Operation Write Home Blog Hop starts TODAY!

Hello Hopper! Thank you sooo much for coming by!

We brought our creativity together in the hopes that we would inspire you to join us (DT members) in doing a good deed!

Most of you know our Boys and Gals from the armed forces are deployed all over the world. Sometimes these men and woman are in places that make it very hard, or they’re far away from anywhere that they can pick up a sweet card to send a quick note home. Luckily, they have OPERATION WRITE HOME (OWH). OWH is a non-profit organization that sends special boxes filled with cards to soldiers all over the world. How can you help OWH keep the good deed going? Making cards!!! Yes! OWH angels receive tons of handmade cards from crafters all over the world, then they check and organize cards to be sent out to our soldiers. 

We would love for you to join us to help OWH. We thought it would be amazing fun to do a blog hop to inspire you! Design Teams from PaperTemptress, Oozak and Color me Creative Class will join together in one amazing Card Drive HOP. The fun just gets better! You can join in by making a project (following OWH – size and safety guidelines), entering a picture of the project on the hop inlinkz (One project linked per person please) then mailing the project to us. We would loooove it if you could send as many as you can by November 7th (we will screen them and send all of them to OWH) . You could win super prizes from amazing, super generous sponsors!!! YES!! You do a good deed and you also can win a sweet gift!!!

Thank you to our sponsors

 ♥ Paper Temptress ♥ Oozak ♥ Color me Creative Classes ♥

♥ Heartfelt Creations ♥ Gilli Stamps ♥ Bugaboo stamps ♥

♥ A day for daisies ♥ Through the Craft Door Room Magazine ♥

♥ Floppy Latte ♥ SweetPea Stamps ♥ Pizzaz Aplenty ♥

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I have three cards for you today using all papers from the Paper Temptress of course!  

This first card features paper from the Mica/Metallic paper family.  I used Copper for the tree and parts of the owl,  Amber for the owl, Spring Larch for the leaves and Emerald for the grass.



This second card also uses mostly shiny, smooth paper from the  Mica/Metallic paper family.  I used Amethyst for the background; Emerald,  Azalea and Bronz for the flag and Emerald for the "happy birthday" sentiment.   Just a hint, I used a water-based ink to stamp the sentiment and then used clear embossing powder and heat-set it so the ink wouldn't smear.  I used Cryogen White for the image and used my copics to color the image.  By the way, the image is from A day for daisies.

This last card has the same die for the tree but I used Brown Bag Cardstock instead of the metalic color I used on the first card. The owl stamps are stamped onto my favorite paper, Cryogen White and I colored them with copics.  The grass is Olive Cardstock from the Basis Package.  

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It’s time to HOP around. Leave little note as you pass by these lovely designers’ blogs! Don’t forget to add you project to the inlinkz at the end of the Hop! You will also find the address to mail your cards at the end of the hop. You can Hop throughout the month of October. This way everyone in their own time can hop and join in!

Blog Hop list directory

Anary
Sandy Allnock
Patricia St Martin
Steph Ackerman
Ann Fran
Dana Joy
Anita Autore
Danni Bindel
Lynne Haston
Monica Lowrance
Suzanne J Dean
Linda Payne
Amanda Reed
Nancy Jensen (That's me!)
Cathy Preissing
Vickie Kertz
Holley Barnhart
Karen Gautier
Samantha Casey
Christine Riley
Melanie
Jacquie Heffner/Paper Temptress

OWH Prize Guidelines:
The ONLY objective to this blog hop is to get as many as possible "QUALITY" cards to our soldier's to send home so to meet that objective we are offering 
many great prizes that you can win! Here are the 14 prizes that are available:

Two $25.00 Gift Certificates from PaperTemptress.com
Three $15.00 Gift Certificates from Oozak.com
One Copic Coloring class offered at Color Me Creative classroom worth $50.00
One $25.00 Gift Certificate from Heartfelt Creations.com (I want to win that one LOL)
 One set of designer stamps created by Gilli Stamps.com
One $30.00 Gift Certificate from Bugaboo Digi Stamps
One $12 Gift Certificate from A Day for Daisies
A one year subscription of Through The Craft Door Magazine worth $18.00
Three Digis from Floppy Latte (worth is determined by choices of digis)
One $15 Gift Certificate from Sweet Pea Stamps
$10.00 worth of digis at Pizzas Aplenty 

