Starting with Sketch 167............

Here we go again.  Racing to catch up!
First, here's Sketch 167 for this week.  I also combined it with Our Daily Bread's monthly challenge for postage money - Things With Wings -

And one without wings.........

I loved the tuxedo tutorial from the blog hop on Saturday!

Then there was the Midweek Throwdown, tags and twine.

What am I forgetting?   Sketch 166 from last Sunday!  I was going to cheat and skip it, since I "sort of" had already done it, but I made another card anyway.

And then, yesterday, Joanne tramped her way over to my house and we cut up paper, stamped and glue taped the day away. 

She was no slacker.

Wow, Joanne!

I made some more of these -

And then I made some of these -

 Then I made a few of these and I'm questioning whether they are appropriate for OWH or not.  We didn't like the part where it said "Good Bye" so I changed it to "Hi There".  Thoughts?

Thanks for peeking in!

More Important Easter Preparations......

It's a little sad what we make our pets do, just for our own personal amusement.  In Ozzy's defense, he runs whenever he sees these ears now....

This card is for Sketch 165.  I'm finally just getting around to it!  The stamp is from Picture Show.

Last Tuesday's tutorial was using bubble wrap as a stamp.  I decided to try some shelf liner.  It worked swell!  In fact, it was great, because it stuck to my acrylic block all by itself.  The stamp is Penny Black.

Wednesday's Mid Week Throwdown asked for stripes!  I wish I could remember where I got the rat stamp from....  Rat stamps come in so handy......  Sometimes.

Where is spring?

Someone tell me what happened to spring!?!?  We're finally seeing a little bit of the sun today, but not enough for me!  At least I've got plenty of cards to make, so that will keep me busy.  I'm still attending Design Boot Camp at Operation Write Home.  The latest lesson is the Rule of Thirds.   Even with other embellishments, your eye is still drawn to the hedgie stamp.

The Tuesday tutorial was about making fake wood grains.  I realized that I had a bag of small, old stamp
pads that I thought were pretty dried out, but they actually worked out really well for this technique.  I will try this again!

And to finish, the Midweek Throwdown was to make a card using Ombre.....  My imagination was sparked almost immediately by the first example.  

That's it for today!  I'm hoping to do some stamping with friends tomorrow.  The hardest part of that for me is not being able to drag along everything I own!     :-)

Sketch 164 and a wee bit o the Irish

It was another busy work week and I tried to do all my card catching up this weekend.  Sketch 164 is my tribute to St. Patrick's Day.  I altered the sketch a wee bit.

Next up is the midweek throwdown.  It called for using blue and green and adding a little orange.  I tried to think of something orange for my focal point.  Garfield was the first thing that came to mind.  

Last up are the "inchies".  They were mentioned on OWH TV on Thursday night and I went hog wild with them.  I love inchies!  I also used the ribbon/brad trick that was discussed on the Stars and Stamps blog last Tuesday.

Thanks for checking in!  ~ Nancy F.

Sketch 163

Finally!  I found some stamping time!  Here's Sketch 163 -

And the Midweek Throwdown - I used the bottom row of tic-tac-toe - rhinestones, ovals and embossing.

I also tried Tuesday's tutorial for spirelli, and used the sketch for today.  But I'm not too thrilled with it.

And these are from some of the new stuff that my friend, catwoman gave me last week.  You gotta love playing with new toys!

Thanks for checking in!

OWH Sketch 162

No frills blog post tonight.

ODB and MWTD at OWH

I was busy having a catch up day again.  I made the top card for the Our Daily Bread monthly challenge.
The last card is using the recipe for the Midweek Throwdown.  Now I'm ready for tomorrow's sketch!
But first - laundry!

Sunday Sketch Challenge 161

Happy Sketch Day!  I whipped up a batch of frogs on tricycles today.  The stamp is from Picture Show.  I've been getting some spam comments on the blog lately, nothing bad, mostly just sentences that don't make much sense.  I'm hoping it stops so I don't have to turn on a word verification.  Wish me luck!

~Nancy F.

Catching up on challenges

I had a great weekend with the blog hop, but never got all the challenges finished.  Today I took a few hours of mini vacation from work and got a few more cards done.  Jen asked for cards with a caffeine theme.

