Kathryn's Cards

I will eventually stop making Christmas and winter cards.  For right now, that's where my mojo is, so I'm going with it and just setting these aside for much later in the year. 
This is just a simple sheet of patterned paper layered with several mats.  The embellishment is formed from a paper punch, sentiment stamp, and heart gem that I recolored from pale pink with a B39 Copic to coordinate with the navy mat.  I'm tempted to go back and color the noses orange but I am not convinced it won't look silly.  Thoughts? 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

I started this card around Christmas when I was visiting my parents but I waited to finish it until today when I found my package of tags.   This is OWH Sketch #148. 
I used papers from the Arctic Wishes mat stack, a Fiskars border punch, and a Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder.  A little ink, a few embellishments, and the card was finished. 

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: 340 blank and 140 AnyHero (as of 1/7/13)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

I bought some Christmas papers on clearance after the holiday so I can be ready for next year's cards.  OWH has early deadlines for holidays to accommodate the mail transit time necessary for cards to reach shippers, be sorted, travel overseas, reach heroes, and return to the USA.  This means that holiday papers and embellishments don't always hit store shelves before the deadlines.  I didn't get a new pack of Christmas paper to use this year because it wasn't in stores, so I'm setting aside what I just bought for summer.  I did sneak a few sheets to use now, though!

This card is based on OWH Sketch 144!  Since Sandy has challenged us to make at least 20 kids cards, I made 5 of these and used up all of the papers with the seal from the pack. 


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Cards shipped to OWH in 2013: None just yet, but there will be 300+ blank and 140 AnyHero cards in the mail this week!  
Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 1284 blank and 218 AnyHero
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Welcome!  I'm so pleased to be able to share a card with you today in celebration of World Card Making Day as part of the Operation Write Home Bloghop.  Check out the whole list of stops on the hop right here:



My card today is based off of this week's Mojo Monday Sketch, #261. Operation Write Home has a fabulous collection of about 140 sketches that you can check out here. There are also PDF downloads of the sketches and a checklist there so you can keep track of which sketches you've used. 

Sketch: Mojo Monday #261 Patterned Paper: DCWV Winter Ribbon: JoAnn Brads: Colorbok Embossing: Cuttlebug Snowflakes Nestabilities: Crown Circles, Circles, Scallop Circles Stamp: SU Best Yet Punches: EK Success (small snowflake), Marvy (large snowflake)

Thanks for visiting and celebrating World Card Making Day with me!  



P.S. Go see my last post for some blog candy before you hop to the next blog!


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Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26 with a box of more than 300 set to go out this week!)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

I based this card off OWH Sketch #37.   If you try the sketch yourself, please note that the vertical strip is marked 2.5" wide but I found that it looked better much narrower (as it's pictured in the sketch), so I changed it to 1.25" wide. 

This was one of those cards where I got 80% finished and couldn't figure out what to do to finish the card.  I picked the papers, cut the background and strips, stamped the sentiment, and could not decide on an image.  I finally found this snowman from Unity that I'd never inked up.  It was part of a grab bag that I got in the spring so I don't know what it's called. 

I used random supplies from my stash to make 18 kits of this card for my party.  That brings my total to 201 including my samples.  I actually have 18 different designs ready, too! 

Papers: K&Co (floral), Fiskars (pink vines), Making Memories (blue), stash (ivory)
Punch: Tonic
Stamps: Unity (snowman- unknown name), Heidi Swapp (thank you)
Coloring: Copics
Sketch: OWH #37
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Last weekend, I picked up an adorable stamp set at Tuesday Morning by The Paper Company.  It's got cute kids playing winter sports and corresponding sentiments.  I thought it would be good for coloring. 

Here's the little skating girl decked out in pinks and purples.  The card screams little girl to me, especially with the shimmer paper in the background.    

Papers: Stash Stamps: TPC Winter Activities Punches: Fiskars Medium Corner Rounder, SU Oval, Marvy Large Highland Snowflake Ribbon: JoAnn Coloring: Bic Mark-its, Sakura Gelly Roll silver pen Embossing: Cuttlebug Snowflakes

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Snowflakes, snowflakes, snowflakes!  I spent some time with my mom last weekend and decided to play with her Cricut.  I wanted to make some snowmen, but I got discouraged by the amount of pieces/layers needed and the fact I didn't feel great certainly didn't help my motivation.  I settled on making a bunch of these snowflakes.  Mom cut them and I had the fun of peeling them off the mats and getting the excess paper off the mats.  I think the name of the cartridge is Accent Essentials, but I'm not 100% sure. 
At home, I paired the snowflake with a nice, thick celery green cardstock with a bit of texture and a matching strip of blue textured cardstock punched with the MS Cherish border punch. 

