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)