• Stamp- PSX
• Patterned paper – Fancy Pants Designs “Swagger” by Nancie Rowe Janitz – 6 X 6″ paper pad
• Die cut – made from Spellbinders Nestabilities “Resplendent Rectangles” set
• Baker’s twine – Doodlebug Design Co.
• Buttons – Vintage set from Buttons Galore
• Cardstock – Bazzill

Today is Father’s Day and this is my husband’s card. It features some perfect paper for masculine cards! Lots of hats and stripes, for example. The sentiment stamp is one of my oldest. The date on it is 1992, which makes it over 20 years old! It’s a classic! I also used a color scheme that is part of a challenge for the upcoming Online Card Classes Summer Card Camp 2. We were challenged to use 4 out of 5 of the following colors:

With this paper collection, I was able to nail it! I also double stamped the sentiment with Smokey Grey and Onyx Black Versafine ink. Thanks for visiting today.

• Stamps – Hampton Art “Butterflies” with matching Spellbinders Shapeabilities dies
• Sentiment stamp – from Stampin’ Up “Sincere Salutations”
• Patterned papers – My Mind’s Eye “In Bloom” 6 X 6″ paper pad
• Embossing folder – Cuttlebug “Decorative Tile Set”
• Tag – Darice “Core Tags”
• Pearls – Blue Hills Studio
• Cardstock – Bazzill

The Midweek Throwdown challenge this week at Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps is to create a cards featuring Things With Wings. I used the matching cling stamp and die set from Hampton Art and Spellbinders for the butterflies. I repeated the pattern in the embossing folder with the patterned paper. Thanks for stopping by.

As most people know, I’m a card maker. I like to try a little bit of everything, but I make cards all the time for family, friends, and Operation Write Home. But my interests temporarily strayed…

So Trenton was in the musical “Once Upon A Mattress” recently at his middle school. He played The Minstral and now has taken a liking to the mandolin! Today they had their cast party and the director asked me for help with a cake–she thought they really deserved something special for their hard work on this production. So I thought about it for a little while and thought that it might be fun to recreate the bed featuring a pile of mattresses that the evil queen hid the pea under. I have played very little with cake decorating. I think I used rolled fondant one other time (almost 14 years ago) for Trenton’s first birthday cake! But I watch Cake Boss–I can do it, right?!

I set to work, beginning by making two 9 X 13″ yellow cakes. I “glued” them together with vanilla butter cream. I think I’ve lost count of how many sticks of butter I used for this cake, between the frosting and the cakes themselves! I covered the layers with some more butter cream and then rolled out some yellow fondant, cut it in a rectangle and covered the cake with the blanket of fondant. I took the dull side of a paring knife and drew a diamond pattern (scoring the surface, not cutting) for a quilted look, and then added some white sugar pearls. I made fondant pillows and then decorated some bedding under the top blanket with colorful icing. I created a headboard from a little foam crown and some white plastic Grecian pillars, then added a little strip of miniature wooden fencing for the ladder that the princess had to climb. It is amazing what you can find when you wander through a craft store!

If you look closely, you will see the green pea beneath the mattresses. Okay, it is an M & M! The kids were happy and enjoyed the cake. I also made some cupcakes with bright green frosting (pea green, thank you very much!), not knowing if the cake would be big enough for everyone. I did find that this was not an original idea! Many others have made such cakes.

And we all lived happily ever after, eating cake! The End. Thanks for visiting. It was fun to dabble in baking and decorating, but I’ll probably stick to card making! I can’t eat my cards! Have a great day.

• Duck sticker and bubbles – Jolee’s Boutique
• Stamp – Hero Arts “Whimsical Happy Birthday”
• Die cuts – Spellbinders Nestabilities “Labels Nine”
• Patterned papers – Doodlebug Design Inc. “Take Note”
• Cardstock – Bazzill
• Border punch – Fiskars “Upper Crest”

I made this card for a rubber ducky lover. I saw these stickers some time ago and knew I had to use them for Olivia! The stickers are vellum, so the duck looks translucent which makes it look pretty realistic. I used Sketch #243 at Clean & Simple Stamping for inspiration. Hope your day is just ducky and thanks for stopping by.

