OWH Sketch 205

Now that my daughter's wedding is over I have time to craft again!  Here is my version of the weekly sketch at the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog.

DSP is Basic Grey.  Stamp is Stampin'Up using Always Artichoke ink, card stock, and the Window Frames Dies.  It is fun getting back into crafting for my own pleasure versus the wedding.

Here is a picture of my daughter and her husband on their wedding day.  The professional photos won't be here for two weeks.  They make a cute couple!

Join me January 1st for my Top 13 of 2013

http://operationwritehome.org/starsandstamps/

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Top 13 of 2013 Coming January 1st 2014

Join me and other OWH crafters from all over for our Top 13 of 2013.

http://operationwritehome.org/starsandstamps/

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Wishing You All a Merry Christmas

I would like to thank all my readers for their wonderful comments on my blog during this year.  I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  My daughter's wedding is this Friday and after that I will have more time for card making and blogging.  See you all in a week!

Graphic Fairy Image

                                                             MERRY CHRISTMAS!

House of Cards December Blog Hop

Welcome to the House of Cards Term One Blog Hop!  If you've come here from Anita's blog then you are in the right place!  If you have just stumbled here and would like to participate, please hop over to the House of Cards challenge blog to get started!  We've got some fabulous sponsors that are providing prizes, so make sure to leave comments at each stop for a chance to win!

Here is our "Anything Goes" inspiration photo for the challenge.

Here is my card.

I used the Inspired by Stamping December 25th Labels.  I heat embossed first with silver EP for the bottom layer and then Clear EP over White Craft ink to get the chalkboard effect.  I smudged some chalk over the black cardstock for a more realistic chalkboard effect.  SB Labels 22 and Decorative Labels 22 were used to cut the stamp out.  The background DP is Silver Distressed Paint over a Distressed Ink background and then embossed with a CB embossing folder.  Ribbon is two layers Stampin'Up Organza ribbon and Island Indigo ruffled ribbon.

Please join in the fun of our hop and make your way over to my neighbor John's blog!

Here's the list of all the blog hop participants:

House of Cards Challenge Blog

Joanna Munster

Grace Tolman

Leah Cornelius

Irit Shalom

Kendra Sand

Nazeema Bastian

Rebecca Deeprose

Rose Miller

Shea Marshall

Tina Hale

Mynnette

Ruth 

Gale 

Nonni 

Tammy 

Vannessa

Mia

Nancy

Daen'Ys

Sue T.

Tara

Vicki

Alica

Anita

                                *Donna* ==You are here!

John

Shauna

Rudlis

Jules

Macarena

Rocky

Sue B.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Pet Sympathy

A friend of our just lost their 17 year old dog.  I came up with this card to show our sympathy for his loss.  As a dog lover we know how hard it is to let one go.  Our Wiemeraner "Ghost" pictured over on the right side of my blog page is just one of the nine Wiermeraners we have rescued over the last 30 years.

 The background stamp is from Great Impressions (it must be retired but they have other paw print stamps.)  I cut the large paw with a SU heart framelit and the small oval punch.

Happy Crafting!
Donna

House of Cards Classic & Elegant Challenge for November

We are in our fifth month here at House of Cards!  We love seeing you push your limits and trying out new card making styles!  We hope you're loving it as much as we are!

It's the third week of the month, so we need you to create something in the Classic & Elegant style. Classic & Elegant style can be defined as:   "Think a greeting card from Hallmark.  These are not really cards that fit into any other category.  They usually feature floral or other classic elements.  Less embellishments than Shabby & Vintage or Fun & Cute, but more than CAS."

This is our photo/color inspiration for the month.  

And here is my card!

I used Gelatos to stamp the image.  

Stamps, ribbon and cardstock are from Club Scrap Bold Blooms Club Stamp kit August 2012.

So be inspired by the photo, the colors, or both!  If you go with the colors, please choose at least 3.  Let your imagination take flight!  Some of us are in autumn, some in spring, so we tried to find a combo that would work for both seasons.  And perhaps even holiday cards?!

So hop on over to the House of Cards and play along with us!

