OWH VCMP1 - Sketch

As soon as I saw the sketch for the first Virtual Card Making Party 

challenge at Operation Write Home today, 

I KNEW what I was going to make with it !

It was funny to me because as I was reading the post with ideas

suggested (snowflakes, punched shapes) by the Hostess,

I already planned on using both =) 

This is a great challenge for me as I am currently making holiday cards to 

send to the troops through OWH. See some of my creations posted

here on my blog over the last week with more to come.

I have 57 cards made to donate as of today,

granted 10 of them are the same adorable Santa face card

(I'll post about them tomorrow !).

My goal is to once again fill a small box

and send it in by October 1st. 

Items used:

white and light blue card stock

shimmery paper

white craft ink

swirly stamping around wheel (Stampin' Up!)

warm wishes stamp (Stampin' Up!)

snowflake punches (Martha Stewart)

snowflake die (Cuttlebug)

rhinestones

white embossing powder

Thanks for looking, 

now it's your turn to go play along !

Cabin In The Snowy Woods Card

Another card I made a couple of to send to Operation Write Home.

I  would need to go look at the stamp to see who the manufacturer is,

it was a gift sent to me from a pen pal friend. 

I just love this detailed image ! 

The words on the tag are from a Stampin' Up! set,

I think it was Teeny Tiny Wishes.

The greenery punch is from Martha Stewart,

the red berries are a 1/4" circle punch.

I stamped the image with Versamark ink then heat embossed

green embossing powder over it.

Glorious Green card stock from Stampin' Up! backs the image. 

It is layered over white card stock that was run through the 

Big Shot machine with the Square Lattice embossing folder from Stampin' Up!

Somebody thinks the box I want to fill with cards to 

donate to Operation Write Home is the perfect fit for her !

It's quite a goal to reach to fill that box before the

first of October to get holiday cards to the troops in time. 

Two rows of cards standing on end next to each other

will fit perfectly in this particular box -

not sure how many cards it will take to fill it.

Thanks for looking =)

Holiday Peace Card

Two more cards I am sending to 

Operation Write Home.

Also , two more non traditional holiday colors cards !

The stamp set is from Stampin' Up!, 

The purple papers are from Lasting Impressions.

They have a white core perfect for sanding to

show the core for added interest, 

especially fun on dry embossed images.

Wisteria Wonder ink coordinated well with the papers.

The satin ribbon came from Hobby Lobby several years ago. 

I think I ought to add dots or little circle punches

along that scalloped edge........

Thanks for looking =) 

Holiday Cards for Operation Write Home

In mid August I started making holiday cards to send to Operation Write Home.
If you've not heard of this wonderful group, please take a moment to follow the link to the
web site for more information. If you wish to help but don't have the time to make cards for the troops to write home to their loved ones on, you can donate towards shipping costs.



Some of the cards I am making use bits and pieces of scraps, old stamped images and such that I never seem to totally get rid of. Most are totally new creations. I also want to make more masculine cards as well as some cards for kids to send along if I have enough time. I normally try to send less flowery, girly cards anyway (although they are the easiest to make!) since it seems like the organization is often in need of guy/kid cards. You can click on the Operation Write Home label on my side bar to see some of the many cards I have sent in to this wonderful organization. 

I'll be sharing some of this newest batch of cards I'm donating over the next few weeks. I would like to make about a dozen a week, creating enough to fill a small box to be sent off in early October. 

The above card is the first I made. I really like how it turned out and would have made a half dozen or so to send in , then decided against it since the ribbon is bulky. That extra bulk might cause problems in the mail system and damage the envelope, not allowing it to reach its intended recipient. 

I used white card stock, a piece of cream shimmery paper I bought at an office supply store, gold Encore metallic ink, a jumbo stampin' around wheel and greeting. The stamp images are no longer available, they were bought from Stampin' Up!   NOTE: I discovered that the ink is not permanent on the shimmery paper. 

The pretty organdy ribbon had the gold stars on it when I bought it. It was actually a ruffled ribbon that I trimmed the pleated seam edge off of. I gave it a good rub to make sure that none of the shininess came off. No loose glitter is to be used on cards that are donated to Operation Write Home. 

