L'il Hoots Elephants

Here is another card from the group of Copic colored cards I assembled.  The elephants are adorable! This is from the Hero Arts stamp set L'il Hoots, which is one of the Operation Write Home sets.

The Copics colors I used are:

The plain cardstock is Stampin' Up More Mustard. The sentiment is from the same stamp set, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.

Adorable elephants!!

Snoopy & Steve

Whimsy Stamps and Sandy Allnock (Executive Director of Operation Write Home and crafter extraordinaire) provided another cute kids stamp - Snoopy & Steve.

What's cuter than a kid and a dog??  The sentiment is from the same set. It was colored with the following Copic Markers:

I think this image is adorable!! The plain cardstock is Stampin' Up (Crushed Curry and Midnight Muse). The patterned paper is from the DCWV 6x6 The Basics Stack.

I hope this helps someone share their heart.

L'il Bunny

I got to spend 12 hours this weekend crafting with friends - sweet!!  One of the things I worked on was assembling cards with the images that I have colored and collected.  One of my favorites is Little Miss Muffet Stamps  L'il Bunny.

I colored her with the following copics:

The cardstock is Stampin' Up (Bermuda Bay, So Saffron and Strawberry Slush.)

I just adore this little girl - she makes me smile! She will be in the next box of OWH cards. Hopes she makes someone else smile!

Kids Copics Cards

I have been on the lookout for stamp images that work well for kids cards for OWH.  Hero Arts had some sets that are perfect and that are a fund raiser for Operation Write Home as well!

The stamp set, L'il Hoot (Hero Arts), now also has matching dies so no more fussy cutting (I don't do it that well)!!

I colored them with copics, opting for a not-so-realistic owls. The stamp set also has some great sentiments to go along with the images.  Now, off to put them on some cards!

Kid's Cards

I have tried to be more aware of images that can be used for kids cards.  Sandy Allnock to the rescue with her great images from Whimsey Stamps.  I played with my Copics to color the images.

This little girl is from the set Alvin & Julie. She is colored with:

I used the Colorless Blender 0 to put the 'dots' on her shirt.

I also picked this image from the set Snoopy & Steve.

Steve's colors are:

Now I have to get them on cards and send them off!!

Watercolor for Card Makers Class

The last few weeks I really enjoyed the Watercolor for Card Makers Class at Online Card Classes. I then went to an all day crop and spent the day making backgrounds to use on cards for OWH.

This one I did on water color paper (Canson - 90 lb) and Derwent Inktense Pencils. The diecut is Memory Box Chloe Stem and the sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Set Happy Every Day. 

I mounted the water colored background on Tangerine Tango (Stampin' Up).

This is a technique that is still very new to me, so I am enjoying all the playing and learning!!

6 x 6 Paper Pad Tutorial

A while back, I ran across the 6 x 6 paper pad tutorial on OWH (http://operationwritehome.org/tutorial-6x6-template/) for using an entire pad for cards.  The idea hung around the back of my mind for use in the future.  A couple weeks ago, I found this wonderful paper pack by Bo Bunny, Autumn Song Collection.  

I decided to put it to the challenge to make Fall/Thanksgiving cards for OWH.  

I had to go to the original post at http://kathrynscards.blogspot.com/2013/05/6x6-cutting-formula.html to really get the big picture.  Then I started cutting (above) and trying to keep all the pieces straight!  It was quite the challenge at times.  I finally had to make piles of each sheet cut, and then was finally able to pick up the pieces in the ordered needed.

I have only used about half the pack and have 20 cards!!  [I have some pieces left over and am not sure what I missed :)]

Thanks so much to those who come up with these wonderful ideas and share with the rest of us!

In addition to the Bo Bunny Autumn Song Collection, I used Stampin' Up cardstock in Wild Wasabi, Always Artichoke, Garden Green, Cajun Craze, More Mustard and Pumpkin Pie.  Stamps used were Stampin' Up Day of Gratitude, Papertrey Ink Signature Greetings II, There She Goes Sentimental, Hero Arts Find Joy and Year Round Sentiments.  Dies are also Papertrey Ink Counting Your Blessings. Inks are Stampin' Up in Always Artichoke and Cajun Craze.

Memorial Day

I finally got a chance to play today and decided to make Any Hero Cards for OWH.  It seemed appropriate for the day.  I have lots of red, white and blue scraps, pre-cut pieces, and quite a few pre-stamped sentiments that I wanted to put to use.

To all who have served, Thank You.  It can never be said enough.  Let us continue to honor those whose sacrifice allows us to live as we do.

Reorganized Craft Room

It has been a crazy couple of months with travel and other stuff!  I finally decided that I was frustrated enough with how my craft room wasn't working that it was time to do something about it.  Along the way, I have gotten some of the Recollections cubes from Michaels. I had some old small bookcases that I just stacked stuff on and was constantly digging through piles.

