September Has Stolen my Sanity

There have been challenges over at the OWH Stars & Stamps blog every day for the month of September and I don't know about you but just keeping track of them has made my head spin! I do want to say thank you to the generous sponsors of the challenges. I have visited their stores, sites and blogs and I hope you will do the same. In such a dismal economy it's truly heartwarming to see the outpouring of caring for our heroes and I wish I could shop at every single stop.

I managed to create these two card for this week's 'Sweet Treats' MWT Challenge and the CASE our Feature Card Maker Challenge from yesterday.

 

An added note for those who wanted to know. The purple flower and leaves in this card is a set of Sizzix Sizzlits Dies and the largest peach pieces ia a basic scalloped circle punch.

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Cardmaker CASE

Among the many fun challenges happening this month over at the OWH Stars & Stamps blog is one to CASE a card from this week's featured card maker Bev from San Francisco. I like this layout a lot and can see it being a great one for those stamp images that are just a bit too small to be a focal point on their own.

Happy Crafting Everyone!

A Bugs Life MWT

When I first saw the MWT Challenge I thought I'd have to hunt through my stamps to find a bug but first I decided I'd go make a stop to visit the Doodle Pantry site (this week's generous sponsor) and to my delight there on the freebies page was this adorable ant and sentiment combo! I decided I'd finally attempt a try at paper piecing and while I like the results it's definitely very fine work and for anyone with less than great eyesight like myself probably not something I'd try to do in quantities of more than one or two.

Thanks to Jan, the MWT Challenge Hostess  for such a fun challenge and to Doodle Pantry for supporting Operation Write Home and our military!

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Quick Card Share

Just sharing a couple of cards I made for my 'in progress' OWH box. The turkey from a scallop punch is something I learned quite a few years ago at a SU party. I kept the sample I made but never went back to attempt it again since until just now. The original used a much smaller scallop and Going with the larger size now definitely made it easier to do.

This one is my take on CAS and one that I think is gender neutral which makes it great for OWH. I try to always include cards in this category of 'gender neutral' in every box and I think I'll make a bunch based on this design with various colors and papers.

  

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Let Us Never Forget

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on the United States. That bright, crisp September morning thousands of people went to their jobs never to return home to their loved ones again. They were fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives and friends. You may not have known any of them personally but they represent all Americans. September 11th has been declared a National Day of Service. While I believe we should endeavour to serve our country in whatever way we can, we owe it to the victims of September 11th, out of respect, to dedicate this day to reflection and mourning their loss. We can volunteer to paint the local boys and girls club on another day.

I visited the Connecticut 9-11 Memorial yesterday and though I know that the events of 9-11 are probably not as vivid for those who are removed from them by physical distance I cannot even begin to describe how palpable the loss is, even 10 years later to those close to the locations of the three attacks.

Connecticut's 9-11 Living Memorial.

Sherwood Island State Park was chosen for the memorial because on a clear day, the New York City skyline is visible from the point.

On 9/11, people who gathered there saw smoke rise over the World Trade Center. Surrounded by trees, shrubs, and grass the granite monument is inscribed:
     "The citizens of Connecticut dedicate this living memorial to the thousands of innocent lives lost on September 11, 2001, and to the families that loved them."

 These 152 names are inscribed on the small stones that flank either side of the grassy square:

