Operation Write Home: You Make My Heart Smile

Hey, everyone!

We are getting near the end of my Operation Write Home card series. If you are new here, I have been sharing some cards that I created for OWH. I committed to make 10 cards, two of each design, and use the same designer papers and cardstock for all 10 cards. This is a new challenge to me because I never do that! It's been fun, though. I wanted to do a little different design this time so I checked out blogs for card sketch ideas. I found this sketch here and was eager to try it. Here's my card:

The butterfly is from The Angel Company but it's something I got in a grab bag. I am not sure what set it is from. I used my green Stardust Glitter Gel Pen for the antennae, my clear gel pen for the "trail" and then my blue SGGP for the body and some of the wings. I also outlined the sentiment with my blue SGGP.
The sentiment is from Dear Friend from The Angel Company. You can order it from Serendipity Street. There are cute sentiments and two darling images in that set.

I have one more set of cards to show you and then these will all be sent off to Operation Write Home. Have a great one!

Hugs,

Snowflake Notes

Hey, everyone!

While cleaning up the Christmas wrapping paper and things, I discovered a really nice piece of cardboard. I thought it would make a great backing for a notepad. I measured it and it was exactly 4" square!! I cut a piece of beautiful snowflake, glittery paper from My Mind's Eye Sweet Dreams Holiday Avenue paper collection and cut a piece of paper 4x4 to go on the cardboard and then another piece to measure 2x3½ to go around my jumbo binder clip. I scored it using my Scor-Pal at 1" and the notch over to the right of the 2...the groove with the circle/dot on top. I added a pretty white satin ribbon to the top!
I love the shimmery paper! I had some loose sheets of note paper so I put those under the clip and stamped a snowflake from the Ornamental Snowflakes stamp set from TAC. I also used the Dear Friend stamp set in the Serendipity magalog. The ink is Charcoal Palette Hybrid ink. Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll be back tomorrow for a really fun post!

Hugs,

ATC Swap

Hey, everyone!

I was in an ATC swap recently over at Paper Wings. I swapped some Artist Trading Cards with other Angels and it was so much fun to see their beautiful cards. I'd love to share them with you now. First I will show you the ones I created.

Shaving Cream Technique... I used Burnt Umber and shaving cream to create the background. The pumpkins were stamped with my oval punch and inked with Orangerie. The sentiment is from the Tag Tidbits stamp set and inked up with Burnt Umber.

There was a category for a masculine card. I decided to use the Wild For You stamp set along with the Sprigs stamp set and below is what I came up with. The sentiment is also from the Tag Tidbits stamp set.

I also joined the birthday swap category. This was a fun one to create. The girl is from the Ice Cream stamp set. The sentiment is another stamp in the set called Tag Tidbits.

The fourth and final category I particpated in was feminine theme. I really love the Dear Friend stamp set from Serendipity. It's so fun to color!

I got some ATC's back. These are (masculine, feminine and technique called Faux Felt) and were made by Angel Shirley Hotop:

My upline, Rita Wetzel, created these sweet ATC's. It was fun to trade with her.

The swapping coordinator, Stacy Rogers, created this ADORABLE thank you card for me. I absolutely FLIPPED over this! It's beautiful!
I believe Stacy created these cards, too, but there was no label on it so I am not certain.
These are so beautiful...the pictures don't do them justice! The owl is cut out and popped up on dimensionals. Here's a closer look...

I am so glad we traded. I am inspired and will be keeping these for a long time! Hope you've enjoyed checking out my swap. I have lots more to share with you so hope you'll come back tomorrow!

Hugs,

Gift of Friendship!

Hey, everyone!

I had a wonderful lunch date with my dear friend Rebecca! (No pun intended!) It had been a little while since we last got to meet for lunch. I love those times because she and I can share our faith, what has been happening in our lives, laugh, talk...and no matter how long goes by we can just start right back up where we left off! LOL It's wonderful! God has truly blessed me with her friendship!

