Operation Write Home Sketch Challenge #245

It's been a long time since I participated in a sketch challenge over at Operation Write Home.
 I forgot how much I liked using a sketch as design inspiration.

Here's my card for OWH Sketch Challenge #245

and here is  sketch #245

This is the first time I've used my new, large, flower  punch that I bought at my local Hobby Lobby when they had their brand at half price. All of the flowers on this card were punched with that punch. 

The papers used were all from a Hampton Art paper pad "Berry Blast". 

I used a scrap of left over Kraft paper for the tag and the ribbon on it was a snippet left over  from a mini album.  The playground over at Pixie's Snippets Playground  is open for an extended amount for the holidays so I'm going to play there for a second time this week.

Have a great day! 

Kathy

Operation Write Home & Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge

This is the card that I made for this months Our Daily Bread Designs  Challenge.
We are to use primary colors on our card.
 Our Daily Bread Designs sponsors this monthly challenge over  on The Operation Write Home Blog.
ODBD will pay the shipping costs for one box of cards to be sent to our deployed heroes if 25 cards are entered in the challenge and will pay the cost of two boxes of cards to be sent if 50 cards are entered.

I used scraps of white card stock for the embossed background and used some leftover snippets of white for the sentiment label and blue for the sentiment. I'll be playing over on Pixie's Snippets Playground again this month so check out all the other entries HERE.

I am also entering my card in The Loves Rubberstamps Challenge. 

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today. Thank you to all the new followers that joined my blog in 2014 and I wish you all a very "Happy New Year"!
See you soon.
Kathy

My Mini File Folder Album

This mini album was made using plain standard size file folders from Staples. I think I used three folders to make the album. The page sizes in this album are 4 1/2 inches by 6 1/2 inches.

I will be playing at Pixie's Playground again this week  because the front cover of this album  has letters and hearts that were cut from snippets of paper from my scrap collection and also the paper beads on the twine were made from snippets. 

The following pictures show some of the pages with photo mat inserts.

The papers used for the pages and photo mats are from a 6 inch by 6 inch  designer paper pad by Colorbok  named "Natural Expressions".

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you will stop back soon.
Ta Ta For Now,
Kathy

My Geli Print Papers In A New Album

I just put the finishing touches on this new Mini Album. This album is made from three 5 x 7" envelopes and three 5 x 7"cards.  I followed Kathy Orta's instructions for making  this album.

I'm entering this in the Pixie's Snippets Playground Challenge, Week 152.

This is the album's front cover. The heart tabs on the top of all the photo mats were made using scraps of leftover card stock. The album is kept closed with a ribbon that was left over from  my birthday gift wrapping.   All the papers used in this project were printed on my geli plate.

This is a pic of page two and three.

The two photo mats fit in pages two and three.

This is pages four and five with more photo mats.

This picture shows the photo mat that tucks into the side of page five.

This is a picture of page six, the last page.

Curiosity

I made two cards using bits and pieces of paper from projects made long ago. Sent one of the cards to a special someone who likes ladybugs. Now that she's received her card I can show & tell this one.

The digital image is from "A Day For Daisies". Papers were all leftovers and I had lots of fun making all those little dots to place randomly on the card. The sentiment is a die  from Elizabeth Craft. The string was part of a blog candy giveaway that I won a couple of weeks ago. Used my new set of colored pencils on the image.

This curious  little girl is going to join all the fun over at Pixie's Playground.

I hope you are having a good day and hope you"ll come back and visit my blog again soon.
Ta Ta For Now.
Kathy

A Happy Little Bluebird

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for the current challenge at "A Day For Daisies". This digi  image is from the ADFD blog.

  I ordered a new set of  Prisma colored pencils  last week and this is the first digital image that I colored using them. I can't tell you how much I love these new pencils.

This is also the first time that I used the  Spellbinders "Filigree Delight"  die and I promise that you will be seeing it used on  lots of my cards  in the near future. I think it is my (new)  favorite background. I used Kraft for the Filigree and placed it on a cream colored card stock card base.

Last week I  wasn't able to join the group playing at Pixie's Playground but my card qualifies this week for the 150 Challenge. I used a little snippet of rayon ribbon left over from a sewing project and the sentiment tag was also a leftover from cards that were made last summer.

Thanks for visiting today. I appreciate your comments and hope you will become a new follower.

Ta Ta For Now,
Kathy

All Dressed Up Ballerina

This card is my entry for the challenge over at "The All Dressed Up Challenge Blog." Please click on the highlighted link to read more about this challenge and see all the entries'

This little ballerina is a free image from "The All Dressed Up Shop." 
I have a small collection of unused embossed card fronts and the embossed frame and the embossed doily are both from that stash. I left both of these embossing folders back in Minnesota so  I don't know the company that makes them.

