A Memorial Day bonus for hoppers!

I'm just so grateful for all the wonderful comments you all made....I wasn't planning on going to the extreme I did here, but once I got rolling it was hard to stop!

The most common things people wanted were masculine stamps, patriotic designs, and sentiments. I do plan to do a lot more specifically on these and a lot of other of the great ideas, but...here's something for a start! See the samples below for a few thoughts I had on coloring while working on the sample cards.

I started out planning to just do the eagle, but then thought it might be helpful to me with a massive cardmaking effort with my church to have something that people can just color. Stay tuned for what that will be later! But this contained image seemed like something easy to color. I think it'll be great on a kids coloring page too. Again, stay tuned!

To use the image at right, be sure to click on it once, then when it's large, rightclick to download. This small thumbnail will be all fuzzy! If you want the solo eagle, it's included in the set of individual stamps, which you can get by clicking here.

Note that these are free to use on your OWH cards. If you want to use them for something else, please feel free to make a paypal donation to help support the purpose they're made for!

I wanted to create some sample cards, and started with some coloring experiments with Copics...on some I colored the background one color, split it on others, layered some with one eagle (cut out and attached with dimensional adhesive) and the sympathy card below has three layers!

I'm never quite certain what colors an eagle should be. Of course the head is white, but the body is more grey/black than brown. However—the browns look so much warmer on cards! Of the series of images here, the "Thought" version at lef is colored with the warm greys, the "Hello" at right is colored with the cool greys.

You certainly don't have to layer the stamped image like I did on some of these - but I would certainly love to see what you do with it!

The first sample is a gold-star sympathy card, since it's Memorial Day today; gold stars represent those who have lost a loved one, so if you see someone with a gold star flag in their window or a gold star pin, that's what it's for. So I hope this stamp set will be one that folks can use to create a card to send to those families.

The background paper is shiny gold wrapping paper, half run through the cuttlebug with the swiss dots folder. The star I punched from yellow paper, colored it with Copics to get it to look a little dimensional, then stuck it on the gold paper and trimmed it by hand. The eagle itself was a cutting project - three layers (see 2nd photo), and layers of the shape around it too.

Second is a card I'll use for an AnyHero card since it's way thick. LOL. I cut that background paper in a long strip, and since it gets out of focus at the top (making it somewhat useless as paper since you can't tell what it is) I wrapped the whole strip all the way around the back of the card and back to the inside. Yeah, lots of paper!

The star border at the bottom is a recently purchased border punch - I think I'll be getting a lot of use out of it! And the little red star - that one was left behind from some patriotic cards...no idea what it fell off of, so I just attached it to this card.

Next is a cute Hello card, and I used a scrap of some SU paper with the little houses. This is the eagle colored with the cool greys - so I stayed with more of a black and white theme to fit that in. On this one the stamped image is trimmed out but adhered onto a piece of paper.

And now for the eagle without anything around it...I printed it just a tidge big! Eeep. On this one though you can see a little better how I colored the eagle. I left the stamp outlines really simple so as not to intimidate people about coloring it. But - feel free to add detail! I use, generally, an upper left light source on my images, and this one shows that. So the shadows go under wings, on the right back side of legs, etc. And the back leg and back wing are darker than the wing that's closer - which gives it a little more dimension. I use either a really light blue or light grey for shadows under the tail or the underside of the white head.

Now I'm thinking I may need to get some mountain/scenic stamps to put behind this eagle....he needs a scene to look out over!




So...that's my thank-you gift for all of you who left SO many comments on my blog (119!!! eeep!)...I feel so blessed by you all!

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Missed one!

This is a card I'd made as a sample for Cheryl with her freebie digi - I didn't know she'd had trouble getting it out of email, so it didn't get posted. But - here it is now for you! You can go pick up her digis here.....isn't Oscar the funniest little camel!!