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Preparing for the Big Day

If it seems like I have been absent from my blog a lot it is because I am preparing for my daughter's wedding in December.  One of the things she asked me to do was to make her wedding bouquet.  While we were shopping for her wedding dress we saw a beautiful bouquet on display in the store with antique jewelry pins and paper flowers.  She looked at it and said "Mom, you could do this!"  (She has great faith in my crafting skills)  So for months I have been making paper flowers and throwing them away because I didn't like them but I finally finished and I am happy with the results.  My Aunt is an antique dealer and she helped me find some pretty costume jewelry earrings to use.  We also raided various family members jewelry boxes for pretty pins.  Along with some silk flowers and some lace flowers I made, here is the final result.

The cream colored crochet tulips were made by my grandmother many years ago.  I thought it was a great idea to add some of her handmade items in remembrance of her.  Here are a few more close-up so you can see the jewel details.

With less than two months to go to the wedding day I feel a little more relaxed since I got this major project accomplished!

Happy Crafting!

Donna

House of Cards Classic & Elegant October Challenge

This month the challenge at the House of Cards is a Sketch Challenge.  Week three of the month is devoted to Classic & Elegant cards.  Week one of every month is Cute & Fun, week two is Clean & Simple, week three is Classic & Elegant and week four is Shabby & Vintage.  Here is the sketch we are using.

I found the "X" in the back to be a little challenging but here is what I came up with.

The card is all Graphic 45 French Country papers.  Come join House of Cards challenge this week and make a Classic & Elegant card.  The definition of Classic & Elegant is :  "Think a greeting card from Hallmark.  These are not really cards that fit into any other category.  They usually feature floral or other classic elements.  Less embellishments than Shabby & Vintage or Fun & Cute, but more than CAS."

Looking forward to seeing your cards.

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Birthday Cards

This is a heavy month for birthdays in my family.  Here are two I created.  I have two more to go to finish up for the family birthday party on Sunday.

This one is for my SIL Fay.  I used the Apron Strings Designs September All Year Cheer Card Kit.  

This card and box for it is for my MIL Flo.  At the Scrapbook Expo Crop in Denver I won an Envelope Punch Board.  I found the directions for making a box with the punch board here on You Tube.  I made a belly band to close the card up into the box.  

These papers and embellishments were also part of the September Apron Strings Designs All Year Cheer Card Kit with the exception of the flower which is from Prima.  If any of my dear readers are interested here is a picture of me and my lovely daughter at her Wedding Shower Tea.  We held it in the historic Fitzroy Mansion in Denver.  It was a lot of fun.  

Happy Crafting!

Have a great day!

Donna

Creative Chemistry Day 5

Well it will be a busy weekend for me with my daughter's Wedding Shower so these are the last tags I was able to get done before the prize deadline.  I will continue to work on the other tags but not until Monday now.  Day 5 was all about Embossing Effects.  I was able to finish two tags with different embossing effects and the faux cracked glass from Day three is finally finished.

This is rusting with distressed embossing powder.  It releases crystals after it has been heated so it has a mottled effect.  I really like this rusty look.

This technique is done with Frosted Crystal embossing powder.

This is the faux cracked glass from day 3.  I got a little carried away and decided to make a window with my piece of acetate.  I'll be back Monday with the rest of my tags.

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Creative Chemistry 102 Day 4

Day 4 was all about alcohol inks.  I think I am still a little woozy from sniffing them (LOL)!

The tag on the left shows a faux patina on metal.  The tag on the right is a monoprint.  The silver metallic has a tendency to fade out the dragon stamping because of the way the light hits it.

The tag on the left is tinted tinsel.  Very messy to work with as it sheds everywhere.  Probably will not use this stuff again.  The tag on the right is faded layers.  I used a star stencil and a striped stencil to get the fades for a patriotic tag.   Still waiting for the faux cracked glass to dry to finish that tag.  I also have to make a trip to the store tomorrow to buy some light alcohol inks or I can't do the ombre effect tag.

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Chreative chemistry 102 day 3

Day 3 was all about distressing differently.  I am behind right now but I got 5 of the 6 tags done.  Still waiting for the faux cracked glass to dry.