School starts next week here where I live and since my friend Becca is a teacher, I had decided to make her a little sticky note holder. Do you remember when I posted that HERE? Well I had to make a card to go with it, so I made a 3x3 card. I had almost forgotten how much I love this size! I paper pieced the balloon, hat, shirt, pants and shoes on this stamp. It's from the Dear Friends stamp set. All the paper and stamps are from TAC. I used glitter gel pens to add some sparkle. With my Corner Chomper, I rounded all the corners! I love it!!!
I kept wanting to try stamping on fabric and just never took the time to do it! I had this cute little pink tote on my shelf of things to alter and I just picked a random butterfly stamp from an alphabet stamp I bought ages ago. I used my Palette Hybrid Noir black ink to stamp a simple butterfly border. The larger butterfly is from Treehouse Stamps. I got it for Christmas from Ashley! Thanks, Ash! It's super cute. I used TAC Souffle gel pens to color it in and our Clear Glitter Gel Pen for the antennaes. I think it turned out well. Just look at that beautiful blue sky! The weather was gorgeous!

I hope you've enjoyed my projects! Rebecca really liked them and I am glad! She is such a sweet friend!! It's great that God gave us girlfriends to hang out with and strengthen us, huh? Thanks for hanging out with me today! For those of you that may have wondered about the scripture challenge...it isn't gone! I just decided to start sharing those on Sunday, so I will pick up where I left off with the word REST on Sunday! And even though she doesn't read my blog...I want to wish my Aunt Doris a very happy birthday!!!

Hugs,

Corner Chomper!

Hey, everyone!

I am so excited to show you my new toy... I mean tool! LOL The Angel Company is now selling The Corner Chomper by We R Memory Makers. I absolutely love this tool! This corner rounder will easily add rounded corners to paper, cardstock, chipboard, leather, plastic, acrylic/poly and more! It cuts both ¼" and ½" round corners. Here's what it looks like:

There is a little place on top that holds all of the bits and pieces of materials that the Chomper rounds for easy clean-up! I love that!!! My husband opened it and had to check it out for me, of course! He is so funny...any new tool will catch his eye. He won't sit down to make cards with me but I have to be careful when he's around because he will just start trying out my tools on whatever he can find! He cut a piece off one of my make and take project pieces just to see if the blade was sharp enough on my trimmer!!!!

I used the ¼" side to round my piece of chipboard. My other corner rounders would have never been able to do that!
Here is the finished project...a little chipboard sticky note holder. This is some of my favorite paper, from my scrap stash and it's almost gone! It's retired now, Mulberry Meadow, so when I use it all, it will really be gone!! I think it is so pretty.... The sentiment is from the Dear Friend stamp set in our Serendipity magalogue! I hope you like it and I hope my friend will, too! She is a teacher and I thought this would be a fun gift for her to keep at work. She is a super special friend!

This is the last week of July! Is that not hard to believe? Oh my! It won't be long now before my daughter starts school. If I think about it I will cry! She is growing up so fast!!! Javan is, too! He is quite the little chatterbox! So sweet and precious are my blessings from God! Check back tomorrow for more Hoosier Card Angel's Creations!!!

Hugs,

Open House Make and Takes!

Hey, everyone!

I had my New Catalog Reveal Open House. It was a lot of fun and I appreciate those of you who let me know if you could or could not make it. I have several prizes to give away and I will be posting the winner's names, as well as contacting each winner, tomorrow!!!! Don't miss it!!!

I wanted to share the two make 'n' take projects we created! The first card was inspired by several different cards and I mixed them up to get this effect. The background score lines were made using the Scor-Pal, which is a tool I absolutely LOVE! The images are from the Sprigs stamp set in The Angel Company annual catalog. The sentiment is in the Dear Friend stamp set from Serendipity. I used my clear glitter pen and Stardust Glitter Gel Pen for this card.

The second card is a gift card holder. I love making these!! The stamp set is also in our annual catalog and is called Sweet Skunks. I just love these cute skunks. I used my stardust and clear glitter gel pens on this card as well. It's so much fun!!! The glitter gel pens are all from TAC's new catalog! Leave a comment or e-mail me and I'll let you know how to get your own copy if you don't already have one!!

I will be turning my order in on Tuesday so if you wanted to place an order and haven't already done so, please call or e-mail me today! I want to thank all of my wonderful customers who have chosen to spend their craft dollars with me! I love being your Angel!

Hugs,

Birthday Gifts!

Hey, everyone!

