Operation Write Home

Edited to add that while comments are still welcomed, the blog candy comment has already been determined.  The winner can be found HERE.   



Hey Peoples!! Today is a very special day as the E-Team is inviting you to join us on a FABULOUS birthday celebration  ride to benefit Operation Write Home.  This non-profit organization collects UNSIGNED cards that our troops can choose to send home to loved ones.   As we come up on the holiday season, it is even more emotionally difficult for our troops to be away from their families and loved ones.  The E-Team invites you to pull out your stamping supplies and either replicate the cards we have to share or use our tips and tricks to mass produce your own awesome cards to send to our troops overseas!!

Visit all the E-Team blogs to get tricks and ideas for mass producing cards and make sure you comment on each blog for a chance to win some paper crafting goodies!! PLUS:  upload your card to eclectic Paperie Flicker group (tag photos as OWH) by Sunday, October 3, for a chance to win one of two eclectic Paperie box of goodies!!

THE E-TEAM

Broni Holcombe

Daisy Sparks

Latrice Murphy

Linda Duke

Linda Ledbetter

Micki Harper

Starla Nelson (me!)

eclectic Paperie

 has a special coupon code to offer some savings in order to stock up on favorite tools, papers, stamps, and all things paper crafts. Use coupon code OWHCARDS and you will receive 10% off your entire order (min $10 order) at eclectic Paperie. The coupon code is good Saturday, September 25th thru Sunday October 3rd. Yes, the coupon code is good through World Card Making day!

Make sure you leave a comment on my blog for a chance to win these paper craft goodies!

You have until Monday, September 27th, 8:00pm, PST to leave a comment.  I will have RandomKid chose the winner of the above goodies and on Tuesday, September 28th, I will post a winner by 10:00 am, PST

Before I begin my project today, I want to make sure you are aware of some REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES that are very important for the cards that will be sent to our troops (i.e. NO GLITTER).   PLEASE make sure you read these as we want your time and effort to be useful to OWH.  I highly recommend you watch the short video too as it gives a great overview of what OWH does!!  More detailed information can be found on the Operation Write Home Site. 

OK!! Are you ready?  LET'S RIDE!!

When it comes to mass production of cards, I am a QUEEN!  When I send out Christmas cards (yes, there are years when this task does not get done!) I mass produce as I have between 70-100 cards to send out and there is NO WAY I am going to come up with a different card for each family on my list. And there is the other factor of time.  In all honesty, I usually start my Christmas cards in December.  LAAATE December!!  I have NO time to be original!! With that being said, here are a few tips that I've learned over the years to make mass production much easier:

1.  Design.  The design needs to be fairly CAS (clean and simple) yet, pack a "WOW" punch.  Some design elements that I think add a "WOW" factor are:  embossing, shimmer (glimmer mists), clear cards and some sponging. Mass production is not really the time to add 15 layers or tons of embellishments.  Make a statement, don't yell it.

2.  Design Part 2:  Have your design planned out PRIOR to moving onto the assembly portion.  This means that you will have a "mock" up of what the final product will look like.  This can be done with those "oops" papers that we all make (you do make those, right?!!).  Your mock up does not have to be assembled completely.  This is the time to experiment with your layout, embellishments, etc.  Finalize your mock draft before you start assembly.

3.  Think assembly line.  Mass production happens in an assembly line in other areas of life.  Plan your card with the same thought process as to what would be the most productive way to assemble your card.

4.  CLEAN SPACE.  I am a VERY messy creator.  I tend to create by starting with an idea and then continuously pull out other stuff to add to it, embellish it, try it...discard it.  All without cleaning up.  This system works for producing ONE card.  This will not work for mass production!!  In order for the assembly line to work properly, the area must be clean so that you have room to put your little piles of supplies and tools as needed.  After you are done with one assembly line, clean up and lay out your supplies for the next assembly line.

Under the space category, I would add that while the kitchen table provides a larger space to do mass production, keep in mind that your family WILL expect to still be fed during this process and shoving all your bits and pieces to the side runs the risk of someone spilling something and ruining all your supplies.  Clean off your craft desk and pull out the card table if you need more space.  Trust me, it is worth the effort!

5.  Make sure you have all the tools, paper, tape and whatnots that you will need to complete the amount of cards you wish to make at that sitting.  There is nothing more frustrating then being in the middle of a mass production than to find you have run out of tape and need to stop everything to run down to you LSS and hope that they have what you need!!

6.  Realize that mass production does NOT have to be completed in one sitting!! I will plan how many cards I think I can make in my time allotment for the evening.  Usually, it is between 10-20 cards.  Mass production can be tedious.  Spread it out over a couple of evenings that way you don't develop an extreme allergy to the task!

Ok....enough jibber jabber!! Let's get STAMPING!!

