Saturday, May 24, 2014

Operation Write Home Bloghop 2014 (giveaways+ online sale + a quick coloring tutorial)



Hello friends and welcome to the Inspired Stamps blog for OWH's annual Memorial Day Bloghop!! 
As a company, this is our 3rd year participating so I know people want to see the artwork, see the store specials, comment for a chance at our giveaway and move on!  So I will just take a quick second to say, the reason this is so dear to my heart as the owner of Inspired Stamps, is because my husband has been a US Army soldier since we were married 25 years ago this year (making our family a military family for a very long time)!  I so appreciate what OWH does in sending our soldiers cards that we all make to encourage them and help keep them in touch with their loved ones!  What a wonderful service!!

I did a very QUICK tutorial (and several of our Design Team members have signed up for the blog hop too, so you'll see more Inspired Stamps as you continue hopping!) on how to color and cut out a character stamp to give it dimension!

Here is a quick coloring guide for 3 of our best-selling military stamp sets first:

                              Military Soldier (3"x4"), HLO:Soldier Boy (2"x3"), and HLO: Sailor (2"x3")

Here is what I did to make my card:
 I started by stamping the Inspired Stamp: His Little Ones: Soldier Boy twice.  Then I colored using Copics and cut out the pieces I wanted to 'pop' in dimension:
Deciding what I wanted to be in back, I numbered to the side.  So after I color the uncolored stamped image of HLO: Soldier Boy ALL IN BLACK (so it just shows a silhouette of his shape), I glued each piece on the other colored sided down, using popdots starting with 1 and going to 5.  His pants were glued directly to the place where the pants are on the blacked out side. Then I used one pop dot to give some height to his jacket and one pop dot each to his shoes.  Then two pop dots to put his head on; Then 3 popdots so his hat would stand out a little more from his head.  MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THIN POP DOTS or you'll see too much of the white popdots (I like to color mine black on the sides to help with this):

I also use a black marker around the edges of each piece to make it look better:

 Here is the OWH card sketch I used followed by my card:


 GIVEAWAY:  We are giving away 10--$10 store credits to 10 randomly selected commenters from today's post. You have through Thursday, MAY 29th midnight EST to leave us a comment and be entered to win!  Come back FRIDAY to see if your comment was chosen and claim your prize!!

**WE ARE HAVING A STORE-WIDE SALE IN OUR ONLINE STORE NOW THROUGH FRIDAY!!  HEAD OVER AND CHECK OUT OUR CLEAR STAMPS**
ALL ORDERS PLACED THIS WEEKEND WILL BE SHIPPED FIRST THING 
TUESDAY MORNING!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  We'd love to have you join us regularly by following our blog post, facebook page and pinterest boards!

CLICK THE OWH PHOTO BELOW TO GO ON HOPPING:

http://wp.me/p2kUr6-4o6
http://wp.me/p2kUr6-4o6 
 
Blessings,
Antoinette and the Inspired Stamps Team

101 comments:

  1. Wonderful coloring tutorial -- never thought about using pot dots on clothes and coloring the unstamped part all in black. Amazing artwork here.

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  2. Absolutely adorable. Thanks for the coloring tips too. Big hugs, Kristina

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  3. I decided to start at the bottom of the hop so you would get some comments early on. Cute coloring on these little ones. Although I am not into cute,I love your bible verse stamps. I use them to make bookmarks for my bible study groups. Thank you for you and your husbands service to our country. Have a great day.

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  4. What a great card! Your Copic coloring and paper piecing are amazing!

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  5. Thanks for supporting OWH! I love the tips and how 3D the image looks.

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  6. I like the 3D look you accomplished with cutting everything out. Great idea coloring the sides of the adhesive so it isn't so obvious.

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  7. Thanks much for supporting OWH. The coloring tips are most appreciated.

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  8. Great tutorial! I need to try the pop dot trick now:)

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  9. How awesome! I LOVE military stamps ... and these are fav! Thanks for the tutorial!

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  10. These images are so cute. I'm a little partial to the sailor.

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  11. So cute and love the colors, technique, quality, and the example. This is great for me, I can follow what you did. I have not see the use of the marker on the image before and I could do that. TFS.

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  12. Really cute! The black outline really makes a difference.

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  13. Wow. You guys really know how to celebrate (and do cute). Glad I found your site.