I also had lots of little organizing containers that were taking over my workspace and it was out of control!  I went back to Michaels and got more cubes and replaced the bookshelves.  I had lots of help yesterday putting together all the pieces parts and finished putting everything away this morning.

I'm hoping this new way to organize will allow me to work more efficiently and not make such a huge mess as I work.  Fingers crossed!!

I took over my son's room a few years ago.  This is where I have my stamping stuff.  I have all my ink pads, both on top and in a drawer, embellishments, ribbons, idea books, etc., etc.

This is an upcycled DC/DVD holder that houses my stamps and punches.  I spent quite a bit of time unmounting all my wood stamps and putting them into CD/DVD cases.  I was able to reduce the space of the wood mounts substantially!  On the bottom right is a box of cards nearly ready to go off to Operation Write Home!  Most all of the cards that I make go to this fabulous organization that sends handmade cards to deployed heros so that they can send them home to family and friends!

This is my work area.  I used 2 pieces of MDF and painted them white.  They are supported on each end (both sides) with a 2-drawer file cabinet and Closet Maid wire drawers on the other end.  All my 8.5 x 11 cardstock is in the file cabinets and often used items in the wire drawers.  At the end I hung a covered bulletin board to put cards for display.  The right side is where I do my stamping and the left side is for scrapbooking.

The other side of the room houses my scrapbook stuff and online class books.  On the top is my Cricut and on the Clip-It I have my Cricut cartridges hung in plastic envelopes.  It is pretty full - gonna have to sort through and take out the ones I don't use much to make room. Hanging on the wall to the right are magnetic trays and canisters that hold lots more embellishments.  One of these days I might use them all - ha!

The top row of notebooks are all the PDF's from the Online Card Classes that I have taken.  The bottom is all the 12 x 12 cardstock.

The 2 drawers at the top of the right section holds all my embossing folders and dies.  The bottom row holds my ongoing scrapbooks so that I can add pages as they are finished. A few years ago I started using "The Big Picture" approach to  scrapping as presented by Stacy Julian in her book "photo freedom".  I have found it very liberating. When I was scrapping chronologically, I always felt behind and didn't think I would ever catch up.  This approach has allowed me to scrap what I want when I want and it works!

The other corner houses my computer/printer/scanner and my light box for photos.  I also use the closet with old, tall bookcases and existing shelves for lots of storage of other stuff.

Hope you have enjoyed the tour!  I am really excited to see how well it works for me!

Sheila

Operation Write Home Blog Skip

Welcome to the next stop on the OWH blog skip!  I am so excited to be participating with so many talented card makers!  You have arrived here from Sue's blog. If this is your first stop and you would like to start at the beginning, head to the Stars and Stamps blog.

The CAS class that I was most drawn to was the Tone on Tone class with the layered die cuts.  I used my Cricut with the Paper Lace cartridge to cut the large, intricate details, making the 6 under layers white and the top layer colored.  The circles were made with punches.

Then I decided to try it another way. This time I used tone on tone plain and patterned paper.  I used the Stampin' Up Beautiful Wings Embosslits.  I used the colored paper (checkerboard) for each layer of the butterflies (instead of the white as above).

I used the same patterned paper for the side strip as for the butterflies.  I chose a second pattern for the sentiment (on dimensionals), which is from the OWH/Hero Arts Year Round Sentiments.

Even though this technique is a bit time intensive, I love the look and results!  I hope you take the time to play around with it. 

Jennifer is giving away 3 spots in the class for prizes - 2 to commenters on blogs, and 1 to someone who links up a new mojo CAS card on S&S!!  Make sure you leave lots of love (and comments) on all the blogs for your chance to win! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and participating in the blog skip.  Now you are off to Lisa's blog for the next stop!

Sheila

Clean and Simple Card Class - Day Five

Day Five was a bit challenging as I did not have some of the same materials used in the example.  I used regular cardstock instead of watercolor paper and a mixture of alcohol/Stampin' Up All Purpose Ink instead of the Inkessentials Mister.

The first card, I did not use the spray.

The third try (the second didn't make it past the trash can)  I did use the mister. The effect is hard to see in the picture, but there is a nice sheen in the ink.

The stamps are Hero Arts/Operation Write Home Year Round Sentiments. The inks are Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Dusty Concord, Vintage Photo and Faded Jeans.  

Clean and Simple Card Class - Day Three

Here is my version of day three's CAS card.  I used the Paper Lace Cartridge (Cricut) and the sentiment is Hero Arts for Operation Write Home.  Day two's card is currently alluding me.....

Clean and Simple Card Class

This is the card for the first day of class - love CAS cards!!  Looking forward to many more days and lots of new ideas!