Cards for Mexico and Spain

A dear friend lives in Mexico City and my son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter have relocated to Spain for a year. So I am making cards with Spanish sentiments.

Here is a recent card per Ana's request:

CS & DSP: Stampin' Up

Oval dies: Sizziz

Banner die: "Classic Ribbons" by poppystamps

Image Stamp: "Wetlands" by Stampin' Up
Sentiment: "Spanish Loving Messages" by Stampendous
Ink: "Coastal Cabana" by Stampin' Up

July ODBD Card Challenge: Thank You

This is the last Our Daily Bread Designs challenge to benefit Operation Write Home. Since the majority of our overseas military heroes are coming home, OWH will no longer accept cards past the end of July. If card makers link up 50 cards this month, ODBD will sponsor two boxes of cards as they have done for years. What a generous organization!
Today I've used Stampin' Up! products to complete a colorful Thank You card. Hope you like it.

The colors are from the 2014-15 catalog (now expired), but the stamp sets are available in the brand new catalog for 2015-16 issued on June 2, 2015.

Ink colors top-to-bottom: Crisp Cantalope, Strawberry Slush, Pistachio Pudding, Coastal Cabana

Design Stamp Set: 'Work of Art'

Sentiment Stamp: 'Sassy Salutations'

June ODBD Challenge: Miss You cards

Well, the Operation Write Home crew has almost completed their mission and the final cards for our deployed military are due before August 1st. My box is getting full, but before I seal and send her, I want to join the current Our Daily Bread Designs challenge. If we post 50 cards with a 'I miss you' or like sentiment by the end of the month, ODBD will sponsor 2 full boxes of cards sent overseas.
So here is mine:

Patterned Paper & Aqua CS: Stampin up
Sentiment: Digital stamp from stash
Banner Dies: Sizzix
Clock Stamp: 'Time Capsule' by Fun Stampers Journey
Ink: Memento 'Tuxedo Black'

Stars & Stamps Sketch #254

Operation Write Home has challenged us card makers with another great sketch. This one caught my eye and I decided to try it out today.
Happy Mother's Day to all you busy mom's and grandma's. Our son moved across the world to Spain last week :(   Thank goodness for Skype!

I

Now that I see it, I think the card would have been better with a narrow frame of black around the embossed part. I'll just make more!

CS & Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up

Circle, Scalloped dies: Sizzix

EF: Cuttlebug

Banner die: "Classic Ribbons" by Poppy Stamps

Sentiment: Inkadinkado

Ink: "Crisp Cantaloupe" by Stampin' Up

Colorful Birthday Card

Yes, I shamelessly copied a card design from my crafting Pinterest board to make this simple b-day card for my dear daughter-in-law.
The designer patterned paper (reward pack from my demonstrator), cardstock ("In Color" collection), sentiment ("Wetlands"), aqua ink ("Coastal Cabana"), and dark pink ink ("Strawberry Slush") came from Stampin' Up. My new inchie punches came in handy for the squares, and the floral stamp is by Inkadinkadoo ("Meadow" set).

I could create cards like this all day! Fun, colorful, and simple. I'm lovin' it :)

ODBD April Challenge: Masculine cards

Another month means another chance for OWH card-makers to create a card for the Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge! This month we are working on masculine cards. Mine is appropriate for Dad's of all ages and has a longer shelf-life than the "Happy Father's Day" cards. I actually had a completely different design in mind with a digi stamp when I started working at my craft desk today. But it didn't turn out :( So I thought of something else and this is the outcome.

ODBD has generously offered to sponsor up to two boxes of cards to be sent to our deployed military by Operation Write Home. We only need 50 cards and both boxes will ship! Thanks, ODBD!

Rubber Stamp: Inkers-a-way

Black Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Black CS: Black Onyx Pure Luxury by Gina K Designs

Patterned Paper: 'Best Year Ever' set by Stampin' Up

Orange CS: Stampin' Up

Orange Stripe: 'Bicycle Bliss' by Echo Park Paper Co.

Rectangle Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Deckled Rectangles Small

Banner Die: 'Classic Ribbons' by Poppy Stamps

Letter Stamps (DAD): 'Happy Day' clear stamps (gift with purchase of a UK crafting magazine)

S & S Midweek Challenge: Circles

Whoa! It has been too long away from posting. I have been making cards for OWH and dipping a toe into my 2nd hobby, ancestor searching (genealogy).
Just couldn't resist creating this card with circles based loosely on a card featured in a recent OWH video.
The larger circle 2nd from the bottom is raised.

DSP: "Botanical Collection" 6x6 paper pad by Prima Marketing
Heart Image: From the "Create a Cupcake" collection by Stampin' Up
Black CS: Recollections
Circle, Scallop Dies: Spellbinders
Black Ink: Memento

S & S Midweek Challenge: Christmas in July

It's that time (already!) to begin making Christmas and Winter-themed cards for Operation Write Home. It is warm and a tad humid in East San Diego, and I've been wearing shorts for weeks. So I will wish for a rainy winter and begin creating cards for our deployed military.
My daughter-in-law brought a paper pad of Christmas patterned paper back from England for me so I can finally use it. These papers don't match each other--kinda strange for a 6x6 pad--but each of the patterns are very nice.
I got a great deal on the rubber stamp I used last spring. It is a "combo" wooden stamp with three stamps on one piece of wood. Another sentiment and the snowflake on the end. Pretty cool. My first card had only three flakes near the sentiment and looked too plain. As you can see, it doesn't look plain there anymore :)

DSP: Paper Cellar

Sentiment, Snowflakes: Stampourri

Ink: Night of Navy by Stampin' Up!

