OWH Sketch Challenge #130

This is my second post of the day using this cute turtle stamp from SU! This stamp set is on loan from a friend, and I'm definitely giving it a workout! You can see my previous post here. I turned this week's OWH Sketch Challenge on its side, and saw three turtles creeping along.  I wasn't sure what kind of sentiment would fit, but settled on this stamp from Scrappy Mom's.  The turtles are colored in copics, and I used Glossy Accents on the eyes and the blue turtle shell.  I finally had a chance to use my Martha Stewart fringe scissors for the grassy border, and I pulled a variety of papers and supplies from my stash to finish it off.



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Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Blessings,
Shari B

Hippy Hoppy Happy Hello

Some people probably think I'm crazy for hanging out in my craft room on this hot & sunny summer day!  To that I say two words..."air conditioning".  Ha! Today I'm catching up on posting some of the cards going in my box for Operation Write Home. These cheery cards were made using the Turtle & Co. stamp set from Stampin' Up! I used papers from PTI, including DP from PTI Green Boutique.  I used copics for coloring, and gave the Cuttlebug a workout with Nestability dies and a couple of my favorite Provo Craft embossing folders. The middle card was in my reject box, waiting for a focal point....no idea where those papers came from or how long ago I started it!





I sure had fun playing with this stamp set, and I hope these cards will brighten someone's day!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. Enjoy your day!

Blessings,
Shari B

OWH Sketch Challenge #128

For this week's OWH Sketch Challenge, I gathered up some clouds I had cut for another project and pulled out my Loads of Love stamps from SU!  I grabbed DP from PTI (I know, I've been using this a LOT lately) and DCWV Linen Stack. The truck chassis is paper pieced, and the pups and tires are colored with copics.


I normally don't use a sentiment inside my OWH cards, but in this one I stamped "Thought you could use a little pickup".  Hee hee.  I might try some variations on this theme, as the little pickup was really fun to do!

Have a wonderful week! Thanks for stopping by to take a look!  :)

Blessings,
Shari B

ODB Designs July Challenge

Today's card was inspired by this month's Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge. The challenge was to think "cool" and use colors from the cool side of the color wheel.  I thought of these decorative papers from Papertrey Ink right away, and decided to add an additional cool factor to the card by combining a phrase from this century ("LOL" from Scrappy Moms) with a character from the last century (Charlie Chaplin by Stampers Best).





I layered with "New Leaf" from PTI, and added some interest with a precious bit of blue chevron May Arts ribbon that I received from Sandy as an OWH prize (THANKS!). The brad is from SU! It's hard to see in the photo, but I backed everything with a white card base. Here's a second version with a different sentiment from Scrappy Moms. 



I hope you can link up a cool card to this challenge, as Our Daily Bread Designs will cover shipping on a box of OWH cards for every 25 cardmakers that play!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look! Stay cool, people! :)

Blessings,
Shari B

Happy Anniversary - OWH Throwdown Challenge

Hello and Happy Independence Day! It's a thunder-stormy day here in the Midwest, so I'm thinking that puttering in my craft room is going to be a great way to spend the day!




This week's OWH Midweek Throwdown Challenge is Anniversary Cards! Here's a card I made using the love birds and heart cut from the Something to Celebrate Cricut cartridge. The card base is SU! Very Vanilla and the tan paper is from the Linen Closet DCWV stack.  Other papers used were scraps from my stash! I added a Hero Arts sentiment heat embossed in gold, and metallic "stitching" around the heard to compliment the swirl in the decorative paper. The punched border is from SU!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!  Have a great day!

Blessings,
Shari B

CAS Inspiration from Pinterest

Hello.  Has anyone else become addicted to Pinterest?  I've spent hours pinning cards to my boards, and decided it was time to TAKE ACTION, and call on some of that inspiration I've been gathering to fill up my box for Operation Write Home!  My goal....to find some clean and simple designs to replicate in mass. The cards below were made with pretty papers from the "Everyday Enchantment" DP set and matching brads and ribbon from Stampin' Up!  First, a true clean and simple.  A Pool Party base, with a textured cream cardstock layer, and punched squares (using a Martha Stewart punch). Added one brad for a bit of pizzaz, and a Hero Arts sentiment.  Loved the results....decided to make some more.




