Fabulous Finds Friday — Candi is Sweet

How sweet is this … Candi: little paper dot embellishments from Craftwork Cards. What I love about these is that they are light weight, which is great when I make cards for Operation: Write Home (which sends blank handmade cards to military personnel. If you are not familiar with the group, do check it out).

Aren’t they fun? These were attached using a hot glue gun but the company also makes Candi Fix, teensy tiny foam squares (great for tiny embellies of all sorts).

(paper by Hot Off the Press; stamps by Hero Arts)

And this one:

The Candi was attached using Candi Fix.

(Sentiment, Hero Arts; paper Hot Off the Press.)

Here’s a detailed shot (eek, I didn’t realize I didn’t attach them quite straight! They are a little wonky):

And just in case you want to take it up a notch with some glitz here’s Crushed Ice Candi:

You can’t tell, but they are silvery.

Thanks for coming by!

Color Me Scrap Happy

So much paper … so many possibilities! I am trying to curb my hoarding tendencies by using up my stash. I am s-l-o-w-l-y making in-roads. Last weekend I decided to grab some fun paper that I have had for a while and … JUST. USE. IT.

I pulled out some very retro papers from Sassafras Lass and went to work. My goal (besides using up the paper!) was to create fast and easy cards that I could send to Operation Write Home. First up: cut the paper, all of it, and create card bases. I’d worry about decorating them later!

I took some other random scraps and cut a bunch of pieces using my Spellbinders Grand Calibur and random dies:

And the finished cards:

(stamped images from American Crafts Sing Along 59212)

(ooh, I was so lazy here…I couldn’t find the stamp I wanted, was in a hurry and just used a white gel pen to write “hello.” I may re-do this one. The stickers came with the paper set.)

Thanks for coming by!

More Cards for Soldiers

A quick post … with more cards I made to send to Operation Write Home.

As I did with earlier cards, I was looking for a generic card with multiple uses. This congratulations stamp from Close To My Heart fit the bill nicely.

(Dotted folder from Cuttlebug; washi tape from Elmer’s. Love how the texture even works with the washi tape, a technique I saw on Lisa Spangler’s blog… she has the cutest ideas, you must check her out and look at her pretty cards here! )

Now here’s a bright card, below!

The beautiful, bright cardstock is from Die Cuts With A View, Silky Smooth Brights. The pink piece was embossed using a Lifestyle Crafts folder, then sanded lightly to bring out the white core; the blue piece was cut using a Spellbinders Nestabilities. The flowers are from Hero Arts, the sentiment from Technique Tuesday.

And last…. Love this cute camera paper from Die Cuts With a View — can you see the subtle sparkle on the cameras? The top was embossed using a Lifestyle Crafts folder; the sentiment is by Hero Arts. I stamped and embossed it on DCWV bright yellow Silky Smooth paper, but it was too bright. So I swiped on some Ranger Picket Fences Distress stain, then wiped it off the black-embossed sentiment. The easy border is Bazzill Basics’ Just the Edge selection. Just cut and glue!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cards for Soldiers

Last Friday I posted some info on Operation Write Home — an organization that sends handmade cards to troops so they can send cards home. I am also having a We R Memory Keepers paper give-away on my blog (deadline for entries is Father’s Day. See my Friday blog for more details.)

Anyhoo…. I have made a bunch of cards to send to WRMK and Operation Write Home. Here are a few:

Many soldiers have children back home, so I wanted to make some child-centric cards. I thought it would be fun to make some “interactive” cards — cards that children can color! (It didn’t hurt that I just got some gorgeous bright papers from Die Cuts With a View!) So I ran few sheets through various embossing folders (the pink embossed design is from Lifestyle Crafts), stamped some owls (Hero Arts) and a two-word instruction (hee hee … stamped with a tiny Hero Arts alphabet set). Fast, easy, and I hope fun!

Here’s the boy version:

Almost all the same stuff, but the embossing folder is by Sizzix (maybe a Tim Holtz design?).

One more color-me-in design:

This was a fun background. I started with a diagonal embossing folder (Lifestyle) and then turned the folder so that I created a cross-hatch pattern on the top half. Here’s a close-up:

Isn’t that fun? The elephant is an old one from Magenta …. the sentiment also an old one from Hero Arts.

Thanks for coming by!

Fabulous Fun Friday — Operation Write Home

Have I got a fun blog post today! (Prize alert! Scroll down!)

Many of you know about Operation Write Home, an organization that collects cards to send to troops so THEY can write to family and friends back home. I love this group. Contributing is a great way to do something good, be creative and stamp, stamp, stamp.

This month the incentive to make cards is even greater because …. wait for it … We R Memory Keepers™ is trying to collect 50,000 cards to contribute. And there are prizes.

The deadline to submit cards for the contest is midnight, Tuesday, July 24, 2012. 

Did I mention prizes? There are chances to win goodies each week on WRMK’s Facebook page. At the end of the contest, WRMK staff will pick the top 50 cards to be voted on by the company’s Facebook fans.

The top 25 cards will receive a Power Punch
Top 10 cards will receive a Lucky 8 Punch
Top 5 cards will receive a Love 2 Craft collection
The top card receives up to $1,000 in WRMK product (prize value for top card will depend on the number of cards collected)

For more submission guidelines and more info, visit their website: http://www.weronthenet.com/Operation_Write_Home

Do visit the Operation Write Home™ site (www.operationwritehome.org) to see the card making guidelines — there are some restrictions on what you can send.

So… who wants to play? To get you started, We Are Memory Keepers is giving away a “Stack Pack” to one of my blog readers. Leave a comment by the end of Father’s Day (appropriate, yes? It’s June 17, midnight). Tell me why making cards for others is a great idea!

Look at this fun prize: (Think how many cool cards you can make from this stack!)

I’m going to make some cards soon, and I’ll be sharing.

Thanks for stopping by … and happy card making!

Cards for a Cause

I love making cards and have compiled quite a stash. I send cards for birthdays, or just to say hello. I give cards to friends. And I still have a large stockpile!

For the past year or so I have been sending cards to Operation Write Home, a non-profit that sends blank cards to U.S. military personal; they, in turn, can use and send these cards home to loved ones. It is a very satisfying project!

For the upcoming July 4th Independence Day celebration, We Are Memory Makers and Scrapbooks Etc. are teaming with OWH to donate thousands of blank cards.

We R Memory Makers is having a great contest — lots of fun prizes. Find the rules and details at www.weronthenet.com.
Blank cards must be received by 5 p.m., July 6th.

OWH — which has sent out a million cards so far! — is looking for blank, handmade cards that servicemen and women can send home.
These can be birthday, love, miss you, thank you, thinking of you, etc.

There are certain rules to follow in making cards (for example, no glitter), so before making your cards check out the OWH website at www.operationwritehome.org. You
can also send “Any Hero” cards, which are cards with notes inside of them from you to the troops. This is a great school or scout project!

Here’s my hero card:

(images: Artistic Outpost; giant ric rack border from Bazzill Basics.)

Here’s another from my stash:

(bird image: Martha Stewart. Colored with chalk.)

Thanks for stopping by — come back Friday for a Fabulous Find!