I colored the little dancer with colored pencils (Crayola) and used baby oil to blend the colors. 
Leftover strips of yellow organza were placed behind the image and I used my SU owl punch to make the little punched hearts for the corners of the card. The sentiment is a SU stamp.

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit my blog. Browse around and then leave me a comment to let me know if you like any of my cards. I hope you will come back again soon and maybe become one of my followers.

Ta Ta For Now,
Kathy

A Pumpkin Blossom Card For Halloween

Today's card isn't very spooky but it is a Halloween card.

My printer is finally working again  so I was able to download a digi print from the  "A Day For Daisies" website and make a card to enter in their current  challenge.

Isn't this little pumpkin blossom just too sweet. I colored the image with colored pencils and used baby oil to blend the colors. The alphabet stamp set was purchased at my local craft store and is a NBUS. Never Before Used Stuff.

All the papers that I used to make this card came from my scrap paper collection. Some of the black layers of paper were actually pieced to make  use of small snippets of paper. Those snippets qualify me to once again play at Pixie's Playground. This is Challenge #147.

I hope you will visit both of these challenge blogs and check out all the fabulous entries.
Thanks for stopping by and if you like my card leave me a comment and maybe become one of my new followers.

Ta Ta For Now,
Kathy

Throwback Thursday Challenge # 2

Today I'm joining "Stamping With Bibiana"  for Throwback Thursday  Challenge #2. Click on the highlighted link which will take you to the Stamping With Bibiana blog and you can view all the entries in this challenge.

For this challenge we are revisiting one of our  previous blog posts. Preferably one with a Halloween theme (not mandatory).

Here is  my card  from October 28th, 2013, please click on this link  Halloween Card   if you would like to see the original  post.

I think I've only made two Halloween cards in all the time that I've been making greeting  cards. I love my Stampin Up Owl punch and had fun making the little, not so spooky, ghosts using that punch. My favorite thing about the card is the little bows made from the hearts.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today. I hope you will take some time and visit the  Stamping With Bibiana blog also.

Have a great day and I hope that you will become one of my new followers and leave a comment to let me know that you were here.
Ta Ta For Now,
Kathy

Lots Of Little Ladybugs

Today I'm sharing a card that I made after seeing one like it on Pinterest.   I already owned the bug and bee and flower and leaf dies but I did have to buy the fancy fold card die.

The beauty of this card is that all of the little "buggy" pieces and the flowers and the leaves were cut from assorted little snippets of colored card stock.  The pieces are small so I hardly made a dent in the size of  my packets of left over card making scraps.

 This is a picture of the new Elizabeth Craft, Karen Burniston "Pop-It-Up"die that I used to make this card.

I'm entering this card in the competition over at Pixie's Playground this week. I was surprised and delighted that "Di" chose my Southwest Artist Trading Blocks as one of her top three picks for last weeks challenge. Thank you so much Di!

I hope you are all having a great day and thanks for stopping by to visit my blog. I would love it if you became one of my followers and hope you will leave a comment.

Ta Ta For Now,
Kathy

Another Friendly Challenge

Or perhaps  this post should have been titled  " A Challenge Between Friends" ? Oh well, however you say it, my good friend Cindy recently suggested a challenge for the two of us to complete.

Cindy challenged me to use some of my Gelli Print Papers to make anything but a card or a tag and to post the finished item or items on our blogs.
Go visit Cindy's blog "Stitches In Time" and see what she created for this challenge.

Cindy and I both have Gelli Plates and have been spending time printing paper. The paper  printing is fun but coming up with uses for the paper is another matter.

 This is what I created and they are called Artist Trading Blocks.

I made them in only two sizes because I only had two sheets of printed paper that would work for this.
 The paper was printed using orange, cream and yellow acrylic paints.  From snippets of black card stock I cut out Southwest images using my Cricut.

Those snippets qualify this project to be entered in Pixies Playground Challenge 

Here are some more views of the Artist Trading Blocks.

If you're wondering why I used the Southwest designs on the blocks, we have now made the move from Minnesota to Arizona.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today. I hope you will try some of these Artist Trading Blocks. Leave a comment to let me know what you think of my project and sign up as a follower and please  come back again soon.

Have a wonderful day.
Kathy

My Mini Butterfly Book

Today I put the finishing touches on my new Mini Butterfly Book.

This little book is about three and a half inches square. For the covers and the inside pages  I used  papers that I printed on  my Gelli Plate using the colors  purple, rust, gold and green. I punched the butterflies from small snippets of glitter paper from my scrap drawer.

 

This is one of the inside pages of my book, which were also made from small bits of left over card stock and covered with Gelli print papers.

I punched  large and small  butterflies to embellish the pages.

I'm playing in Pixie's Snippets Playground today  and I am also entering this little "Butterfly Book" in The Butterfly Challenge #15 in autumn colors.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. I would love to have you become a follower and let me know if you like my little mini book by leaving  a comment.

