  As you can see on the sidebar, we've completed and sent 462 to the shippers at OWH. I love coming up with new fronts for the cards so if one day someone collects all 710 back, they'll see such an eclectic collection... (I know... a weird thought, eh?)

The "shimmery" stamps are from a package of stars that are meant to be table confetti (found at Hobby Lobby) and adhered with glue dots.  The paper is from a Scrapbooking Page Kit (also from Hobby Lobby), the sentiment is from a sticker set by Momenta (found at Michaels) and the ribbon is from Wal-mart.  It's apparent that I get around in collecting "stuff" to make cards with, wouldn't you say?  ...lol

Just a tease...

Here's my tease about what I've made for the Memorial Day Blog Hop.  I still can't get the badge to work on my computer but my significant other seems to get it to work on his.  My fingers are crossed that this will work Saturday morning... :)

Tropical Colors Challenge...

This week's Midweek Throwdown Challenge is to use tropical colors.  I CASE'd this from something I saw on Pinterest.  It's similar but I'd have to say, mine's not as dynamic.  I'm not sure what is missing though...

A vintage request...

Of course I must have a post on my birthday!!  Making cards is my most favorite thing to do these days!  This card was created for the woman who has done my nails for the past 19 years.  She asked me to make her a "vintage" thank you card.  I had no idea where to start so what did I do?  I asked for advice from my favorite people... the ladies on the facebook page for Operation Write Home.  With their suggestions AND following the starburst tutorial on the Stars and Stamps blog, I came up with this.  The bottom piece and a couple "bursts" are from a paper bag she uses for merchandise that is sold at the Salon.  I was so pleased with the result.  I'd say this is the prettiest card I've ever made...

Another Midweek Throwdown Entry...

This weeks Midweek Throwdown over on the Stars and Stamps blog is to make something Patriotic.  Considering I've been living and breathing Patriotic cards since February... you just KNOW I had to make an entry.  These two cards are CASE'd from two wonderful ladies that have helped Zack and I with our "Any Hero" project from the students at MHS by sending us card fronts and coloring in notes.  I still need to CASE one from Susan in New Jersey but for now, there's just these two. The first is CASE'd from Krystil in North Carolina and the second is CASE'd from Sherry in Ohio.  I've met so many wonderful people thru the facebook page of OWH and I just wanted to say a public "Thank-you ladies!  You're the bestest!"...

Scrappy Backgrounds...

I was just about to pack it in for the night when I saw the Tuesday Tutorial over on the Stars and Stamps blog.  As we say here in Boston, "That is wicked awesome!!"  I just had to try it.  I am IN LOVE with this technique.  Goodbye scrap pile!  Hello awesome background paper...

woo hoo!!

OWH Sketch #2...

I'm really trying to have a wide variety of card fronts on our "Any Hero" cards that are being sent to Operation Write Home from the MHS students.  The middle piece is a dimensional sticker from a set called "Fourth of July" made by me & my BIG ideas.  This is Sketch #2 on the Stars and Stamps blog of OWH.  And this red paper... OMG!  I LOVE it!  It is on sale this week at Michael's 5 for $1.00... I bought tons!  I love that it's textured and has black flecks in it.  It will be so versatile in many of my projects.  SO, another sketch I can take off my list...

What better food than cake?

Continuing with the Be a Rebel Challenge... this is #3, "Food as your Focal Image".  What better FOOD is there than cake?!!  This image is watercolored.  Each one of the circles was hand picked from my stash of pre-punched circles.  This was one of the first cards I mass produced so I used to punch all my patterned paper into these two sizes of circles.  Then I realized I had enough circles cut to make a thousand cards... and I'll probably never make a thousand of these cards.  I've learned ALOT since I did these...

Virtual Card Making Party...

Paper piecing... my first ever attempt!  And this was actually pretty easy.  This challenge is called Be a Rebel and is for the Virtual Cardmaking Party taking place today and tomorrow.  The first challenge at 8am this morning was to make a card for a child and "piece" different papers from a stamped image.  I used some REALLY small pieces of scraps that I have no business still hoarding... but hey, they came in handy for this... :)

My first ever Midweek Throwdown...

I took a Northwoods Card Class at my LSS yesterday and it fits in nicely with the Midweek Throwdown on the Stars and Stamps Blog of Operation Write Home.  These were colored in with copics that were supplied by the class.  Some of these colors were a little dry from overuse so I struggled with blending.  I would however, like to add a couple of these to my collection.  I loved the Honey (Y38) and Green Apple (G14), they were lovely.