Midweek Throwdown - It's not easy being green....

Use green in a card, they said......  what's the first thing I think of when I hear to use green?   Yup, frogs.
This card is in memory of my pet frog, "Froggie"....I watched him grow from a tadpole into the frog that he was.  He spent his winters in a 60 gallon aquarium where I work, feeding on crickets from the local cricket farm (one of my co-workers had a daughter that worked there) and lived in the little ornamental pond in our yard during the spring, summer and fall.   He was with us for about 3  years.  Then one rainy spring day, he went a-courtin' and we never saw him again.  (Stamp is by Whipper Snapper)

 

I also managed to use the S.U. set from Sunday's challenge to actually make flowers instead of noses.  The set is called Pick A Petal.  Kim says they'll make good turkeys for November too!

Froggie

Operation Write Home - Sketch 155

Today's sketch was a bit of a struggle.  I very much wanted to be more creative and have an image in the background of the oval and something else on top.  Instead, this is what I ended up with.  I used more stamps that Kim gave me last year.  I'm on a quest to try something with all of them.  She gave me so many, it may take the rest of the year...........

This is also a set from Kim, I must admit I wasn't creative enough to figure out what to do with them, but thank goodness for google!  This set turned out to be right up  my alley.......and for those of you who really know me, you'll say, "yup, that's her alright..."

Thanks for peeking in! ~Nancy F.

Operation Write Home - Midweek Throwdown

Sentiment Free - that's the rule for the Midweek Throwdown at Operation Write Home today.  I'd have to say that about 75% of my cards don't have sentiments on them, so this wasn't a problem for me.   I've been wanting to do something different and so I got out some Stampin' Up stamps that came from Kim.  I've never been able to do CAS and I still wouldn't be able to, but I found this card on Pinterest and I totally copied it.

You also might notice how much nicer than usual the photo is.  I paid attention to the tutorial yesterday about how to take better photos.   I didn't build a light box, but I did take out a really big sketch tablet and stand it

up under my daylight lamp.  What an improvement!

~Nancy F.

Operation Write Home - Sketch 154

This is a great sketch for using up those little scraps!  I had these images already stamped and colored, and fortunately, they seemed to fit the sketch, so I feel like I accomplished something today!  The stamps are from Stampin' Up.

Thanks for checking in!  ~Nancy F.

Still Catching Up - Our Daily Bread January Challenge

I'm happy that I've managed to get caught up on this week's challenges, just in time for the weekly sketch coming up tomorrow.  This card is for the Our Daily Bread Challenge.  They donate postage money to Operation Write Home as long as we make enough cards to meet their quota.  I somehow was lucky enough to win last month's challenge and can hardly wait to see what I've won!
Here's my card to help get postage money for January - the challenge was to use dry embossing.  My stamp is from Stampendous.   The yellow paper is really much brighter than the washed out photo shows.

I should add learn to take better photos to my resolutions.....   ~Nancy F.

Operation Write Home - Midweek Throwdown

I'm a little late on the Midweek Throwdown, but work was a real bear this week.  I did get some cards made, but by the time I got home from work, I couldn't stand to even turn on the computer.....
The theme was to make cards with spring flowers.   The first card uses a stamp by Judith.

Above stamp by Hampton Art.

Stamp by The Stamp Doctor

2012 Top Ten - In My Humble Opinion.....

Following are my favorite cards for 2012.  We were supposed to come up with ten, but I guess I had an off year, I could only come up with eight.  :-(
 
I think this one was my favorite Hero Card for the year.  The dog tags were from a sticker set.  I guess I could try to make some of my own....

There were good reviews on my sweaters, so I want everyone to pull out your embossing folders and make some!  They're fun and you can use up all sorts of little embellishments for buttons and scraps for cut outs on pockets or fancy collars.  Get out that ancient crimper and go for it!

This was going to be my Christmas card for 2012, but it turned out to take way too long....nothing like biting off more than you can chew.  Maybe if I would have started them in April.......

And another one of my favorite Hero cards -

This challenge was fun, I enjoyed making something totally out of my ordinary range - I did think there wasn't enough room for our heroes to write home in them, so I sent extra paper along in the envelopes.

This is one of my favorite stamps.  I bought it at a show in April, and I thought it was expensive, but I couldn't leave the booth without having it.

I think this is one of my favorite Halloween cards ever.  There was a lot of ink on my hands when I finished this one!

And triple stamping - I love triple stamping!  I learned this technique from the Giggler girls and friends at our card making party for OWH.  I hope we can do that again!

So that's the best I could do this year, which gives me a good New Year's resolution!  Make more cards!