Here is the card that I will be mass producing today (why is this photo blurry?!! In my photo editing program it looks fine!! grrrrrrr).  I am planning on making 10 cards of this layout to send to OWH.


To begin with, gather up all your supplies that you will need



Supply list for this card: 

Vanilla (Gina K's pure luxury) and Certainly Celery cardstock

Stamps of choice:  SU's Lovely as a Tree and CHF Vintage text *no longer available and Papertrey's Mixed Messages used here
Acrylic blocks, if using unmounted or clear stamps

Inks: Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and Encore Metallic Copper used here

Embossing Powders:  Distress Vintage Photo and SU's Copper used here

Paper Trimmer

Stamp positioner

Corner rounder punch

Spellbinders Nestabilities:  Label 12 and Classic Ovals

Craft Mat

Scor Tape

Scor Pal/Buddy

Ribbon

Scissors

Heat Gun

Begin by cutting your vanilla cardstock to 4.25" x 8.50"

                                    
Round all corners with your corner rounder.  I like to turn my punch upside down so that I make sure the corner angle is in the proper place.

Score your paper at the 4.25" mark.  I LOVE using my Scor Pal (and now my new Scor Buddy for this!! No more crooked cards!)

This will be your 4.25" x 4. 25" base.  Lay it aside for now.  Pull out your favorite die cutting machine and your Spellbinder Nestabilities dies. I am using the 5th die (counting from smallest/center to larger) of the Labels 12 set and the approximate 1 3/8" Classic Oval die.  *If you don't have any of these dies, just use your paper trimmer to make a square that is approximately 3 1/8" x 3 1/8".  You could use a punch to add a different element to the corners or along the edges. Likewise, you could use an oval or circle punch for the ovals on this card.   I am using my Big Shot here, but I have used my Cuttlebug with the Nestabilities and it works just fine!  Pull out all those scraps of Certainly Celery paper (or what ever paper you are using!) and die cut *10 of the label.  Now, I think you are suppose to use the dies with the cut edge up.  I make my sandwich with the cut edge down so that I can see exactly where my die is on my paper.  This way I can make the most of my paper space without waste.

While you have your die cutting machine out, go ahead and die cut the smaller 1" Classic Oval out of your vanilla paper scraps. And die cut the main image square too.  I used the third one from the center (about 2 1/8" x 2 1/8")

You will now have all the basic shaped paper elements of your card.

Now for the fun stamping part!! Now I usually do all my crafting on my Craft Sheet because I can easily wipe off over stamped inks, apply inks to it for the Wrinkle Free Distress technique (a favorite of mine), heat emboss on it or iron on it.  But in trying to keep my ink on the front side of my desired paper only and not everywhere else, I have laid down a piece of scrap paper to absorb the ink.   Begin with your largest Certainly Celery square.  Ink up the background stamp that you want to use with Distress Vintage Photo ink and stamp all *10 squares.  While the ink is still out, sponge along the edges of the square and the large Certainly Celery oval with more of the Vintage Photo ink.  Personally, I LOVE these large sponge daubers for this job!! I have a dauber for each of my individual Distress Ink colors and just label the dauber with a sharpie.

Set aside these elements and pull out your focal image stamp.  Since my image panel has already been die cut, I like to use my stamp positioner to make sure my image is going to end up where I want it, while being somewhat straight.  Yes, I am very capable of still stamping an image crooked even with a stamp positioner!! I tend to get in a hurry and forget to make sure my edges are all nice and tight!

If you've never used a stamp positioner before, take your plastic sheet and butt it up against your "T".  I like to place my "T" facing down towards me.  Just fits my stamping position better.  Ink up your stamp and butt it against the "T", stamping the plastic sheet.  You will place the plastic sheet over you paper, placing the image exactly where you want it.  Butt the "T" against the plastic edge and then remove the plastic sheet.  Re ink your image and butt the stamp against the "T".  Image where you want it!!

For this project, I wanted to add a "WOW" pop with some embossing.  Gather up your embossing tray, embossing buddy and powders *if using Distress Embossing Powder, remember to shake the bottle first to mix the release crystals.

 First wipe your paper with an embossing buddy.  This will keep stray powders from other areas besides the image from sticking! 

 Stamp your image with Distress Ink Vintage Photo. Immediately sprinkle your embossing powder over the wet ink.  Tap off the excess into your embossing tray.  This will make it easier to pour the extra powder back into the bottle.  Set the image aside.  Repeat with the remaining image panels.  *Do not stack the images at this point or you will wipe off the embossing powder.  This is where the clean desk/more room comes into play!

