Welcome!                                         

So glad you've stopped by to visit my corner studio.   Normally I share some of my paintings with you, and since I posted a couple just a few days ago, today it's dedicated to the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Bloghop.  If you've arrived here from Lisa's blog, Stamping with a Mission, then you're in the right place, but if you need to start at the beginning, just click the bloghop badge shown on the right -------------   

Since we are honoring Memorial Day this weekend, our mission is to make a "missing you" card for a deployed hero to write home on, and here is mine:

This is an example of the "Dimensional Ruffle card Tutorial"   posted by Sandy on April 29, 2011 on the OWH Stars and Stamps blog, and can be found under the Tutorials section,  along with a great U-Stream video.  I used scrap pieces of blue and white design paper for each of the ruffles trimmed with a scallop punch, then glued onto a blue base front and attached to white cardstock.  I felt it only needed a small flower and a little butterfly punch to finish it off with blue ribbon.  Amazingly enough, it really levels out with each row and isn't too bulky.

BLOG CANDY
To entice you to leave a comment for me on what you think of my attempt with this card, I'm offering some sweet blog candy for one lucky person:

A winner will be chosen through random.org on Wednesday at 9:00 pm EST, so check back then to see if you've won. 

But, before you leave here now, please scroll down to see a previous post of some paintings I've done recently in my studio and let me know what you think of them.  I'd really appreciate that.

NEXT STOP!
Then you can proceed to the next stop on this hop which is Nancy's blog Scrap Happens!!!  You won't want to miss Nancy's inspirational work, as well as those who follow.  This is fun and a great way to get new ideas for your own creations.  Enjoy the hop and have a great Memorial Day weekend!

~~Dolores~~

Christmas in July

Hello there.... I'm back, believe it or not, and wishing for Christmas in July!

We are in the midst of a record heatwave here, and Frederick registered 106 degrees F. yesterday, but only 103 today:((  I'm feeling summertime cabin fever and decided it would be a nice diversion to create some wintertime/Christmas cards for our heroes early to keep thinking "cool".  However, first I wanted to make a card using sketch challenge #23, and afterwards found that it also covered the midweek inspiration color challenge.  

This is also one of the images included in the 5-page set of stamped images promised as a surprise gift to one lucky person during the Independence Day blog tour last weekend.  I have made a random pick of all comments received, and the winner is:   Carol L.  I'll be getting in touch with Carol for mailing instructions this week.   I thank everyone for their kind comments and for participating in this blog tour with me.

Before I call it a night here, I'd like to mention that I'll be busy working on some paintings over the next few weeks to get them ready to enter into several shows, so I may not be blogging very often.   But, if anyone is interested in seeing some of them, you won't have to twist my arm to get me to post a few.... maybe even as "works in progress" so I can get your feedback.  I believe I wrote earlier that I do keep busy creating not only cards for our heroes, but paintings in pastel, oil and acrylic and want to share them with you here in my Corner Studio. 

In the meantime, thank you for visiting here, and do check back periodically to see how my work is progressing.   Keep cool....and have a good night.

~Dolores~

Fireworks

Hello everyone:  Glad to see you here if you're still traveling the OWH Blog Tour and haven't visited me earlier, and welcome back to those who came by yesterday.  Really appreciated all the wonderful comments that inspire me to keep going with this blog, so read on for my surprise offer.

First, I mentioned that I would post another patriotic birthday card that I made for a young man named Brian, who is British!  My daughter Debbie has lived and worked in London for several years, and Brian is her dearest friend.  He came along with Debbie for a visit the past two Christmases, spending a couple weeks each time at my home, so I have gotten to know him fairly well.  Brian is a wonderful young man and I highly approve of him being my daughter's significant other!   He thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of the U.S. during these visits as Frederick is quite central to the sights in Washington, Baltimore, and the east coast region.   It being Christmastime, we arranged a family visit to see the White House in 2008, and in 2009 had a 20-inch snowfall in his honor!  (This sounds so good to me today in a 90-degree heat wave.)

Brian is celebrating his birthday now as well, so although this card may seem to be for the 4th of July fireworks,  it can really be fireworks for anyone's birthday!  It's a very simple card on The Paper Company cardstock base, but the Paper Pizazz "Fireworks" makes the entire scene and I didn't feel it needed more embellishment, other than the clear block birthday stamp by Inkadinkado stamped onto some gold wrapping paper for shine! 

Now...I do have a special surprise for all of my new "friends" here, and so that previous visitors don't feel neglected, I will also post this notice on the Forum as well.   I hadn't really planned to offer any blog candy as this is a first for me, but  in reading all the comments about my little fairy card, I decided to do something for all my visitors.  The Inkadinkado "Beautiful Fairies" clear stamp set consists of four fairy images as shown below on one sheet, and I am offering five of these fairy image sheets to one lucky person who leaves a comment on my blog, once or more this weekend.   A random pick winner will be made after 11 P.M. EST on Wednesday, July 7th.  So, if you really really liked the fairy image, hope to see you back here again and again! 

I hope everyone will enjoy some of the wonderful fireworks that fill the skies (and our TV's) around our great country this weekend.  Also, stop by the Forum's blog discussion on Opening Ceremonies to learn about our National Anthem.  Afterwards, continue your journey on this OWH Stars and Stamps blog tour by clicking  here.   Have a wonderful Independence Day!

Dolores~~