It was all about the glitter on these two tags.  The tag on the left uses the Rock Candy Glitter.  The tag on the right uses distress glitter.  Despite what Tim says, the stuff is still messy to work with.

The first tag on the left is smudge stamping.  The middle tag is Brayered stains.  The last tag is the photo tinting technique.  Isn't that little girl and her bear cute?  Back to try to get two more days of tags done so I can be eligible for the prizes!

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Creative Chemistry 102 Day 2

I'm back with more technique tags from my Creative Chemistry 102 class on the Online Card Class site.  Today was all about stencils.  I really learned a lot of different ways to use stencils.

Industrial tag from yesterday's class

Mixed-media layering

Embossing with Stencils on KraftCore and on a Tag

Embossing thru stencils

Stamping thru stencils

Stencil sketching

Ink Monoprinting

Paint Monoprinting

That's it for tonight.  Back with Day 3 tomorrow.

Happy Crafting!
Donna

Creative Chemistry 102 Day 1

Online Card Classes has another Creative Chemistry Course by Tim Holtz.  Learning lots of great new techniques many of them with the new distressed paints.  I was able to make 5 out of the six tags today.  I need some black soot distressed paint to finish tag 6.  Will post that tomorrow after I go to the store.  Here are the first five tags.

Distressed Paint Marbling

Colored Crackle

Altered Surface-- and a nod to our 30 years of marriage

Eroded Metallic - my favorite.  Very shiny!

Stamping Resist



That's all for tonight!  I'll be back tomorrow with more techniques.
Happy Crafting!
Donna

World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop

http://operationwritehome.org/starsandstamps

Welcome to the Operation Write Home World Card-making Day Blog Hop!  

We were asked to make a Thank You card using one of the OWH Sketches. 

I used OWH Sketch #69.

I like to call this card Polka-Dot Thanks.

All products are Stampin'Up!

Have a great World Card-making Day and go enjoy the rest of the Blog Hop!

Click Here to go back to the Hop

http://operationwritehome.org/starsandstamps

Happy Crafting!

Donna

World Cardmaking Day Sneek Peek

October 5th is World Cardmaking day and I will be participating in a bloghop for Operation Write Home (a program that sends blank handmade cards to our troops for them to write home on).  Here is a sneek peek of my card.

Come back tomorrow to see my entire card and join many wonderful cardmakers in our bloghop!

Happy Crafting!

Donna

House of Cards 5th Week Photo Inspiration

The challenge this week at House of Cards is a photo inspiration.  When there is a 5th Monday in any month, we have a photo inspiration and any style of card goes!  Here is the photo, won't you come and join us this week.  Just pick something that inspires you from the photo and make a card.  I picked the stripes and the pretty autumn leaves.  Easy, peasy!

My card:

The striped paper is Picadilly mounted on craft cardstock.  The sentiment stamp and border stamp are Inspired By Stamping.  The leaves are cut from some embossed cardstock in my stash.  Ink is Cajun Craze from Stampin'Up!  Looking forward to seeing your creations for this challenge.

I design Classic & Elegant cards for the Design team.  The definition of Classic & Elegant is :  "Think a greeting card from Hallmark.  These are not really cards that fit into any other category.  They usually feature floral or other classic elements.  Less embellishments than Shabby & Vintage or Fun & Cute, but more than CAS."

Would love to see you join us over at House of Cards this week.

Happy Crafting!

Donna

Birthday Card for Hubby

When I saw this cute Headband Bunny over at Hambo Stamps I knew this would make a perfect card for my now "gray" hubby on his 60th birthday!

When I found the gray swirly DP in my digital files I knew they would make a perfect background for the Headband Bunny.  I had to cut him out digitally to mount him on the background using my Storybook Creator 4.0 software.  I used my Spellbinders Matting Basics A & B to cut him out and mount him on the DP and also for the flag.  I used my new Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder on the platinum shimmer cardstock and topped the flag with a black and silver Candi.

An update on Storybook Creator tells us that the Panstoria Company (original creators of SBC software) will take over product support for Storybook Creator and Memory Manager from Creative Memories.  This gave me a big sigh of relief because I love Storybook Creator and Memory Manager software.

Happy Crafting!
Donna