Cherry Blossoms

Hi everyone,

Today was a total washout. Nothing but Severe Weather.. Rain, Wind, Tornadoes and over 5 inches of rain in some parts of my area. We got almost 4 inches, but my parents got over 5 inches. Luckily no damage to our house but the high winds did damage our shed out back.

So, today was a perfect day to make some cards. I had the day off of work because I have to work on Saturday... *BOO!

I used a sketch to make my card today. This sketch is from StampTV and I just loved it.
Here is a picture of the sketch:

This is my card:

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Cherry Blossom by Rubber Stampede; Sentiment stamp from GinaK Designs
Paper: Card base is GinaK Designs 120lb base weight white cardstock. Patterned paper is Basic Grey.
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black -Stampin Up Regal Rose for the shading around the image.
Accessories: Nestabilities: Scalloped Rectangles, Beaded Circles and Fancy Tags. Pearls for embellies.


I hope you enjoyed my card today. I'll be back tomorrow with another!

Bunny Hop Time!!

Welcome to the Operation Write Home Bunny Hop! We have a great line up today of awesome card makers who love to support our troops! Make sure you start the "Bunny Hop" at the beginning  so you don't miss a step along the way.

I've been under the weather all week with "Spring Time Allergies". The pollen count here in Florida has been way above normal and low and behold I've been bed ridden for 3 days with a nasty chest cold compliments of the allergies. YUCK! I'm actually missing the baby shower of very dear friend's daughter today because I don't want to pass this on to her or anyone else for that matter. I'm really bummed about missing the shower but just can't take a chance on getting the mother to be sick.

Before I share my card with you, please take note that the deadline to mail in your Easter Cards is March 18th and the deadline for Mother's Day Cards is March 31st.

Now on to my card... this cute little bunny is from Darcy's and I have had him for years. I love inking him up at Easter time!  I colored him with copics and cut him out with my scalloped rectangle nesties. I sponged around the corners before I removed the image with Ranger Distress Ink "Broken China".  I added a little piece of ribbon and then my sentiment.

If you haven't already looked around the Operation Write Home website, might I suggest you take a peek at the "Get Involved" page. Every little bit counts in helping support our troops.

Trivia Question: 


How many members of my family are actively serving in the military at this time?

For each correct answer, I will donate .25 cents to OWH.  Leave your answer in the comments section. Oh.. and you can find the answer to this question on the Operation Write Home website.. you might have to do a little digging.. but it's there. Your answer must be posted by midnight on Monday March 7th to count.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed your visit and make sure your next stop is Michelle

OWH Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge # 57

Hi Everyone!  I know it's been MONTHS since I've blogged, but that crazy thing called LIFE has been standing in my way!  I have made a vow to start posting again frequently and to get back in my craft room more than once a month!  My goal is to make at least one card per night for the next month! Let's see if I can do it! Wish me luck!

So, I decided to try out this weeks sketch challenge from OWH Starts and Stamps..
Here is the sketch...

I made two cards using this sketch, but changed the second one up a little.

Here's my first card:  I used K&Co design paper. I distressed the DP and then inked the edges with Distress Ink. The sentiment is from Just Right Stamps.  The embellies are also from K& Co.

The second card is just reversed on the sketch.

I'm looking forward to participating in the upcoming hop to be held on March 5th! I hope you'll mark your calendar to make sure you check out all the blogs participating to see the beautiful cards everyone will be showcasing.

Have a great night everyone!

Success! Cards for Operation Write Home!

Hi Everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Saturday was a day of reflection and prayer for our country as we marked the 9th anniversary of the tragic events on September 11, 2001. I know like all of you, I will NEVER FORGET that day.  I pray that those who lost a husband, wife, son, daughter, friend or family member will be comforted by the loving memory of their loved one.

Two of my dear friends came over and we spent the day and into the night making cards for Operation Write Home. It was a successful day, with almost 30 cards made by the three of us. I wish we could have done more, but, we will have more get togethers soon!

Here's a collage of the cards we did get finished.

Thanks to Lynn and Amanda for helping me make these great cards! 
I'll be back tomorrow with another post! Have a Happy Monday!