Second card....I was out of textured cream cardstock and Very Vanilla smooth looked TOO simple. Decided to add a striped texture with my SU! embossing folder and the Cuttlebug.  Needed something else...add a zig zag stitching (haven't done that in a while). What to do about the sentiment?  Add a banner with inked edges...popped.  Accent piece....a bit of ribbon would be pretty.  Not especially CAS.




Card three...tricked out.  So much for Clean and Simple. For this one I did a bit more inking, stitched the sentiment banner into the zig zag stitch and popped two of the four squares.



So now I've got multiples punched and cut to replicate design number two....but we'll see what happens when I actually start putting them together!  (Did I mention that I really have trouble sticking with one design?)

Hope your day is INSPIRED!  Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Shari B

OWH Sketch Challenge #126

Hello, crafters! Today I wanted to share a happy little card that was inpired by the lastest sketch challenge at Operation Write Home. I started with this cute monkey stamp from Hero Arts that jumped in my shopping cart a couple of weeks ago!  He's swinging from a banner, which was a $1 find at Michael's. I also colored  some extra flags and popped them for dimension. Papers are from PTI and SU, and sentiment is from Scrappy Moms.

This card was more fun than a barrel of monkeys, but I seem to be technology challenged tonight, and keep deleting parts of my post, so I'm going to quickly get this posted without further ado!




Thanks for stopping by to take a look!  Have a great week!

Blessings,
Shari B

OWH Sketch #125

This week's sketch challenge at OWH Stars and Stamps blog reminded me of a "LOVE" stamp from Stampin' Up that I hadn't inked up in years! I heat embossed the letter blocks in gold, and mounted them on some pretty white embossed paper I picked up on a DP shopping frenzy at Michael's a few weeks ago. I added some white ribbon and layered everything on a white card base.




I decided this would make a pretty wedding or anniversary card, so it's being filed away until the perfect occasion arises!



Then, it was on to some cardmaking for my OWH box! I cut some sentiments at 3/4" in black using the Cricut Stamping Solutions cartridge, grabbed some gingham ribbon, and layered silk flower embellishments from Creative Memories.  Quick and fun!









And now, for the card I REALLY wanted to make today!  I've been wanting to use this cute stamp from Penny Black for QUITE some time....and thought she'd look pretty cute on this floral embossed paper! I dug around for some black gingham print paper for a background, and the "XOXO" seemed perfect...like it was meant to be!

Copics Y11, Y15, E11, E31, YG03, YG13, RV02, R35, R37

WOW! Lots of card making today!  Thanks for stopping by to take a look!  Have a great week!

Blessings,
Shari B

To Gnome You is to Love You

This card was SO MUCH FUN to make!  It was inspired by a tutorial on patchwork squares on the Operation Write Home blog. Throughout the last week I've been punching scraps, aligning, and re-aligning until tonight when I decided the idea had simmered long enough and it was time to put paper to sewing machine!


The cute little gnome is from SU! Gnome Sweet Gnome set which I colored with copic markers, and the sentiment is from the Gnomenclature set. The little flower is from the SU! Furry Folk set.  I added some New Leaf ribbon from PTI.

I'm linking this up to the OWH tutorial, and as a last minute entry to the Moxie Fab World Gingham Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!  Hope you have a fun and fabulous week!

Blessings,
Shari B

OWH Sketch Challenge #124

For this week's OWH Sketch Challenge at the Operation Write Home blog, I decided to try out my new Hero Arts bicycle stamp. This was at impulse buy the other day at Michael's.  I forget why I stopped in there - there was SOMETHING I really needed - and ended up buying a couple of stamps I didn't KNOW I needed!  Well, hey, they were half price - and I saved $10.00!



For this card I used a sponge, a scallop shape, and SU Bashful Blue ink to stamp the cloud effect in the background. For the grass, I sponged some SU Pear Pizzaz, and stamped some blades of grass with a stamp from the SU Gnome Sweet Gnome set. I colored the flowers and basket with copics. The background papers and sentiment are also from SU.  I backed everything in black, and added a scrap of gold ribbon and a gold banner with black pearls for a bit of pizzazz.

Now that I've got a card finished for my OWH box, I'll be getting back to a project I started yesterday - wrangling my scraps!  I need to make more space in my craft room for those "must have" impulse buys!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!
Blessings,
Shari B 

OWH Sketch Challenge #123

Have you looked through at all the ideas and inspiration shared on the OWH Memorial Day Bloghop 2012? In addition to commemorating Memorial Day, we honored the mighty CARD SKETCH! Operation Write Home has a great collection of sketches, and a new one is featured every Sunday on their blog!