Thanks for looking =) 

Roman Shade Card

No internet for over a week again..............

here is a card I made while being offline.

I came across a really, really old card sample while rummaging through some things in my craft dungeon recently. When I found it, I knew it was past time (like a dozen years past !) that I try to make one myself, the whole reason I had kept that particular card all this time.

I didn't bother to try to find instructions online somewhere since it looked easy enough to make. I don't really know what this type of card was called anyway, so I'll call it a Roman Shade Card since it operates similar to the window coverings in a room of my house. It wasn't difficult overall; the trickiest part for me was running the second piece of ribbon through the already threaded holes !

Start with a 1/2 sheet of card stock, 11" tall x 4 1/4" wide. Fold in half making a 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card. You can put your math skills to use to make a finished card size of 5 1/4" x 4" so when you attach the back layer the completed card would be the regular 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" size to fit an A2 envelope. I did not do that with my project; I chose to make the back piece slightly larger and put it in a bigger envelope.

Stamp front and inside of card.

Supplies used, from Stampin' Up!:

Whisper White card stock

Raspberry Ripple, Pistachio Pudding and Bashful Blue inks

home made cloud stencil

sponge

Pretty Peony, Hugs and Wishes, Sweet Sentiments stamp sets, all retired

Score front of card every 1/2".

Fold along each score line, alternating folds to create "mountains" and "valleys".

Smoosh all of the folds together and punch through on each edge of the card with a Cropodile. You can punch through each layer individually if you do not have a heavy duty hole punch that can go through multiple layers at once.

Flatten it back out then line up the punch with the bottom hole on each end and punch through the back of the card. This will make a hole for you to glue the ends of the ribbons in.

Run the ribbon through, starting at opposite ends. I use a heavy duty double stick tape to adhere the ends of the ribbon to the back side of the card, one on each side. One you get to the other end of the ribbon after threading it through the holes, tie it in a knot or attach beads to the ends. TIP: You may want to wrap a piece of tape around the end of the ribbon that you are threading through the holes, I did and it made it a bit easier. 

If you want to add a little extra embellishment,

be sure to attach it to one folding section ,

not glued across any score lines.

It must be able to fold up when the card folds. 

Thanks for looking =) 

Digital Scrapbook - Wedding Album Pt 2

Continuing to share pages from the wedding album I created 

using My Digital Studio from Stampin' Up!

See the first half of the album in the previous post.

I added a light blue floral overlay to the above two pages,

they really made a difference !

Color change feature on the banner and pleated ribbon above.

Neither is a perfect match, but it will work well enough.

The pleated ribbon was in the Twitterpated kit. 

I changed the number order (and several other details)

on this page so it was like a countdown to the ceremony.

The page above I created all by myself :)

This is the final page, it would be a single at the end of the album.

The design came from another premade template 

that I changed all of the colors and papers on.

I just noticed that I forgot to add a couple of drop shadows

(or the program didn't save them when it created the jpg

of the page, that happens to me quite often when things are saved.

Sometimes papers are changed or elements are even missing !)

My Digital Studio is now $19.95 US everyday, what a fantastic value ! 

Thanks for looking =) 

Digital Scrapbook - Wedding Album Pt 1

Below are the pages I made for a digital scrapbook

wedding album, minus the photographs being shared

here for privacy purposes.

I burned the completed pages to a DVD,

along with the original photos,

to present to the newlyweds.

The DVD Holder can be seen on the previous post. 

I used My Digital Studio by Stampin' Up!

Yaaaaaaaaay! I finally got it to work on

the new laptop I bought. 

I have had issues from day one

with the MDS2+ working on my desktop.

Tech support was great, but despite

doing everything they could think of, 

even when we thought we had it fixed,

it still would not work..... sniffle...

I guess I have too many things on the desktop,

something installed was causing it to glitch.

Then again, I have too many

(naw, never enough!) 

MDS downloads, maybe the amount of 

them trying to run through the program was 

giving the computer problems ? 

Anyway,

I used a premade album, Fan Fair photobook ,

 as a starting point.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE 

being able to use a designer project

then changing the colors, embellishments, 

papers, etc to make it work for my project. 