Happy Birthday to My BFF

Kelli Sue Barrett Pittman. Born September 7th, and has been my best friend for the past 16 years. We've been through lots of ups and downs, laughed, cried, and always been there for each other.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful friend. Kelli is one of the most caring, thoughtful and generous persons I have ever known. She's got my back, just like I have hers. She is beautiful on the inside and out. She is like a sister to me.

Kelli, I hope you have a wonderful birthday, filled with love and all the things that make you happy. You are an amazing friend, amazing mother and I know that God has great plans for you. 

Always remember you are loved and cherished by so many people, especially me!

Operation Write Home - Birthday Bash!

Saturday, I'm having some friends over to make cards for Operation Write Home. I am very excited to get together for a day of friendship and crafting for a great cause. 

My goal is to make at least 100 cards to send to our troops! If you are local and would like to join us, please do!

Here is a card I don't think I've shared. I just love HouseMouse stamps. I really need to use more of them.


Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. I had a nice one even though the weather wasn't that great. Good thing, the work week will be short!
I should have another card to share with you tomorrow night.

Thanks for stopping by!

Missing You is Ruff!

Hi Everyone! I promised I'd be back tonight with some cards to share. I had such a fun time making these cards!

I followed a tutorial I found at Gina K's Stamp TV found here

The first card is made with a new stamp I purchased at StampFest in Orlando back in June. I bought it from Inky Antics and just love this little dog and the sentiment that goes with it.

The second card is similar but I didn't use the reverse nestabilities technique.

The last card I used one of my Gorjus Girls stamps by Sugar Nellie. I just love this little girl. Again, I used the Gina K reverse nestabilities technique. It's really very easy to do and I love the look of these cards!

I am hoping to get some cards made this weekend. I'm currently planning a get together to make cards for the troops for Operation Write Home. September is their big Birthday Bash and I'd love to send them a great big batch of cards! I'm looking to have the stamping get together on September 11th. If you are in the area and would like to join me, please let me know! I'd love to have you!

Card Details:


Stamps: Inky Antics and Gorjus Girls
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black
Coloring: Copic Markers
Cardstock: Stampin Up
Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Folder Swiss Dots


Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful Friday!

A Busy Summer!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Father's Day! I fully intend to start blogging on a regular basis again. I hope you all have had a wonderful summer! We had a wonderful time at our annual beach vacation in New Smyrna Beach.I celebrated my 29th birthday again while we were at the beach this year. (LOL)  It was a great time, my best friend and her son came this year and my son Eric was actually able to come for a couple days and spend my birthday with me. He hadn't been to the beach with us in about 4 years.

We've also been spending a lot of time on the boat this year. The weather has been so gorgeous this summer but extremely hot!  I really enjoy boating. It is so relaxing to be out on the water.

Here's a photo of my niece Adele on her first attempt wakeboarding. She has become the little expert after a week of practice!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is the day we celebrate or remember that special Dad in our life. I am so blessed to have a wonderful Dad. This is my Dad...

I am a very lucky girl to have such a wonderful father. He is my mentor, my friend and my inspiration. I love you Dad!

Today, I have a couple of cards to share. Yesterday, I went to StampFest in Orlando and had a wonderful day with my friends Lynn and Amanda. I got lots of great new stamping things that I can't wait to play with... Here's a couple of photos of all my goodies.

I can't wait to make some cards for OWH with these two stamps! Aren't they adorable? I also got really good deals on the Just Rite Stamp sets. I used the "By The Sea" stamp set to make a Father's Day card from my Dad and my Dear Hubby.

Both cards are stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copic Markers.  The first card is for my Dad...

I cased this card from the Just Rite Gallery and found this awesome card made by Kathy J. Her blog is Inspired To Stamp. This is the card of her's that I cased:  Click here
This card I made for my husband and the father of my children. I am also blessed to have such a great husband. I love you sweetie!

I hope you all have a wonderful day spending time with your family!

S & S Sketch Challenge #21

Good Evening! I don't know how the weather is where you live, but here in Florida it is HOT!!!!!!!!
This morning when I got up it was 90 degrees. Our high today was 97 with a heat index over 100 degrees! UGH. It's only mid June... I can't imagine how hot it will be in July and August which are our really hot months.

This week Karen gave us  a great sketch to work with.  I strayed a little bit from the original..using an Oval image instead of a square image.

