Pink Geraniums with Doily

A special card for a friend's birthday. I really enjoyed making this for her, with colors and details I know she will like.

Card details:

• The card stock is Papertrey Ink berry sorbet (coral pink) and Paper Source leaf (light green).
• My geranium drawing (which I scanned before coloring) is computer-printed on Neenah solar white and colored with Copic markers.
• The 4" paper doily is from Ellen Hutson - Essentials by Ellen/ Small Doilies.  (Discontinued)
• The scalloped circle with the geraniums is an EK Success 2" punch.
• The plain circle layers are die cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles SM. The layer behind the doily is 3", and the layer behind the geraniums is 2-1/8".
• The bow is Papertrey Ink sheer white polka dot ribbon.

I really like the effect of the circle layered behind the doily. I'll try that again sometime! (137)

Green Diamond with Cream, Blue, and Rust

My card today has strong lines and colors. I made it for this week's Sketch Challenge #114 on Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps blog.

Card details:

• Card stock is Neenah classic cream (sentiment) and Papertrey Ink pinefeather (dark green), canyon clay (rusty orange), and blueberry sky (medium blue).
  
• The lines of holes are pierced with Tonic craft pick. The holes are spaced 1/4" apart.
• The sentiment "Thinking of you" is computer printed in dark green ink with Courier font. The border line, as well as the shapes above and below the sentiment, are also computer printed.
  

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." (142)

Green, Gold, and Cream with Stripes

A simple note card with embossed and printed stripes. I really like the colors together. Just right for this week's yellow and green color challenge on Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps blog.

Card details:

• The card stock is Neenah classic cream and Paper Source jadeite (medium green), spruce (dark green), and curry (gold).
• The patterned paper is computer-printed with PowerPoint on Neenah classic cream. The stripes are underlines (_____) in a text box. The font is Chalkduster, which has a fuzzy, uneven look. I used a very large font size (44 pt) and reduced the paragraph spacing (spacing between the lines) to get my desired stripe width.
• The dies are Papertrey Ink photo finisher strips (cream and medium green) and Spellbinders Nestablilities classic ovals LG (dark green).
• The embossing folder on the upper section is Cuttlebug candy cane stripes.
• The sentiment "... Thanks ..." is computer-printed in green ink with American Typewriter (bold) 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." (141)

Circles with Star Tags

My card is CASEd (with some changes) from Natasha's sample card for Fall-To Layout #182 on the Clean and Simple Stamping blog. I kept her colors, but replaced the kraft base with a different beige, and I substituted star tags for the butterflies. Thanks, Natasha, for an interesting layout and color scheme!

Card details:

• Dies are Spellbinders classic circles small (approx. 1-1/8" circle) and Papertrey Ink tiny tags. I used scallop scissors to round the corners on my sentiment strip.
  
• The sentiment "Celebrate!" is printed with brown ink using American Typewriter font (bold, expanded spacing).
• The tags are sewn with ecru perle cotton thread from the embroidery floss department. Its weight is similar to baker's twine.
  
• Card stock is Neenah classic cream and Papertrey Ink fine linen (beige), summer sunrise (yellow), canyon clay (rusty orange), scarlet jewel (wine), and dark chocolate (brown).
• The embossing folder is Cuttlebug candy cane stripe.
  

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." (140)

Pink Card - Inspired by Packaging

My card design is CASEd from Susan Raihala's Simplicity blog and her recent "Get Inspired by Packaging #1" post. Scroll down in her post for the kraft, red, and white card that inspired mine. I changed the colors to pink, added some texture to the base layer, and embellished with two small punched flowers. Love her card! and mine too! Thank you, Susan!

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink raspberry fizz (dark pink base layer) and sweet blush (light pink "package") and Paper Source blossom (medium pink oval). Adhered with foam tape for dimension.
• Embossing folder is Cuttlebug swiss dots.
• Oval die is the middle-sized die from Spellbinders Nestabilities classic ovals LG. Punches are 1/2" flower punch (EK Success) and 1/4" hole punch.
• Baker's twine is pink sorbet from The Twinery.
• Sentiment "celebrate" and dotted lines are computer-printed in Courier font with dark pink ink.

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." (139)

Blue with Kraft and Red

I'm working far ahead of the calendar for Operation Write Home. The sentiment "Love you Dad!" will work for Father's Day or any "Dad" occasion.

I die cut the letters into my top kraft layer, then added medium and dark blues with a bit of red. Wish my die set included a comma! But there wasn't much room left to add one, even if I had it.

Added March 11, 2012: Donna C. left a comment to ask how I get my letters lined up. Though it's not perfect, here is my technique. My alphabet die set came on a thin magnetic sheet for storage. I draw lines on it with a white gel pen, then I position my letters cutting-side-up. (I like to hold that up to a mirror to double-check my spacing and spelling!) The cardstock is then lined up in place. (This means I'm cutting upward, so my chewed-up cutting plate is on top of the sandwich. ) The magnetic sheet holds the letters in place during cutting. The sheet dents and deforms, but so far mine has survived.

In my Big Shot, I have not needed to adjust my sandwich to make room for the thickness of the magnetic sheet, but be careful when you try this, and don't force it if it's too thick. Mine will go through best if the word is lengthwise along the cutting plate, that is, if the whole phrase is not entering the roller at the same time. I recently purchased a packet of magnetic material from Ellen Hutson (click here) which might be a little thicker - haven't tried it yet. Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) kraft, enchanted evening (dark blue), and pure poppy (red), and Paper Source lake (medium blue).
• Dies are PTI tiny tags (round red tag with heart cutout), PTI block alphabet (upper and lower case sets), and Spellbinder Nestabilities classic hearts (smallest heart die substituting for the "o" in "you"). The round dot inside the heart die ("you") is the dot from the exclamation point.
  
• Baker's twine, from The Twinery, is maraschino (red) and denim (blue).
  

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." (138)

Green Starburst with Blue and Yellow

A card with stripes, die cuts, and layers - created for the March tic-tac-toe challenge sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs (thank you, ODBD!) to benefit Operation Write Home.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink harvest gold (yellow), enchanted evening (dark blue), ripe avocado (dark green), and spring moss (light green).
• Patterned paper is computer-printed using PowerPoint
• Sentiment "Hello" is computer-printed in Zapfino font with green ink
• Dies are Papertrey Ink: medium-sized star from "seeing stars" (two 5-pointed stars, layered to make a 10-pointed starburst) and straight scored strip from "photo finish strips"
• Circle, scalloped circle and flower punches are EK Success. The center of the little green flower is punched with a 1/8" hole punch.

Like almost all my cards, this one was made 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." (136)