A few of the pages are almost identical,

except for the colors, to those in the predesigned book.

A couple are my own creations. 

I used Blushing Bride and

Bordering Blue papers

and embellishments or 

the color change / match options.

I made twenty pages.

The photo would be under the embellishments;

this is a single page layout at the 

front of the book.

The rest are two page spreads

The original designer page above only had two 

photo circles. I added the extras so there were 

enough places for a photo of each of the 

attendant couples. 

 The dimensional soft blooms were not used in the 

designer album anywhere, but they are so pretty and 

the perfect touch to a couple of pages - I had to add them.

The rest of the album will be shared tomorrow.

Thanks for looking =) 

DVD Case Cover

I burned a DVD for the newlyweds that contained

 the photos I took and digital photo album I created .

I used card stock that matched what I used for 

the wedding explosion box I made.

The base, two pocket media folder

was given to me a few years ago by a friend.

I'm not sure where she found them, 

but I'm guessing it is something that could be 

found at an office supply store ? 

I slid the DVD into one pocket 

and the wedding announcement, 

since it was square, fit perfectly in the other.

All supplies were from Stampin' Up! though

several are now retired.

Blushing Bride card stock stamped with Soft Swirls

background stamp using Versamark ink then

heat embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. 

It was mounted to Buckaroo Blue card stock. 

Shimmery white paper was die cut with the 

Typeset die set. 

Shimmery edged organdy ribbon - I don't think

that came from Stampin' Up!.............

I gave them a photo album and scrapbook in a box /

explosion box for wedding and shower gifts

(and the dollar bill bouquet!) knowing I would

be giving the disc later on. 

The next couple of posts will show the pages I made -

minus the photographs for privacy purposes. 

Thanks for looking =) 

Pop Open Umbrella Card - Bridal Shower

I did a quick search online for a pop open umbrella card and couldn't find what I hand in mind, so I came up with this and am tickled that it worked !

I originally created this so that the umbrella would pop open as a fun surprise on the front of the card with a little note inside of it. There was to be a coordinating fancy gift card envelope I would make attached to the back of it.

As I was working on it (I had already signed the note inside the umbrella as you can see!), I decided it might be better to glue the umbrella closed and turn it into an entire card. I didn't really want to holler across the hall where the shower was going to be held to explain that it popped open to see who it was from ;) So either way, this little creation of mine is a cute card accent for showers - or even scrapbook pages.

I first die cut a large scalloped edge circle from scrap paper to fiddle with, see if I could make what I had envisioned work.

Although I did get it folded up to pop open, I wasn't really happy with the way it looked. It certainly could have worked, but it didn't lay quite right when closed, it was too "poofy" for my liking. It reminded me of bellows ! So I cut another and tried a slightly different way to fold it. Success !

First practice piece

My finished project uses a doily cut with a Fiskars circular paper punch. I used the 6" circle to start. This punch sure is pretty and leaves really nice, detailed punched out areas along the edge of lightweight paper, but I am having a tough time getting it to line up perfectly. Then again, I've only used it a half dozen times so far, I obviously still need practice.

The paper is a cream colored shimmery paper from an office supply store. It is not as heavy / thick as card stock so it punches and folds nicely.

The handle to the umbrella was hand cut with scissors from metallic gold card stock.

The cream piece of card stock was run through a Texturz plate that Stampin' Up! used to sell. I may go back in and add a touch of shimmery Pearl Ex to the dots on the raised design areas to highlight them a bit as if it were rain drops..... then again, I may not since the card is now done and I don't want to take a chance on ruining it ! There aren't that many dots in the design visible, anyway.

I lightly sponged gold metallic paint along the edge of the cream card stock layer before adhering it to the metallic gold card stock.

Cream organdy ribbon tied into a bow, a tiny tag and a clay rose that I painted with acrylic paints dress up the handle. The clay rose embellishment was made with the new molds from Stampin' Up!

The inside of the card has a small scallop edge envelope (die from Stampin' Up!) stamped with a really old retired stamp. I used gold craft paint as my ink for my stamp so it would show up well on the shimmery paper.