Ribbon: Michaels

OWH Design Bootcamp: Major, Minor, and Accent Colors

Today we learned about choosing three colors for our card designs and how to keep them balanced.The idea is to use the 60-30-10 Formula. My choice was to use Pink 60%, Black 30%, and White 10%.
The circle is lifted with dimensional adhesive and the ribbon secured with narrow, double-sided red tape.

Pink CS: Bazzill
Other CS: my stash
Ribbon: 'valentine' collection by making memories
Black Ink: Dragonfly Black by ColorBox
Pink Ink: 'Pretty in Pink' by  Stampin' Up!
Circle Dies: Spellbinders
Border Punch: EK Success
Sentiment and Small Flowers: 'branches4flowers' set by The Stamps of Life

Relaxin' in an Easy Chair

Guess what I bought! A stamp-and-die combo I could not pass up. This easy chair is so sweet! And when I saw it I knew that the pillow could be paper-pieced and that is just what I did. Confession time: I have dies and stamps in my collection that have never been used :(
Which makes me wonder why I bought them. So today I used these while they were new and fresh and I know they will be used often.

DSP: 'Rosy' 6x6 pad by My Mind's Eye

Easy Chair Stamp and Die: 'Small Hayward Chair' by Poppy Stamps

Sentiment: from the 'island2visit' collection by The Stamps of Life

Circles Stamped next to Sentiment: from the 'French Foliage' collection by Stampin' Up!

Ribbon: my stash

Black Ink: Dragonfly Black by Color Box

Challenges:

S & S Midweek Challenge: Masculine Card

Tuesday Morning Sketches #206 (TMS is celebrating 4 years of sketches!!)

Songbird Challenge #24: Ribbon

Unscripted Sketches #216

Here I used one of my current favorite clear stamp sets from Stampin' Up!: French Foliage. This is a versatile collection of stamps that I will use again and again. I like this sketch, too!
The paper is from my stash. Ink: Stamp Cabana (dark red and green), Ranger Distress (wild honey), Border Die "Savannah Border" by Memory Box. Note: the 3rd row down is a different paper than the other rows. It was supposed to be more obvious (!)
Challenge: Unscripted Sketches #216

The 6x6 Template

Well this was certainly fun! I used a 6x6 paper pad with patterns on one side only. I must have cut a few more pieces than necessary because I ended up with 14 cards. Here are the first 10 all put together. I am loving this idea because I like working with 6x6 pads. Thanks so much, Kathryn, for sharing these amazing templates with Operation Write Home ;)

6x6 Designer Paper Pad: "Serenity Collection" by BoBunny

Alphabet Thank You Digital Stamp: Create with TLC

Thank You Digital Stamp: The DigiChick

Cardstock: Bazzill and my stash

Green Ink: (distressing on one card) "Old Olive" by Stampin Up!

Simple Sketch and No Patterned Paper

This was a fun card to make and is entered in two challenges.

Embossing Folder and Image: 'Flowers and Vines Set' by Sizzix and Hero Arts

Green Ink: 'Old Olive' by Stampin' Up!

Sentiment: The Stamps of Life

Embossing at Sentiment Tag: 'Birch Background' by Our Daily Bread Designs and Versamark

CS: my stash

Challenges:

Shopping Our Stash #104: No Patterned Paper

Unscripted Sketches #213

OWH Sketch # 175

Oh boy! Another cool sketch from Operation Write Home. I received some yummy new crafting supplies this week from Lawn Fawn so I had a chance to use 'em. Come join us. There's a new sketch (with measurements!) every Sunday.

Clear Stamps: "Make Lemonade" by Lawn Fawn

DSP: "Pink Lemonade" 6x6 Paper Pad by Lawn Fawn

Green CS and Brads: my stash

Ink: "Pumpkin Pie" by Stampin' Up!

S&S Midweek Challenge: Sentiment as Focal Point

This card is totally CAS and was created because I needed a sympathy card. The sentiment is not appropriate for Operation Write Home, but it fits the guideline for this challenge. Hope you like it!

Image: Inkadinkado

Sentiment: Our Daily Bread Designs

Yellow Ink: "Daffodil Delight" by Stampin' Up!

Black Ink: "Dragonfly Black" by ColorBox

CS: my stash

SOS Challenge #100: Mother's Day or Pink

I had to dig deep into my stash for the flower. It was a gift years ago. I removed the large, round, sparkly pink center and replaced it with a pink brad. Unfortunately, it still may be too thick to use as a card for Operation Write Home. Still, I like the pink and green combo on the card and the matching colors of the flower made it too good not to use :)
Entered in the Shopping Our Stash Challenge

DSP: "Prairie Chic" 6x6 pad by BoBunny

Flower: Making Memories

White CS, Brad: my stash

Sentiment: The Stamps of Life

Pink Ink: "Pretty in Pink" by Stampin' Up!

SOS Challenge #99: All About Numbers

When I saw this challenge I knew exactly what patterned paper to use. I am slowly retiring my stash of 12x12 paper and moving to 6x6 pads. I purchased this 'numbers' paper a couple of years ago and am delighted to use some. The center area is lifted with dimensional adhesive.
Full disclaimer: this card design was CASE'd from my last SOS challenge entry. oops!

'Numbers' DP: Recollections at Michaels
Brown Layering CS: my stash
Gold DP: Graphic 45
Stamps: Stampendous
Square Punch: Family Treasures
Brown Ink: 'Early Espresso' by Stampin' Up

Challenges entered:

Shopping Our Stash #99: Numbers
Party Time Tuesdays 118: Anything Goes
Challenges 4 Everybody: Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge #4: Anything Goes