Thursday, January 1, 2015

My Top 14 OWH Cards of 2014


Happy New Year, everyone! Hope 2014 was a great year for y'all, and that 2015 will be even better. Operation Write Home is having a "Top Cards of 2014" bloghop today, and I am happy to be participating. (To see everyone's work, click the link at the top of this post to go to the Operation Write Home blog.) We were encouraged to choose our top 14 cards of the year. It was hard to choose just 14 cards as my favorites, out of all the ones I made for OWH this past year. But here they are (in no special order)!


This one was a new-to-me design, that I'd found on Pinterest. I die cut all the letters and the heart, and arranged them on the card front. I later found a stamp in Hobby Lobby that does pretty much the same thing!


I love the watercoloring on this one. For quite some time while I was coloring it, I really wasn't sure it would work out, but in the end, I think it turned out quite well!


I like this one just for the "grunge" factor. I felt the opening around the truck, which I tore and then inked, turned out really great. A good card for a boy--or a tomboy girl!


I used a technique I'd seen Jennifer McGuire do, involving stamping the hearts in Distress inks and then flicking water with a brush onto them so the ink would bleed. Striking effect, I think!



Like many card makers, I don't tend to do masculine cards. I've been trying to do more, though. I especially the second one here, because it's also a one-layer card--something else I don't do much of.


I did a couple of techniques on this card. I used alcohol inks on glossy cardstock for the greeting panel, then stamped the "Hello handsome" on top. This was my first time doing this, and I was amazed how well it came out. I also did a faux letterpress technique on the background, by inking up an embossing folder before inserting my cardstock. I don't always get good results doing this, but this one was close to perfect the first time.


I used a stencil and inking for the sunburst in this card. I like how the blue panel anchors the sunburst & light bulb.



I love the cute critters in Hero Arts/OWH stamp sets. For the moose card, I stamped the plaid background behind the moose--not a quick process! The elephant card won a Heroine award in A Blog Named Hero's "Ombre" challenge!


I created this card for OWH's Memorial Day bloghop. I was surprised at how many people who commented thought the strip in the middle was pre-printed. In fact, I stamped the hearts & greeting and cut the strip out.


Another of what Laura Bassen would call a one-layer wonder. I masked the middle, used gel medium over a star stencil, and did a gradient inking for the background. Then I just removed the masking and stamped my greeting.



I really enjoyed doing the embossing in these last 2 cards. The brightly-colored one employed another new-to-me technique: monoprinting. I inked the back of a Tim Holtz layering stencil with Distress inks, spritzed it with water, and laid it down on a piece of cardstock to get the star-patterned print. I was glad it turned out right the first time, too!

So there they are, my top 14 choices for 2014. Hope you enjoyed--and congratulations on making it this far! :) I'm so glad to have found Operation Write Home, and feel honored to be at least a small part of their work! Have a wonderful day, and again, Happy New Year, y'all!

17 comments:

  1. you made some wonderful cards this year, thank you for sharing them with us!

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  2. You have a great selection of cards here...thank you for sharing your favorites.

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  3. Love the way you use color on all your cards. They are great.

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  4. Hi Andrea! I recognized your face from OnlineCardClasses, but think of you as jvillecardgal! I really like your cards and all you've accomplished. I especially like the alphabet and the hearts.

    Looks like we have many of the same stamps and tools and have tried many of the same techniques. It's nice to know you are a fellow OWH contributor.

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  5. The elephant card deserved to be a winner-- it is FABULOUS! You shared lots of great techniques- once I get over my cold- I am going to try some of them! TFS

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  6. Happy New Year, Andrea! What a great set of cards! Love your adventures with Distress Inks, and appreciate you including masculine cards in your OWH packages. Have a wonderfully crafty 2015. :)

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  7. Hi Andrea! Thanks for sharing your lovely cards! You've convinced me--I must finally get that cute little moose stamp! You have some great techniques here and I look forward to seeing more of your creations in 2015!!

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  8. These are terrific! I love that they have texture. The layers and embossing makes such a great impact.

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  9. you're cards are lovely! and so many different techniques! The colorful friend card is my favorite!

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  10. Wonderful cards! I esp love the seaside card and the stars card! Keep up the great work.

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  11. Fantastic collection of cards! I love all the techniques you used and all the critter cards!

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  12. Thanks for sharing your "paper antics"! Great variety of techniques and such great designs. I really loved the nautical card with the soft colors and the one layer card with the bird is amazing! Happy New Year!

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  13. What a wonderful array of cards! I'm particularly fond of the first one with the red highlighted elements, but the 2nd is my favorite! I love the burlap with that serene image! Beautiful!

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  14. This is a wonderful collection, filled with a wide variety of techniques. You really found the perfect paper to go with the colors on the beach/nautical image - a happy marriage of elements. The monster truck and the Hero Arts/OWH cards are fun. You stamped that plaid background! Wow! Thanks for sharing your talent with everyone.

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  15. Great cards. I really like the effect you used on the heart card and I will definitely have to try it, but all your cards are really beautiful. Have a wonderfully creative new year.

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  16. Andrea, ever since I admired your distressed hearts card above, I've been trying to figure out who makes that stamp. I know I've seen it before -- probably Jennifer McGuire -- but I can't find it anywhere. If you get a minute, perhaps you could let me know who makes it or what the stamp is called...? All your cards really are beautifully done!

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I love to hear your thoughts on my work, so feel free to speak your mind!