For this week's OWH Sketch Challenge I tried something new.  Instead of formulating a perfect plan in my head for this sketch (which can be really hard to do some days), I just grabbed scraps off my pile and started trimming to the prescribed sized.. Once I saw it "live" and to scale,  I started grabbing some other things I had laying around the craft room, including the cute kite stamp ($1 find at Michael's) and an assortment of blue paper from PTI.  The mojo was flowing! The cloud was hanging out on the corner of my desk (left over from another project), and I dug around in my cupboard for this nice sentiment (another $1 find). I did some inking, copic coloring and Cuttlebugging, and here are the results!



This was really fun to make....I might need to whip up some more for my OWH box!   Thanks for stopping by to take a look.  Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,
Shari B

Moxie Fab World - Gingham Challenge

Hello, all!  This card is a result of one of those "I wonder if I could....." moments.  In this case, I wondered if I could combine my new Charlie Chaplin stamp from Stampers Best with a scrap of gingham paper that has been lingering in my scrap pile.  I love both gingham and old movies, so I figured why not give it a whirl?



 I stamped Charlie on some kraft cardstock and backed that with white paper to mimic an old photo.  I used a bit of New Leaf and Green Boutique cardstock from Paper Trey Ink, a sentiment from Scrappy Moms, and my gingham scrap punched with my Martha Stewart button punch.  I embossed the black background with a striped Cuttlebug folder from Stampin' Up, (which kind of reminds be of the siding on a building.)  I inked some of the various edges with Tea Dye Distress Ink from Tim Holtz and added some twine to the button. Then I played with the layout for WAY TOO LONG before finally deciding to just go for it and stick everything in place. Hmmm...what do you think?  It MIGHT need a redo....will probably wake up in the middle of the night two weeks from now with an idea....but I'm going to go ahead and link this up to the Gingham Challenge over at Moxie Fab World!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Blessings,
Shari B

OWH Memorial Day Sketch Blog Hop

Hello! Hope you are having an enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend!  I'm excited to be part of the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Sketch Blog Hop! The sketch I selected is #30. You can find a collection of 100+ sketches on the OWH website....and plenty of other inspiration and information on how to donate your handmade cards for our deployed troops to write home on.




I flipped the sketch upside down, grabbed some coordinating papers from the Green Boutique collection by Paper Trey Ink and the Flowers for Mimi stamp by Penny Black.  Cardstock is from Paper Trey Ink in white and New Leaf.  Sentiment from Hero Arts is stamped on a shape cut with a Nestibility die. I colored Mimi with copic markers, added a bit of twine, and...DONE!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look! Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Blessings,
Shari B

OWH Sketch Challenge

I've been playing with today's OWH Sketch #121 and a bunch of pretty Stampin' Up! supplies from the last Sale-a-bration catalog. The designer paper, ribbon and brad is "Everday Enchantment" and for the tone on tone stamping at the top I used the "Fresh Vintage" stamp set in Pear Pizzaz.  Also used SU cardstock in Espresso and ink in Espresso and Pool Party. The sentiment is SU from the Tagtastic hostess set.  I did some inking in Pear Pizzaz, and was careful to line up the strips at the bottom with the existing light brown distressing across the bottom.  The banner was made using Very Vanilla paper and a herringbone Cuttlebug folder.  This was lots of fun to make and I can't wait to make more cards using these supplies from SU!

UPDATE - here's a second card I made using this "recipe".  : )
Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!
Shari B

Moxie Fab World Postal Challenge

I decided some card making would be a great Mother's Day pastime! These fun papers and elements were from the Awesome 6X6 paper pad from Simple Stories. The layout is based on today's OWH Sketch Challenge #121 at the Stars and Stamps blog and the inspiration for my theme was the Moxie Fab World Postal Challenge


I hope you're enjoying your day!  Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

Shari B

Block Party!

I borrowed a friend's Block Party cartridge last weekend and have been having a blast putting together cards with the cuts I made along with some fun sentiments from Scrappy Moms!












I'm linking these cards up to the OWH Make 'em Laugh blog hop. The hop features funny cards to be sent to our deployed troops so they can write home to friends and family.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. Hope you have a fantastic week!

Blessings,
Shari B

You're TREE-mendous!

Today was my birthday and what better way to spend the day than making cards!



