Sketch Challenge 12

I love Sketch Challenge 12 posted over at OWH Stars & Stamps and I'm still loving the brown and blue color challenge so combined them...

Cardstock is Bazzill, patterned paper is from my scrap stash, Sentiment is from Stampendous! and honestly I pre-stamped a bunch of these so am not sure of the color anymore...

Paper & Trimmers & Cardfronts - OH MY!

First I apologize for being so late getting this up...no excuse I'm just an idiot - no really.  I had hubby take the photos TOLD him what to label the folder to put them in and couldn't find them to save my life.  Of course I couldn't just admit to him I lost them...NO that would be like a man admitting he was lost [wink wink]

Without further ado here is what I have done to streamline my supplies and maximize my cardmaking.   I learned long ago I am a production line kind of girl - I do way better if I can focus on one task and just run with that than changing gears.  This is especially true when I am trying to be creative so when I started making cards for Operation Write Home on a regular basis I needed to figure out a production line approach.  Cardfronts was what I came up with, I am truly not sure if I made that up or read it somewhere but I like it so am keeping it. 

The most efficient cards to make are those where you need to do the least cutting so if you start with an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock for your base simply cutting it in half lengthwise at the 5 1/2 mark and then folding that in half for a base that is 5 1/2 x 4 1/4.  Can I also just say here this is also the size that is most user friendly for finding envelopes - takes a standard A2  - and allows OWH to be able to fit the most in a box to send to the HEROs. You then have a few options for 'decorating' the front for this post I'm only going to address using patterned paper as a 'cardfront'.  My cardfronts are patterned paper which has been cut into 6 pieces 5 1/4 x 4 and the left over 1 1/2 inch strip can also be used in either 3 pieces of 1 1/2 x 4 or 2 pieces of 1 1/2 x 5 1/4 each.  This allows for a nice margin that shows off the card front just a little more in my opinion.   So you only have 2 choices here having the design vertical or horizontal (shown below). 

The next photos show how I decide which way to go.  Before I start cutting I take my paper and have it facing me (note hubby was across the desk from me taking the photos so you have them many of them from his perspective [or upside down] cause I still have only figured out how to crop and size in photoshop)...  I place a card over an upper corner of the full sheet and see which direction gives the most impact for that design - especially when there are words on it as I don't want them all cut in half.

Once I've figured out which way I'm going I trim off a 1 1/2 inch strip from side that I want to cut in half for my long side (5 1/4 inch).

If I want a vertical design I cut with the design facing so I can read it and trim at 8 inches and 4 inches - turn a quarter turn and cut at 5 1/4 inches.

For a horizontal design I have the paper oriented the same as above but make my first cut at 5 1/4 turn a quarter turn and cut at 8 inches and 4 inches.

This is a horizontal cardfront being held on a base.  Yeah I most of you know what that looks like but Jay took the photo so I'm using it.  Have to keep him happy so he keeps buying the supplies to make the cards you know.

And here are a couple of options for using those 'scraps' and to see finished cards go here.  First your 1 1/2 x 4 inch pieces you can use one or 3 across the front of a card depending on your design it will be a horizontal or a vertical. 

If you go the 5 1/4 x 1 1/2 route it will look something like the following.  With this size piece I prefer to use a single one with a complimentary paper or image/sentiment stamp.

After trimming all my extra patterned paper stash into cardfronts I have them all stored so they are easy to take to a crop.  I will admit I am still working on a system that works for the smaller pieces but it will come.

It is fun to watch someone say I have this image but no paper that really works and several of us can now dig into our card fronts and find what is needed.  An evening with the girls is fun, relaxing and now even more productive.  Oh and because I'm a tad anal about such things this box is now sorted pretty much by color... 

I'm going to tackle my other odds and ends of scraps and get them card friendly or out the door they go as I have way too many.

4 Footed Friends

This week the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps Blog challenge was to use 4 footed friends on our cards.  And since that is one of my favorite subjects I finally did one of the challenges in time to take part...

This is one of my favorite stamps sets - Ruff Day from Stampin' Up which I colored using the Stampin' Up Water color crayons.  Cardstock is Prism, paper is ChatterBox which I've had for some time.  Ribbon is Making Memories, EK Success edge punch was used on the mat and brads where random ones from my stash.   You can't really tell but the hat is colored green to match some of the 'balls' on the paper.

Later this week I'll be posting a tutorial on taking that paper stash and making it card 'friendly'.

Dinosaurs Rule

Well at least they did at our house last night...  While the Oscars played in the background I played with paper and my DH played, well tried too, with the new Cricut cartridge (Dinosaur Tracks) we received on Friday.  It was extremely frustrating as this is the most complicated one we have purchased so far and even though we followed the directions to the letter it was kind of a toss up what image would actually print.  I have way more layers to the dino featured on 2 of the cards than I have bases and don't get me started on the shadows...

This card has the 'fossil' feature which is popped up to give dimension.

This card has the base, layer and a shadow.  It is also popped up and is my favorite - however we couldn't get another shadow to print and could only get one more base to print.  SIGH...

The card on the left is using just a base and layer.  The one on the right is using the tag feature, which is very cool but once again we could only get the image to cut and never did get another base.  Both of these are mounted directly on the card.

All of these will go into my Operation Write Home stack once they have sentiments placed on them.  As I may have mentioned previously I had already cut all my 81/2 x 11 cardstock into half and folded most of it for card bases.  I had also cut all the patterned paper I had that I no longer LOVED or fit what I was scrapping now into card fronts to make assembly easier.  After the frustration on doing these 4 cards both of us decided to stop with cutting for the night and I went to just mounting fronts to bases.  I need to go back and put an image and/or sentiment on them all but I did get 43 to that stage. 

Happy Valentine's Day...

To most of us it is coming up on Christmas but for those who are making cards for Operation Write Home we are thinking a bit further out. The current call is for Valentine's Day cards - general themed cards are always needed - so while I am trimming my tree my work area looks like Cupid has taken up residence. I'll be honest V-Day is one of the harder ones for me it has all that red and pink... so I was thrilled with I found paper a little out of the box.

Here is my latest offering enmass


Here are some shots of groupings. I love this new stamp set from Unity Stamp and they ship super fast.


I used Basic Grey rub ons on these Valentine's Day cards making each one unique. Some also have hearts and XO's using Quickutz dies I bought then never used...





More of the Basic Grey Rubons used to make each unique.


These cards are done using an assortment of 'leftovers' from various kits and classes.


The general cards below have sentiments cut using my new Cricut (which Hubby loves to operate).


This is just a close up of one using my Cricut.


And just to show I have also been enjoying family time and because the subject is just too stinking cute not to share...





I plan on scheduling time to update here at least weekly as well as work on our website for our other hobby and that blog. Fingers crossed this happens...

Cards Cards and More Cards

Wow it's been a while since I was on here... but what a great reason to get back on. My friend, Alex aka Super Woman, picked on on another awesome cause and I've jumped at the chance to help. Operation Write Home supplies cards to those in the service of their country who may otherwise have difficulty finding cards to send home.
Last night I made another 17 Valentine's Day cards for OWH. Each one of the design on the right is unique...I cut out words/sayings from a co-ordinating sheet and used used that as my sentiment.



And then today I started my Christmas cards. In total I made 22 using several designs a few of which were inspired by my Facebook friend Kyla! They are simple but I am very happy with them...