OWH sketch 186

Time for another Operation Write Home sketch! Today was kind of a lazy day. It was actually over 80 today, which it hasn't been in over two weeks, so the kids played outside in the sprinkler while I lazed on the deck with a good book and some diet Coke. Ahhh, the life. :)

I've been trying to use up this My Mind's Eye 'the merry days of Christmas  pad and it's just not my favorite. I went to it for this sketch thinking Christmas but I ended up just making a masculine card. Hmm.  Now I'm thinking harder about using up these papers, if I can use them in a non-holiday way! 

Behold, sketch 186:

MME merry days of Christmas paper
Gina K warm cocoa card stock
Unity Stamp Co sentiment
big eyelets and twine from stash
CTMH desert sand & TH antique linen inks

Also linking up with the Drunken Stampers blog challenge, which is to use twine! (hey, ladies!)

Happy start of the week! Thanks for visiting me today.

Jen

OWH MWT and a BIG announcement! :)

There; hopefully I've lured you in.. and now I shall get on with the card first. :) 

It's Operation Write Home mid-week throwdown time and the challenge this week is masculine cards. Well, I was out of town on Sunday and never got around to sketch 180 when I returned, so here you go - a two-fer:

Paper - MME Stella & Rose
Card stock - PTI smokey shadow
Hero Arts for OWH sentiment
CTMH gray ink

What made this card much more difficult was forgetting to mat that rust-colored piece (I couldn't leave it. It didn't look right). I sliced off a couple of very thin strips of card stock, added a little liquid adhesive, and slapped 'em down (all in a calm, easy manner, mind you) and voila - I bet you couldn't even tell I had to fudge it. :)

And now for the BIG NEWS - I'm on the Lone Wolf Designs Design Team! Kris is the owner of Lone Wolf Designs LLC - here is her facebook link - and she provides crafting supplies at 25% off retail! Seriously, go check it out. I know how I love a good deal! Be on the lookout as I share some projects using the products she carries (Lawn Fawn, anyone?). 

Today was highly productive... I took the kids to the zoo for a free and up-close-and-personal look at "underground creatures", including some very reptilian ones. It will not surprise those of you that know me that I feigned an urgent bathroom need when they brought out the snakes... *shudder*.  Then I engaged my daughter and her friend in some child labor life skills (hulling strawberries with my super-duper cool and you will want one too strawberry huller and then mashing them); made jam, and then made pretzels with the girls once the friend went home. I can't decide if the cinnamon-sugar or plain ones are my favorite... with plenty of kosher salt!

Thanks for visiting me today!

Jen

Drunken Stampers #126 - Braveheart challenge

Time for another movie inspiration challenge at the Drunken Stampers blog and the Bahama Mamas are up with Braveheart (gingham/plaid/tartan) pieces!!

I remember seeing this movie in my teenage years (am I dating myself? LOL). Oh, Mel Gibson..... :) I pulled out some gingham - I'm a big fan of it! - and went for a simple lovey-dovey card.

Cosmo Cricket material girl paper
Gina K ivory and craft card stock
Hero arts for OWH sentiment
CTMH ink

This is a new favorite sketch of mine (from Operation Write Home, it's number 164).  Thanks for coming over to see my creation; be sure to go back to the Drunken Stampers blog so you can see everyone else's inspiration piece and upload your own creation!

Jen

OWH MWT - time

Hello!

This week's Operation Write Home mid-week throwdown challenge is to use "time" as a theme. I have this OWH Hero Arts set and I love it; it's one of my most-often used sets. I did lose one of the sentiment stamps :( but I'm hoping it's floating around in a drawer and I haven't found it just yet!

This is sketch 159 with a slight adaptation. :)

Hero arts for OWH stamp set
Bazzill carob cream; CTMH orange card stock; Gina K Ivory

Thanks for looking!

Jen

Sarah & Jen's February challenge - fun fold kid card

Hello and welcome to our final blogger buddy challenge for February. This one is mine and I challenged us to make a fun fold card for a kid!

