Top Ten Cards

What an assignment - to choose 10 favorite cards that I sent to OWH.  I sent 471 cards this year and did not keep photos of all of them so I am choosing 10 HERO cards that I do have photos for.  Hope you enjoy and maybe get some ideas for next year.  Before you scroll down, let me wish you all a Very Happy New Year.

Happy Polar Bear-thday to You

Just love this digital set by CDS and designed by Trudy Sjolander. Really like how I can put the image right on the digital BG.

ABC http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/abc-challenge-f-for.html
Pollycraft http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-121-punch-it-sheena.html
Digital Tuesday http://digitaltuesdaychallenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-141-winter-wonderland.html
Simon Says http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/simon-says-anything-goes.html
Meljen Designs http://meljensdesignsdt.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-90.html#en
Mark's Finest http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.com/2011/12/speedy-cats-friends-challenge-week_24.html

A Gift Tag For You

It was so fun making Christmas gift tags.  It spurred me on to make tags for the rest of the year - birthday, etc. This tag was made with Unity/Ippity stamps: Thoughts from the Past, Totally Happy, Life is the Journey, Good Morning.

Red heart is a SU punch.
Unity Stamp Co http://www.theunitystampco-challenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/gift-wrapping-challenge.html
Pollycraft  http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-121-punch-it-sheena.html
Really Reasonable Ribbon http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-38-anyhthing-goes-ribbon.html
Simon Says http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/simon-says-anything-goes.html
Mark's Finest http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.com/2011/12/speedy-cats-friends-challenge-week_24.html

Time for Troops

Some down time between Christmas and New Year so I am just playing around with stamps and some new paper, pulling out stamps that have not been used for awhile. These stamps are Our Daily Bread Designs: Old Flag Background and Not Forgotten.

 This card will be going to one of our heros through OWH.http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/
ODBD http://ourdailybreaddesignsblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/odbdslc90-anything-goes-with-odbd.html
ODBD http://ourdailybreaddesignsblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/stamping-in-time-challenge-sntodbd50.html
Simon Says http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/simon-says-anything-goes.html
Really Reasonable Ribbon http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-38-anyhthing-goes-ribbon.html
Mark's Finest http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.com/2011/12/speedy-cats-friends-challenge-week_24.html

Four Hundred Sixty Nine

This is the 469th card that I will be sending or have already sent to OWH http://www.owhhomefrontblog.org/.  My goal was 400 for this year so I made it !  Now I will up it to 500 for 2012 .  OWH celebrated the one millionth card this past year.  That is one million happy recipients of cards from our deployed troops.  How cool is that?  Such a pleasure to be a part of this.  Check out OWH and hopefully you will decide to support this great operation.  It costs a lot to send these cards to our heros.  Would you consider donating?
This card is the last Valentine I will be sending to OWH.  They have to be at our shipping centers by Dec.31.

The sketch is Chick Challenge sketch:  http://chickchallengeswithippity.blogspot.com/2011/12/chick-challenge-11.html

And there is a texture challenge at http://lawnscaping.blogspot.com/2011/12/lawnscaping-challenge-24-texture.html

Really Reasonable Ribbon http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-38-anyhthing-goes-ribbon.html
Mark's Finest http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.com/2011/12/speedy-cats-friends-challenge-week_24.html
Stamps are Unity , stamping the heart image onto digital DP by Daisy Doodles.

My Christmas Wish for You

I know I said in my last post that would be my last Christmas Card for the year, but I just had to make another card to wish all of you, my wonderful followers, a Very Merry Christmas.
As the song says, "It's the most wonderful time of the year."  but it is wonderful because we celebrate the birth of a Savior.  Jesus came to bring us hope.  He is the only way to bring us back to God.  He is our Bridge between sinful man and a holy God.  He came to die for us, taking upon Himself the punishment for our sin.  Through His death, He offers us Salvation and eternal life.  My Christmas wish for you is that you will truly understand and know that Jesus really is the reason for this season.  Merry Christmas !

 Sentiment  is by Sweet n Sassy stamped onto DP and I added a pine branch (Gina K Design), distressed a piece of DP, stitched another piece.  The star is chipboard painted with gold paint.
 