SENTIMENTS TO USE…no Christmas since they will not arrive in time:
Birthday
Love
Thank you
Missing you
Thinking of you
Blank (no sentiment)

HOW TO WIN!
The person who sends in the most "QUALITY" cards (description on what is considered a QUALITY card is below in red) will win TWO prizes of THEIR 
choice having the first selection also so a real incentive to make as many QUALITY cards as possible…heck you have a whole month to create so do your 
best work EVER!

Then EIGHT more prizes will be handed out for the most QUALITY cards that are submitted with the winner also being able to select the prize they want. 
Example…one submits 10 quality cards and the next submits 9 quality cards so the person who submits 10 quality cards will have first choice at picking the 
prize and then the person who submitted 9 will choose next and so on.
The remaining 5 prizes will be selected randomly for everyone else that has submitted a QUALITY card and left a comment.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL, please remember this is such a worthy cause so let's work really hard to create a lot of happiness for those who are defending our 
freedom right now!

QUALITY DESCRIPTION
We do our best work for our heroes, since they do their best for us! Take your time to make beautiful cards, use your nice cardstock, and be sure everything is 
glued down well. No glitter, and no handwritten sentiments.....just really pretty cards! Remember that your card could be the last communication a family 
receives from their hero - and it could be scrapbooked and kept forever, so make it withstand the test of time. 

Thanks again and don't forget to leave some love!  

♥♥♥

Operation Write Home Blog Hop

I have some awesome new for you!!! I am so proud to announce that I'm participating in a blog hop for Operation Write Home!  I hope you will join us on October 2nd!  More details to come so stay tuned!

TE's Blast from the Past Blog Hop

Welcome to Taylored Expression's Blast from the Past Blog Hop!  I had fun making this card... here in Southern AZ we don't get a lot of leaves changing color so of course I had to put some on this card.  This month our theme is "Thankful".  I used TE's "Much Appreciated" for the sentiment which I inked up in "Brilliance" cosmic copper and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then framed with in shinny green paper with QuicKutz "frame" (REV-0090).    

I had a hard time getting a good picture of this card because some of the paper had glitter, some was embossed with fuzzies, other paper was shiny while some of it was just plain 'ol pretty paper.  Also, my lamp that I normally use broke so it was just hard to show all the different textures.  Below is a slightly different angle to show some more textures.

 I used a lot of different dies for this card, most of which are Spellbinders.  The swirls is from Magnolias.  I added a burgundy seam binding bow and there ya have it.  A lovely Thank You card. 

I am thankful for my family, friends, the freedoms I enjoy and for a loving Father in Heaven.  I am thankful to have been the mother of a very special daughter named Jessica who went "home" to heaven last year and who taught me to "Never give up!"... never give up hope, never give up faith and to never give up on myself or my family.  I miss my beautiful girl but I'm also thankful that she is in a better place and free from pain.  I'm so thankful for my dear friends and family members who have helped me through each day... one of which is going to receive this Thank You card.  I think I need to make several hundred if I were to just begin to give out Thank You cards to everyone who has helped me throughout my daughter's 22 years on earth and the one since she left.  I'm blessed beyond measure.   

Thank you for stopping by and don't forget to stop by the rest of the blogs and see what everyone else has made for us today.  :)

Happy World Card Making Day

Today is World Card Making Day!  I am so excited to share a Christmas Card with you today as we go through Operation Write Home's  blog hop.  If you haven't heard of Operation Write Home it's an amazing program where card makers can send hand-made cards to soldiers who then use them to write home.  The soldiers received hand-made cards for all occasions to use to send special messages to their loved ones who are left at home while the soldiers are deployed.  What a wonderful program indeed!

For today's Christmas card I had a lot of fun using my Big Shot and my Cricut!  I also used one of my favorite stamps sets by Gina K Designs, Heirloom Ornament Stamp set.  