I recently discovered the "joy fold" card and I think it's super fun! I made two of these, one for a boy and one for a girl, but I forgot to take a picture of the boy one before I gave it to the intended recipient. Sorry about that; I was in a hurry! :)

Here is the girl card:

My Mind's Eye Lime Twist happy go luck dp
Bazzill strawberry splash card stock
Paper Smooches sentiment
Basic Grey butterfly, random flat pearl from stash
CTMH ink, gold pen

And kind of open:

And here it is flat (still okay for Operation Write Home!):

Thanks for visiting me today! Be sure to hop back to Sarah's blog to see what she made! She's super talented. :)

Jen

OWH MWT - recipe cards

Hello there and happy Wednesday! It has been so busy this past week - my house looks like a tornado whipped through it, LOL, which totally stresses me out - that I haven't had much time to craft!

Today's OWH challenge is a recipe challenge - 

2 patterned papers

1 twine/ribbon

1 die cut

1 embossing folder

I made this one first. While I love the papers, it's overall just kind of 'meh' to me. The ribbon looks a lot more coordinated than in the photo, I promise.  I combined a couple of sentiments but I'm not sure the mix in fonts works either. ARGH! 

My Mind's Eye Blink of an Eye
Sentiments from Ali Edwards/TT
Plaid embossing folder (on top pp piece)
Nesties labels 8

So then I made this one, and I like it a lot more. It's not crooked in real life. Maybe my head is crooked? I swear I have way too many crooked photos lately. :/

Hero Arts for OWH sentiment
My Mind's Eye Away we go paper
PTI smokey shadow card stock
CTMH ink; Twinery twine
Nesties small ovals

The embossing is harder to see in the second photo - I embossed the larger oval with a woven/linen embossing folder. It's subtle. :)

Thanks for looking!

Jen

Unity's FWF 12/7 - snow, snow, snow

So. YOU GUYS. I finished my race on Thanksgiving and that meant I could SHOP!!! So I shopped. I got envelopes. I ordered paper. And yes, I ordered STAMPS! Unity. Gotta love UNITY! The Snowflake kisses set was just calling my name... so I ordered it (no, that's not all, but you have other blogs to visit.) Those snowflakes are SO BIG! And SO unique! I love them. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

 

So, the Operation Write Home tutorial this week was one I've done before, for triple stamping. Snowflakes lend themself well to that so I made a pretty simple card:

 

Unity's Snowflake kisses
CTMH ink

 

Then I wanted to give the current Unity KOM sketch a try but as always, I started using non KOM stamps (DOH!!!) so after a false start, I came up with this:

Unity KOM Nov 2011; Dec 2011
Gina K navy paper, random silver paper (embossed with snowflake folder)
Twinery twine
SU not quite navy ink; Momento bahama blue ink

 

Thanks for visiting me today! I have a birthday party to prepare for on Sunday... my eldest turned 7 this week and lost her first tooth! It's been a big week. :)

 

Jen

OWH sketch 122; an important note

Reason #468 why you should keep your crafting space clean: When it feels impossibly hot and stifling, you open a window to catch the breeze only to realize that all of your papers are now on the floor! 


Thank goodness for a great breeze today.  And hooray for a quick crafting space clean-up! :)


This week's sketch at the Stars & Stamps blog is GREAT - I made three cards, though I'm only going to show you two as my favorite is going to be my bloghop card for Saturday. And speaking of the hop, be sure to come to my blog for some fabulous prizes!! (Sure, I'll name-drop... Unity. Lawn Fawn. Need I say more???)


Anyhow, here are my cards. This one is just for my stash, I have such a hard time making sympathy cards but I know I'll need one sooner or later. ETA: DH just came home and said we need TWO to send out. :(

I added loops instead of the long strips. They just worked better. :)


And this for my dad's birthday:

A great little fish (from CTMH) with some patriotic papers. I think he'll like it.


Thanks for visiting me today! I am SO GLAD you stopped by!


Jen

OWH MWT - no glittery fish!!

The challenge over at OWH Stars & Stamps today is to make a card without glitter. Glitter is a safety hazard for our troops (you can read more here). I found this stamp set at a rummage sale recently (I found a lot of great stuff at rummage sales this summer! LOL) and I picked it up, as my DH and my 5 year old are turning into quite the fisher-people. My DH caught a 30" Northern Pike last weekend, which is now in our freezer. We're mounting it - and had you told me a year ago that I'd have a huge fish in my freezer, much less be thrilled about it, I wouldn't have believed you. :)

Stamp set: CTMH Outdoor Life
Papers from stash, Twine from the Twinery
Momento Inks: London Fog, Paris Dusk

And yes, this is a take on Sketch 83! I like the sketch a lot! :)

Thanks for looking! Be sure to play along with us - there's a great digi freebie today!

Jen