OWH - Sketch #192

It's not quite October but I thought I would get jump on my Halloween cards using Operation Write Home's sketch #192.  I used Stampin' Up's Witches Brew Designer Series Paper. The bat is from the retired "Googly Ghouls" set.

Card Swap - Masking Tape Technique

Happy Wednesday! Here is this month's card swap for the Masking Tape Technique. Rather than try to create a faux background or some type of distressed look, I kept it simple and applied the inked masking tape in stripes. I finished the card with a classic stamp from Stampin' Up!, "Lovely As A Tree."

OWH - Sketch #191

Happy Fall! Can you believe it? Here is this week's card for sketch #191 from Operation Write Home. Once again I used all Stampin' Up! scraps and a sentiment stamped on vellum from who knows how long ago. Enjoy!

OWH - Sketch #190

Here is this week's card for sketch #190 from Operation Write Home. The embossed background was made using the Alphabet Press embossing folder from Stampin' Up! The brads and the leaf stamp are both retired.

Let's Be Adventurers

I started this layout over a year ago and put it aside because I really didn't like how it was turning out. The original layout was on a 12x12 piece of purple paper and I think I was trying to create a pocket page type look. Anyway, I cut down the paper and started over by adding multiple layers of coordinating scraps on a new piece of 12x12. I'm not 100% happy but it's definitely much better than before. All the papers are from Stampin' Up!, the tickets are from a raffle (that I didn't win) and the dog print ribbon was a gift that I received years ago.

OWH - Sketch #189

Happy Sunday! Here is this week's sketch for Operation Write Home. I used mostly scraps and the same sentiment (retired) from the tag I posted on Labor Day. All products are from Stampin' Up!.

Masking Tape Technique

This month's technique involves placing a large piece of masking tape onto a stamp pad to create a weathered and distressed look. To create the card below  I applied very light ink layers to the masking tape and continued to apply the tape in different directions to stamp off all the ink. If you want a more bold or distinct look just press the tape harder onto the pad. You could even make distressed stripes. I would definitely recommend using the blue or green masking tape used for painting your house. 

OWH - Sketch #188

Happy end of summer 2013! Here is this week's sketch from Operation Write Home. I started to add faux stitching to the left side of the card and ultimately cut it off and covered up the edge with black cardstock. I'm still not crazy about it...oh well.

Tim Holtz - 12 Tags of 2013 (Sep)

The theme for this month's tag from Tim is layered stencils. Although I don't have any stencils, I used a chevron paper punch and a serif alphabet die from Stampin' Up! and applied crackle paint and ink through them as if they were stencils. The hexagons were stamped with versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.  The butterflies were stamped with StazOn so the ink would adhere to the embossing. The only non Stampin' Up! item is the typewriter letter from Levenger (no longer available).

Card Swap - Grid Technique

Here is this month's card swap for the grid technique. Rather than use a scoring board to create the grid lines, I used a texture plate which essentially achieved the same look but saved lots of time. The two-step butterfly stamp is from Stampin' Up?. 

OWH - Sketch #187

Here is this week's card for sketch #187 from Operation Write Home. I used scraps from last week's card and stayed with the blue/green theme. The dragonfly is from the retired Stampin' Up! set called "Wonderful Wings (2001)". The double bow was tied using the bow maker from Lee Conrey.

Sketch 30

Here is the most current Sketch to Scrapbook page from Shimelle. The focus of this page is "A Design for Landscape and Portrait Photos." For whatever reason I really struggled with this page although I was initially really excited about all of the vibrant colors in the photos. Anyway, the papers, the stitching and the washi tape are all from Stampin' Up! and created using My Digital Studio software.

OWH - Sketch #186

This morning we took our girls for a quick hike in the Angeles National Forest so I thought this Adventurers stamp from Stampin' Up! would work well with this week's sketch from Operation Write Home.

OWH - Sketches #183 and #184

I finally went back and completed the cards for Operation Write Home's sketch #183 and #184. Both cards feature the new chevron border punch from Stampin' Up while most of the other elements are scraps from other projects.

Sketch 29

This week's Sketch to Scrapbook page from Shimelle is titled "A Gathering in 3x4" and features one of the latest trends in scrapbooking...the journaling card made popular by Project Life. I chose to use three vacation photos of the USS North Carolina that coordinated with the 3x4 card. 

Tim Holtz - 12 Tags of 2013 (Aug)

This month's tag from Tim focused on travel and summer vacations. Although I really loved his Route 66 themed tag, I knew I wanted to use the ship from Stampin' Up's "The Open Sea" set. The inspiration for enlarging the stamped image and the ship's 3D sails came from Melanie. I started with Night of Navy textured cardstock, added the background stamp "World Map" in silver ink and distressed the edges with the distressing tool and chocolate chip ink. I colored two versions of the ship and used the sails from the second image and adhered with Stampin' dimensionals. All of the remaining embellishments, except for the vertical piece of tape, are Stampin' Up! products.

OWH - Sketch #185

Here is a quick and simple card for this week's sketch from Operation Write Home. I am a few cards behind and will be posting makeup cards shortly. Hope you're having a great Sunday.

Sketch 28

Here is my layout for Shimelle's Sketch to Scrapbook Page, "A Vertical Design for Smaller Photos." Since we've been listening to water dropping helicopters for the last three days, I thought fire photos would be perfect for this layout. If you'd like to see a related news clip about the fire you can click here.

Birthday Butterflies

No sketch today, just a birthday card for my sister-in-law. The butterflies are recycled from a Thank You card that she gave us months ago. I had no idea that the newspaper DSP in the background was discussing butterfly caterpillars until I posted the photos.

Sketch 27

Happy Saturday! Here is my layout for Shimelle's Sketch to Scrapbook page, "Starting with a Mist." I chose to use a huge ink splatter as my "mist" and focal point for the layout. The photos are from the Matchbox Twenty and Goo Goo Dolls concert we attended in July.

Sketch 26

The focus of this Sketch to Scrapbook page from Shimelle is "Scrapbooking with a Favorite Patterned Paper." I used Stampin' Up's Sunset Serenade, applied a few layers of coordinating paper and finished it off with a sentiment.  

Grid Technique

This month's technique involves using a scoring board to create a grid pattern and a base for stamping images. Although it can be somewhat tedious the results are very nice. Please scroll down for the instructions.

Card Swap - Collage Stamping Technique

Here is my card swap for this month's technique. I used Stampin' Up's core'dinations cardstock with the new alphabet press embossing folder to create the background. The lobster, sea horse and script images are from the "By the Tide" set. You can view the instructions for the technique at this post.

OWH - Sketch #182

Here is this week's sketch from Operation Write Home. I used Stampin' Up's new core'dinations cardstock for the hexagons and lightly distressed the embossed image on the reverse side with a sanding block. The bicycle die cut is from the card I mentioned last week. Yeah for recycling.

 

Sketch 25

Here is Shimelle's Sketch to Scrapbook page, "Scrapbooking with a Title on the Photo." For this layout I used photos of our dog Kobi each with a different effect applied by RadLab.