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  14. I have hurt my back and cant sit for too long of a time, So i did not want to miss out on the last card of this blog so i cheated!! I wanted to make sure I said thank you for being apart of this wonderful operation and for making these wonderful cards. My husband was in iraq and we know and appreciate all that you do for them!

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  15. Thank you for supporting OWH and participating in our blog hop. I loved your example of the sketch, great coloring and I love the image!
    Raeanna Smith

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  16. Wow!!! A lot of work and makes for a very special card!!!

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  17. First, let me thank you for your family's service to our nation. It is not just the military personal who make the sacrifice, but the entire family. Thank you for holding down homefront and giving up your husband/father to serve our country.

    Second, your coloring caught my eye right away on the blog hop and I had to come check you out. I've been working with Copics for about 5 months now. It's so nice to find your fabulous images along with color combo suggestions. Thank you!!!

    Last, thank you for supporting OWH and for your fun giveaway.

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  18. thanks for the tips and thank you for supporting OWH - cute images

    Barb Housner

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  19. Oh my gosh, this card is adorable and I LOVE the coloring! I am trying to learn how to use alcohol markers so any tips and hints are welcome.

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  20. Thank you so much for your family's military service and for supporting this wonderful cause. Your card is super cute and the coloring technique is impressive. Thanks for the tutorial!

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  21. Thank you and your family for service to our country. Heading to your online store. Thanks for supporting OWH.

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  22. These are adorable. Love your images.

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  23. I love this image. In fact, I own it and so I am very pleased to see how you used it. He is so adorable. Thanks to your family for their service too.

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  24. What an adorable card. Thanks for sharing the coloring on the images.

    blessings ~ Pam

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  25. What a sweet card and I am so happy I found your blog through the hop- I am a fan now and will be following all.... thanks for the great tutorial on making your lil guy pop up.

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  26. Cute little camo guy! Great coloring.

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  27. Sweet card! I love your soldier boy (and wonderful coloring demonstration) and fabulous sentiment! Thank you for all you've sacrificed as a military family!!!

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  28. I love how you added dimension to this card, and your coloring is just beautiful!

    Thank you so much for taking part in the OWH hop today! And for all the sacrifices you and your family have made to make our country a safer place to live!!!

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  29. Neat dimensional technique! Thanks for supporting OWH!!

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  30. Sweet card and terrific looking sentiment. Thanks for the tutorial and supporting OWH!

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  31. Thanks so much for the chance to win. Love the technique/tutorial.

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  32. I have been seeing your stamps on projects all day - they are all great.

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  33. Love this card! So cool how you gave him dimension!

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  34. Cute Card!
    Really like your coloring

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  35. AWWW. I love those military guys stamps. So cute. Thanks for the color tutorial and your support of OWH.

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  36. I love the military guys stamp! What a wonderful idea! Checking out your sale right now!

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  37. Great stamps and coloring. Thank you for the chance to win.

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  38. Such cute little military boys! Thanks for the tutorial, and much thanks for supporting OWH!

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  39. Love this stamp set and your paper piecing.

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  40. great coloring . thanks for the tutorial

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  41. Love your stamps -- going to have to visit your store and take advantage of the sale. Thanks for the coloring tutorial. Thanks for supporting OWH.

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  42. What fun, patriotic stamp; love how you colored it & thank you for the tutorial on how to put the card together. I really love how you only popped certain parts of the image to really give him some dimension, and then placed the pieces over a black silhouette. Thank you for your ongoing support of OWH & our armed forces.

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  43. Oh my! Those stamps are absolutely adorable! They remind me of Precious Moments. I might have to check out your store now....

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  44. Thank you for the coloring tutorial. What an adorable patriotic card.

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  45. Love the little military guys! Thanks for the wonderful coloring tutorial. An awesome card!!

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  46. Adorable card and fabulous coloring, I love the dimension! Thanks for supporting OWH!

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  47. Cute card and thanks for the tutorial.

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  48. Awesome coloring tips! Happy Memorial Day weekend to all, and so much fun seeing all these creations along the OWH blog hop!

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  49. Great cards, awesome images, just adorable.

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  50. Wonderful project - and great tutorial! It's been fun seeing so many great creations using your sweet stamps! I see a shopping trip in my future - my wish list just grows and grows! Thanks for sharing!