• Stamps – Penny Black “Loads of Love”
• Patterned paper – My Mind’s Eye “Indie Chic ‘Ginger’”
• Cardstock – Bazzill
• Gems – Darice “Earth”
• Border punch – EK Success “Dotted Scallop”

Hi there. Today’s card features a hedgehog driving a dump truck. Yes, its true! I colored this image with Copic markers and added a little bit of bling at the tires. The Midweek Throwdown challenge at Operation Write Home  this week is to create a card featuring transportation. I figure this guy fits the bill. The design was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches Sketch #88.

Welcome!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend by hopping among many card-making blogs. We are all making Thank You cards using OWH sketches. These cards, like 2 million others, will be shipped to deployed soldiers to send back home. Thank you cards are a favorite of our heroes to send home. Here is what I came up with.

• Stamps – Sentiment: Purple Onion Designs – “PF05″ and mouse image  - Rubber Soul “Mouse”
• Patterned papers – My Mind’s Eye “Happy Day” 6 X 6″ paper pad
• Cardstock – Bazzill

I used OWH Sketch #123 for this card. I like all of the elements in the design which provides opportunity to use different patterns and solids. I invite you to create something with this sketch as well–even if you did when it was first posted in May 2012 on Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps. To continue hopping, please return to the OWH bloghop page by clicking here or on the banner at the top of this post. Have a great time!

Here is another inspired by the same sketch:

• Stamps – My Mind’s Eye “Find Your Wings and Fly: Up and Away” set
• Patterned papers – My Mind’s Eye “Find Your Wings and Fly: Sky’s the Limit and Up and Away”
• Border punch – Stampin’ Up “Scallop Edge”
• Cardstock – Bazzill
• Button – Basic Grey
• Twine – Doodlebug Designs

CANDY! Who doesn’t like CANDY?? Visit my previous post by clicking on this link.

Winner: The winner is Nancy M.  Congratulations, Nancy!!

• Stamp - Magenta “Musical Bird Collage”
• Patterned papers – My Mind’s Eye “Happy Day” 6 X 6″ paper pad
• Dragonfly punch – McGill Craftivity
• Postage stamp punch – Marvy Uchida
• Cardstock – Bazzill

I used the latest sketch at Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps for this card: OWH Sketch #173. The subtle patterns in this paper collection didn’t take too much away from the bird stamp focal point. It also meant I had both flora and fauna elements–what could be better? Thanks for visiting today.

• Stamp – Magenta  “Cats of the Month- Limited Edition – Romeo”
• Patterned papers – Authentique 6 X 6 Bundle “Delightful” collection
• Die cuts made from Spellbinders: “Labels Twenty-eight,” “Rose Creations,” and “Foliage Two”
• Brad – Making Memories Shimmer Brads – Black and White
• Cardstock – Bazzill

This is a birthday card for my mom. Today is her birthday: Happy Birthday, Mom! I used the Cardabilities Sketch #75 for inspiration. Mom kind of has a thing for cats so it seemed appropriate to use on of my Magenta cat stamps. Featuring this made me want to use them more! These papers were fun to use and layer, since the colors are muted it kept the design less busy for this relatively clean and simple designer. Thanks for visiting today.

• Stamp – Hero Arts “Mother’s Day Message”
• Die cut made with Spellbinders Nestabilities “Resplendent Rectangles”
• Patterned papers – from Echo Park “Victoria Gardens” 6 X 6″ paper pad
• Cardstock – Bazzill
• Pearls – Queen and Company

This was the Mother’s Day card I made for my mom. I had to post it late today so she wouldn’t see it online before she received it! I used the sketch at Clean and Simple Stamping #140 for inspiration. This was the first time I’d used this die, which is ornate and very pretty. The colors are very Spring-y and the pearls made it seem more elegant. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom! Thanks for visiting today.