I made this card as part of Operation Write Home’s Stars and Stamps Challenge #11. I haven’t been able to play in a while and I’m glad I’m able to now.

I started with a 4 1/4″ X 10″ Chocolate Chip base scored for a vertical card at 5 1/2″. I adhered a piece of 4 1/2″ X 2 1/2″ Old Olive across the top with Snail Adhesive. Then I cut a piece from the Tall Tales Designer Series Paper which coordinates with all colors used to 2 1/2″ X 5 1/2″ and adhered that vertically with Snail. I stamped the flower circle from the Circle Circus stamp set in So Saffron on a piece of Whisper White scrap paper. Then I used my Stamp-a-ma-Jig to position the elephant from Animal Stories exactly where I wanted it on my circle and stamped it in Soft Suede. I trimmed the scrap to size, a smidge over 2″ X 3″ and adhered it with Snail. Then I stamped the Hello from the Pendant Park stamp set in Old Olive and used the Modern Label punch to punch out the sentiment. I adhered this with Dimensionals. I lined the inside of the card with Whisper White.

I really like the whimsy of this card!

I made this card for my oldest nephew’s birthday. He’ll be 8 the end of this month. I thought it would be fun to try the scratch and sniff technique. I think he’ll like it. He always gets such a kick out of my cards.

I started with a 4 1/4″ X 5 1/2″ base of the retired Kiwi Kiss and added a layer of 4″ X 5 1/4″ retired DSP paper from the Walk in the Park set. To get the scratch and sniff effect, I mixed a bit of apple-cranberry powdered drink mix with Clear Embossing Powder. I stamped the apple from the Tart and Tangy stamp set in Versa Mark then Kiwi Kiss Classic Ink on Whisper White paper and then heat embossed it with my embossing powder mixture. Apple-y!

I stamped the Happy Birthday senitment from the Four Squares stamp set in Kiwi Kiss in Whisper White.

I used the 1 1/4″ Square Punch to punch out the apples and my sentiment. Then I used the 1 3/8″ Square Punch to punch out some Kiwi Kiss Squares and layered. I attached the squares with Snail Adhesive and popped up the Happy Birthday with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I’m sure my nephew is going to love it!

Sale-A-Bration is going on until March 31st and you can get each of the stamp sets I used here for FREE with a $50 purchase! Contact me for details!

Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home Spring Break Blog Hop! The Hop starts at Operation Write Home’s Stars and Stamps blog.

Operation Write Home is an organization that gathers cardmakers and resources and sends blank handmade greeting cards to our Armed Forces for them to write home.

The deadline for Mother’s Day cards is April 1st!

I started making cards for Operation Write Home last summer. When I took my first batch to the post office for mailing, I burst into tears at the counter! It’s a good thing I know the postal clerk! It finally hit me then that this is how I can support the troops and it is so gratifying to be able to do that in some way.

This card just screams “SPRING!” at me. And let me tell you, I am ready for Spring.

I started with a 4 1/4″ X 5 1/2″ base of Whisper White and added a layer of 4″ X 3″ clouds at the top from the Welcome Neighbor Designer Series Paper stack. I also added a 4″ X 2 1/4″ Glorious Green layer at the bottom. I took my Garden Green stamp pad directly to the paper and streaked down the paper. I used some Whisper White craft ink and the leaves stamp from the Branch Out set to stamp some flowers onto my “grass.” I adhered a strip of White Organza Ribbon where the clouds meet the grass. I adhered the clouds and grass layer to the Whisper White base using Snail Adhesive. The flowers are from the Sweet Pea Stitched Felt pack. I used Old Olive Mistletoe Grosgrain Ribbon and Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon for the stems. I adhered these with Snail Adhesive and Pop-Up Glue Dots. Then, I stamped the Hi There stamp from the Fundamental Phrases stamp set on Whisper White in Rose Red ink and punched it out using the Scallop Oval punch. I adhered this to the clouds layer using Dimensionals.

Thank you for stopping by! The next stop is Kaere at Whispers and Wishes.

I made this card as part of the OWH Stars and Stamps Sketch Challenge #5. You can see details at the post.

I started with a 4 1/4″ X 5 1/2″ Pretty in Pink base. Then I cut two 1 1/4″ X 2 1/2″ and one 1 3/4″ X 2 1/2″ strips from the Sending Love Specialty Designer Paper. This was a great way to use up some scraps from Valentines. I adhered these three strips to a piece of 3″ X 4 1/4″ Chocolate Chip cardstock. I tied a piece of Pretty in Pink Satin Ribbon to the whole Chocolate Chip layer. I knotted a second piece of the ribbon around the first to make a quick and easy bow, securing the bow with Mini Glue Dots, and then adhered the whole thing to the Pretty in Pink base.

I stamped the Happy Mother’s Day sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes in Chocolate Chip ink on another piece of the Sending Love Paper and punched it out with the Scallop Oval. I adhered this to the base with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Cute and quick!

I made this card as part of the Operation Write Home Stash Challenge. The instructions were to create a card using two patterned papers and a button. This morning, I came across this card and used it as my inspiration.

I started with a 4 1/4″ X 5 1/2″ Pretty in Pink base and added a layer of 4″ X 5 1/4″ Whisper White card stock. I used the Scallop Trim Border Punch on a 1 1/2″ X 3 3/4″ piece of polka dot Pretty in Pink from the Sweet Pea Designer Paper Stack. (I used the punch, then I trimmed the paper to 1 1/2 X 3 3/4″.) I cut a piece of Old Olive paper from Pawsitively Prints to 3 3/4″ X 3 3/4″. I adhered both of these pieces to my Whisper White layer.

