Girlie Pink Hearts...

I've been supporting troops stationed overseas for several years now through various organizations.  In the middle of October I learned that one of "my guys" would get to come home early - woo hoo!  He had one request - would I mind writing to one of his buddies who would still be in Afghanistan.  Umm - of course! 

So I start writing to my new soldier.  Nothing special, just tales of our crazy dogs, and our adventures in learning how to ride mountain bikes.  A letter each week - nothing elaborate, or all that exciting...  then early in December I open my mailbox to find "free mail" (a letter from Afghanistan).  Lo and behold my new soldier is a chatty, writer type (even more surprising as he's 23 years old!)  {smile}

So, I thought I might surprise him with a little set of note cards that he can send home to his wife and young kids... 

I saw this swirly sheet of loose paper at A.C. Moore and thought it would be perfect for some hearts and love cards for part of the set.  Here are the two I've created so far...

The first one lets the swirly paper shine, and makes use of a new Sissix die.  The heart is popped up on foam tape.  Yes, this is pink paper and anyone who knows me is likely wondering who took over and is writing this.  But, I picked up a variety pack of cardstock, and it came with several shades of pink.  This seemed like a nice fit to use up some of the pale shade for the base of the card. 

The second one is basic and simple, and makes me think of love budding and flowering over time.  The Sissix flourish die is also new to my collection.  The small hearts were punched from scraps after I hand cut all of the larger hearts free hand.

Even though these aren't specifically Valentine's cards, I think they still qualify for the OWH Valentine challenge - pink hearts always make me think of Valentine's Day anyway... 

Thanks for visiting!
~Kathy

Tim Holtz Inspired Tag...

It's been ages since I've posted...  and nearly as long since I've played with my crafting supplies.

Last year I stumbled upon Tim Holtz's blog, and his 12 days of Christmas Tags, and I've been following along again this year.  I've been inspired to play with what I've got (mostly because I only have one pad of distress ink, and two distress stain dabbers). 

It's taken me about 4 days to create my tag, but it's done, and I'm happy with it!

Since I've only got a few dies and embossing folders I had to get a little creative.  To create the greenery for the mistle toe I did a bit of fussy cutting the scrap pieces of the green embossed piece at the base of the card.

The tag needed a bit of sparkle, so I adhered a piece of aluminum foil to some card stock using spray adhesive and then punched out several snowflakes.  Using some rhinestone stickers (purchased during a rare "girlie glitz" moment at the store), I added the red centers to the snowflakes for a bit more pop.  I love how Tim isn't afraid to go out past the edges - seeing his finished products provided the freedom to let parts of my design go outside the "box" formed by the tag edges.

I liked Tim's gift card idea from day two, so I created a pocket on the back to tuck a gift card into.  I think it'll look cute hanging on the tree, as a disguised package!

Oh, and I used the ribbon technique from one of Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps tutorials (found here) - it adds a little pop to the back of the card and a little extra stability to hold the gift card in place.

~Kathy

Flag Card for Flag Day

Quick post today - I found a little time to play with paper!

The OWH starburst tutorial today made me think of a blowing flag - maybe it's the flag day influence.

Such an easy card to create - red, white and blue card stock and some stars die cut with the cuttle bug.

And the inside:
 

Thanks for visiting!
~Kathy

Love Notes and Bling

Operation Write Home had a Valentine Blog Hop over the weekend.  They were celebrating Veterans Day and getting a jump start on the Valentines Day cards needed in before their January 7th deadline. 

I was inspired to create this card - trying to keep the reds, pinks and hearts to a minimum since Dixie (our east coast shipper) gets overwhelmed by such things.  {grin}

What do you think of my purple and green Valentines day card?  I just love this Mo Manning digital image of Bella playing the saxophone!  And she's always adding more great images to her collection.  To see her latest additions check out her blog!  The image was colored using my Tombow markers and water brush.

I have a couple of firsts in this card to boot:  1) first time using my new EK success corner rounder punch and 2) first time using BLING!  I added a tiny red heart to Bronte's collar and a trio of circles under the sentiment - I may need to pick up a pair of tweezers for my tool kit as these were hard to work with using only my fingers!

I created the little heart notes coming out of the saxophone using two small punches - music notes and hearts.  I glued the hearts onto the round part of the notes and voila - Love Notes!  I looked through all of my sentiments, and apparently when I send cards I'm not too sentimental - very few love messages.  So I pulled out some individual letter stamps (which conveniently came with a heart) and put together the sentiment.  I'm not great at lining everything up, so I used my wavy edge punch and now my crooked words a little less obvious.  {smile}

I've also entered the card into the Cute Card Thursday Challenge #138 where Anything Goes.

Thanks for visiting!
~Kathy

Supplies:
Paper:  Recollections cardstock;  DCWV Latte Matstack
Stamps & Ink:  Mo's Digital Pencil So Jazzed digital image;  Archival Jet Blank Ink;  alpha-numeric individual rubber stamps for the sentiment
Other:  Tombow markers;  ek Success corner rounder punch;  ek Success border punch;  heart and music note punches;  Hero Arts pale green gems;  Me & My Big Ideas heart Rhinestone

Fun with a cardboard box.