I think my friends will be assembling the rest of these at the party I'm having in two weeks.  :)

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Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Time for another Christmas card.  They're my least favorite cards of the year and I'm not sure why.  Perhaps I don't feel as much creative license when it comes to this holiday or perhaps it's my lack of great Christmas supplies.  Either way, I'm trying to do a few more Christmas cards here and there.  This one used some scraps of patterned paper, a new snowman stamp I bought in January and a Cricut cut of a snowflake sent to me in a swap by Rachel.  Thanks, Rachel!   

Stamp: Inkadinkado
Paper: scraps from K & Co and unknown
Die cuts/Punches: Cricut snowflake, EK circle and scalloped circle, and Nestabilities Scalloped Rectangle
Coloring: Copics
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Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: 928 blank and 215 AnyHero (as of 6/26)
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

Check out OWH at www.operationwritehome.org to learn more about its mission and how to get involved.

Many of the OWHers who participate on FB have been linking up cards they're making in a CAS card class. I've been CASEing away this week as I've seen their cards.

Here are a few I've done. The pink hearts card is my favorite. :) I used a Sizzix die and a Cuttlebug die to cut the hearts. The stamp is Studio G.




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These green cards have a 3x3 square masked off in the center (thanks Post-it!) and were stamped over with background stamps. Then the masked area was outlined and a small embellishment was added. These aren't really my style, so I don't think I'll do any more like these.


Cards shipped to OWH in 2012: none thus far, but my box is filling up nicely!
Cards shipped to OWH in 2011: 1695

The deadline for winter cards for OWH is Halloween. Gotta get the Santas and snowmen in the mail soon! I have more space in my box, so I'm seeing what I can do to totally cram it full before I send it off this week.

Here are three simple designs to share:
Cut a crooked triangle into strips and place on a long brown strip to make this country shabby tree, perfect for Charlie Brown.



I couldn't believe that I only had two decent snowflake stamps in my entire collection. I improvised with some flower stamps that could go either way! I popped a couple of the snowflakes for a little dimension.



I distressed the edges of the patterned paper and embellished the stamped snowflake image with half pearls made for manicures.



Cards shipped to OWH (as of 9/12/11): 1325

Challenge #14 was a winter love card. "Warm winter wishes" counts, right? I got this retired set off eBay a couple weeks ago and just started playing with it tonight. That Eskimo stumps me. Black's too harsh, colors look weird. What color do I stamp him? Do I stamp multiple colors and hope to piece it together? Anyone have any suggestions?

For now, I stamped in gray because it was neither too harsh nor a odd non-human color (just imagine him in teal- yikes). The penguin is really cute and I know I'll use him more. I used the snowflake stamp from the set to jazz up the card base and added some punched snowflakes to highlight the popped sentiment.

I'm also going to count this as my "scene" card for challenge #8 because the penguin, Eskimo, and snowflakes make a scene in my book.

Cards shipped to OWH (as of 9/12/11): 1325

"Falling for You"

I took the idea for this from the challenge post. I punched a variety of snowflake shapes and used my stipple brush to give them some color. The sentiment is from a 2009 Studio G set.

Cards shipped to OWH (as of 8/2/11): 964

A few weeks ago, there was a heartfelt letter posted on OWH's Hero Blog that recounted one mother's experience with choosing which cards to send to her daughters. Go read the letter. I'll wait right here for you.

You're back! So, did that make you a little teary or what? I knew when I read that letter, I needed to use my flocked paper!

Here is an example of a winter card I made with flocked snowflake paper and a snowman stamp by SU. The shimmer paper is the reverse of the flocked design. The half pearls are not scrapbooking supplies. They're actually for manicures and I ordered them on eBay. The container of several hundred itty bitty pearls was less than $2 with shipping. They're not self adhesive, so I attached them with Glossy Accents. Getting them in place would have been easier with tweezers, but my fingernails and patience did the trick.

Have you ever found a less expensive alternative to something sold in the craft stores like my half pearls? Leave me a comment with your money-saving paper crafting tips!

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Can I ask you a favor? Please go vote for my card at Spotted Canary http://goo.gl/34Q6o. If I win, I'm going to donate the prize money to OWH. You need to be logged into FB and you may vote once a day until Sept. 7th. Tell your friends!!! Thanks so much!

Cards shipped to OWH (as of 8/2/11): 964