THANK YOU! Operation Write Home's 2013 Memorial Day Bloghop

Hi everybody! It's that time of year again... time for the the Operation Write Home Annual Memorial Day Weekend Bloghop. I am thrilled to be participating and saying "THANKS" to all our men and women {past and present}, serving in our armed forces. I have family members in the Army and in the National Guard so this day is near and dear to our hearts. Click the image below to jump back to the beginning of the bloghop at Operation Write Home.

I have created this card using a "tweek" to sketch #25... just one of Operation Write Home's fabulous sketches. On a hand-painted paper, I used an Inkadinkado "thank you" clear cling stamp combined with a scene stamped using floral and bee stamps from Viva Las VegaStamps!; both stamped in brown Steward Superior Memories Dye ink; and then cut into this window frame background. Flower petals accented with Picket Fence Ranger Distress marker.

My sister Andrea {pictured on left} with her comrades headed out

to a field exercise on Schofield Barracks, in Hawaii.

My baby sister, PFC Cassidy will be reaching the end of her six years in the Army National Guard where she has served for the states of Florida, Hawaii and currently in Washington State at Camp Murray. Her husband is currently stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA.  She is finishing up her Master's Degree this year and will continue on with her dream to become a doctor. I am so PROUD!

Thanks for stopping by and Have a wonderful Memorial Day!  :) Sb

What's a Party Without Cake? Inspiration Week with Viva Las VegaStamps! and Helmar!

It's Friday and TODAY is the last day of the week-long party with the Viva Las VegaStamps! and Helmar design teams. Since we are having a party... how about some cake? A pretty pink paper cake. I am about greencrafting and this paper cake is no exception. I know it's Pink... it happened to be the ruling color by my paper scraps and recycled colored tissue paper. This is one occasion that I can live without all things "PURPLE".

 

The center of this cake is recycled ribbon spools collaged with paper and tissue, then stamped with inky goodness. Topped with luscious ribbon trims for the icing. Helmar adhesives made this project quick and easy... my cake came together lickety-split.

I used 5 Helmar adhesives...YES FIVE! To start I adhered recycled ribbon spools together with Helmar 450; then mounted base papers to spools using Helmar Craft and Hobby PVA Glue; collaged layers of recycled colored tissue papers to forms using Helmar Découpage and Craft Paste; adhered all ribbon using Helmar Fabric Glue {I LOVE THIS... it doesn't discolor the ribbon or show through the sheer organza type either!}; and lastly, gave dimension to the party cat cake topper with Helmar Scrap Dots... and Scrap Dots are a MUST HAVE, no more cutting double stick foam tape for me!!!

The base of the cake is finished off with

a hand-stamped doily detail, too!

Stamps used: Cat Jumping Out Of Cake #12072, Party Streamers #130, Washi Lines Background #19073, Large Doily #18847, and Celebrate #12390.

Hop on over to the Viva Las VegaStamps! Blog to check out Hermine's fabulous piece today, the entire week of inspiration, then jump on over to see the inspiration over at the Helmar Blog, too! This is a perfect way to get the creative juices going for the long holiday weekend - enjoy!!!  :) Sb

Mini Book Necklace for Anything But a Card Challenges No. 19 "Color Challenge"

Whoa! It's Thursday??? Well, I've finally got it done - a brand new pretty to wear and I learned a new technique in the process for this project I made for Anything But a Card Challenge 19 "COLOR INSPIRATION".  This is week two of the challenge. Please click here to head on over to ABAC and see what the second half of our amazing design team has created with these luscious colors.

Are you ready to CREATE and play along??? Please click here to link up your creations! There's still time before the new challenge begins on May 26th. REMEMBER this challenge blog is ANYTHING and EVERYTHING... except for Cards. ATC's aren't cards...so please link up your ATC's too!!!

Anything But a Card Challenge 19 is a "COLOR CHALLENGE": Use the color palette below as your inspiration! You can use two, three, or all five of the colors. Summer arrived months ago in South Flordia and these yummy colors remind me of all the flavors of sherbert at the ice cream shoppe. The possibilites are endless and the theme is open.

Your challenge is to use this color palette...

Here's my lovely altered mini-book charm
necklace I made for this challenge...

I am part of a monthly A.R.T. Club that meets the third Sunday each month. It's really fun and I enjoy the relaxation of just playing. Each month, a member shares a technique or project for the group to make and this mini book charm was this month's project.

I knew I had plenty of goodies in the colors needed for this challenge, so I gathered up book pages leftover from cutting an altered book void, some ribbon scraps, a handful of glass beads and my chalk and alcohol inks and hit the road to the meet-up. The technique was embossing metal sheets and coloring with alcohol inks to patina. I've done the patina with the inks, but I've never embossed metal sheets in my embossing folders in the Cuttlebug {except for aluminum tape paper}. I was surprised at the fabulous results. To make a charm like this you really need the strength of a thin metal to be durable enough to wear on a chain - and it was nice I didn't need to mess around with setting an eyelet. This is a perfect greencrafting project and makes a great gift, too!

I hope you are inspired to play along - I can't see what you create! See you tomorrow with my fabulous creation for the Viva Las VegaStamps! and Helmar Inspiration Week!

 :) Sb