Here's the Sketch:

This is the card I made:

Card Details:
Stamps: Just Rite Stamps - Breath of Spring Borders
Colored with Copics- Crystal Effects on Tulips; Red Stickles on border

Thanks for stopping by tonight. I'd love to hear your comments on my card.

Enjoyed the Sunshine Today!

Hi everyone.. I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend! I had a nice one myself. I have a few photos to share from my day today boating with my dad and cousin Josef.  I have a couple of cards to share too, so sit tight and bear with me...

Josef is really great at wakeboarding and we spent the afternoon on Tampa Bay soaking in the sunshine and heat!

As we headed into the bay, we saw a wonderful display of Sailboats...

We headed to a popular boating place called Beer Can Island...but it was a little too crowded for us to anchor down and slip onto the island, so we just circled the island and headed back towards downtown Tampa..

As we headed back in, we passed the beautiful Carnival Cruise Ship - The Legend.

Then Josef decided to do a little wakeboarding...

It was a fun day!

Now my cards to share....

I finally have my box of cards for Operation Write Home ready to ship! Included in this box are about 15 Any Hero Cards that I had my scrapbooking girlfriends sign when I went to a weekend retreat back in April. Some of the ladies actually made their entire cards, other's just wrote a message to a Hero inside and then I made the cards when I got home.  Here's a few of the cards:

I also made a card for a friend of mine's little girl Gabriella to give to her father for Father's Day. I love this GinaK designs stamp called " With Daddy's Help".  The designer paper is Basic Grey and I colored the image with Copics.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to have another card to share with you tomorrow! Have a great week everyone!

Bella Birthday Card...

Greetings!  I have a card to share today.. though it's rather simple.  I've been trying to put cards together to get a box sent to Operation Write Home for the troops. I've got so many images already colored and I just need to get my butt in gear to put the images on cards.

I'm also excited that this weekend my friend Lynn is coming over and we are going to be card making fools. I have about 7 cards I need to make for myself to give to people and then I'm planning on making more for the troops.

If you are interested in making some cards for our troops, we'd love you to join our great group! You can find all the information you need at Operation Write Home's website. Check out the videos there too! It's really been awesome seeing all the publicity lately in the magazines like CardMaker, PaperCrafts and even Creating Keepsakes!  If everyone just sent in 10 cards a year, we would make a lot of servicemen and women very happy!

My daughter will be deploying soon to Afghanistan. She already told me that she wants OWH to send her boxes of cards to share with her unit.

I hope everyone is geared up for summer! It's HOT as heck here in Florida. I hope to have another card to share with you tomorrow night!

Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!

What Memorial Day Means To Me

Good Morning! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today! If you are following the hop in order you just came from Heather's blog Stamptastic Creations. To start at the beginning of the hop, please start at the Stars and Stripes Blog. 

If you are just learning about Operation Write Home, you are in for something! I am so proud to be a cardmaker for OWH and help give our servicemen and women something to send home to their loved ones. We are a group of cardmakers focused on making hand made cards for our troops to send back home to their loved ones. We make cards for all occasions: all the major holidays, birthdays, thinking of you, and Any Hero cards which are cards we send to the soldiers to thank them for their service and send encouragement to them while they are deployed. You can find a wealth of information on the Operation Write Home website. They also have a Facebook page and two blogs.

My daughter is currently serving in the United States Marine Corps. My husband is retired from the Army. My Grandfather was a Colonel in the Army during WW2. My brother Stephen served during the Persian Gulf War in the Army. My Uncle Wayne served his whole career in the United States Coast Guard. My cousin Jim served in the Navy and Air Force. My brother in law Jim, served in the Air Force.

As you can see I have a strong line of military pride in my family.  Memorial Day is an important day to our family as we remember the fallen heroes that have made our country the best place to live on earth. I am grateful for all of the branches of Service that defend our freedom and ensure that my family sleeps safely every night.  The pride that I feel as my daughter serves as one of the Fewer and Proud is indescribable. Thank you to all of the past, present and future servicemen and women who defend our country and serve it so well!

The theme for our blog hop is " Miss You".  My card is dedicated to the memory of my brother who passed away in 2007 and to my daughter who I miss everyday as she is away from home serving our country.

My card is made with the Red White and Blue theme with a Tilda stamp from Magnolia. I colored this cutie with Copic Markers. I cut out Tilda and popped her up with dimensionals to give the card a little extra zip.

