Operation Write Home Sketch Challenge #220

This week's OWH sketch challenge was fun because it didn't require any special measurements, just pretty much eyeballing everything. Today I received a thank you note on an OWH card from a Lieutenant Colonel in Ft Leonardwood, Missouri. It was absolutely the MOST perfect timing because that was my father's first official active duty station in the late 50's where he served as an Army Drill Sergeant. He retired after 21 years and I had the distinct pleasure of serving with him for a couple of those years in Germany. I'll be making a memorial post for him as soon as I'm up to it. He took his last breath on Saturday, April 12th and we're still in the midst of preparing for his memorial service. Making cards has always been very therapeutic for me and certainly helped me get through this day! Please keep my mom in your prayers. They were both living in the same nursing home and she slips in and out of alzheimers, but is aware of his death. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.

Until I can get myself together enough to do a memorial post, here are a few pictures of my father.

With Mom wearing showing their support for the military troops.

Dad (on left) in Vietnam

Dad in his khakis

Dad at Ft Leonardwood

My Volksmarch hero!

My daughter's hero!

Dad and I

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Operation Write Home Midweek Throwdown

A Father's Day card for the Operation Write Home (OWH) Midweek throwdown. I love the texture from the wallpaper sample that is made out of some kind of straw.

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Operation Write Home Cards

I have three cards to share with you today. I just mailed a big box of cards to Operation Write Home and have already gotten started on the next box. Every so often I decide to join a challenge or two and today I did three. The first is from their Midweek Throwdown Challenge which was to use purple and yellow. I love those two colors together, so this was really quite fun. I had saved a piece of purple shimmery paper from a wedding invitation that was just too pretty to throw away. Unfortunately my husband didn't realize I was saving it for a card and used it to write some notes. AAACKKKK!!!! Luckily there was enough clear space around the edges that I could cover his writing with some awesome yellow handmade paper left over from another project. Add a few flowers and hand stamp the word "sister" and Voila! Here ya go:

Next comes a card with a sad note connected to it. I didn't know her, but one of the Operation Write Home fellow cardmakers passed away last week and in her honor they asked us to copy (CASE) one of her designs.

The last one is today's sketch challenge #118.

 

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OWH Sketch Midweek Throwdown

This card is being entered in the Operation Write Home (OWH) midweek throwdown which is asking us to use circles in our design. I've had these stamped and die cut images for a very long time and finally got around to coloring them. I don't know the name of the stamp set because they belong to someone else, but I know they are Stampin Up and probably retired by now.

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OWH Sketch Challenge #211

While continuing my own challenge to use up the majority of my excess stash of cardmaking supplies I often come across the opportunity to participate in a challenge. Most of the cards that I make are destined for soldiers serving overseas via the awesome group called Operation Write Home. They issue challenges every week and this Sunday their sketch challenge is to follow the sketch below. You can join the challenge to at their blog.

Here's my card using paper from my stash and a digital sentiment that I created.

OWH Sketch Challenge #199

Hi again everyone! I know that my posts are few and far between these days so I figured I'd better show you what I've been up to. No it's not organizing my craft room, more like messing it up more and more each day, but hey, at least I'm getting things done. In the midst of making 100+ cards for Operation Write Home I saw a post from them about Sketch Challenge #199 and decided to play along. I had recently purchased some cute little dies from Stampin Up and thought they'd be perfect for this sketch.

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A couple of cards for Send Love Today, a SCS Cards for a Cause

I've been holed up in my craft room all weekend and evenings for a few days making cards for the Split Coast Stampers Cards for a Cause challenge. I haven't taken many pictures yet, but here's a couple of the cards. The group for this month is called Send Love Today. It's a group that sends cards and small gifts to individuals with brain tumors. As I've been making these cards I tried to design some that would be good for sending to men and think the two below would be good for that.

OWH VCMP Card #9 and the end of the party!

Wow can you believe that we've come to the end of the two-day Virtual Card Making Party? Me neither! It's been fun and has given me loads of new ideas and inspiration.

OWH VCMP Card #9 challenge is to make a card using the negative of a die or punch. I used a large Stampin Up flower punch on the front of the card, then adhered white card stock to the inside of the card with a dragonfly stamped on it. When making cards using dark card stock we always adhere white or light colored paper to the inside so the heroes have something to write on, keeping in mind that some only have a pencil and that wouldn't show up at all on dark paper. You can visit the host of this challenge here and see cards made by other partiers.

OWH VCMP Card #8

OWH VCMP Card #8 challenge is to make a card with an image of a bee and a sentiment that plays on the word bee. When I was working on the 6th challenge I noticed a cute bee in the stamp set which shall go unnamed because quite honestly, well there isn't a manufacturer's name anywhere on the acrylic stamp sheet. Anyway, there was also some matching sentiments and the one I picked was just perfect! You can visit the host of this challenge here and see cards made by other partiers.

OWH VCMP Card #6

The OWH VCMP Card #6 challenge is to make cards for kids using the tic-tac-toe board below. We had to choose three items in a row and I selected things with wings, stamping and using punches (the small red stars).

Now on to the next challenge!