I made nine of these for Operation Write Home with the help of my friend Ute and sister Kathy.This card was made using a tree cut at 3" from the Give a Hoot cartridge. The sentiment is from Scrappy Moms and we used a couple of Cuttlebug folders for texture. This one's a little "punny" so I'm linking it up to the OWH Make Em Laugh Bloghog.



We also made a couple of "thanks dad" cards using paper from Recollections, a stamp from Stampin' Up, and Early Espresso for layering and inking. This one was fun and went together fairly quick once we figured out how to line up the plaid!

All in all, a productive crafternoon!

Blessings,
Shari B

OWH Sketch Challenge #116

Hello! Hope you had a great Easter! When I got home from visiting the kids, my neighbor called to say they had received some of my mail yesterday. One of those items was this stamp from Penny Black! I then ran to my computer to check the sketch at OWH Stars and Stamps Blog. Yahoo! It was a good fit so I rummaged around in my cute paper, grabbed my copic markers and walaa...a sweet card for my box of mostly-manly cards for OWH.

Now...back to some card making! Thanks for stopping by and have a GREAT week!
Shari B

Well done!

This is my first post from my new iPad...we'll see how this goes!



Last night I was playing with the Block Party cartridge and I made this fun Father's Day card. My own dad passed away several years ago, so I'm having lots of fun making some special "dad" cards for Operation Write Home.

Short and sweet post tonight! Have a great weekend and Happy Easter everyone!

Shari B

You always POP-UP when I need you!

I was inspired by this week's Mojo Monday sketch to make a card featuring one of my favorite little critters from the Give a Hoot Cricut cartridge. I tipped the sketch on it's side and used a bunch of fun supplies: designer paper from "The Great Outdoors" pad by GCD Studios, card stock and ribbon from Paper Trey Ink, a sentiment from Scrappy Moms "A Pinch and a Dash" set, a border punch from Martha Stewart, along with a daisy punch and some random supplies from my stash.  I inked edges with gray ink for a distressed look.

I'm also linking this up to the ODBD Challenge at OWH Stars and Stamps, which is looking for animal cards throughout the month of April.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. I hope the things popping up in your life are ALL GOOD!
Shari B

ODBD Challenge: Animals!

The theme of the ODBD Challenge on the OWH Stars and Stamps blog for the month of April is to make cards with animals.  I LOVE critter cards, don't you? If we have 50 cards linked to this challenge, Our Daily Bread Designs will pay the shipping on two boxes of cards to our deployed troops.  PLUS - they have a drawing and two lucky winners will receive $25 gift certificates to their online store.  I hope you will play along!

Here is a card I made using my new "Meow" Cricut cartridge.

I fashioned the cute kitty after my grand-cat Stanley using my copic markers. Designer paper is from Paper Trey Ink, card stock is from Stampin' Up and I picked up the ribbon at Michael's.  The sentiment is from a Penny Black set.  This was a fun card to make, and I can't wait to make some more cards with this cartridge! So many critters....so little time!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look!  Have a meow-velous day!
Shari B

OWH Sketch Challenge #115

Today's sketch at OWH Stars and Stamps is a real "keeper".  I looked over my stamps and decided it had been way too long since this sassy little penguin from Stampin' UP! had seen an ink pad.  I knew I wanted to go bright and colorful, and found this citrus-y paper in a DCWV card set, which is called, coincidentally, "Citrus".  I used a Scrappy Mom's sentiment that would work for lots of different occasions, and those crazy circles from Cuttlebug reminded me of the bubbles on the surface of the lake.  (You know, like "blub, blub" something is swimming down below.)  Can you tell this card is making me happy?  : )

Time to clean up my stamping mess and get to some chores and a run to Walmart!   Hopefully I can be strong and steer clear of the craft aisle today!

Have a blessed day!
Shari B

Muscle Card Challenge

Hello, crafty ones.  It's time to get out the manly paper and stamps and start working on some Father's Day cards! There's a new challenge at Operation Write Home for the month of April - the "Muscle Card Challenge".  To be entered in the challenge, send a package of half Father's Day cards and half general cards to OWH in April.

Here's a card I made for OWH today when I was playing in my craft room:

The dog is a Penny Black stamp I colored with my copic markers.  The paper is from the DCWV Latte Matstack and ribbon is Papertrey Ink.  I wasn't sure if I should line things up or not, but it was one of those situations where as  I was trying to decide the adhesive really STUCK and there was no turning back!

Hope you're having a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by to take a look!
Shari B