I stamped the image with Purely Pomegranate (Stampin' Up) ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder.  You can probably see the embossing a little better below.

It is a delicate card with all the swirls but I like it.  The card base is cut out using Spellbinders Parisian Motifs.  The white shiny snowflake is cut out using a Cricut cartridge called Winter Lace.

I added a little bling and a bow and it was done!  This cute card is small enough that it could hang on a Christmas tree.  I just might have to make one for each of my siblings this year!  (but shhhh, it's a surprise!  lol)

Thank you for stopping by!  I appreciate every visit and comment.  Have fun visiting the rest of the participants in the hop!

And don't forget to visit the link below to see MANY other crafters who are participating in World Card Making Day!

Happy Birthday to..... ME! and more!

That's right!  Yesterday was my birthday... and the day before that was my sister's birthday.  I have a nephew who's birthday was on the 10th and my dad's birthday is on Saturday.  I also have a niece who's birthday is coming up in two weeks on Oct 3rd.  She just missed one of the busiest birthday months for my family.    I was so happy to find out that this month's theme for the TE Blast for the Past Blog Hop was "BIRTHDAY".  We could do either a new baby theme (and congratulations to Taylor for the birth of her first baby, Madelyn Grace, last week!) or a regular birthday.  I chose a girly birthday theme.

I used TE's Moka Olivia for the image and I cheated a little and used the sentiment from Moka Taylor for the "Happy Birthday".  Next month I'll be able to use Moka Taylor legally.  hehe!

I paper pieced the dress and hair band on Moka Olivia.  I think she's so cute!  

I used TE's Shopping Bag and labels die.  What a fun little bag!  I cut the top down a bit and added some glitter rick-rack for the handle.  Real tissue paper is on the inside.  In retrospect I should have put a lighter pink in it so it will show up better in the photos.  

Here's another angle so you can see the cute bag. 

The paper I used is DCWV Cherry Limeade Stack.  Lots of yummy colors, patterns and shininess.  ooooooooooohhhhhhh, shiny!  

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you enjoy the rest of the blog hop!  

TE's Blast from the Past Blog Hop

This month's challenge is "Collectors Anonymous".  We are to use things on our project that uses things that we collect.  Of course my collections border on hoarding as most crafters do but I digress.  I collect things that I like the most which include: paper, lace, ribbon, buttons, bling, dies, punches and stamps... so many stamps!  My most favorite stamps are of flowers, girly stamps and butterflies  I decided to use my most favorite things on this month's card.  The song from the Sound of Music kept running through my head, "My Favorite Things" as I made this fun card.  My daughter loved butterflies, the color pink, flowers and anything shiny.

I used TE's CreativiTEA for the flower and New Beginnings for the butterflies and frame and  Discover Your Wings for the sentiment.

I did a technique called "kissing" with three of the butterflies.  I inked up a couple of the designs from Miniature Motifs melon mambo ink and then touched a un-inked butterfly to the inked design... after that I stamped the butterfly onto cardstock.  I loved how they turned out.  The light butterfly on the frame (by the flower) was first stamped once onto scrap paper and then stamped onto the cardstock.  That made the butterfly color much lighter... such a soft touch. 

I folded the wings away from the center a little and attached them to the card only in the center... that way the wings are not flat and help it give movement to the butterflies.  I added some "bling" on the butterflies as well as below them to also help give them movement.

I used a banner from Spellbinder's Nested Lacey Pennents for the sentiment.

A bow, a button, some lace and a background punched with Martha Stewart "punch around the page - Monarch butterfly".  Below is an angle I like to use to show the 3-D effects of all the little details and layers.

Here you can see that I added a 2nd layer to the flower center and added some bling to it after coloring it with copics.  Love that flower!  

This is how the card opens up.  The pink background with the butterflies punched out is behind the card.

Here's the alternative sketch which I actually used this time!  Instead of using 3 brads on the left-hand side of the sketch, I used butterflies.  I added a little extra to the sketch but I like how it turned out.  