After all the powder has been applied, pull out your heat gun and melt the powder over your Craft sheet.  The Craft Sheet will protect your work area from the high heat and from the embossing powders melting.  If you are using Distress Embossing Powder, the powder will not become shiny, like other embossing powders.  The powder becomes darker when it is embossed. After the image is cool, brush off the release crystals to give the "distressed" embossed look.  While you have the embossing tools out, ink and emboss your sentiment onto the small vanilla oval.

My sentiment is a clear, polymer stamp.  Using a clear acrylic block enables me to see exactly where I want to stamp my image.  Remember:  with clear stamps you do not have to press down as hard as you do with rubber stamps.  The image will squish out and become distorted with too much pressure! Practice on scrap paper if you've never used clear stamps before to get the feel of them.

Finally, the "Putting it all together" portion of our project!!  Gather your scissors, ribbon and tape. I am using Scor Tape (LOVE that fact that it comes in various sizes, I can tear it to size and the backing does not cling to EVERYTHING like the red liner tape!) and Tim Holtz's Tonic scissors (cuts ribbon like butter!).  Cut approximately 4-5" of ribbon and apply tape to the backside.  Wrap the ribbon around the edge of the large square panel. 

Adhere the main image to the background panel.  Adhere that to the card base.  Then adhere the sentiment in the bottom corner.

Use a bone folder to fold along the scored line and WAH-LAH!! The finished cards!!

*I stamped some of the images and sentiments with Encore Metallic Copper ink and embossed using copper embossing powder.  Just playing around with different looks!!

I hope that this little tutorial will encourage you to give some mass production for OWH a try!! I think this is such an awesome way to give back to the men and women who are sacrificing so much so that we can stay home and enjoy our freedoms that we so often take for granted. 

Thanks for dropping by today and don't forget to leave a comment for a chance at the goodies!! AND stop by the other E-Team members for some more inspiration!!

Till then......remember to make some time for creativity in your day!!



Still on the Campaign Trail

Hey People!!  Believe it or not, I have not fallen off the face of the earth!! We are still in the thick of the
8th grade campaign trail.  I have spent the last couple of days making more badges~~but this time the inspiration was this Army Sergeant bade that I found on the Internet:

Now, I will be honest here.  I am SICK of making badges.  Especially for knowing that most of these will get thrown away.  But, the kiddo liked this idea so I made a template and came up with this version: 

This one was a tad bit harder to put together than the last badge!! The main badge was cut from chocolate chip paper from the tracing of my paper template.  I then used my Krylon Gold leafing pen along the edges.  About 2/3 of the way through I was running out of the ink and had to force out as much as I could and "brush" the edges.  Not very pretty, but this was when I started chanting "it will probably get thrown away....it will probably get thrown away." I then put the Kiddo to work die cutting 104 of the smallest Spellbinders Nestabilities Star.  And realized that the gold edging on the chocolate chip paper did not match as close as I thought it would to the gold stars.  Started chanting again.



Doesn't he looked thrilled?!  I figure it was good for him to realize how much work goes into this craft of ours!! 

I then made my biggest mistake when cutting out the "stripes" (or what ever they are called.  I know there is a special name for them, but it escapes my noggin' at this time).  I cut out my paper template and got the "GREAT" idea that I would fold my gold paper in half, and cut two stripes out at once.  Wonderful. Except it never occurred to me that one of the stripes would be BACKWARDS.  Which means my stripes do not line up perfectly neat.  It's a good thing I decided against joining the military (I had a good friend try and talk me into joining the military when I finished my schooling for PT.  I would have been an officer.  Great way to see the world. Considered it for about a minute.  Then realized that I don't take orders very well.  Or handle change well.  Or being in situations where I know NO ONE.)  I would have been kicked out before I ever got my bunk made properly!!  So, I just started my chant again~~"it will probably be thrown away.....it will probably be thrown away...."

Last, I stamped the Kiddo's name using Encore Metallic Gold ink.  And discovered the COOLEST tool in the world.  I used this Fiskers Compact Stamp Press to line up all the letters of the Kiddos name ( I used Papertrey's Trajen Monogram set).  PERFECT.  I could line up all the letters on the grid, ink them, then using the grid to line up in the badge area!  Press, and PRESTO!! Perfect image every time!! I will be using this a lot with my unmounted stamps!!

Again, there were 26 of these made.  The Kiddo thought they turned out pretty cool.  Which is all that matters.  And he learned a lesson that it takes work, sometimes a LOT of work,  to go after something you want. 

I'll leave you with one last shot of my good looking Kiddo working on his poster that he made to mimic the badges (only in b/w.....again using the Spellbinders Nestie stars and SU's Headline Alphabet for his name)

And with that, I'm calling it a night.  There is rumblings about making "dog tags" for the last push on the campaign trail before Friday's elections.  Geesh.  I really hope this kiddo wins the office.  If not, it will just be another lesson of life!!