Stampin Sisters in Christ http://stampinsistersinchrist.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-120-luke-214.html
Really Reasonable Ribbon http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/search/label/challenges
Mark's Finest http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.com/2011/12/speedy-cats-friends-challenge-week_17.html
Sweet Stop http://sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com/2011/12/sss139-december-17.html

Last Christmas Card for the Season

I actually made this card several weeks ago but it got lost under the mess on my desk.  So it may be too late to send out - guess I have an early start on next year's cards.
Delightful Challenge - http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.com/2011/12/weekly-challenge-anything-goes.html
Mark's Finest - http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.com/2011/12/speedy-cats-friends-challenge-week_17.html
Really Reasonable Ribbon - http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-38-anyhthing-goes-ribbon.html
Our Daily Bread - No embossing, Old DP, gold Edged ribbon, Layers - http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-38-anyhthing-goes-ribbon.html

Warmest Wishes

Love these pre-colored images by Clear Dollar Stamps.  They make for easy, quick cards which I need right now.  Sketch is Sweet n Sassy http://sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com/2011/12/sss138-december-10.html
The button is an old button in my button box - reminds me of the snowflakes on the DP and image.
Lollipop Crafts http://lollipopcrafts.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-61-happy-holidays.html
Pollycraft http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/reminder-challenge-120-christmas-fun.html
Delightful Challenges http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.com/2011/12/delightful-blue-christmas.html
Sweet n Sassy http://sweetnsassydigis.blogspot.com/2011/12/snsdc32tea-for-two.html
ABC Challenge http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/abc-challenge-f-for.html

Music and Christmas Just Go Together

Here is a bookmark that I made with digital paper.   It had a bit of antiquing , smeared ink but I added a little more distressing on the edges.  The berries are a stamp by Unity that I embossed with gold.  The three words are Our Daily Bread Design and I embossed them with red.  Red grosgrain ribbon, silver and gold cording, and a new to me but old button.

Pollycraft http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/reminder-challenge-120-christmas-fun.html
Really Reasonable Ribbon http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-37-silver-gold-with-ribbon.html
Our Daily Bread http://ourdailybreaddesignsblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/odbdslc87-book-mark-it.html
Craft Away the Day http://craftyourdaysaway.blogspot.com/2011/11/cyda-challenge-34-buttons-or-bows.html
Simon Says http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/simon-says-christmas-photomontage.html
Unity Opportunity http://unityopportunity-challenge.blogspot.com/2011/12/dec-4th-ippity-challenge.html

Baby in Burlap

Each year as we read the story of the birth of Jesus, as we sing the Christmas carols, as we hear the pastors' messages about that incredible event, I try to imagine what it must have been like to be Mary, or Joseph, or any of the people around which the story evolves.  We tend to think that maybe it was just a little inconvenient when in reality, it must have been a terrible, frightening experience for Mary to give birth in some dirty cave used for animals.  There was dirt, filth, and they used a feeding trough to lay the baby in, probably to keep Him from being trampled on by some animal. I was thinking of that when I made this card, trying to get a little of that feel with the burlap and twine.  I found this angel charm that I forgot I had in my stash, tied it to the twine.
The digital image is by Doodle Pantry.

The BG is stamped with Linen BG stamps by Stampin Up and then distressed with Tim Holtz Tea ink.
Stampin Sisters in Christ
http://stampinsistersinchrist.blogspot.com/2011/12/challenge-118-matthew-120-22.html
Pollycraft http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/challenge-120-christmas-fun-4-week-long.html
Clearly i Stamp http://clearlyistamp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/12/clearly-inspired-challenge-41-cic41.html
Card Patterns http://cardpatterns.blogspot.com/2011/12/sketch-144.html
Simon Says http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/11/simon-says-anything-goes.html

Long TIme No Post

What a week !!  One of those crazy weeks where so many things seemed to break down, including two of my daughters' cars, my car, my computer. Then there was extra babysitting of grandchildren (which I love to do), extra ESL teaching. But one of the most time consuming was trying to get my computer up and running.  I did, but it still will not connect to the internet through our wireless system.  So after nine hours of trying to re-program things, I gave up and loaded Picasa into our other computer so now I can upload and download with that one.    I am surprised at how much these disruptions affect my emotions so I have been trying to chill and realize it is not the end of the world. 
I am sure you did not come to my blog to read about my troubles so here are two tags I made - fairly quick ones.  I hope to have time this weekend to get back to making some cards.

This digital snowman with  his bucket of noses makes me smile.
Challenges: Pollycraft  http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/challenge-120-christmas-fun-4-week-long.html
Digital Tuesday http://digitaltuesdaychallenge.blogspot.com/2011/11/challenge-139-go-green.html
Simon Says http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/11/simon-says-anything-goes.html
Delightful Challenges http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.com/2011/11/weekly-challenge-new-release-let-it.html
And the second tag:

Challenges:
Delightful Challenges http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.com/2011/11/weekly-challenge-new-release-let-it.html
Simon Says http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2011/11/simon-says-anything-goes.html
Pollycraft  http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/challenge-120-christmas-fun-4-week-long.html