Have a great New Year, blogger friends!

~Nancy F.

Operation Write Home - Sketch 153

This cute little girl is from a Whipper Snapper set that I keep borrowing from a friend.  I should just buy my own!

Of course, I couldn't leave out Snoopy - he's my go to guy.

Gotta get in something from Stampin' Up -

Finishing up with something really old - a little much neglected Cuttlebug embossing folder.

That may or may not do it for me for today.  You just never know!

~Nancy F.

Operation Write Home - Sketch 152

Ode To A Hobbit

Card Drive for Kid's Cards

Some sweaters to keep warm 

And a very Merry Christmas to all my friends out there in blogland!

Nancy F.

Operation Write Home - Sketch 151

Time sure is flying by for me, I can't believe it's almost a week until Christmas!  

I was doing some craft store shopping yesterday and found this paper with matching stickers on clearance.

I think it was cuter in the store.  I'm not really thrilled with how these came out, but I'll keep trying.

I switched modes and stopped forcing myself to try to use certain things and came up with the next two.  I'm happier with these.

I like this sketch, it gives me a chance to use a lot of little stamps that I don't get to use too much.  I'll be using this sketch for the rest of the week.  I'm still trying to fill a box to mail to Kris.  ~Nancy F.

Sketch 150 - O.W.H.

It's been a busy weekend and it's getting late, so I'll be brief this week.  Here's my take on Sketch 150!

~Nancy F.

A December challenge and Sketch 149

This month's Our Daily Bread Designs challenge is to make cards with flowers.  They donate postage money to Operation Write Home when their monthly challenge quota is met.  Anyone who knows me, knows that just about 99% of my cards go to Operation Write Home, so I try to make sure I'm up to date on the challenges (at least the ones on the weekends, anyway).

The next card is my take on Sketch 149.  I turned the sketch because I wanted to use the paper with the packages, and I only had a small strip of it.  When I was done, I added a couple of poinsettias because the top corner just looked a little naked.

~Nancy F.

A Tag Challenge

I like using tags on my cards, but this challenge gave me some trouble because I'm not so great matching 3 different papers.  I managed to do it once, and I turned the sketch on its side.

Yesterday, I was making some cards for kids and I hadn't put away this cute little tricycle stamp from Picture Show yet.  I found some scraps with bicycles and wheels and card number two was born.

I'm really tired of making Valentines, but still had some nice scraps leftover and so I decided to use them up. 

I still need to make a few more cards to fill my box for Operation Write Home.  Valentines are due at the end of December and I like to get my holiday cards in about 3 weeks ahead of time, so I'd better get back to work!  Thanks for looking!  ~Nancy F.

Operation Write Home - Sketch 147

This week's sketch is awesome!  I love it!  I plan on using it for everything I do the rest of the week - what a great sketch for using up pretty scraps!  This first one is a cheater - I needed a quick Thanksgiving card.  I was going to cut the wheat into individual pieces, but thought, why bother, I'll just use my artistic license.....

After I had that out of the way, I started to seriously get into this sketch.

It's a little odd, working on Valentines for the heroes at the same time I'm making my own Christmas cards.

 

I realized I was using up a lot of Christmas scraps so I tried to totally switch out of that mode and went for my last project, which celebrates the Sailor being home for the holiday.  

Welcome home, Audrey!

Thanks for looking!  ~Nancy F.

For Veterans' Day - Sketch 146

To honor Veterans' Day, I decided to make all hero cards for this week's sketch.

I'll force my friends and family to write in them so that I can fill my next box of cards for Operation Write Home.  ~Nancy F.

Sketch 145

I decided to take Sketch 145 and use it for Our Daily Bread Designs' challenge to make cards with unused tools.  Our Daily Bread will donate postage to Operation Write Home each month as long as we meet their quota of cards according to their monthly challenges.  Please think about posting a card to their blog for this good cause!   For my first card, I used my crimper, even though I did use this about a month ago, for the same type of challenge over at Kim's blog, I've still probably only used that tool these two times in at least two years.

For my second card, I used a stamp that I've never used.  I think I should have put another layer around the sentiment.  It looks like something is missing.

For my third card, I used some paper from a pack that Hurricane Sandy tried to soak.  Some water ran down the inside of a window and made it through to my stack of unused paper.  I also used my grommet tool, which I used to play with all the time.  Lately, it's been sitting in a drawer.

 This last card was just an afterthought.  I bought the window die at a show in April, and when I came home,
I immediately cut out 4 or 5 of them and set them aside...... until today, that is!  I'll send this one to my friend, the crazy cat lady.   She knows who she is..........

~Nancy F.