OWH VCMP Sketch Challenge #188

Good morning everyone! I've got a busy morning today because my grandson is getting baptized and family gathers afterwards, but I had a tiny bit of time to get one card done before leaving.

This card is part of the Operation Write Home Labor Day Virtual Card Making Party (OWH VCMP) and follows Sketch #188.

See you again later!

OWH VCMP Card #5

Card #5 for the OWH VCMP is a masking tape background card. You can find many other cards for this challenge here.

I made a couple different cards, one with regular white card stock and the other with watercolor paper. Can you tell which is which? I used the Stampin Up Sprinkled Expressions stamps.

OWH VCMP Card #4

Card #4 for the OWH VCMP is a love card. You can find many other cards for this challenge here.

OWH VCMP Card #3

Card #3 for the OWH VCMP uses a triple layer technique cut from dies. I don't have the oblong dies used in the examples, so dug out what I had and came up with this card. You can find many other cards along with the original tutorial here.

OWH VCMP Card #2

Card #2 for the OWH VCMP is a challenge to use elements based on the letters OWH. My card uses Orange, Wiggles and Happy! You can go see the other entries for this challenge over at Diane's blog.

Operation Write Home Labor Day VCMP #1

I'm back after getting a yummy blended coffee from a local coffee shop up the road a bit and am ready to spend the day relaxing by making cards for our heroes. Operation Write Home is having a virtual card making party this weekend that you can read about here. The first challenge was to make a card following the sketch found at Scrap Happens and here's what I made.

Good morning! This is one of the 100 cards that I am headed out to mail today for the August Splitcoaststampers Cards for a Cause.

The cardstock is actually a very pretty dark purple from my stash. The sentiment is from Woodware. I used the Stampin Up Blossom Bouquet Triple Layer punch on the front of the card, then glued the punched flower on top of white paper adhered to the inside of the card. The little pink flower and bling are from my stash. I love how the Lace Ribbon Border punch really pops on the front of this card and hope it brings a smile to the recipients's face!

OWH Midweek Throw-down

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Yes I know it's been forever since I last posted, but life keeps me pretty busy these days.

I've decided to make some Halloween cards for Operation Write Home and this one fits their Midweek Throw-down challenge which is to use punches. I used my Stampin Up oval and EK Success scalloped circle punches, a cute little Stampabilities stamp and some ribbon from my stash. The sentiment is from Stampin Up's Delightful Dozen set. I love the way the faux stitching turned out, especially the blanket stitch around the sentiment layer.

I made it to Day 30 of NaBloPoMo!!!

This is the last of my off-subject blog posts, I promise! Well at least until Oliver is born and then I'm sure you will all want to see him, right? And I hope to start showing you things I've made for him soon. But for one last time I will use the BlogHer NaBloPoMo prompt for the day:

Friday, November 30, 2012
What has been the hardest part about blogging daily?


Doing anything other than personal hygiene on a daily basis is just not my style and even the hygiene has taken a back seat to some much needed down time on occasion. I have found out that I function better when allowed to fail, or at least when allowed to not follow a rigid structure. My ideal vacation would be one that has a starting and ending point with some "must see" spots in-between, unlimited budget (in my dreams!), no set time frame and done in a comfortable vehicle with a killer sound system. The closest I've come to that is a side trip to Colorado at the tail end of a business trip to Western Kansas. I must say that my 91 Bonneville did have one of the best sound systems of any car I've ever had and was very comfortable. Ok, so I digress.......

It's been tough for me to remember to blog every day and I've had to back-date one or two posts. I'm more of the "blog when I feel like it" sort of people. That's why I've not pursued any design teams or gotten super committed to weekly challenges. I guess some folks thrive on the competition or love the challenge, but I find my life to be far less stressful when I allow myself the flexibility of controlling my leisure time by not having to abide by deadlines. Heaven knows I've got enough of those at work! Yeah, I never could keep a paper journal or diary either. I found at least four spiral or hardback journals with only one or two entries in them, including some that I started when my daughter was born.

So what causes this lackadaisical attitude? Is it my CADD (Crafters Attention Deficit Disorder), PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), sensory overloaded or maybe none of the above? Maybe it's perfectly normal and all of you who religiously blog every day are really the odd ones! Maybe you have an unnatural need to achieve this lofty goal, or perhaps you actually make money blogging... Yes, THAT must be it!!! So when I grow up and retire maybe I'll start blogging every day too and maybe someone will pay me to do it! Sounds like a plan to me!

If I were to start blogging every day or even once a week, what would you come back here every day or week to read?

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Three great blog to read

It's hard to believe that November is almost over and even harder to believe that I've posted for 29 straight days in a row! Wowser! The BlogHer NaBloPoMo prompt for today is:

Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tell us about three new blogs you found this year.



Honestly I can't tell you when I began reading these three blogs, but have thoroughly enjoyed them over the past year.

First is Simply Modern Mom who will treat you to recipes and other home ideas that will simply delight you.

Next is Erin Cooks, another great foodie blog full of great stuff.

Then there's Sweet Paper Treats where Karen continues to amaze me with her talent as a card and scrapbook creator. Now she's even designing stamps for Market Street Stamps!



I'm certain that you'll enjoy their blogs too, so go take a look!

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