Operation Write Home / ODBD Monthly Challenge

  

Hello, everyone!  Back in November, Kelley introduced us to Operation Write Home, a wonderful organization founded by Sandy Allnock,  which provides hand-made cards for our service men and women to send home to their loved ones.  Here is a little info from their website, which explains their mission:

This merry band of thousands of cardmakers is made up of Americans - and citizens of other nations too - who care about our military, and want to support them through creativity and encouragement. Many thousands of crafters of all ages and levels of experience have participated since 2007!

Care packages filled with hundreds of handmade cards are sent to our contacts, restocking every 6-8 weeks, and are sent in time for the long journey back home to loved ones. Each box is packed with great care, alternating styles, colors, and cardmakers from all over the USA, creating "eye candy" for heroes who see only khaki around them. The topper on each box is a plastic bag filled with 20-30 letters from adults and children across the country, letters handed out especially to those in need of a positive word from the homefront.

Boxes are shipped through every week of the year, so join us anytime in sending your beautiful creations to help our heroes keep in touch with home!

Because of all of you big-hearted stampers out there,  and thanks to Sandy and her helpers, Operation Write Home has sent 1,749,393 cards (and counting) since 2007......what a blessing this is to our troops and their families who miss them!

If you would like to help out, by sending cards, or with a donation, please visit Operation Write Home for instructions on the do's, don'ts, and deets!

Not only does Operation Write Home support our troops around the world, but they also have us stampers in mind as well.  There are weekly and monthly blog challenges HERE to help with your creativity, plus special challenge events during holidays, such as the Virtual Card Making Party during the three-day Labor Day weekend. 

Our Daily Bread designs sponsors the monthly ODBD Challenge at Operation Write Home.......there are two challenge participants chosen each month to win a $25.00 gift certificate to the Our Daily Bread designs store....woo hoo, that could be you!  First thing Saturday morning, September 1st, the ODBD Monthly Challenge will kick off the Virtual Card Making weekend event......hope you can make it!!! 

So, after you check out the Our Daily Bread designs September New Release Blog Hop, which begins at 8 am EDT here on the ODBD Blog, you'll have to scoot on over to Operation Write Home and check out the fun!   

See you there!  God bless! 

  

 Blog Writer

Customer Card of the Day - Candace Pierce!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!!!  We've got another special Customer Card of the Day to show off this week!  Please help me to congratulate one of the sweetest and most talented Southern Belle's I know.....Candace Pierce....yay, Candace!!!!!!  For those of you who are familiar with Candace's work, you will agree that her creations are always gorgeous, always creative, and her attention to detail is incredible!  This card is no different!  I love the designer paper from My Mind's Eye, lovely flourish and bow, and perfect stitching....all of these make a beautiful backdrop for the scripture verse from Scripture Collection 4.  Way to go, Candace!!

To see more of Candace's fabulous creations, please visit her Splitcoast gallery, candylou, or her blog, Creatively Candace.  **Just a note: Not only is she a paper-crafting Super Star, but Candace is also a school-teacher.....check out her gorgeous classroom HERE!  Candace, where were you when I was in school!?  :)

Thanks for stopping by today!  God bless!

Blog Writer

ODBDSLC121 You Leave Me in Stitches

Thanks to everyone who participated in the "Sketch" challenge last week!! There were so many beautiful creations. We so enjoyed viewing your interpretation of the challenge.

Before going on to our challenge, I would like to thank Linda Lucas for being our guest designer this month.  The month just flew by!!  Your creations were such an inspiration to us all Linda.  Thanks for sharing your love for the Lord and the gift of talent he has bestowed upon you!!

Next month's guest is the talented and sweet Katherine Lawson!!!  Her blog is called Paper Play by Kathi

Here are a few words from Katherine:

I live in Stonington, Maine, on a tiny island, with my husband of almost 42 years. We have a grown son, daughter-in-law, and three young grandchildren who live in Rochester, NY.

