Trash To Treasure!

When I was working on the tags. I had trouble finding the right size of the memory capsules. I originally bought the size below but then found out that the corner piece wouldn't fit on top to make it look like a birdhouse. Rather than toss it I played around with some ideas with what to do with it. Some of them were to create an ornament out of it or to make it into a necklace (which is what obviously ended up happening). The opposite side I cut a Santa face off the cover of the paper pack that I was using for the backs of my tags. It was the perfect size for my 2 sided necklace. Trash to Treasure!!!I never did find the 1" X 1"capsule that they had pictured on Tim's tag but I made do with a 1" X 3" one and just made it a bird house high rise. I like how everything turned out in the end!

Snowman Quilt

I thought I would show you another quilt that I made. This is one of my favorite winter quilts because it is made entirely of flannel fabrics. It is soooo warm. The trees are really cute because they are multiple strips of fabric that is layered and then cut so when you wash the quilt it turns fringy and fluffy. Most nights you can find me snuggled under this quilt, usually with a mug of tea or hot cocoa. Mmmm!

The Christmas Spirit

Well this weekend Indy helped us decorate for Christmas.
This is by far my favorite time of year... I love the music, the hot cocoa, getting together with friends and family. I don't get caught up in the shopping madness, the stress and drama that so many seem let ruin their Holiday season. We all know there will be long lines, so shop online, go early and if you do get stuck in line. Smile and maybe let someone (maybe the elderly or someone with a crabby kid) in line in front of you. Just think maybe they will do the same. If we are all nicer to each other it makes the world a sweeter place to be. Remember it is not the checker fault that something has the wrong price or that their is a long line. Be nice. Maybe print out a couple extra coupons from my site and give them to people standing in line.

It may make their day. :)

Reindeer Card & 600 OWH cards being mailed

I decided to make another 20 cards so I had an even 600 cards to send to our troops. This last design was made with the Cricut When It's Cold Outside cartridge. I also used the pine needles stamp from the Tim Holtz Letter To Santa cling stamp set I stamped it with distress ink in Pine Needles. The background stamp is Faded Text from Stampabilities stamped in distress ink Walnut Stain. The Merry Christmas tag I created by computer printing it onto kraft paper and then after cutting it out, I cut a corner off using a hole punch to create the "tag" look.

Tomorrow I'm mailing out 600 Holiday cards!!! I have been hard at work making cards for our heroes but I've not been alone in this. Since my OWH holiday card challenge I've heard from quite a few wonderful women who have been inspired by the challenge to start making cards for our Heroes. They enjoyed making the Holiday cards so much that they want to continue to making them. I've gotten the wonderful opportunity to meet a few of those that have participated in the challenge and look forward to meeting others. I would like to put together a OWH card making get together for all those that live close. I think that would be so much fun. As soon as these hit the post office I'm going to start on Valentines, Birthday and Everyday cards. I picked up a bunch of paper last week when it was on sale and so my mind is full of ideas already.

This is a picture I received from Priss, she has a scrapbooking club at Sun City in Nevada. She got together a group of friends and together created 200 cards for the OWH Holiday card challenge. I am so proud of everyone that participated in the challenge and even made cards after the challenge was over.

To learn more about Operation Write Home check out http://operationwritehome.org/

2 More Christmas Cards!!!

Just a couple more Holiday cards designs. Keeping these simple. I had some of these little embellishments in my stash that I wanted to use up so I made a bunch of these cards with them.

Merry Christmas Card

I made some more cards for our Heroes with the paper that Brandi sent to me. I just loved this paper so much, it is so colorful and fun. I didn't want to embellish too much and draw away from the great words and circles already there. I used some of the scraps (I'm determined to use every bit of the paper she sent me :)) for the bottom strip and stamped the Merry Christmas sentiment in the corner. Then I put a strip of the fringy ribbon across the seam. I love the texture of the ribbon and since the card already had some faux stitching it when very well with it.

Another Christmas Card

Here are a few more Christmas cards that I made.

Operation Write Home Holiday Card Challenge

Welcome to my first challenge. I came up the idea to do an Operation Write Home Christmas/Holiday card challenge. What better way to use our time and talent than to support our fine heroes.

Marlo at Contain Ya Crafts has been very generous to donate a brand new PINK suede tote to the random winner of this challenge!!!

The challenge will run between Monday, October 11th - Sunday, October 17th

The rules are simple...

1. Make a card, A2 size, (5.5" X 4.25" folded in half), that is of a Christmas/Holiday theme. You can make more than one, make and send as many as you want. But only one entry per person.

2. NO GLITTER!!! That is the only decoration rule. You can use anything but glitter. It is hazardous to the soldiers as it can flake off and if they have glitter on their uniforms it can put them at risk - it can make them visible to night vision goggles, and that is just not a risk we're willing to take! Stickles and glitter pens are okay.

3. No Handwritten Sentiments. If you don't have a sentiment stamp to so with your card, feel free to let it be a card with no sentiment. Do not hand write sentiments outside or inside the cards. They've gotten some emails from heroes' spouses indicating a momentary panic when a card from their husband had a woman's handwriting on it- and we want to avoid even a second of angst for these dear spouses.

4. Please leave the inside of the card blank for the soldiers to write their own message to their loved ones.

5. The back of the card needs to be stamped with the Operation Write Home stamp. I would be happy to stamp them and mail them to the shipper. You can sign the back and add your blog or any info you want be fore sending them to me. Or if you wish you can send them directly to the shipper of your choice you can find them at http://operationwritehome.org/mailroom
6. Remember all cards need to be received by me (P.O.Box 8399, Bartlett, IL 60103)by Oct 26th or the OWH shipper by October 30th.

