Send a Smile 4 Luke

I read about a sweet boy named Luke who is facing great health challenges and would like to receive handmade cards from all over the world on the Send a Smile 4 Kids blog. You can read all about Luke and his progress here (have tissues handy.)  The site that is collecting the cards for Luke is here and there is an address to send them to there. There are digi stamp artists who have created some special sets for Luke and his family and all the proceeds from the sale of these stamps will go directly to Luke and his family. You can go here to see the digital stamps and purchase including the darling one I used to create the card above.

If you visit any of these sites, you too will fall in love with  this sweet boy and will join me in sending your love and prayers and maybe a card to them. Luke loves Star Wars so I made this card for him using one of the digital stamps from the site above. I paperpieced the robe and colored the sword sparkly gold. The sentiment was created on my computer with a Star Wars font I downloaded.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for a big announcement:)

Stamping smiles, Karen

Pictures from this week's posts when blogger did not work

This was the card from Tuesday's post where the challenges at Speedy the Cat's Friends and Rubber Cafe' were to use embossing in our cards. The stamps are from Repeat Impressions. The only thing missing from that post was the pix so you can refer to Tuesday March 29th post for any other details.

I have a brilliant friend who explained a way around Blogger's issues with the "Blog This" button. Thanks Sara!!

These are the card pictures I could not post with my Wednesday Designers Choice Challenge post. The challenge was to use scenery in our cards and we would love to have you show us your scenery cards too. I used one of Repeat Impression's swing cards and also one of their stamp sets specially designed for swing cards. The scenery is the same on both stamps but the sentiment asks the question on the front and you swing the card to see the "punch line" on the inside. Too funny. I punched (Martha Stewart) the sides and embossed (Tim Holtz Sizzix embossing folder.) I sponged the scenery and did some masking to get the sun sponged to highlight the sentiment on both the front and inside.

Stamping smiles (now that I can blog with pictures again:)
Karen

RI Designer Choice Challenge Starts Today

and I can't show you my funny card that I designed just for that:(  The pictures I put in blogger when I create disappear! But you can go to Repeat Impressions blog, The House that Stamps Built and check out my card and all the great cards designed by the Rock Stars.

The new What If? Wednesday challenge is a Designers Choice Challenge. Darsie has challenged us (and you!) to create a scenery card. You have until Tuesday April 12th to post and link your card for a chance to win Rubber!

I will post the cards from today and yesterday when this issue gets fixed. If any of you have had this problem or know how to fix it, please contact me (email on the side.)

EDITED TO ADD: You can now see the pictures here

Stamping smiles (and blogger frowns),

Karen

Speedy the Cat's Friends and Rubber Cafe' Challenges

(If you are a subscriber and got one earlier w/o a pix, don't know what happened, but I am trying again...) The challenge this week at Speedy the Cat's Friends is wet and dry embossing and at Rubber Cafe' it is also to use embossing. I dry embossed a piece of kraft paper in a Tim Holtz Sizzix folder and then used brown embossing powder on top of that to get this cool wood look. I learned how to do this technique at a class at my local Stamp Shoppe. The loon and sentiment are from Repeat Impressions.

EDITED TO ADD: You can now see the picture of the card here


 Stamping smiles, Karen

Repeat Impressions SOTW Easter Egg

The stamp of the week at Repeat Impressions this week is this fun Easter Egg (4505-F) and it is available this week for 50% off with a special discount code found at their blog, The House that Stamps Built. That's a great deal, so check it out along with their other great stamps.

I paper pieced my eggs with several dps. The background is a technique I learned at our local Stamp Shoppe using baby wipes and ink sprays. After spraying the baby wipe with several colors of any of the mists or sprays on the market, let it dry completely and then emboss with your embossing folder. I had better success when I used lighter colors and a very deep embossing folder (this is one from Sizzix.) And be patient- hard to do I know- but wait for it to dry completely or really dry it well with your heat gun. The edge punch on the bottom is from Martha Stewart.

Stamping smiles Karen

Happy Birthday Dear Wendy...

Happy Birthday to Wendy Wyman, the owner and founder of Repeat Impressions!! Today we are celebrating Wendy's birthday and each of her Rock Stars are posting a special birthday card just for her! Mine is also in the mail to her- hope it gets there right on time. I used RI's stamp "Kisa" because she is a cat lover (just like me). The background is a bargello pattern created with the new awesome dps from Close to My Heart. I had a little extra after creating the front, so I made a scalloped circle of the bargello pattern for the inside.

Wendy's story is a great one - check it out here. And while you are there, leave a comment on the home page of the blog wishing her a Happy Birthday too. She is very generous with her design team and I am having such a great time since she asked me to join her team.

Here are the links so you can see Wendy's other birthday cards designed by the Rock Stars:

Ayana ~ http://www.ayanaposadas.typepad.com/
Darsie ~ http://www.craftingwithdarsie.blogspot.com/
Harriet ~ http://allycatcards.blogspot.com/
Joy ~ http://www.piecesofjoyhadden.blogspot.com/
Karen ~ http://karenskreativekards.blogspot.com/ (you are here)
Lynette ~ http://mystampingaddiction.blogspot.com/
Makiko ~ http://makinkstudio.blogspot.com/
Michele ~ http://whimsicalcreations.blogspot.com/
Robin ~ http://robins-rubber-room.blogspot.com/

or you can click on the links at the side of my blog anytime for inspiration.

Happy Birthday smiles, Karen

RI What If Wednesday? Sketch Challenge

Time for another fun What If Wednesday? Sketch Challenge at the Repeat Impressions blog, The House that Stamps Built. Is this not a fun and unique sketch?

For my card, I used the Wings Quartet series of stamps (8507 W). In this set of stamps, you get the positive and negative image, the words and the single feather stamp. The circles behind the main image were cut with my nesties, and I used Close to My Heart dp and gems to complete the card.

You have until April 5th to create a card using this sketch, post it and link to the RI blog for a chance to win a great prize. You do not have to use Repeat Impression's stamps, but if you do, you get an extra chance to win in the random drawing.

Stamping smiles, Karen