And to answer two of the most oft-made comments on my bloghop post -

1. I sleep little! ROFL! I go to bed  between midnight and 1am, bloghop week was sometimes 2. That'd be why, if you're a Facebook friend, my posts seem to be sprinkled with "nap." I use them to keep this energizer bunny rolling! Someday it would be nice to *just* do OWH and not have to have a job too (since all of us at OWH are totally volunteers)...anyone wanna pay my mortgage? *grin*
2. Because of your insanely nice encouragement, I'm going to work on a digitreat to post later today. I have some ideas....so come back in a couple hours and see what I come up with!

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Post bloghop cards!

Ohhhh me oh my what a weekend! All that creativity on the hop—wheeeee!!! I got busy making some cards this evening after my coloring fest last night (once I finished hopping!).....let's see if I can link them up right to their sources!

First this tank card - digistamp is from KahWinkEDink, colored with Copics; the design is the S&S Sketch for this week, #19....

Next...the stamp on the left was a freebie digi from Layers of Color, one of the hop sponsors. (By the way, they are donating a portion of the weekend's sales to OWH --- need anything??) Papers are from my scrap pile. The background on the right is from Kajikit's blog, and the image is a freebie on the S&S Digis page.

Next on the runway (lol) are birthday candles on the left by Yolanda at Imagine Make Share. On the right is the Wink Wink teddy bear digi...I think I'll give this one to one of the kids at church to write an AnyHero letter in.

On the left is a free digi by JessicaLynn, to which I added the 'heart u' when coloring it. Papers are the leftovers from my own tutorial, one post below. On the right is a free digi I got elsewhere, but using more of the wax resist paper.

Next is the sweet puppy from Splashing Joy - such a cute doggie! My card is really simple, even though had a more elaborate plan! On the right is a card for a sketch I saw....wait here while I dig up where, lol. Oh okay its from Lindsey! The sentiment's from the Splashing Joy set too.

And now we have the cute little snail from Yolanda's Imagine Make Share blog. The grassy paper is a strip from my stash, and the Snail Mail sentiment was typeset on my computer. On the right is the odd little mousey spiderman by Whiff of Joy - linked to on the Pretty Pressings blog. I finally got to use the spiderweb embossing folder someone RAKd me....I don't get into halloween cards, but this spidey stamp might well get me using that folder more! I added wiggly eyes to the stamp - he doesn't come with eyes, which is strange! He looks all glass-eyed without pupils!? Maybe its one of those stamps that I just can't "see" - there's one I have that has a mouth that, to me, looks a lot more like a nose. Eye of the beholder, eh?

So that's it for my sharing today. Enough for ya? I'm pooped!!! I'm so glad tomorrow is a day off. Lots to do, and I also want to sleep in :)

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Memorial Day Bloghop! Freebies and Candy!

Welcome to my lil stop on the hop! You may have already been hopping and got here from Louise's blog — doesn't she make the most beautiful cards! I just love her style...she's a west coaster so I'm blessed to receive her cards for OWH :)  But first ... if you aren't starting at the beginning, you know that's the very best place to start (or so says Julie Andrews!). So go back to the Stars and Stamps Blog to see everything from the beginning!

I am so very excited about what I have to share with you today — I hope you enjoy it too! I'm the crazy woman behind OWH...aside from a few of our cardmakers, I think I'm the only one still with it since spring of 2007! (I think Ann L from Orem might just be our longest-term cardmaker!) I serve as the President of OWH, and what an honor that is...to hear from so many heroes who are grateful for the cards that YOU all make, to hear from families, to talk with cardmakers about the impact the project has had on all of you....you have no idea how blessed I am!

If you're new to OWH, the place to start for just the basic guidelines is this post. The mailroom video there tells you a lot of the kinds of things people ask me about all the time, so if you watch that, you'll be steps ahead! And if you're not new, I hope you caught the silly little bedtime story video I made recently—it was just a quickie I posted, and it's not been given much love, so go give it a look! lol.

my first digis! 

Okay, now on to what I've been all excited about..... I've had an idea cooking in my head for a long time, and my dear friend Dawn nudged and inspired me! I created my first ever digistamps!! The little pup is my sweet Ciara, at left, our little OWH mascot! And of course one of the stamps also had to be a little eagle....both of these are adorable for missing you cards or a variety of other themes too. I made them with and without the letter in their mouths - notice the OWH postmark? Heehee!!!