The Desert Rose Stamper challenged us to make cards with 3 layers of white.  This one was tough for me!
What a good challenge though.  I made a card that I like, and it's not like anything I normally do, so it was a great exercise in doing something new.

Over at 104cards.blogspot.com, the challenge was to go without glitter but still have some glitz.  I don't know if this fills the bill.  I might make another attempt at something better.

The next cards are my examples of focal points for Boot Camp.

This week's Midweek Throwdown was for a fancy fold card.  There are a lot of great ideas on the OWH website and I'm hoping to have enough time left today to go make some of the other examples.

That's it for now!  I'm off to make a couple cheeseburger and necktie cards!  Thanks for looking!  ~Nancy 

Sketch 160 and some more VCMP

I was too tired last night to continue on with my quest for the proper sandwich for selective embossing and so this morning, I went at it again, with success!  The proper sandwich was NO sandwich.  Who'd a thunk?...  I combined that quest with Things With Wings from Yvonne's Blog.  The griffin stamp is from Renaissance Art Stamps.

For the With Wheels challenge from Linda at Creepin' Along, I already had this Impression Obsession truck stamp colored, so this was a fast card.

To finish up for the moment, here's my take on Sketch 160.  The stamp set is from Unity.  I used mostly chalks on this one.

The caffeine challenge is up next, and for that, I need to go have some of the actual thing!

Virtual Card Making Party!

I finally finished all of last week's challenges and couldn't wait to get started on the Virtual Card Making Party.  I get so inspired by all the blogs and requests for certain types of cards.  I find that I'm so much more creative than if I'm just sitting in my craft area, staring at my stuff.
The first blog on the list is Scrappinintervention.  Chevrons, here we go!

The next stop along the way is Misty's Blog.  She's challenging us to make cards for kids, using animals.
I went with dogs because the dog in this house, has been boofing all morning.  At nothing, I might add.

Next up is a selective embossing project which I've never done before.  I expect my trash can to get a lot of my first attempts....

Well, it seems selective embossing was a bust at my house.  I had a lot of ripped paper and I just couldn't get my sandwich correct with the Sizzix.  Not to let it get the best of me, I finished up with this card.  I cut

a hole out for my stamp instead.  We'll see if my mood improves for another go-round of it tomorrow.

Tuesday's Tutorial and more sketch 159

I'm still playing with Sketch 159......

Tuesday's tutorial was for using spray inks.  I don't have any, but it sparked my memory of my old Blo-Pens.
I was afraid I didn't have them anymore, but I do!  All it took was a few drops of water to get them working again and I had a blast!   I'll be playing with them more, for sure, but I've still got more catching up to do first!

Wednesday's Midweek Throwdown was to make a card using our state flag's colors.  Pennsylvania's flag is mostly navy blue with an emblem in the center, so I used a Navy sticker so I could get the weekly challenges finished and move on to the Virtual Cardmaking Party this weekend.  VCMP's really get me motivated!!!!

OWH Sketch 159 and some catching up

It's been another busy week and I haven't had time to post anything, but I did manage to get caught up with the Our Daily Bread Challenge for February, the Midweek Throwdown and Sketch 159!  The ODBD challenge this month was to make a card with fruit.  I've used this mouse paper before and this is the last piece.  I feel good that I'm using things up!

The Midweek Throwdown was a call for cards for kids.  Those are my very favorite cards to make for OWH, I bet half my monthly box contains them.

And to finish up for today, Sketch 159, slightly tweeked.  I made this card for my nephew's birthday, which is coming up in April.  The glue on the toothpicks/drumsticks isn't quite dry yet.

A Week's Worth

I'm falling behind in my resolution to do all the OWH challenges this year and it's only February.  I've managed to get caught up this weekend.  Tuesday's tutorial was using watercolor markers.  I don't have any, so I used watercolor papers.  They're like the old fashioned watercolors in the metal box, but the pigment is on a piece of paper instead.  I also used the same stamp as in a previous challenge  This time I took Paula's suggestion of putting a sentiment across the lower left.  Good suggestion, Paula!

The midweek throwdown called for a birthday card.  

I enjoyed looking through all the cards from the hop on Saturday.  Here's my critter cards -

And to finish up, or start the new week, depending on how you look at it, here's Sketch 158.  It's a midweek birthday critter!

I hope I don't get this far behind again!

...................I just realized I haven't done the ODBD fruit challenge yet!