Unfortunately the envelope is not quite big enough for a gift card as I thought it would be. I'll origami fold money into a heart shape and insert it instead of a gift card, maybe die cut some leaves to put in with it as added decoration.

I did take some photos to try to show how I folded the paper, but I don't know they will be very helpful.
It isn't difficult to do. I would recommend if you want to try it , use scrap paper first.

Although I like to try to make cards with the colors of the wedding (or baby's room if it is for a baby shower) , I decided against it this time since they were deep fall colors. I wasn't quite into using them with my shimmery cream , elegant pop open paper umbrella. Maybe I'll pull those colors into the card I create for the wedding later this fall.

Here are the photos and directions the best I could come up with to show how I made the pop open umbrella for the greeting card. The practice sample piece in the photos below uses a large scallop edge circle die cut. The die came from Stampin' Up!

As I was fiddling around with folding the paper to try to make this, I was reminded of the tea bag folded projects I made.




After creating this project and posting it to my blog, I came across a challenge it is perfect for. I'm entering into the challenge here
http://www.catherineandcathycreate.com/2013/07/ccc-004-monthly-challenge-here-comes.html

The next few posts I share will be wedding related, too.

Thanks for looking =) 

CT Projects - School's In Kit

My first "official" projects created from a new digital scrapping kit as part of my responsibilities for being on a Creative Team (my first time as a CT member !). This is a learning experience for me.

This is the newest kit from Graceblossoms4U - School's In !

As soon as I saw the sneak peak I had a few ideas. I even asked if there may be a photo frame made from rulers otherwise I was going to make one myself out of digital punches. The designer added one at my suggestion!

Once I was able to get the kit downloaded (it is a huge 242MB file) I went right to work putting my ideas into digital form. We are only required to make two projects, but I made four - quickly followed up by three of them being redone slightly differently (more about that later) !


I knew the arrows paper would be great for a graduation page with a quote, something along the lines of going in the direction of your dreams. So here is the first page:

Papers, star, tag (except for the text that I inserted over it) are all in the kit. I used a hexagon punch from the software to paper fill with the arrow paper . A rectangle punch enlarged and filled with other decorative papers from the kit are layered behind the photo. The star comes as is in the kit. The black quote from Dr. Seuss was a text box I filled  (you can find several Seuss fonts online).

Due to concerns of the designer, I redid this page and only used elements in the kit, other than the text box "Class of 2013" over the tag. Here is that sample:

The second page put the ruler frames to use. I already scrapped these photos with My Digital Studio last fall.

Star shape from the software paper filled, the red paper is torn with the paper tear feature in the software, the "ribbon" is made from the small single words in the digital kit all lined up. I added nothing extra to this page other than the text boxes over the tags.













Bookmarks ! These were fun to put together, I tried to use different elements from the kit on each one (yes, there are flowers in the kit!). However ALL TEXT  (other than the chalkboard letters) is my own, there is no word art /quotations in the kit.

Once again, due to concerns from the designer I redid this project. This time I made one bookmark then copied and pasted over and over. The bookworm and line of books come as is in the kit. I used one of the digital papers in the kit for the background. This is a good idea for teachers: insert students names into the bookmarks, print and hand out as a little Welcome Back To School gift ! These are sized to fit a standard piece of card stock (8 1/2" x 11"). You could design, print, cut and then laminate to make them a bit more sturdy.

Lastly I made a card. The original card here uses black that I added (there is no black in the kit) to make it pop, a "word art" I added (not in the kit) and the buttons that come in the kit were ever so slightly elongated to make the balloons. Oh, I also added hand drawn lines for the strings (a feature in the software).

I redid this one too for the same concerns that the designer expressed, removing the word art and all of the black layers. The Buttons were left round and strings were made with squished and reduced in size black rectangles to make thin straight lines.





As I said in the beginning, being part of a Creative Team is a learning experience for me, especially since it involves digital scrap booking. I look forward to playing with more digital kits. Perhaps I will get the hang of "clustering" embellishments the way other team members do, creating wow elements to their pages ! Then again, maybe keeping my projects more clean and simple is a good thing, they are a different take on what others do with the kits ?

Thanks for looking =)