It's Lawn Fawn Week at Operation Write Home!

Hello! Hello! It's been quite the week around here, leaving little time for card making. I really, really wanted to get in on that challenge from Lawn Fawn so I used the Lawn Fawn bonus sketch from Monday and the Mid-Week Challenge from Wednesday. My sweetie really loved the skunk card so I am going to mail it to him with a paper letter inside, let him write a note home to me on the card itself, and skip the "middle man" (also known as my East Coast Shipper)!! 

Mid Week Challenge: Scallops and Kids

Monday's Bonus Sketch from Stars and Stamps

Speaking of my sweet husband, I let him choose our Virtual Card Making Party winner from last weeks big card making weekend. He chose a number from the total number of cards linked up. The lucky winner of the Clip It Up is...

#17

Kara from www.madamewong.wordpress.com

Kara, please send me an email at sddouberly@yahoo.com with your shipping address and I will get it out when I mail my now full box for OWH! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

It's Been a Busy Weekend!

I hope everyone is having an awesome time with this weekend's Virtual Card Making Party. I know I am having so much fun and totally neglecting my other "duties". It's Monday morning and I've completed all 10 challenges! You can visit the Master Thread here.

Our Daily Bread Designs: Scripture or Uplifting Sentiment

Recipe Challenge: 1 Image, 2 Patterned Papers, 3 Words

Snowflakes, but not Christmas!

Triple Time Technique

Cowboy Challenge

Sketch #136

Christmas Twins

Sports Theme 

Home Sweet Home Challenge

Who Doesn't LOVE a Great Party?

Welcome to our Labor Day Virtual Card Making Party! 

If you'd like to head over to the complete challenge list on the Stars and Stamps Blog, click here!

 I hope you are having a great time creating with us this weekend! As many of you know, my own sweetheart is currently deployed and I know how much these cards mean to those of us at home.
You are not just making cards- you are creating happiness! 

CHALLENGE: Use a neglected crafting tool. It can be a stamp set, a punch, a cricut cartridge, an eyelet setter, or a die cutter. Any tool that you haven't touched in a while is fair game. Use the InLinkz tool at the end of this post to share your creations. One lucky card maker, I mean happiness creator, will be randomly chosen to win a Simply Renee Clip It Up Wall Mount organizer!

The two craft tools I chose for this challenge were my stitching alphabet stamps with floss and a needle, and a few of my very neglected Sizzix Paddle Punches. 

Neglected craft tools are so sad!

The stamp set was something I had to have the minute I saw it and I used it as soon as it came in the mail. I loved the look of the sewn letters, but for some reason I never used it again. The paddle punches are also great tools that had gotten lost at the bottom of my punch bucket. The last time I remember using them was more than 4 years ago! They are especially cool because you can punch anywhere on the page at any angle. 

My Cards

All three of my cards were also made from a neglected paper pack (which doesn't qualify)! :) 

Paper: Die Cuts with a View Indian Summer Fall Stack & Indian Summer Fall Cardstock Stack

Sizzix Paddle Punches: Primitive Star #1, Primitive Heart #1, & Leaf

Stamp: Thinking of You by Stampin' Up & Stitch Alphabet by Close to My Heart

Ink: VersaMagic, Hint of Pesto

Floss: DMC

I hope you have a good time bringing life back to a neglected tool!

We Made It Through Isaac!

Here is my Craft room- safely boarded up for Isaac. We evacuated to Montgomery, AL and had three fun days with the cousins. I came home to find all well on the home front. All my craft supplies weathered the storm and I was able to jump back into card making once the yard was picked up! Here's what I've been working on...

Sketch #133

Sketch #134

Sketch #135 +ghosting+ Mid-Week Masculine

Mid Week Challenge: Patterned Paper & Dies

 Thanks for stopping by! Please join us this weekend for our Labor Day Virtual Card Making Party! I will be here with a fun challenge and my first Give-Away! See you Soon!

PIZZAZZ!

Welcome to our Pizzazz

blog skip!

(If you'd like to start at the beginning click here)

I am so excited you stopped by! 

Before I get to my Pizzazz card I wanted to share a quick story with you all. Hopefully it will provide an added measure of inspiration. 

I have been making cards for OWH since January of this year. I love it! My own sweetheart recently deployed again and the first piece of mail I received from him was this card from OWH! WooHoo!

These were not available during his previous deployments and he was so excited to find the box of cards especially since he knows I help make them! Only, do you notice something a little funny about this card I received just this past week? 

It's very pretty and it's a Mother's Day card!

I jokingly asked him about that and he replied, 

"It could of been a Father's Day card. My choices were limited!"

WE NEED TO MAKE MORE CARDS! 

Let's make sure our heroes have lots to choose from! 