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  51. Adorable stamps! Thank you for the tutorial :)

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  52. adorable stamp! thanks for the tutorial and thanks for your support of OWH

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  53. Thanks for introducing the stamping twice, coloring, cutting and piecing technique.

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  54. how cool are you? great giveaway and looovvee these little military guys--great coloring!

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  55. The coloring is so amazing on those adorable military cuties - thanks for the details on how-to as well. And, thanks for your wonderful support of Operation Write Home.

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  56. so cute little soldier, love the paper piecing and the color congrats

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  57. Love the sketch you chose. Thanks for rating OWN!
    :) Marie

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  58. This is a great tutorial! Thanks.

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  59. Beautiful work on your card! The coloring is amazing!

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  60. Love the cards and the stamps used. The sentiment expressed matches the expression on the figure perfectly!

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  61. Thank you for your support of OWH! Thanks to your husband and family for your service to our country. No wonder you have so many great military stamps.
    R/

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  62. Adorable card - a real smile maker. Also wonderful sentiment.

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  63. thank you so much for the tutorial...I love the dimension and the images are fabulous!!!

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  64. I love your popped soldier! I'm going to try this! Thanks.

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  66. What a cute card. I love the paper piecing.

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  67. I love these military images> Thanks for the coloring tutorial!

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  68. What fabulous images and coloring! Thank you for the help--I am trying to learn how to use Copics and this helps a lit! I love the card! Thank you!

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  69. Love the tutorial. I am slowly learning to learn my Spectrum Noir pens. Love the Sailor guy. My guy is a sailor.

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  70. Great tips! Wonderful card and stamps! Thanks for your supoort of OWH!!!

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  71. First, thanks for your support of OWH!! I love all the details of the card, giving it dimension! I'd be so thrilled to win and be able to pick out more goodies to make even more cards for our heroes--YAY!! TFS!! RBBRRMQN at YAHOO dot COM Nancy M

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  72. Amazing card! Such attention to detail! Arobalik@msn.com

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  73. What adorable images! Our thanks to you and your husband for your service. And, thanks for the opportunity to win blog candy. cards[dot]by[dot]sybrina[at]gmail[dot]com

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  74. Thanks for the coloring lesson and the cute stamps! I have book marked you site to come back again and shop! Thanks for supporting OWH. I feel so blessed to have found them and so enjoy making cards to send to our military.

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  75. Love your card and your tutorial. You are bookmarked and I'll be back. Give your hubby a big hug for his service to our country and to yourself for giving him the support back home. Have a great day! brendah1951 at gmail dot com

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  76. So adorable! I love that little guy! Thank you for sharing in the hop!

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  77. I've been seeing these guys throughout the bloghop, and each time I see one I'm so charmed by their adorable cuteness-- I really like how you added dimension to the soldier on your card.

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  78. I see a lot of people using your stamps...not surprising...they are very sweet.
    Thank you for supporting OWH today and everyday....though it sounds like you really "get it" being family.

    The card is nice.

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  79. Lots of TLC evident in your work. Thank you for your support of OWH and our military heroes.

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  80. The little heroes are adorable

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  81. Awww, these little guys are so cute! I like your interpretation of the sketch - that's a great sentiment!

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  82. Totally loving these stamps! Eek! So many stamps, so little money! ;)

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  83. Good idea of coloring the base layer all black as a shadow. Love the little military fellas. Thanks for participating and supporting OWH.

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  84. Love the little military guy! Great coloring and very generous prizes. Thanks for supporting OWH!

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  85. Thanks for the info on popping elements! And thanks for supporting OWH! BobbisTreasure at aol dot com

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  86. Love this card and the details of how to pull it all together? Thanks for sharing and for your husbands service. Stacyb0711 at gmail dot com.

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  87. That is the cutest little soldier ever! Love the tutorial on getting the dimension - I'm going to try that one.
    April
    april_story at hotmail dot com

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  88. Those stamps are stinking cute!

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  89. What precious little images. Those would be so cute for a servicemember to send home to kids. Thanks for the coloring tutorial and suggestions for layering.

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  90. I love the dimension you've given the little soldier! Thanks for your support of OWH.

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  91. What an awesome card! I love how you layered the little soldier!

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  92. These stamps are just to adorable. Enough said.....

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  93. This card really touched my heart with the little person in camouflage. how inspiring, thank you for sharing. Linda

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Kind words welcomed here!