Richard M. Keane  ·  Peter R. Kellerman  ·  Stacey Leigh Sanders  ·  Joshua Piver  ·  Lawrence Getzfred  ·  Jonathan J. Uman  ·  Scott Thomas Coleman  ·  Keith Eugene Coleman  ·  Richard S. Gabrielle  ·  Thomas M. Brennan  ·  Ronald Gilligan  ·  Jeffrey D. Bittner  ·  John Fiorito  ·  William J. Meehan, Jr.  ·  Eskedar Melaku  ·  Glenn Davis Kirwin  ·  Joel Miller  ·  Adam J. Lewis  ·  Michael M. Miller  ·  Steven Lawrence Glick  ·  Eamon McEneaney  ·  Craig William Staub  ·  James Thomas Waters, Jr.  ·  Frederick Varacchi  ·  James Andrew O'Grady  ·  Edward "Teddy" F. Maloney  ·  Charles A. Zion  ·  Michael J. Lyons  ·  Amy King  ·  Michael C. Farrou  ·  Heather L. Smith  ·  Raymond Joseph Metz, III  ·  Jason E. Sabbag  ·  Candace Lee Williams  ·  Maurice Patrick Kelly  ·  Peter Alan Gay  ·  Stephen Lamantia  ·  Thomas E. Galvin • Francis Henry (Frank) Brennan  ·  Thomas Anthony Palazzo  ·  James A. Greenleaf, Jr.  ·  Mike A. Pelletier  ·  Michael C. Rothberg  ·  David H. Winton  ·  Allen V. Upton  ·  Peter C. Fry  ·  Kevin P. Connors  ·  Christopher William White Murphy  ·  Madeline Sweeney  ·  Cheryl Ann Monyak  ·  Francis McGuinn  ·  Ada Maason  ·  Robert A. Lawrence, Jr.  ·  Martin Phillips Wohlforth  ·  Joseph A. Lenihan  ·  Jesus Sanchez  ·  Amy E. Toyen  ·  Jeffrey David Wiener  ·  Cesar A. Murillo  ·  Gary E. Lasko  ·  Margaret Quinn Orloske  ·  Derek J. Statkevicus  ·  Randy Scott  ·  Lindsay S. Morehouse  ·  Dianne Bullis Snyder  ·  Sean P. Rooney  ·  George E. Spencer, III  ·  Christopher Orgielewicz  ·  Garry W. Lozier  ·  Gregory T. Spagnoletti  ·  Jude Moussa  ·  James Matthew Patrick  ·  Sean Schielke  ·  Tyler Ugolyn  ·  Ulf Ramm Ericson  ·  Juan Ceballos • Edwin J. Graf, III  ·  Timothy John Hargrave  ·  Christopher W. Wodenshek  ·  Dolores Costa  ·  Geoffrey W. Cloud  ·  Edward T. Fergus, Jr.  ·  Michael Egan  ·  Bradley Fetchet  ·  Andrew Stergiopoulos  ·  James D. Halvorson  ·  John Bruce Eagleson  ·  Edward Calderon  ·  Margaret Connor  ·  Peter Gelinas  ·  Paul M. Fiori  ·  Robert Higley, II  ·  Robert W. Noonan  ·  Michael Grady Jacobs  ·  Patrick Danahy  ·  Christopher Samuel Gardner  ·  Robert Gerlich  ·  John Works  ·  Laurence Abel  ·  John P. Williamson  ·  Michael John Simon  ·  Kiran Kumar Reddy Gopu  ·  John Henwood  ·  Judith Florence Hofmiller  ·  Bradley H. Vadas  ·  Bryan C. Bennett  ·  Timothy M. O'Brien  ·  Kevin Michael McCarthy  ·  Thomas Edward Hynes  ·  John F. Iskyan  ·  H. Joseph Heller  ·  Stephen P. Cherry  ·  Edward Raymond Vanacore  ·  Eric B. Evans • Paul Curioli  ·  Scott J. O'Brien  ·  William Christopher Hunt  ·  Alexander Braginski  ·  Paul R. Hughes  ·  Donald F. Greene  ·  Pedry Grehan  ·  Edward P. York  ·  James J. Hobin  ·  Ruth McCourt  ·  Juliana McCourt  ·  Osseni Mama Garba  ·  William Hill Kelly, Jr.  ·  Brian Thomas Cummins  ·  Eric (Rick) R. Thorpe  ·  Sandra Campbell  ·  John B. Schwartz  ·  Bennett Lawson Fisher  ·  Mark Steven Jardim  ·  Joseph John Coppo  ·  Richard Peter Gabriel, Sr.  ·  Allen Patrick Boyle  ·  Christopher J. Blackwell, FDNY  ·  Roger Mark Rasweiler  ·  Evan Hunter Gillette  ·  Peter Burton Hanson  ·  Sue Kim Hanson  ·  Christine Lee Hanson  ·  Jean Destrehan Roger  ·  Sean S. Hanley  ·  Wilder A. Gomez  ·  Robert Thomas Jordan  ·  Wendy R. Faulkner  ·  Michael G. McGinty  ·  Michele Heidenberger  ·  Daniel Robert Nolan  ·  James A. Gadiel  ·  Thomas F. Theurkauf, Jr.

The National September 11 Memorial 

www.911memorial.org

The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial

www.pentagonmemorial.org

Flight 93 Memorial

www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm

 

Let us never forget,

OWH Virtual Card Making Party

I hope that everyone is enjoying the second OWH Virtual Card Making Party (VCMP). To check out all the Challenges (there will be 16 in total this weekend) head on over to the OWH Stars & Stamps Blog where the fun begins.

Challenge #1: Garanimals

hosted by Linda at It Was Here a Minute Ago

Image Courtesy of Melonheadz Illustrating



Challenge #2: Au Natural

hosted by Lisa at  Stamping with a Mission

Challenge #3: Unique Christmas
hosted by Barb at  Paper Therapy Ponderings
Image courtesy of Elizabeth O. Dulemba

Challenge #4: Pick One
hosted by Julie at Handmade by Julie
Based on OWH S&S Blog Sketch #1

Challenge #7: Nontraditional Valentine,
 hosted by Dixie at What's Next?

Happy Crafting Everyone!

MWT Autumn Cards

I still have the Illinois State Digi and the Lattice Tutorial on my to-do list but since I started making Autumn cards weeks ago I got lucky and had just what I needed to get in on this week's Midweek Throwdown over at the OWH Stars & Stamps Blog. 

 
I hope you've been taking some time to peek in and maybe even choose a challenge or two to take part in. There will be tons of challenges through the month long Birthday Bash and a great Virtual Card Making Party this coming weekend too!

Happy Crafting Everyone!

Not Older...Better

I finally got around to last week's OWH sketch yesterday. I created the sentiment at just the right size the sketch called for and did several variations. The first two follow the sketch pretty closely and then I veered off on the others.

Here is the sentiment, in several colors. As always feel free to use these images in any of your crafting projects. Post a link back here if you'd like to share it but please do not sell it, repost it or claim it as your own. Just click on it and then use the 'save as' command to save it to you computer. If you'd like these as separate files in a ZIP compressed folder just email me.

Happy Crafting Everyone!

OWH Birthday Bash

Just a quick post to say that I hope everyone enjoys all the fun challenges coming this month as part of the OWH Birthday Bash. I'm grateful to all the wonderful sponsors who support OWH.

Here's the card I made for the WeR challenge. I seldom used brads and eyelets because while I loved the look of them they were a hassle. If you have not tried this tool I suggest you try one out the next chance you get, whether at a crop or a friend's, to see if you end up liking it as much as I do. It's become indispensable to me in my card making.

This is my CASE of Ardeth's beautiful clean and simple card design. I have a bunch of papers like this with bold, big patterns that I keep avoiding and I think this layout will finally let me use them up.

Lastly, here is a Miss You card for the Inspired Stamps challenge. Miss You and Thinking of You card designs are a mainstay in my OWH boxes.

Happy Crafting Everyone!