Download a zip file with the whole set of individual stamps, or you can click on the image below to download one page with all of them on it. (Right click when you get to the larger image, this one will print fuzzy.)

my cards

Here are the first cards I made from them...Images are colored with Copics, and if you want to know about the background papers, keep on reading below the cards!

my wax resist background tutorial

Here's both a video version and photo version...it's really easy! I learned this from a stamper a few years ago, and I sure wish I could remember who it was....if she sees this I hope she reminds me that it's her technique!

Whew! Are you still with me? Sorry, this post got really long! :) 

my blog candy!

Prize 1 goes to a random commenter answering the question: What other digis would you like to see me try? (I'm new at this, but psyched to give it a shot!)

Prize 2 goes to someone chosen from anyone who USES my digis this weekend! Leave your link here using InLinkz, but please only do so if you're linking to a card made with the digis.

And now, on to the next stop on the hop - which happens to be a big surprise that I hinted at on the Facebook page on Thursday!! Check out Eric at Broken Road Studio for a COOL story!

CLICK HERE to go to Eric's!

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Birthday boy

This post is, possibly, proof of my insanity.

Though I was slammed with bloghop details for Operation Write Home, I had to stop and make a card for InLinkz's birthday boy challenge. One turned into three. SHEESH! Someone stop me - how do I get my priorities so whacked! lol. Anyway....here are three cards. And they're colored so they work for the Tuesday Throwdown too!

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Get well soon!

This is for one of our bloggers...she's such a trooper, today she's having surgery, yet she didn't bail on the hop. Get well soon, my dear! (She's planning on hopping from her hospital bed this weekend! Talk about dedicated!)

If you're wondering about the background paper on this card....stay tuned tomorrow at the hop! :)

PS - Lil Miss Ciara needs herself a get well wish too! She had to be put under to get her teeth cleaning done yesterday, along with her 50,000 mile tuneup. She was not a happy camper at all! Poor thing. So Louise, she feels your pain!

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S&S Sketch Challenge #18

I liked this sketch, even if it was a little challenging...NO RIBBON! Ack! But....it's a card for a little tomboy so I'll let that slide. :)

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Who doesn't love Mickey?

A long long time ago, someone donated a ton of this cute yellow Mickey Mouse paper...and I asked some friends to send me Mickey images, since I had no stamps. Since then, I haven't used up much of it - so I thought assembling a bunch for the cardmaking party would be fun. Easy images to color and prep, and they can be simply mounted and a sentiment added (or not). Easypeasylemonsqueezy!

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Daydreamin'

One of my favorite ways to relax...napping! Kinda makes up for a lot of lost sleep, kwim? This little stamp is so darned cute, and I sure wish I had more of these RAKd images...I may have to purchase this one by Penny Black :) It makes me want to go lay out in the grass and catch some zzzzzs!

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Thinking of fishing

Hi everyone! Quiiiiick card for tonight...and now that I see it in a photo I see how crooked it is. Alas. I've kept up my card-a-day so long this year, I can't break it for crookedness' sake now! lol. Image is a digi from Dustin Pike.

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Making assumptions

The set of Dustin Pike images I got a while back has a bunch of bears of all sorts in it...and I think this is a panda. I sure hope it is! He has the eye fur, so I'm making that assumption. :)

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Spotty dots

MelJen's blog has a "spots" challenge going on right now...and I have SO much polka dotted paper! So it's an easy one to tackle with all this paper on hand...add one of MelJen's kitty stamps and it's a match made in heaven!

You might see quite a few love and birthday cards coming up soon....I'm low on those, so I need to stop making general ones! Yeesh. I'm as much a culprit as anyone! lol. Gnight!

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More kits!

I guess I must be thinking there's gonna be a lot of cardmakers coming to my June 26th party. Or hoping! lol. I had a lot of "no" responses, but some say they can come....so we'll see what happens! :)

I'm going through my stash of images to find ones that I have a bunch of, and making kits from those - here's one with these pretty little flowers:

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