Had more time today to play, so I skimmed through the Feline Playful list of challenges for the week and found an interesting sketch at the Dude Time Doodles challenge blog.  My take on the sketch, which required the card be masculine:

I had this image of Eli from Mo's Digital Pencil already colored leaving me lots of time to pull out parts and play with the elements.  Here's the actual sketch:



I flipped it and found a piece of the Safari Chic Die Cuts with a View that reminded me of tire tracks.  A few scraps of punched cardstock and some alpha-numeric stamps for the top prize ribbon and voila - a great card to send in to Operation Write Home!  (Do kids play with cardboard boxes any more?)

And while I'm on OWH - they made it to the finals for the JoAnn's Craft for a Cause challenge.  Stop on over and vote!

Thanks for visiting!

~Kathy

Supplies:

Paper:  DCWV Safari Chic Premium Mat Stack;   Recollections cardstock

Ink & Stamps:  Mo's Digital Pencil Eli digital image;  Archival Jet Black Ink;  Alpha-Numeric individual rubber stamps

Other:  ek Success punch;  foam tape, Tombow markers;  Zig Memory System pens

Blowing Snowflakes

After a busy day of running errands, I sat down to play with paper and markers this evening.

This card actually came together in about 10 minutes with the help of a pre-made card base and the perfect piece of patterned paper.  One of the first set of stamps that I picked up included this snowman, I did trim away a small snow-butterfly which was replaced by the swirling snowflakes in the designer paper. 

The biggest decision I had was the colors to make the coat, hat and scarf.  In the end I went monochromatic (well except for that carrot nose) coloring him with my Tombows and making it feel like winter.  I popped up the snowman on foam tape for a little depth.  The card was missing a little something, new Gelly Roll white gel pen to the rescue for some hand stitching around the border.

Since the card base is larger than the A2 standard for Operation Write Home I'll be using this one for a note to a service member stationed overseas during the November and December holiday seasons.

Thanks for visiting...
~Kathy

Supplies:
Paper:  DCWV The Winter Combo matstack, watercolor paper, Strathmore photo mount card base
Stamps & Ink:  Archival Jet Black Ink, Darcies Unmounted Rubber Stamps JCS0064 set
Other:  Gelly Roll medium white gel pen;  foam tape

Friends and Flowers

Getting out of the office a little early today provided me the opportunity to visit the nearby JoAnn's for the first time.  Operation Write Home posted information on JoAnn's Craft for a Cause challenge and I figured that was a good excuse to go shopping.  I was thrilled to find they were having a sale on punches and embellishments! 

Wandering through the isles, I found a Die Cuts with a View piece of patterned paper that I liked so I went from there picking out a matching single solid green sheet, and a package of Studio 112 flowers.  After that I rounded out my stock of basic supplies with two packages of cardstock, two ek success punches that coordinate, white gel pens and adhesives. 

Once home the card came together quickly, not sure why my muse was so active today.  The design paper does nearly all the work, with the green punched piece and flower each popped up to add some dimension.  Simple, but I like how it turned out.

~Kathy

Supplies:
Paper:  Die Cuts with a View single sheet design and solid green papers, The Paper Company white cardstock, Die Cuts with a View Mat Stack purple paper
Embellishments:  Studio112 layered flower.
Other:  ek success punch,  foam tape

Patriot's Day Thanks...

I wanted to post a card in honor of Patriot's Day, and this little bull dog from Inkadinkado's Patterned Pets stamp set makes me think of the Marines. 

I have no idea if the marines have a bull dog as a mascot, but everytime I look at it that's what pops into my head.

This card came together quick and easy!  I used the negative from a bunch of blue stars that I cuttlebug die-cut for the top border and sprinkled red die-cut stars around the bull dog.  I pulled the sentiment from my new Hero Arts Everyday Sayings set.  This could work as either a hero card, or a blank card for troops to write home on in the next box out to Operation Write Home.

Have a Great Day!
~Kathy

Supplies:
Paper:  Recollections Card Stock
Stamps & Ink:  Archival Jet Black Ink, Hero Arts Everyday Sayings sentiment, Inkadinkado Patterned Pets
Other:  Cuttlebug and star die cuts

Fireworks!

What a party Bella and Bronte are having! The combination of this image from Mo Manning's Digital Pencil Shop and the patterned paper screams fireworks to me. I'm sure the fact that, as a kid, Memorial Day Weekend meant the regatta was in town and fireworks were on the agenda has nothing to do with my impression. I printed this image on medium weight cardstock, and colored it with my Tombows and my trusty water brush.

Since the base color of the card is a deep red, and the card will likely end up in a box to be shipped to Operation Write Home, I lined the card with light weight printer paper. I experimented with some mini brads I found at Michael's to attach the liner paper:

Supplies:

Paper: Recollections Card Stock; plain printer paper

Stamps: Mo Manning's Digital Pencil Too - Celebrate digital image

Other: Tombow markers; water brush; acrylic block; mini brads