We would love to recruit some new card makers for OWH. Even if you are new to card making, please think about joining us in this great cause.  Our soldiers LOVE cards of any kind! There are some wonderful tutorials on the OWH website and especially on the Stars and Stamps blog! The Facebook site is a great place to ask questions and get answers from all the cardmakers. Don't be shy... we'd love to have you join in our passion to make these cards for our troops!

The next stop on the hop is Deborah at Thoughts of a Grasshopper. I know you'll enjoy her creation! She does fabulous work! Please leave a comment if you stopped by today. I'd love to hear from you!

Have a Wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Coming Up For Air......

I can't believe it's been two months since I have blogged! I have to remedy this situation and fast! I'm back in the craft room and have some new cards to share.. but, I won't share them all at one time.

So, since I last posted, my daughter has moved to her permanent duty station in North Carolina.  I was blessed to be able to travel there on Mother's Day Weekend to spend some time with her and see her new home. My husband and I drove her car up to her and boy was she ever happy! She's been without her car since October. I was a little worried she might have forgotten how to drive. LOL

I've been busy lately making cards for Operation Write Home. For those of you who know me, you know that this is an organization near and dear to my heart. This Saturday, on Memorial Day Weekend, I will be participating in my third blog hop with OWH.  I hope you'll take a few minutes this weekend to visit the wonderful cardmakers to see the great creations and tributes we have to share with you in honor of our service men and women.

The card I have to share with you tonight is a card I made using the sketch challenge from the Stars and Stamps Blog 

I love this cute Magnolia stamp.. Tilda with bee.  Isn't she the cutest??  I colored her with Copic Markers. I will be back tomorrow night to share another card with you.  I hope you have a great day! Thanks for visiting!

Lucky Winner of My Blog Candy and a card to share....

Good evening everyone!! Thanks again to everyone who stopped by on the Blog Hop! It was so much fun and I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's cards and posts along the hop!  What an awesome group of talent we have making cards for our heroes!!

The lucky winner of my blog candy is Rufus!  I've sent you an email.. please reply back with your mailing address so I can get the goodies in the mail to you!

I have another card to share with you all. If you know me, you know that Magnolia stamps are one of my all time favorites!  I made this card by paper piecing Tilda's outfit with designer paper.  I colored the rest in with my Copic Markers.

This is a very simple card, but sometimes I like simple! LOL

Hope you enjoy it!

I will be back tomorrow night with another card to share.. meanwhile I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!

Hugs,

It's Blog Hop Time!!!

Welcome to the Spring Operation Write Home Blog Hop!

I’m so glad you are here! If you didn’t start at the beginning, please go here:

http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org  

I’d hate for you to miss out on any of the great blogs before me!

If you came here from Joscie’s Blog.. you are following the right path.

I am so excited to be participating in today’s blog hop. Last October my daughter joined the Unites States Marine Corps. My husband served 20 years in the US Army, and my brother served in the Army during Operation Desert Storm.  I had taken a break from cardmaking while my daughter was in bootcamp and have just started crafting again.  I’m really happy to be making cards for our troops so they can send cards back home to their friends and loved ones.

I have two cards I’m sharing today as well as some blog candy! 

The first card is my spring card I created..

The image is from Sugar Nellie, sentiment from Stampin Up, and designer paper from Basic Grey. Cardstock Stampin Up and I used my Copic Markers to color my image.

The second card is one I have made to send to “Any Hero”.  I will write a note of thanks to let our heroes know how much I appreciate their service to our country. 

To be entered in the drawing for my blog candy pictured below, please leave a comment on my blog no later than Sunday night at 10pm EST.  I will draw a name from the comments on Monday evening and post the winner here on Monday night. I am also committing to making one card for each comment left here.  

It gives me such a sense of honor to be involved with Operation Write Home. I know how much these men and women sacrifice to keep up safe and Free!  I hope during your many clicks through this blog hop, we will inspire you to make a few cards for our troops! Please visit the OWH website to see what a great organization Sandy runs.  The website is full of information, motivational stories, cardmaking tips and the Stars and Stamps blog also runs weekly challenges! 

Your next stop on the hop is none other than Sandy, the Operation Write Home founder and President.  She works tirelessly with many other women to get these cards shipped to our troops every week.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have fun visiting all the other wonderful blogs on the hop!