Yesterday was a crazy busy day here at the Owens' house! Not only was it day #2 of the garage sale but Kadesia had a friend's birthday party to go to and then the pageant. I am sooo glad Mini Miss is over! I am NOT a fan of pageants and absolutely did not want her to do this but we still had a pretty good experience overall... I'll share some photos with you tomorrow about that! For today I wanted to show you what I made Kadesia's friend! I made this little gift tote bag for her, personalized with a monogram! It's up on pop dots! We sell those in our current TAC catalog and I absolutely love them! I included a matching pen and a sticky note holder. The card is 4x4 which is a favorite size of mine! The image and sentiment is Dear Friend from Serendipity. Happy Birthday is stamped inside using the Trendy Greetings stamp set. The monogram is taken from the Scriptybet stamp set and the circle is from Circle Sampler. These are all from TAC, of course! I used my Tombows to color in the image, stardust glitter gel pens for the balloons and paper pieced her outfit. The skin is colored with my copic markers.
I hope you like this! I am exhausted so I think I will go to bed soon! Be sure to check back tomorrow if you want to see some photos of Kadesia during her contest!

Hugs,

You always have a friend in me!

Hey, everyone!

Tonight is the Mini Miss pageant! I am so proud of Kadesia. She has done so well through all of this and has kept a great attitude! I will post some pictures from the event soon! This card is one I made for a friend of mine. Her mom just passed away and I am so lost for words! It's incredibly heart-wrenching!!! I just thought I'd show you all! It's not the greatest example of using our Cloud Scissors but I do love the large scallops it gives! The image and sentiments are from Dear Friend from the Serendipity magalogue. The inside says YOU ALWAYS HAVE A FRIEND IN ME. I have used Tombow markers and glitter gel pens for the finishing touch! These items are available through TAC so let your Angel know if you'd like to order them!
Thanks for hanging out with me today! I hope you'll come again tomorrow to see what else is new!

Hugs,

Always something...

Hey, everyone!

What a day yesterday was! Oh man!!! Javan, my 21 month old son, loves to climb and I'm always pulling him down from somewhere it seems like! He is definitely ALL boy! Kadesia had him with her playing in her bedroom while I was in the bathroom. In a very short time I heard a THUD! followed by Javan screaming and crying and I could tell he was in pain! I yelled for Kadesia to bring him to me and I was checking him for bumps or bruises when I touched the back of his head and there was a HUGE knot! I just about lost it!! It was so scary! I immediately called the hospital and asked what to do. It was lunchtime so the pediatrician's office was closed so I talked to someone in the ER and she asked me some questions then gave me some instructions. I couldn't wait until the office opened again so I hurried him to their office and had one of the ladies look at him. When she felt how large the hematoma was she told me to sign in and let the doctor look at him. The verdict? He's going to be fine but he has a concussion! Oh that definitely pulls at a mother's heart strings! I just about lost it! Me and Kadesia were crying with him! Ugh! I immediately called my dad on the way to the doctor's office and asked him to pray and several others were praying, too. I just asked God not to take my baby boy from me! I know how swiftly they can go! God answered prayers and Javan hardly has any swelling now. It still concerns me deeply but I've done everything they said to do and I am trusting God for the rest!

This is a 4x4 card that I made today! I really like this size card a LOT! I already know who I am going to send it to.

You can see the detail a little more in this picture. I stamped the image and sentiment from the Dear Friend stamp set (Serendipity magalogue) using Noir Palette Hybrid Ink. The balloons are colored with my Stardust Glitter Gel Pens. You know I love these! I am going to need to order more soon because I color with them SO much that I am almost out of ink! LOL The hat, clothes and shoes were all colored using my Tombow markers. I used Copic markers for the skin and a glitter gel pen for the hair!

Thanks for hanging out with me today! I hope you like the card I made. I am eager to make more. Tomorrow I will share some Father's Day gifts with you! I am not quite done with them so you'll have to wait one more day to see them. I hope you all have a terrific day!

Hugs,

StampTACular Tuesday Challenge Father's Day Keepsake

Hey, everyone!

Happy StampTACular Tuesday! It's time for Christina and I to challenge you once again to make a really fun project! With Father's Day just ahead we wanted to make a project just for DAD! We decided to use a tutorial found at RANDOM ON PURPOSE. I did not follow the directions completely but I like how it turned out! I wanted to make a little book for my husband that my children can give to him for Father's Day. It's such a sweet size and by making it a little book, he can keep it on his night stand or tuck it in his pocket!