Now for some pizzazz. I thought this was going to be an easy task, but I was mistaken. I made my card and I liked it, only I kept worrying if my card had enough pizzazz or if it would pale in comparison to the other cards on the skip. I kept asking myself, "Is it fancy enough?" 

I decided for me it's not so much the "flash" but the care and effort put into the card!

I hope you like it!

This card has a lot of fun things going on. There are 6 different papers (I love to layer and mix patterned paper), inked edges, dimensional butterflies (there are 2 punches per butterfly: one lies flat and the other is bent), and a little bit of bling. 

Paper: All six pages come from Die Cuts with a View, Fun in the Sun Glitter Pack

Paper punch: Martha Stewart

Stamp: Stampin' Up

Ink: VeraMagic, Mango Magic

Thanks for visiting!

Please head over to Lee Mae's blog for more Pizzaz skip fun! 

Mid Week Challenge: Kraft + Color

I am really happy with these little fall cards. I think they are super sweet. 

Matthew's Selflessness Project

The inside reads: His tricera-bottom!

I made 2 cards for Matthew's Selflessness Project! I was so happy to help. Sandy let us know about this project on facebook. I took her advice and added a joke. I sure had fun searching "kids jokes" on google! When I came across a dino joke I knew it was the one I wanted to use. Then I searched for free dino digital stamps and found this one with the paper to match! Last time I checked Matthew had received over 200 cards even one from Great Britain! I am so glad to be part of teaching a child that there it truly good in the world! Click on the link if you'd like to help. He needs the cards by September 30, 2012. 

A Little Bit of Everything...

Sketch #131

Mid Week Challenge (8/8): Cards for Kids

Our Daily Bread Designs August Challenge: Masculine

The following three cards were just for fun. I found an old punch out sheet that had all these great images. I had forgotten I had it!

The following card is my attempt at sketch # 132. There was just something about the sketch that kept holding me up. I tried others before and even this one doesn't really match. I guess it's okay. The point of the sketches is to inspire, right? :) Mission accomplished! 

Back into the Swing of Things

I haven't really felt like making cards lately. 

My own sweetheart has recently deployed.
I have been busy with back to school for my three older children and settling into our new normal with the littlest one. I normally love to be at my desk making cards any spare moment I have, but just before and just after he left I did not make a single card. It was a very weird week for me! Then I saw a post by Pam which she had shared on facebook. Her card inspired me to get crafting again! So here is the card she inspired me to create. I am so thankful for her post. Since then I have slipped in moments here and there and I am almost caught up on all the challenges and sketches I have missed. I'm not back to where I was before the hectic pre-deployment time, but at least I am on my way. I will post my recent cards soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy this little creation!
This card is my Mid Week Challenge (8/1): AnyHero mail contribution as well!

All Kinds of Fun!

Here is my Midweek Challenge card for this week. The Challenge was to create an encouragement card. I like how this card turned out, however, looking back I would have laid my flowers out a little differently. Originally, I just had the one large flower but thought that wasn't enough. I added the 2 little flowers later. I wish I could situate them a little differently but that ATG adhesive is stuck for good! The paper for this card and the two to follow came from a clearance Recollections pack at Michaels that I scored for $0.99! I've made 10 cards from the pack so far and I've barely made a dent!

Sketch #130.

Paper: Colorbok Deluxe Textured Cardstock

Die Cuts: Cricut Life's a Beach (Beach Balls, Waves, & Water Drops) & Zooballoo (Clouds)

Texture: Cuttlebug

Sketch #129 and Mid Week Challenge: Complimentary Colors

They just keep coming! I am still working on my pile of Christmas cards, all made from 2 boxes of card bases from the Hobby Lobby's Paper Studio line. I have over 40 completed and I am a little weary of working with these same papers. :) I was thankful for Wednesday's challenge to shake things up a bit!

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I have an autumn birthday and I love everything about the season. Here is my complimentary colors mid week challenge contribution. So cute!

Papers: Colorbok Deluxe Textured cardstock, Recollections Halloween paper pack

Die Cut: O'Scrap by Julie Young

Rickrack: Stampin' Up Ribbon Originals Pigtails

Buttons: Craft section at Walmart

Bling: Recollections

Mid Week Challenge: Christmas & Winter

I have been on a card making spree! This is the first time I have made multiples of the same card for OWH. Usually my cards are a one time deal. I like to think that the person receiving the card is getting something truly unique. The downside to this way of doing things is that I make very few cards overall. I was excited to see this week's Christmas challenge because last year I scored 100 Christmas card bases and envelopes from Hobby Lobby for next to nothing. So I went all out and make lots of cards this week (at least for me!) So far I have made almost 40 cards this week. Considering I've only mailed in 80 cards total since January this is really big for me! I just cut up some of the cards to make other cards. I think I am going to end up with about 70 completed cards from the 100 bases. I am very pleased with that and I will still have the 30 extra envelopes.