Narwhals narwhals swimmin' in the ocean.

I have had that commercial stuck in my head for days now. Yeah, just try not to get it stuck there. Anyway, this narwhal card is for the OWH Our Daily Bread Designs monthly challenge.  If there are 50 entries each month ODBD pays for 2 boxes of cards to be shipped overseas to our armed forces. Yay! As of this morning we needed 5 more entries, but by the time I got this one made and photographed we were up to 49.  Yay, if I get this in this afternoon I may actually be #50.

The challenge was to use embossing. Super easy!

Oh, and check out the inside of the card:

And because I didn't just stop there, here is the other card I did this morning:

The walrus and narwhal are from The Alley Way Stamps, and I used an embossing folder from Sizzix and a cloud die from Lawn Fawn. The custom sentiment, inside and out, was printed on my computer.

Keeping it very simple today.

I'm keeping it very simple today. Just a tag on a printed background. Honestly I tried to make them more layered, but for me, it just wasn't working. I was also trying to do some less "girly" cards for OWH. Cards have to be in by August 1, so it is likely that there will only be one more box for me. It took me a year to fill the other one, and it was smaller than a medium flat rate box.

It is Memorial Day, and I'm not at a picnic, I'm inside. Actually, playing with stamps, pens and paper is exactly where I want to be. As well, it is a lot cooler in here, there's that. 

The shark and his sentiment are from The Alley Way Stamps' Something's Fishy set, and the bird and his sentiment are also from The Alley Way Stamps' set All Washed Up. It was a real fishy month at TAWS.

Finishing Strong

As simple as this card is, I really struggled with the guidelines for this one.  Welcome to my corner of the Finishing Strong Blog Hop. Let me just say that red, white, and blue are hard to do if all your blue papers are really turquoise.

Operation Write Home Finishing Strong Bloghop

“Operation Write Home, a charity that has supported heroes with handmade cards since 2007, will be closing later this year. All cards need to be sent in by August 1st, so I’m helping to get the word out!”

This is a good thing, since that means troops don't need us anymore (they are coming home!).

Edited to add : I'm not actually ON the blog hop, my auto-publish didn't work as I expected it to and I missed the 3 hour window to add my link. Oh well, this card isn't special.

Splish Splash

With this card I can testify that it is possible to make a card with a 9"x9" inch work space. Not that I enjoy it, but it is possible.

I have been singing the narwhal song in my head for 2 days now. The next card I make with a narwhal is going to say "cause a commotion" or "because you are so awesome".  Someone will get it.

The narwhal is from The Alley Way Stamps set All Washed Up, the middle panel is water colored, and the base panel is background stamped with a little fish from the same set. The sentiment is from Somethings Fishy, also from TAWS.

Happy holiday weekend to all in the USA!

Playing with watercolors

Not much is happening at this time. I got a new set of watercolors and I have been experimenting with various backgrounds.

Ok, laugh at me now, but I just saw it. It looks like the pony-unicorn is taking a dump. I'm not pulling those plastic dots off the card at this point, but what was I thinking???

Both the pony-unicorn and the fishes are from The AlleyWay Stamps.

And, about the water coloring, ugh, They look better in real life, but just the same I'll keep practicing.

Boldly go!

As promised, here is the first of this weekend's space cases cards.

This is from Paper Smooches' Space Cadet stamp set, which I have had for almost 2 years now. The background is a watercolor experiment which looks quite stormy to me, but will do for some unknown galaxy, for now.

So many things went wrong with this card. I swear that gray card stock is really construction paper. I do not remember where I got it, but if I did I would gladly warn you all away from it! The sentiment in the upper right corner is there to hide a boo-boo.

Also, and this may or may not be funny, but this was supposed to be a masculine card, but when I chose the backdrops for the photo I realized my big mistake. Purple and pink are Barbie colors. Perhaps the guys at Operation Write Home won't notice. Do you think?

Speaking of trends, I am a space case.

I am a space case because I have three separate stamp sets that are fancifully space themed. My first set, on the far right, has actually started to turn yellow. That one, from Stampendous, has never been used. It figures, I got it in the reduced pile at Tuesday Morning. Sometimes a bargain isn't really a bargain.

The middle set, Space Cadet from Paper Smooches, also had only been used for a sentiment until this weekend. That card will be posted as soon as I get my photo taken. I really love this set, I just don't ever pull it out to use it.

The set on the left is the newest, from The Alley Way Stamps, called Phone Home. I just love those aliens. I have used this one several times already.

Which one of those little planets looks most like Mars?