Even though the book is small, there are several pages inside. It can hold small photos, little quotes, drawings from the kids, and even favorite memories they share with Dad.

I hope you will make one of these books, too. They are so much fun to create and take very little time. They make terrific gifts for anyone, on any occasion or no occasion at all.

To create my book I used a retired pack of paper from The Angel Company, but for a Father's Day gift you could always use the Just Like Dad paper collection. I love it!

The circle and scalloped circle punches are found in the current catalog. The white gel pen is a must-have and less than $2! It adds a nice effect with the doodle dots. The sentiment is from the Dear Friend stamp set found in Serendipity. The satin ribbon is something I have had in my stash. Let me know if you'd like to order any of these items and receive a punch on your Valued Customer Reward Card! Some of you have already started filling yours up!

Be sure you check out Christina's project. It's adorable! Leave us a comment if you make one of these projects. You will be entered into a drawing at the end of the month for a special prize given by me when you participate in this month's challenges! Tomorrow is another Scripture Challenge so be sure to check back to see the word of the week! Have a great one and I'll see you tomorrow!

Hugs,

Father's Day Angel Blog Hop

Hey, everyone!

It's time for another Angel Blog Hop! The theme is FATHER'S DAY! I decided to make a fun card for my husband that reflected my kids....so I grabbed some stamps and here is what I came up with:The purple designer paper is the retired Gentle Beginnings. I love that paper!!! The Butterfly Kisses is from the Kid Praises stamp set (now 25% off on the Retired List). I picked this stamp to reflect my daughter because she always gives her daddy butterfly kisses and her room is decorated in pink and purple. The dinosaur is from the same set (order it soon if this is on your wish list before it's too late to order it anymore). My son loves dinosaurs and I know Paul will like the dino. Javan loves green so I picked some green and yellow to make it more fun! I stamped the "for you" sentiment from the Dear Friend stamp set in our Serendipity Catalog. I love it! It's a great set!!! The "you are" sentiment is from the YOU ARE stamp set also found in Serendipity. Then I put "dad" at the top of the card. It's stamped with the Viridian Leaf and Iris Palette Hybrid ink pads. I used the Scriptybet stamp set for that. I doodled some images inside the letters for a fun effect since the kids are giving it to him. The cardstock is cut at 4¼"x11" and scored at 5½". Want to see more? Just hop on over to these Angel blogs for more!

JAMIE
CAROL
CHRISTINA
RITA
SELEISE
LAURIE
HEATHER
KELLY RAE
STACY

Hugs,

StampTACular Tuesday Challenge GOT A MATCH?

Hey, everyone!

Today I am back with another StampTACular Tuesday Challenge! The challenge for today is to make a matchbook card! These are so fun to make and are so cute! They open up like a book of matches, thus the name! Christina has created a card, also and it is awesome! You won't want to miss it.

I want to tell you a little bit more about my card! The black cardstock can be purchased from your TAC Angel. The item # is V-215 for the 8½x11 or V-246 for the 12x12. The cream colored cardstock was something I had in my stash and I printed the FREE DOWNLOAD paper from TAC! Isn't it cute? I love it. These downloads are all FREE and you can print them on white cardstock, regular copy paper, colored paper or whatever! Use the whole sheet or cut it up! There are lots of options! I cut my image out with the 2½" Mega Scalloped Circle punch, item # D-700. The stamp set is from the new Serendipity magalogue which is for spring/summer 2009. It's called Dear Friend and is item # R-2039. You get six stamps for under $10! That is awesome! The holes are punched with my Crop-A-Dile. It's item # K-100.

My inspiration for today's card is from my upline's upline...Rita! Go see her matchbook card and enjoy checking her wonderful blog. Then leave me a comment and let me know if you are going to make one of these cards! The measurements are 4½x11 and you score at 4 5/8" and 10". Decorate as you desire. I'd love to see what you can come up with using The Angel Company stamps! I will have a special drawing for anyone who participates in this month's StampTACular Tuesday Challenges! It will be a lot of fun. The prize is going to be a complete surprise to all of you so you will have to wait until the end of the month to see what it is! You get one chance in the drawing for each week's challenge that you participate in. If you don't have a blog, just e-mail me a photo of your matchbook card (this week) using TAC stamps! That's all you have to do! Don't have a TAC stamp set? E-mail me and I'll tell you how you can get them!