I was a SAHM, and taught Sunday school and swimming, sang in the choir, and worked with local charities when my son was younger. When he got older, I became a volunteer at the Nursing Home, and that pretty much consumed my life for quite a few years. It started out as one day a week, but ended up so I was there for three or four hours a day at least five days a week. It was the best thing I have ever done.

About ten years ago, both of our fathers came down with cancer, and right after our fathers passed away, my mother-in-law came down with it. Those events pretty much ended anything I did outside the home, but spending the time with loved ones when they need us most is what really matters. Now my mother is 82, so I spend a lot of time with her. She and I run a small gift shop in the summer, where we sell all types of crafts we have made. Together, we do about any craft you can think of, but for the last few years, my favorite has been making cards. I've always loved working with paper, and we have so many beautiful products available to us now.

When Chris told me I was going to be a guest designer for Our Daily Bread Designs, I couldn't believe it. ODBD is one of the nicest stamp companies in the world. Everyone I've communicated with has been so nice, and I love using their stamps to spread the Lord's word. It seems like so much in our world today is focused on sending the wrong message, especially to our children, so I love seeing a company that only shares goodness. 

The Award and Prize Winners for last week's "Sketch" challenge:

 

Cindy Coutts

Linda Carson

 

Dorothy S.

Congrats Ladies !! Please grab the Shining the Light Award Badge and display it with pride. Please link the badge to http://ourdailybreaddesigns.com/.

This week's random prize winner of the $15 dollar gift certificate toward stamps is:

9. Lynda Pleckan

Congratulations !!  Please email Kelley at kelley@ourdailybreaddesigns.com

for more information on how you to claim your gift certificate. Please let her know you won ODBDSLC120.

This week's challenge: 

"You leave me in stitches"

This challenge will be open to our players for two weeks...our design team will have more samples for this challenge next week.

To make the challenge even more fun, we will be giving out a prize, a $15 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Sunday, September 9th at 8 p.m. EST. One random winner will be chosen and announced next Saturday. 

While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Designs images and sentiments on your creations, we would love to see them if you have them. As a way of recognizing those who do use Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, we will again be choosing three or more of our participants  for the  Shining the Light Award . In order to qualify for this award or join the challenge, however, you must use Our Daily Bread stamps and have your submission added to Mr. Linky by Sunday,  September 9th at 8 p.m. EST. If you upload your creations to Splitcoast Stampers or any other online gallery, please use the keyword isODBDSLC121.  When creating your posts on blogs please include a link to the challenge.

Now on to our challenge teams inspiring creations for this challenge: 

Please note the designers link, challenges used and the stamp set they used is listed under each creation. If you take a moment to leave the girls some love at their blogs, I am sure they would greatly appreciate it.


Guest Designer:

Linda Lucas 
ODBD stamps used:  Mother Teresa

Jan Marie Ennenga

ODBD Stamps Used: Thank You

Rosemary Dennis

ODBD Stamps Used:  The Good Seed

Jan Keen

ODBD Stamp Set Used:  Quote Collection #2

Lori Ulrich

ODBD Stamps Used: With Heartfelt Sympathy

Kathy Roney

ODBD Stamps Used:  Christmas Door

Chris Olsen

ODBD stamps used:  Scripture Collection 6, Eternity

ODBD dies to match Eternity set from ODBD: Elegant Ovals

Thanks for stopping by!! We hope you will join us for this week's challenge.  We can't wait to see your creation!!

blessings,

Techniques, Tutorials & Tips - The "Faux Pressed Flower Technique"!

Hi everyone!  Are you ready for another fun and easy technique?  This time around I'll be sharing with you the "Faux Pressed Flower Technique".  As a little girl, I was so fascinated with pressed flowers, but never learned how to make them.  Now that I'm (MUCH) older, I am thrilled to be able to get the same look on the cards I make!!

Here are some of the basic supplies you will need:

Silk or paper flowers, leaves, butterflies, etc.  Anything thin and flat will work;

Craft Glue, Heavy Duty Glue Stick, or any adhesive you can coat the entire backing of your flowers (I will be using a Xyron Sticker Maker in the video below.);

Any embossing folder or embossing plate with a smaller detailed pattern;

Cardstock;

Manual die-cut machine of choice....Cuttlebug, Grand Calibur, Big Shot, etc.;

Embellishments of choice.