I then used the 1 3/8″ Circle Punch to punch out five circles from the same Pretty in Pink polka dot paper. I used the 1 1/4″ Circle Punch to punch a circle of Old Olive card stock. I arranged my circles to form a flower petal with the Old Olive circle in the center. I ran a teeny piece of Old Olive card stock through the button holes of a generic hot pink button and attached that to my flower with a Pop-Up Glue Dot.

I punched out the Scallop Square Whisper White square and stamped the Happy Mother’s Day sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes in Old Olive in the center on the diagonal. I trimmed the ends leaving only the center. That’s a trick I picked up from Kate, that is perfect for the sentiments in the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. I attached that to my card with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

Lastly, I adhered all of that to my Pretty in Pink base with Snail Adhesive.

This was a fun, quick Mother’s Day card showing off patterned paper.

This is possibly the largest and most labor-intensive card I’ve ever made. I’m really kind of proud of the fact that I made this.

I made it for a friend’s little boy and I love the color combination. I was inspired by the design and colors in this card. I thought it was perfect for a little boy.

I started with a 12″ X 12″ piece of Chocolate Chip Textured Card Stock, scored at 6″ and folded in half. I layered a 5 3/4″ x 11 3/4″ piece of Kraft card stock. Next I cut out a piece of 3″ x 9 1/2″ Real Red Cardstock and layered a piece of 2 3/4″ x 9″ Chocolate Chip Textured card stock on it. I next cut a piece of Bermuda Bay card stock to 2 3/4 x 3 3/4. I used the Small Heart Punch to punch out three small hearts to peek the Bermuda Bay card stock through. I attached my Bermuda Bay card stock to the Real Red and Chocolate Chip layer. I ran a piece of 5/8″ Bermuda Bay Polka Dot Ribbon around my Kraft layer and attached it to my Chocolate Chip base. I used Stampin’ Dimensionals and attached the Real Red/Chocolate Chip/Bermuda Bay layer. I love the popped up look on the Kraft layer.

Then, I used the heart trio from the I {Heart} Hearts stamp set with VersaMark ink on Real Red, Bermuda Bay, Green Galore and Pumpkin Pie card stock. I then used Clear embossing powder and the Heat Embossing Tool to give the hearts dimension and shine. I made two sets of each color. I attached the hearts to the Chocolate Chip layer with a Glue Stick and Stampin’ Dimensionals.

I stamped the dotted heart from the same set in Chocolate Chip onto Green Galore card stock. I inked the polka dot heart with VersaMark and stamped it inside the dotted heart. This was so easy to do using the new clear mount stamps and blocks! I layered a Bermuda Bay embossed heart inside the polka dot heart and popped up a small Real Red embossed heart inside that. I attached a Chocolate Chip mini library clip to the whole ensemble. I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to attach to my card.

Next, I used my card stock colors, the Timeless Type Alphabet Junior Sizzlets dies and the Big Shot to die cut the letters for the name.

I tied some twine in the Real Red large buttons from the Playground Designer Buttons set. I attached these to the Bermuda Bay layer with Pop-up Glue Dots.

Then I stamped the love you sentiment from Short and Sweet and the valentine’s sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes in Real Red.

I had a ton of fun making this card and am really proud of my results! It’s so easy to color coordinate with Stampin’ Up!’s line of papers, inks and accessories.

Operation Write Home is hosting a bloghop this weekend for Veterans Day. The hop starts at the Operation Write Home Blog and starts at noon CST today, November 14.

For the bloghop, we are to make an AnyHero card, which is a card with a message written in for any service member, and a Valentine’s Day card for a service member to use to send back home to a loved one.

The deadline for Valentine’s Cards is January 8th, 2010.

Let’s get to the cards!

First is my Any Hero card.

I wanted to use the colors red, white and blue. I cut a piece of Real Red cardstock in half at 4 1/4″ and scored at 5 1/2″ to make a top fold card. I adhered a piece of designer paper in patriotic colors cut at 4″ x 5 1/4 to the Real Red cardstock. I cut a Real Red 2 1/2″ square and a Night of Navy 2 1/2″ inch square. I layered them on the diagonal for some interest. I cut a piece of Whisper White at 2 1/4″ and used the Real Red and Night of Navy markers to ink the flowerburst stamp. I layered the sentiment on a piece of Night of Navy cardstock. I also adhered a piece of Whisper White on the inside for the message.

Here is my Valentine Card.

I had a lot of fun with this card. I cut Whisper White cardstock to 4 1/4″ X 5 1/2″. I cut a piece of Melon Mambo for the top section to 2″ X 5 1/4 and cut a piece of Rich Razzleberry for the bottom section to 2″ x 5 1/4″. I stamped hearts from the Happy Hearts set in Melon Mambo ink on the Melon Mambo piece and did the same in Rich Razzleberry on the Rich Razzleberry piece. I punched out coordinating hearts and adhered them to the alternating sides. I stamped the sentiment from Short and Sweet in Rich Razzleberry ink on Melon Mambo paper and punched it out with the Scalloped Oval Punch. I popped up the punched hearts and sentiment with dimensionals.

I hope you enjoyed this stop on the bloghop.

Up next is Simply Sarah who designs some amazingly beautiful scrapbook pages.