Have a great day!

Hugs,

Dahlia by Paper Jewels

Hey, everyone!

I hope you are having fun this Memorial Day weekend! Only one more day of school for my little girl as a first grader. It's so hard to believe! WOW! Time for some summer fun! I am so excited about summer vacation coming up!! I miss my daughter so much while she is in school, so I will be overjoyed to have her home with me all day!

I have some super fun things lined up for us to do like watch the free movies our local theater provides all summer, SAFE NIGHT, playing in the park, going for walks, and lots of short trips, too!

Do you ever watch the Food Network Channel? Javan and I sit in the recliner and watch Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee. You know what I'm talking about? I just love her! I like how she takes things that are sort of done up already and adds just a few ingredients to make it her own special dish. That's my kind of cooking! LOL Especially with busy schedules and during the summer I do not want to be in a hot kitchen all day cooking meals so this makes it a fun way to get homemade meals...the semi-homemade way! Well, knowing this about me, you can imagine how MUCH I love Julie's Semi-Hand Stamped projects! Her Dahlia flower was just too cute and since I own that very same heart punch I had to leave her a comment! She e-mailed me back saying she'd love to see my card and guess what? I made one right away! Here it is:

It was so fun and so easy to make. Watch her video tutorial! I love it!! I changed a couple things up just a little and my card is sort of a notecard I purchased already...I got a package of the precut, prescored with envelopes pack so all I did was sponge the outside edges with Starry Night Palette Hybrid ink, cut a piece of (retired) Finger Paints paper to 1" x 5½" and adhered it to the lower portion of my card. I then stamped the sentiment in the same color ink using the Dear Friend stamp set available in the Serendipity magalogue! Instead of a circle punch I used a scalloped circle punch and placed a blue snap in the center of my flower! Hope you like it! I love, love, love how simple this card was to make. It's not a really fancy card but it is still fun! Let me know if you make one of these cards and be sure you tell Jewels, too, because I know she'd LOVE to know!

See ya tomorrow! I have some fun things to share with you soon!

Hugs,

For You Dear Friend

Hey, everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend! I had a very busy one but it was fun and now it's time for the last full week of school! My daughter is excited about summer vacation but I think she will miss school a little because she loves going and she does so well. I am looking forward to having her home with me and her brother all day! I have lots of fun things planned for us to do!

To start off this week's projects, I first have to tell you that Saturday we got our mail late in the evening. We were busy and just hadn't made it to the mailbox any earlier. I asked Kadesia to check it while I was getting her brother strapped into his car seat. We were going to take a little drive so we could just get out for a little while and my plan was to get the kids to fall asleep and it worked! LOL So I was surprised when she said, "Momma you got a package! It's from The Angel Company." I was excited at first, then thought okay wait, who ordered something? Then I realized it was me! Yay! LOL I ordered the Dear Friend stamp set from the Serendipity magalogue, Cloud Scissors (which I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!) from the main catalog, and Hello Sunshine from the Spring Into May Rewards special! I am eager to show you what I made with these stamps!
Here it is! I totally CASE'd this card but cannot remember from where so if you think you might know where, feel free to leave me a comment and let me know. It was so easy to make that I ended up making EIGHT of them very quickly! I have some plans for a few of these cards already!!!
The sentiment is from the Dear Friend stamp set. The stars are from the Hello Sunshine stamp set. (Side note: you absolutely should get this fun little stamp set and it's only $10.50 from now through the end of this month!!!) I stamped the sentiment in Noir Palette Hybrid Ink and the stars are in Sunflower Palette Hybrid Ink. I went over the stars with my Stardust Glitter Gel Pen to make it a little more shimmery and fun! This is a super easy card to make so I hope you will definitely try it! If you do, let me know!

Thanks for stopping by today! I had fun showing you my cards. Be sure you come back tomorrow and invite a friend! Christina and I are having TEA FOR TWO tomorrow! You'll see what I mean during our StampTACular Tuesday Challenge!!

Hugs,