Please enjoy the video tutorial below, which shows two different variations of the technique:

          

Below are the card samples which were shown in the video.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to capture the full effect of dry embossing with direct lighting, so the photos are a bit dark.  The first sample shows the paper Prima flowers, which flattened and embossed nicely.

Card 'Ingredients':

Stamps: Our Daily Bread designs 'Sweet William - Small' (the Blessings sentiment);

Cardstock: Stampin Up 'Blushing Bride' and 'Very Vanilla';

Designer Paper: Prima 'Fairy Belle';

Accessories: Prima Hydrangea paper flowers, Cheery Lynn Designs 'Fanciful Flourish' and 'Exotic Butterflies 2', Xyron Sticker Maker, Zva Creative Pearls, Cuttlebug 'Damask' Embossing Folder, Spellbinders 'Labels Eight', Creative Memories Corner Rounder, Paper Piercer (freehand), Foam Tape;

Size: 6 x 4-1/2.

My second sample shows a silk flower instead of paper.  Since silk flowers are a bit more rigid, you will need some strong adhesive to ensure that they will not come loose after your project is finished, but the trouble is well worth it!

Card 'Ingredients':

Stamps: Our Daily Bread designs 'Mother's Day' (flower stem), 'Scripture Series 2' (scripture verse);

Cardstock: Stampin Up 'Red Riding Hood' and 'Whisper White';

Designer Paper: My Mind's Eye 'Rosy';

Accessories: Silk flower (brand unknown), Xyron Sticker Maker, Stampin' Up/Sizzix 'Square Lattice' Embossing Folder, Spellbinders Lacey Ovals and Oval Nestabilities Dies, Cheery Lynn Designs 'Border Carnivale' die, Baker's Twine, Zva Creative Pearls, Stampin' Up Vintage Brad, Stamp-a-ma-jig Stamp Positioner, Paper Piercer (freehand on oval, template for edges), Foam tape;

Size: 4-1/2 x 6.

Thanks so  much for hanging out with me today!  If you have any questions or suggestions for future tutorials, please feel free to contact me at angelladcrockett at yahoo dot com.  Please make sure to include a recognizable subject line so that you don't end up in the spam folder!  If you'd like to see all of our previous tutorials, please visit the Product Review/Tutorial archive HERE!

***Reminder: If you haven't taken advantage of the Bread Basket Bundle sale this month, you only have until Friday evening, August 31st to take advantage of the HUGE discount!  Purchase the entire August release at 20% off!!!!

Have a very blessed week!!

Product Review / Tutorial Writer 

Clean and Simple Saturday!

Hello, everyone!  Happy Saturday!!  Last month we introduced this new once-a-month feature post, called "Clean and Simple Saturday", where we will share a variety of clean and simple projects using Our Daily Bread designs stamps.  You may prefer your CAS projects to be mostly empty space, or you may look for cards which are easy to duplicate, with minimal layers and supplies.  So, I have picked out a variety of samples for some inspiration.  Enjoy!! (To see which sets were used, place your pointer over each photo and you should see a pop-up description.)

No matter how "simple" you prefer your "Clean and Simple" cards, you can't go wrong with Our Daily Bread designs stamps!  Visit the ODBD Card Gallery for thousands of project samples, from cards to layouts to gift ideas......I guarantee you will love it there!!!

See you next time!  God bless!

Blog Writer

Flashback Friday Favorites - "Peace - the Full of Grace Collection"

Happy Friday, everyone!  Are you ready for another Flashback Friday Favorite?!  This week's "Blast From The Past" is the "Peace" set from the "Full of Grace Collection".  Though this set only has two stamps, it sure packs a big punch with the words of wisdom!

 Enjoy the variety of designer samples which showcase the "Peace" set:

To see more samples for this or any other ODBD stamp set, please visit the ODBD Card Gallery.

Thanks for visiting today! Have a very blessed weekend!!

Blog Writer