Thanks for dropping by again!!  Remember to make some time for creativity in your day.  Or night. 

Till next time~~

Surf's UP!

Hello Peoples!! Are you ready for another week ahead?!  Today is going to be a real quick post as we are in the full swing of school now (and I have to work this am!!).  Thought I'd share a couple of projects that I worked on last week for the Home and School.

This year, the Home and School has decided to have a "Luau" or tropical theme for all the events and activities that are sponsored by the H&S.  I was asked to make the birthday cards for all the teachers and staff members of our little school that would be from the H&S members.  This is what I came up with:

This is a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 card base of Gina K's pure luxury card stock. I used a scrap piece of paper to make a mask for my water line and sponged SU's Baja Breeze and Pacific Point for the water.  I then flipped the mask and randomly sponged some distress ink in Tumbled Glass for the sky, deliberately leaving some white areas as my "clouds".   I hand drew the surfboard template and traced it onto more pure luxury card stock and colored with copics.  I then stamped the red boards with element from SU's Delight in Life (retired) and Extreme elements using craft white ink.  The white board was stamped with the swirl from Delight in Life.  I then stamped the initials of the school using Papertrey's Trajan Monogram Edition.  I then used a THICK layer of glossy accents on each board to give it that waxed shine (this would be why the picture is slightly out of focus.  I could NOT for the life of me, get a decent picture that didn't have a glare on it!!).

The sand is pieces of torn Creamy Caramel (why did SU get rid of all their brown?!!) that had some direct to paper swipes with my Creamy Caramel ink pad.  I then used SU's Itty Bitty Backgrounds with Chocolate Chip ink to add the grains.  The surfboards were cut out and adhered in between the sand layers, leaving the tops of the boards slightly curved.  Squiggled the "sea gulls" and called 'er done!!

The next project is another paper project, just on a larger scale.  There is a 4'x6' bulletin board across from the school office that has been used as the teacher's "wish tree" in the past. It was sorely needing an update and this is what I came up with using only the paper rolls that the teacher's use to cover their bulletin boards:

Everything was hand drawn and cut out.  I used various inks (sorry, just grabbed a bunch and have NO idea which ones were actually used!) to add the shading to the water, sand, tree and leaves.  I still need to make the "coconuts" that the teachers will write their wishes on.  One thing that was difficult with this, is that I had to be careful not to get over three layers of paper per the fire department codes.  Shhhhh, I may have 4 in the sand area....but only in one spot!!

I'm off!!  Thanks for dropping by again today!!  I'll be back in a day or so with the cards that I'm designing for the new families "Welcome to our School"!!  Till then......make some time for creativity in your day!!

Notes from the Locker Room

Hey Peoples!  Have a quick post to share today (if I can keep from chatting too much!).  The Toad has been after me to make some thank you cards for all the coaches who helped with the our little school's participation in the city basketball league this past season.  As usual, I'm a couple of miles/months/years behind, but finally came up with a design. 

I got the idea to make a "locker room" with a hanging plaque.  The layout is fairly clean and simple as I have 8 of these to make.  And since I got the wild hair to cut out each and every one of the elements!! (I'm tellin' ya....sometimes I have to wonder at the twisted turns my brain takes in creating!).  The card base is 120# Pure Luxury cardstock from Gina K, with a top fold.  I LOOOVE this paper!! It is WONDERFUL for coloring with copics (smooth, no bleeding, so single layer cards can be made with it), but it is STURDY for building scenes like this without warping.  The images are from Melanie Muenchinger's "Sporty Accessories".  I stamped the tennis shoes using Archival Jet Black ink and colored with various copic ciaos.  The basketball was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and also colored with copics.  The lockers were stamped with Adirondack Slate ink and shaded with copics.  I tried to stamp the lockers lined up next to each other using my stampamajig, but somehow I managed to still stamp them "off" so EVERYTHING got cut out!!  The "plaque"  sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Faux Ribbon.  I masked off the "with appreciation" under the "THANKS" as I felt it was kind of redundant and stamped it using SU's Real Red.    The "floor" is scored (with the debossed lines on the front) every 1/4" using my Scor Pal, but they are difficult to see in the picture.  All the images (except the plaque) are popped up on dimensionals.  Supplies:  Stamps:  Melanie Muenchinger's Sporty Accessories, Papertrey's Faux Ribbon.  Inks:  Archival Jet Black, Memento Rich Cocoa, Adirondack Slate, SU's Real Red.  Paper:  Pure Luxury 120# from Gina K, basic black

I still need to put the rest of these together, but since I've been really lame about posting lately, I wanted to take a moment and share something new with you!!  I'm off to take a little break and do some yard work before the predicted rain hits!!  Thanks for dropping by again today!! And remember~take time for some creativity!!