I hope you enjoyed my card today and hope you will click on the links below and see what all the other participants made for us today.  Thank you for stopping by - I appreciate every visit and comment.


Other challenges:
Simon Says Stamp and Show - show us some bling


Flourishes - recipe challenge: Use the color pink, one button, ribbon, and lace on your creation. Other than that anything else is a go.

TE's Blast from the Past Blog Hop

Good morning!  I have a fun card for you today.  The theme of TE's July's Blast from the Past Blog Hop is: Sending You Sunshine.  I have plenty of sunshine to share here from AZ!  By the time July comes around we're all ready to welcome any clouds to give us a break from the furnace that many call "At least it's a dry heat"...  at 110 degrees it doesn't matter... just give us a break from the heat!  lol  My card is inspired by the massive amounts of sunshine we get here in AZ... as you can see, my whole card is sunshine!

I used the tree branch and the sentiment from Branching Out and used the nest with the birds inside from Wreath of Love.  

I first cut out a circle from the yellow cardstock.  I then measured and marked where I wanted the sun rays and then cut out about 1/8" slivers so the blue background could show through.  I had a hard time getting the picture just right with the dark background... but as you can see, I numbered the sun rays so I wouldn't get mixed up as to where they went.

I sponged Daffodil delight around the edges of the yellow cardstock and then adhered it to the blue cardstock.  I then cut the extra off.

Thank you for joining me today as we hop our way through the TE's Blast From the Past Blog Hop.

Join me tomorrow as I have TWO posts with TWO cards to show you.  I'm guest designer for Paper Crafting Journey!  What an honor!

This card is being entered in Simon Says Stamp = ANYTHING GOES!

Old Glory

I have two posts today so if you are looking for My Time Made Easy Pretty Patterns challenge, scroll down or click here.  

It's time for the monthly Taylored Expressions Blog Hop again!  woo-hoo!  The theme is "Old Glory".  I had an idea for my card that evolved and then evolved some more and then turned out quite a bit different than I had originally expected.  I originally had planned to have a small flag on the card in the background and then have the TE stamp that I ordered especially for this blog hop "God Bless The USA" in the center with maybe a few shabby stars in the background... well, this is what it grew into:

I still used the same stamp and I made the flag that is in the background... but somehow the flag grew and the fireworks lit up all over the card!  LOL  I saw the blue and "diamond bling at Michaels yesterday and knew it just had to go on my card.

I didn't have room to stamp the whole stamp so I fussed with it (threw a couple of tries away) and finally got the center that I wanted.  I used a red marker to ink the the USA part, stamped it and then cleaned the stamp really well and then with a stamp positioner figured out where I wanted the "God Bless the" part, inked it up with a dark blue marker and stamped it above the "USA".  I then used the nestabilities to cut out the sentiment and the two tags as well.  Popped it up with pop dots and viola'!  An Old Glory that is quite glorious!

I'm thinking it's a little over the top but what the hey... it's very festive.  In fact, due to all the wildfires here in AZ this card might be the only fireworks we get to see this year for the 4th of July.  We're praying for rain and hoping for relief.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you will go to the other blog hoppers to see what they have in store for you today!





My card is being entered into the following challenges:
CC328: Cherry Night Cakes: color challenge: Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake (kraft), Neutrals of choice
 Magazine Monday - color challenge:  Bazzill Red, Sea Water, Lily White and Beetle Black

Taylored Expressions May Blog Hop

This month we were challenged to make a masculine card. I was a little concerned on how I was going to do it because most of the stamps I have are so girly.  I went through my TE stamps and decided that the sentiment "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you've imagined" by Thoreau was a great sentiment to use.  It's from TE's New Beginnings.  ( I LOVE that set and really wanted to use the butterflies and roses images but no - they're not "manly" so I'll save them for another card... tee-hee!) 

I used the dandelions and daisies from the stamp set Discover Your Wings for the background.  Even though they are flowers, I think that stamped on the chocolate background and embossed in white allows for enough masculinity for it to be given to any self-respecting man.  Am I right?  ;)

This card could be a great for graduation!  My son, Brandon, will be graduating from High School NEXT WEEK!  I don't know how this happened... it seems like just yesterday he was throwing his things off his high chair and wanting us to pick them up for him so he could throw them again.  haha!  That's one of the many fun memories we tease him about. 

