Outline Flower Card with Color-Bleed Background

Another beautiful color-bleed background for today's card.

• Scroll down or click here for yesterday's card, where I used the same background technique in different colors. It also includes the link to Julia Stainton's technique tutorial.
• Click here for the post on my drawing blog, Mostly Markers, for more details about my flower drawing and about the Copic colors I used.
  

More card details:

• The card stock is Neenah solar white (flower drawing) and Papertrey Ink pure poppy (red), true black, Hawaiian shores (aqua sentiment strip), and spring moss (light green card base). It also looks good on a bright yellow base (Paper Source sunshine) as shown below.
  
• The sentiment "Love you, miss you" is computer-printed in Papyrus font, bold, expanded spacing, small caps (except for the "i").
  

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (100)

Turquoise Daisy Card with Color-Bleed Background

A new Copic technique for me on this card - Julia Stainton's color-bleed grid technique, posted on Ellen Hutson's educational CLASSroom blog. Very easy. A beautiful background for my often-used daisy drawing.

For my background, I used B01, B32, and BG32 markers on Neenah solar white card stock. Julia chose darker colors that look great with her black silhouette flower stamping. But for my line drawing, I needed a lighter background to get enough contrast with the flower coloring. The drips of colorless blender will "push" the light colors into darker rings.

Also, I realized I could avoid using pencil (and so, avoid the step to erase it) by drawing my 3/4" diagonal grid lines with one of my colors on the back of the Neenah. Just dark enough to see my grid from the front, and when finished, it disappears into the rest of the colors.

More card details:

• See above for the Copic background colors. For the daisies, I used Copic markers B24, B26, BG32, BG45, BG49, B01, B06, YG05, YG63, G07, Y19, Y38, RV66.
  
• The colored card stock is PaperTrey Ink (PTI) summer sunrise (bright yellow layer), PTI Hawaiian shores (medium turquoise card base), and Paper Source peacock (dark turquoise).
  
• The ribbon is two rows of 5/8" sheer-and-satin, colored with BG49, then lightened in the middle with B01.
  
• For more cards done with my daisy drawing, click on the label below, or in the label list on the right of my blog.

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (099)

Stars and Stripes Hearts - Red, White, and Blue with Gold

Hearts with stars and stripes. UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamel) for dimension and shine. Layers and stripes of red, white, blue, gold and black. For two more cards with a simpler version of this layout, click here and here.

I used PowerPoint to add the stars and the diagonal lines to the hearts, which I punched out with my 1" EK Success heart punch. I colored the hearts with Copic markers B24, B26, custom color R290, and R59. After adhering the hearts to the 1" gold circles, I covered them with two coats of UTEE.

The card stock is Paper Source curry (gold), Papertrey Ink pure poppy (red) and true black, Hero Arts azure (blue), and Neenah solar white. Added September 24, 2011: I made a few more like this, but replaced some of my background layers with a single striped piece. It still looks the same, but not as thick and heavy.

The sentiment "Thinking of you" is computer-printed on a strip of Neenah solar white with Chalkduster font. I used B24 and R290 to color the red and blue stripes on the sentiment strip and at the top and bottom of the hearts strip. The red lines on the center gold layer are drawn with red gel pen.

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (098)

Hearts and Dots - Miss You Card

Hearts and dots - half-inch circles - in blue, turquoise, and gold. A simple sentiment, "Love you, miss you."

I call this my "ten-dot pattern" because of the number of dots (ten, counting the two halves as one dot). I've used it for other cards, as you can see if you click on the label below.

Card details:

• Copic markers for the dots and hearts are BG05, B24, B26, and Y26. The stripe below the sentiment is B01, B26, and black Copic multiliner.
  
• The ribbon is 3/8" satin colored with B01 and B24.
• Card stock is Neenah solar white on Hero Arts azure (royal blue) card base.
• The three dots with hearts are covered with domed epoxy stickers for shine and dimension.
• Sentiment is computer-printed with "Lucida Handwriting" font.
  

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (024B)

Flower Print - Purple with Dark Green

Another card for today. I like the colors and the bright white together.

More of my text-based PowerPoint patterned paper, as discussed in my earlier post today. This one uses the ` key (accent key, just left of the 1 key) in Monotype Sorts font, green text outline with no fill. I used my Copic markers to color the paper with a wallpaper-ish look.

Card details:

• Card stock is Paper Source spruce (dark green), PaperTrey Ink plum pudding (purple), and Neenah solar white (patterned paper).
• White horizontal lines drawn with Signo Uniball white gel impact pen.
  
• Copic markers are G24, G17, V04, V12, Rv55, and RV66.
• Sentiment "Hello" is computer printed with green ink in Edwardian Script ITC font (bold). I used V04 to edge the Neenah solar white sentiment circle.
  
• Circle punches are 1" and 1-1/2" plain and 1-1/4" scalloped.
  

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (097)

Pink Striped Hearts with Dots

I tried several versions of this card with white stitching. Just did not look right. Then I drew some vertical stripes on the heart paper, and no stitching. Now I like it.

Card details:

• I made the heart-patterned paper with a PowerPoint text box. The heart shape is the alt-g key in Symbols font. The heart pattern is easy to do, if you have some patience and some PowerPoint skills. If you'd like to try it, please leave me a comment, and I'll post a tutorial. I drew the stripes with a Copic RV11 marker.
• The card stock is Paper Source blossom (medium pink layer) and rhubarb (dark raspberry layer) on a PaperTrey Ink stamper's select white card base. I printed the hearts onto Neenah solar white.
  
• The lacy-edged ribbon is colored with RV32 and RV02, an edge of RV34, then some "0" colorless blender down the center. Sounds complicated, but it's very quick and gives a nice multi-toned effect - more visible in real life.
• I used my Corner Chomper (1/4") to round the corners on the raspberry layer and the white card base.
• The sentiment "Miss you" is computer-printed with pink ink in "Lucida Handwriting" font.
• The pink layer is edged with RV34. The horizontal stripes are drawn with RV11, and the dots are RV34.
  

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (096)

Raspberry and Aqua Card with Buttons

Squares, stripes, embroidery floss, and buttons. For this week's "anything but glitter" challenge on the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog.

My card started with a piece of dark raspberry card stock. I added some pastels that looked interesting with the raspberry. But my aqua and pink seemed to need a mixed pattern to connect them, so I used my Copic markers and multiliners to draw stripes on the cream cardstock.

After I played with different shapes and sizes of layers, I decided to cut up my stripes and separate the blocks. Instead of a sentiment, hmm, maybe some buttons. Then some turquoise embroidery floss for more contrast and texture. I like the end result.

Card details:

• The card stock is Paper Source rhubarb (dark raspberry) and pool (medium aqua buttons and narrow center layer), and PaperTrey Ink vintage cream, sweet blush (pink), and aqua mist (light aqua card base). In my scan, the pool and aqua mist look the same, but in real life, there's a nice contrast.
  
• The faux buttons are punched 5/8" flowers and circles, edged with Copic BG53. The holes and threads are drawn with Copic multiliner (turquoise for the holes, cool gray for the threads.) I used a bit of C3 to shade the "holes," and BG53 and RV19 to tint the "threads."
• The stripes are Copic multiliners (pink and aqua) and markers (BG53, BG72, RV19, RV34, and RV55.)
  

Created for Operation Write Home, "supporting our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." (095)