Have Fun!!!

Here are some of the cards I made to send the soldiers this year...

I Got Mail

So yesterday I got a package in the mail. It was this big box from Brandi Dickerson. She had heard about my making cards for Operation Write Home. She had some extra scrap paper at home she wasn't using and wanted to know if I could use it for the cards. Of course I could!!! Well when I got the box I couldn't wait to get home and rip it open and see what was inside. But I wanted to share it with her so I video taped my opening it. She was so glad I did she posted a message on the Hive about it. You can read it here or HERE.

Don't forget that next week is the Operation Write Home Christmas/Holiday card challenge! I'm so excited!!! My first challenge, lets make it a good one! The owner of Contain Ya Crafts posted it on the Hive and it got a feature spot. You can read about it HERE . Below the video I will post the rules for the challenge so that if you want to get started making cards you will know what is allowed and what isn't. OWH rules not mine. You are welcome to make as many cards as you want but only one entry per person. The challenge officially starts on Monday, Oct. 11 and will end Sunday, Oct 18. That is when you can post the photos on this site to be entered to win a new PINK suede Scrap N' Tote generously donated by Contain Ya Crafts

1. Make a card, A2 size, (5.5"x 4.25" folded in half), that is of a Christmas/Holiday theme. You can make more than one, make and send as many as you want. But only one entry per person please.
2. NO GLITTER!!! That is the only decoration rule. You can use anything but glitter. It is hazardous to the soldiers as it can flake off and if they have glitter on their uniforms it can put them at risk — it can make them visible to night vision goggles, and that is just not a risk we're willing to take! Stickles and glitter pens are okay.
3. No Handwritten Sentiments. If you don't have a sentiment stamp to go with your card, feel free to let it be a card with no sentiment. Do not hand write sentiments outside or inside the cards. They've gotten some emails from heroes' spouses indicating a momentary panic when a card from their husband had a woman's handwriting on it - and we want to avoid even a second of angst for these dear spouses!
4. Please leave the inside of the card blank for the soldiers to write their own message to their loved ones.
5. The back of the card needs to be stamped with the Operation Write Home stamp. I would be happy to stamp them and mail the cards to the shipper. You can sign the back and add your blog or any info want before sending them to me. Or if you wish you can send them directly to the shipper of your choice you can find them at http://operationwritehome.org/mailroom
6. Remember all cards need to be received by me (P.O.Box 8399, Bartlett, IL 60103) by October 26th or the OWH shipper by October 30th.

Dimensional Christmas Card

This Christmas card you just want to touch. It is created using only Bisous stamps. I used the leaf from Thanks Grace cling stamp BZ001 and ornaments from Royal Noel cling stamp set BZ003 . I first stamped the ornaments on the white card stock with Versamark and embossed it with Holographic embossing powder, I also stamped a second set on another piece of white card stock . I inked each with a different color ink. I then stamped the leaf pattern in green ink. I then did all my background inking to create a beautiful glowing effect around my ornaments. Using two shades of green Soft Flower and two shades of green glitter I created my own combination of glittery pine. I added it by using Tacky glue following the green leaf as a template. I went over the stems with a brown marker for the branches. Once I had my desired effect I mounted my ornaments with foam tape and added my little ornament hangers created with curled gold wire. I mounted the entire card front on glittery brown card stock. Such a statement!

Noel Christmas Card

Noel Christmas card created using Bisous Royal Noel cling stamp BZ003 and Noel Ornament wood stamp M4-245 from Art Gone Wild

Never Find Christmas Card

This cute Christmas Card is using Bisous Noel Tree wood mount stamp M2-240, Royal Noel cling stamp set BZ003 and Never Find wood mount stamp J1-180. All of the images are embossed in either gold or green. I used the Core'dinations Pearl paper for the background , wings and the snow. The wings were given added dimension by adding 3D glue dots close to the tree and then small glue dots at the tips, this will provide stability for the curve in the wings. I did something similar for the curl in the sentiment.

Christmas Cards & Tag

I was at Archiver's yesterday and made these 4 new Christmas cards and tag. I can't decide which is my favorite yet. It was a fun class as I was able to use some of the stamps I don't have and love. I learned a few new tips like adding soft flower with a glue pen. You can get a very detailed texture on your cards or layouts.

The reindeer is from the Tim Holtz Reindeer Flight collection CMS052, I used VersaMark to stamp and then Barn Door Distress embossing powder. To detail it I used a glue pen and glitter on his chest. The flower was cut using the TH Sizzix Alterations Tattered Florals Die.

The snowman is from the Retro Holiday CMS067 it was stamped using white paint dabbers. The latch was cut from the TH Alterations Hardware Findings, embossed with a Tim Holtz texture plate. It was then embossed in silver embossing powder and sanded on top.

The Letter To Santa CMS053 was used in this card. The words were placed around Santa and the Flower Soft was used with the glue pen to accent the pine needles in the corner of the card. Glitter was added to Santa's hat and beard using the glue pen also. A paint dabber was used to color the 25.

This tag is using the Holiday Collections stamp collection CMS051. It was quick and easy using a glue pen and some Flower soft in the corner to accent the pine needles. I also used the glue pen and glitter to accent Santa's hat and beard and the snowman in the corner. A little red inking and I was done.

The trees are from the Reindeer Flight set CMS052. I used a glue pen and Flower Soft on the center trees to add detail. I don't know where the Peace, Love, & Joy sentiment comes from. The grunge board swirl is cut from the TH Alterations Elegant Flourishes Die. It was embossed in gold and then sanded to distress.