 Have a wonderful day!
Kathy

Did I Say That I Love Butterflies?

This is the card that I made using  the scraps of paper left over from the mini album that I shared yesterday. I love using this  Memory Box "Pippi" Butterfly die. It's the perfect size for this card.

I used snippets of gold glitter paper for one of the layers, the butterfly and the sentiment. This card is being entered in the Pixie's Snippets Playground #143 Challenge.

This is a view of the inside of the card. I left it blank because I want to write a short note to the recipient of this card.

I've tried many different techniques for making flip cards and found them all to be rather difficult  but when my friend Janet showed our group this Sizzix die and how to use it, I ordered a die for myself and love it. Check out this You Tube Video Thinlits Card Die with Extended Flap by Dawn O.
  These cards are so much fun to make and they are great for using some of those small pieces of designer paper from other projects.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Hope you have a wonderful day.
Kathy

Hobbies Past and Present

Years ago my hobbies were flower gardening, quilt making  and taking pictures. I had many, many  flower beds and when I wasn't weeding my gardens I was sewing quilts.  I took lots and lots of pictures of  what else, but my flower gardens, and my quilts .

Now  the time has  come for me to get some of my old photos, like the one above, into some albums.



I just finished this little mini album today and it's going to hold some of my photos of butterflies in the garden. I can't decide what I want to  use  to decorate  the cover so I'll  wait and think about it  for a little while longer .  What do you think, should I use a butterfly?

 This is one of the inside pages, which I made from envelopes and I used  designer  papers from  a DCWV  Mariposa  Matstack to decorate the envelope pages.

I just love these butterfly papers.

Now all I have to do is make some photo mats and fill the pages with pictures.

I am glad you stopped by my blog today and I hope you'll become a follower and come back to visit again soon. I'll be sharing some more  old photos of my flowers and quilts.
Have a great day!
Kathy

Bags & Tags and a Surprise Birthday Celebration

A couple of weeks ago I challenged my friend Cindy, whose blog is "Cindy's Stitches In Time", to make a "Bag & A Tag."  We both  agreed to reveal our creations at our  next CQE gathering and then post pictures of them on our blogs.

We also  sent out emails inviting  our friends from our CQE (Crafts, Quilts and Eats) group to join us in this challenge. We asked each one of them to make a bag and a tag  and enclose in the bag a gift for our friend Jeanette's birthday. This challenge was to be kept a secret because we wanted it to be a birthday surprise. 

 Today our CQE  Group gathered at my house.

Here are the Bags & Tags! Isn't this a great looking assortment of gift bags?

Here is Cindy sharing  the darling Origami Bag and the Butterfly Tag that she made for Jeanette.

 The bag contained "Mr B's" Chocolates.

 Next is  the muslin wine tote that I made for Jeanette. I stamped the muslin with black Staz On ink and fabric paint.

 Sally,, who loves to sew and quilt,  made  a  fabric bag for Jeanette which contained quilt related gift items.

Bev brought  Jeanette a bag made of a very heavy, textured  hand made paper and filled with fabric quarters and a cute pumpkin which was made from a spool of crochet thread.
 

Jeanette was very surprised!

It was a great day!


Evy we missed you!

 

This Jump Rope Kiddo is "Seriously Cute"

This is a card that I made using my newest rubber stamp from Stampendous, "Jump Rope Kiddo".

This card will go into the box  of cards that I'm donating to  Send A Smile 4 Kids. If you would like information about this great charity click on the link.

I'm entering this card in the Pixie"s Snippets  Playground Week # 142 Challenge. The background layers used to make this card are from my scraps and are embossed with an older Sizzix embossing folder.  The white picture frame is actually a snippet left from some square die cuts  that were used on another card.  The twine is also a scrap from a book that I made. The sentiment was stamped on  some left over white card stock.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my card today. I hope you will come back and visit my blog  again soon.

Have a great day!
Kathy

Using New Schtuff and Leftover Snippets

I just finished making these Artist Trading Cards. The 2 1/2 inch by 3 1/2 inch ATC's are fun to make and a great way to use left over snippets of paper.

I made a total of four because I just can't let any of these bits of  gelli print papers go to waste. Look closely  and you can see that I used an old woven wicker, kitchen trivet as a texture plate to make the print for  these papers. 
 There are  lots of  trims, beads and ribbons in my craft closet because I spent years doing crazy quilting and   using these as accents on  my cards only seems right.

I'm entering these in the "Pixie's Snippets Playground #141 Challenge".

I'm also  entering these in the NBUS Challenge.

 
 NBUS stands for "Never Before Used Schtuff". My brand new, never been used Sctuff is the "Moonlit Fairy" stamp from Rubber Stampede. I used clear Versamark and Silver Zing embossing powder for these.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and comments are always welcome.
Have a super day!
Kathy