 I had a terrible time photographing this card - I'm not sure why.  The photos just don't do it justice.   I photographed it with a white background and the designer paper behind it but I'm still not happy with how the photos turned out.  It's just been one of those days I guess.  
I hope you've enjoyed your visit here and will continue visiting the rest of the blog hop participants. 

Happy Birthday to my friend Lee!

I'm so excited to participate in a special blog hop to honor Lee Murphy's birthday today!  I didn't know about this fun event until yesterday so I've been busy stamping!  I've been very busy the last few days!  If you are looking for My Favorite Things Pretty Patterns sketch challenge then either scroll down or click here.  If you are looking for Taylored Expressions April blog hop then scroll even further or click here.
Here is the card I made for Lee: 

For the main image I used Lovely Labels 1 by Nina Bracket.  I embossed it with clear embossing powder and then heated it.  I also tried to gently watercolor the leaves and petals with SU.  I was hoping for the slightly softer look but it's fine the way it is.  (I guess.. lol)  Below is a close-up of the watercoloring.  The sentiment was stamped, cut and embossed with Spellbinders.

 

Here's a side view so you can see some of the elements such as the dragonfly and bee.  They are so shiny that they are hard to photograph but they sure look cute in person!

The designer paper, dragonfly and bee are all KC & Company.  Aren't they just gorgeous?  I can't wait to use the paper and other goodies again!

 

Little dragonfly up close:

The bow is made out of some hand-died seam binding I purchased online.  I found another pretty button to add to the center. 

Lee is such a sweetie - she made a card and sent it to me shortly after my daughter, Jessica, passed away last October.  I appreciate it so much!  She is talented and generous... we love you Lee!

Here are the ladies who are participating in this surprise hop - please visit them and give them a little love.

Alison 

Carole

Christi

Crafty Math Chick

Joanne

Lori

Lydia 

Misti

Nancy  ~ * you are here!***

Paula





 I hope you have a great birthday, Lee!   To everyone, enjoy your blog hop!
As always, your comments are greatly appreciated. 

Taylored Expressions April Blog Hop

I'm happy to be able to participate in Taylored Expressions Blog Hop again this month.  Since this Sunday is Easter I decided to make an Easter card.  I did not use the optional sketch because I found the directions on how to make a "Center Step Card" that I wanted to try.  It was a lot of fun!

(as always, click on images to enlarge)

I used Taylored Expression's Favorite Peeps for the cute images.  I really thought that the sentiment "you're one of my favorite peeps" was so cute with all the little chicks looking at it. Here's a side view of the card... you can see the "steps" a little better. 

I really like the cute Easter basket which I fussy-cut out and tied with a few strips of tulle.

Thank you for stopping by.  Enjoy the rest of your blog hop!

Taylored Expressions March Blog Hop

Good morning!  I'm so excited to participate in Taylored Expressions March Blog Hop!  I did not use the optional sketch because I already knew what I wanted to do.  I LOVE the stamp set:  CreativiTEA.  I knew I wanted to set the table with a table cloth and have a pretty country wallpaper behind it.

I embossed the tea kettle, tea cup and sentiment in pink then colored the teacup with copics adding a little shading on the tea kettle as well.  I distressed them with Tim Holtz antique linen and a tiny bit of tea dye. The paper on the lower portion of the card was so dark that if I cut the doily in half, you could see the base color behind it - so I chose to just fold it in half and adhere it that way.  I added some flowers from Prima including the toole one. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the foliage and added some bling.  

Here's a close-up of the tea kettle and tea cup. Don't you just love the bling for the steam?

I have to admit that I love layers!  Here's an angle showing the 3-D.

One last photo with that includes some of the inside of the card.  I stamped the rose from the same stamp set and added a little corner piece.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I appreciate your visit and hope you enjoyed your stay.  As always I appreciate every comment!