Halloween Batch of OWH Cards

 I am shipping off another big box of 192 Operation Write Home cards to our fine Soldiers!  I wanted to share them with you before I got them mailed off.  Most of the cards are Halloween but I also made some for Everyday, I love you, Missing you and Thinking of you.  I worked on this project while I was in the car traveling to our camping trips this past summer.  I will have a future video showing just how I can scrap in the front seat of a car (no, we weren't traveling by moder home, LOL). All of the Halloween cards were made from one single paper stack.  I used the Ravenhead Manor paper stack by Recollections, I purchased it on clearance last year after Halloween. Since I was away from my studio and only had the supplies that I brought with me it challenged me to work with what I had.  I enjoy a challenge and challenge you to also do the same sometime.  It is rewarding to find out what you can come up with when you are not able to have all your resources available to you.  Once my brain started really cranking I started thinking of ideas for other things too.  I had to write them down so I wouldn't forget them by the time we got home. 

All packed up and ready to go!

Here's a peek at what's inside, this is just SOME of the cards...

Some of the die cuts words were made at home using the Cricut Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake cartridge.  There are some great seasonal words on there...Boo, Trick or treat, Happy haunting, etc.

As you can see with the cards below the same paper I used it in both landscape and portrait format.  When I cut all my mats I was not sure what my plan was going to be for them at that time so I gave myself some options.

 I also created some everyday, I love you, and I miss you cards to send.  They always need those!

 For these butterflies below I used a layering punch from EK Success.  It has all 3 layered punches in the one single punch. Ingenious!

From Flat to Fab! New Technique to Add Dimension

I created these chic cards for Operation Write Home while I was camping this past weekend at Black Lake in Upper Wisconsin.  I was inspired by this little black and white butterfly that hung out with us the whole weekend in our campsite.  I punched the butterflies with the Martha Stewart punch using the gorgeous DCWV La Creme 4.5" X6.5" paper stack.  I glued down the centers with Glossy Accents and then realized that the card was BORING! as it had NO dimension.  As our campsite friend fluttered around I decided to make the wings on my butterflies stand up...but how?

If I just pushed them up they would flatten back down in the mail. Not an option.  I have seen others use glue dots that they crunch up into a ball to help hold the item in place but I have a few problems with that option: 1) the sticky is still exposed so everything sticks to it, as these cards will be sent overseas to the soldiers they could end up having sand , etc stuck to it before reaching their loved ones.

2) wadded up glue dots look like little bugger snots.  Ewww.  Enough said...

So, I had some brainstorming time and came up with a great idea!  Since Enamel Accents hold their shape after they dry I can put a drop of that under each wing, let dry and it should hold the wing up.  I only had to wait 2 days to give my experiment a try.  Well, it worked!!!  You can also use Dimensional Pearls or any other dimensional paint that you can dispense by the drop.  I created a video tutorial showing you exactly how to do it.  Enjoy!

The wonderful thing is you can barely see the dot so you get a professional looking

 card or project with long lasting dimension!

I added a bit of bling to the centers of each butterfly for a little extra sparkle!

This is a great any occasion card.

I got lots of questions on how the heck I could work on projects in the car???  I work in my lap with the help of my Scrap N Easel.  The magnets keep everything in place and keep stuff from sliding around when my hubby stops to fast or I set anything aside for a break.  I also have pictured some of the other stuff that I used in making this card.