Thanks Banner - Red, White, and Blue

A very simple card with red, white, and blue patterns.  The rounded corners finish it nicely.   I like how the "thanks" ribbon seems to be cinching the blue banner.  (Note: the gray background is not part of the card.) 

Card details:

•  Card stock is Papertrey Ink pure poppy (red), stamper's select white, enchanted evening 2009 bitty dot basics, and gingham from the pure poppy pattern pack.  
• Dies are Papertrey Ink ad sense (banner, A) and fabulous frames (ribbon label, B). 
• The corners are rounded with 1/2" corner chomper.  
• The sentiment "Thanks" is computer-printed in blue ink with "Lucida Calligraphy" 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." (184)

Two Apples and a Pear

I tried this card with two different bases, both shown here.  I like them both.  It was fun to create a little scene with the fruits, frame, and banner.  Maybe a fruit stand display, maybe a gift box, maybe just a few cute shapes and patterns.  And a "sweet" sentiment to go with it. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink rustic cream (sentiment layer), pure poppy (solid apple), new leaf (bright green apple leaves and banner), ripe avocado (dark green pear leaf), harvest gold (yellow card base), and several patterned papers: 2009 bitty dot basics simply chartreuse (pear), fine linen pattern pack stripes (frame), and pure poppy pattern pack gingham (apple) and bitty dot (red card base).
• Dies are Papertrey Ink fruit fusion: apple, fruit fusion: pear, and the large outer frame A from the fabulous frames collection.  Also Memory Box smallest leaf from tender leaves and Poppystamps simple banner.
• I colored the stems with E25 Copic marker.  The pear die has two leaves, and I trimmed off the leaf on the other side of the stem.  
• The yellow card base is embossed with Lifestyle Crafts diamonds and dots folder.  
• The sentiment "You are so sweet ..." is computer-printed in American Typewriter font (expanded character spacing, "sweet" in bold font) with red and brown 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." (182)

Purple Flowers on Green

A flowery "hello" note card for this week's Complementary Colors challenge on the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog.  I used all three complementary colors on the color wheel - greens, purples, and a touch of orange.  (Yes, in real life it's orange, not red.)

Card details:

•  Card stock is Papertrey Ink lavender moon (lavender), plum pudding (purple), spring moss (light green), simply chartreuse (medium green), orange zest (orange), and lavender moon patterned paper from the 2008 bitty box basics collection. 
• Dies are My Favorite Things jumbo squiggle (green strip) and Memory Box fancy blossoms (larger 2 flowers from the set of 3).  
• The orange flower centers are punched with a 1/8" hole punch.  I used Ranger glossy accents to give them some shine and dimension.
• My sentiment "Hello" is computer printed in "Lucida Calligraphy" font with green ink and a purple outline. 

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." (181)

Orange Star Hello on Aqua

I like the mix of angular stars with grid lines and a script hello, and the strong energy of the colors.  

Card details:

•  Card stock is Papertrey Ink orange zest (orange), summer sunrise (yellow), aqua mist (aqua), and summer sunrise patterned paper from the 2008 bitty box basics collection.
• Dies are Savvy Stamps Dies hello, My Favorite Things stacking stars (yellow stars), Papertrey Ink seeing stars (orange - medium star from set of 3), and Papertrey Ink super star borders (orange stars strip, and tiny orange star above hello, from the center of the hollow stars strip).

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." (180)

Blue Birds with Grass and Sky

Playing with a few new dies (and some older ones) to create this sweet scene.  Birds, grass, flowers, sun, clouds, and a blue sky.  I like it a lot.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink spring rain (light blue), harvest gold (yellow), new leaf (green), blueberry sky (medium blue), and stamper's select white. 
• Dies and punches are EK Success 1-1/4" scalloped circle punch, Papertrey Ink double-ended banners die, Impression Obsession birds die, Memory Box fancy blossoms die (smallest flower), Memory Box puffy clouds dies (medium and large clouds), and My Favorite Things fresh cut grass border die.  
• The birds' eyes are dots of Copic 0.3 cobalt multiliner.
• The sentiment "Happy thoughts of you" is computer-printed in "Lucida Handwriting" font in blue ink with green dots (large-font periods in Courier font).

Like most of my cards, I made this one 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." (178)

Layered Flowers with Many Colors and Patterns

With a variety of patterned papers, dies, and punches, I made a batch of ten layered flowers, each a bit different from the others.  With a banner of gingham paper, the flower makes a colorful note card for one of our troops, deployed overseas, to write home on.

Card details:

•  Card stock for the card bases is Papertrey Ink aqua mist (top card), lemon tart (yellow) (middle card, below), and rustic cream (bottom card).  
• Dies and punches are EK Success scalloped circle, plain circle, and small flower, and Papertrey Ink notched flowers, flower fusion #2, flower fusion #3, and chevron border (for the end of the banner), and Spellbinders Nestabilities big scalloped circles LG.  I also used a 1/4" hole punch for the flower centers.
• The "leaves" are small triangles of Papertrey Ink ripe avocado (green) and simply chartreuse pattern pack (gingham).
• The patterned papers for the flower layers include Papertrey Ink Dearest Jane (brown text on cream) and pattern packs in aqua mist polka dot, enchanted evening (dark blue) damask, pure poppy (red) bitty dot, melon berry (light orange) stripe, and raspberry fizz (bright pink) tea leaves.  To find them, type pattern pack in the Papertrey Ink store's search bar.  
• The sentiment "Love you, miss you" is computer-printed in green ink with Chalkduster 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." (175)

 

 

Red Gingham and Stripes with Pink

Nice patterns and textures for this red and pink card.   Three monochromatic cards in a row!  But my next post will be a card with many colors and patterns.

Card details:

•  Card stock is Papertrey Ink sweet blush (pink) and pure poppy (red), with gingham and stripes from the pure poppy pattern pack. 
• Die is Framed Out #4 (cut from gingham), layered on a plain red rectangle. 
• Flowers were punched with an EK Success small daisy punch.  The pink flower centers were made with a 1/8" punch, and I added some Glossy Accents for shine and dimension.  
• The embossing folder is Stampin Up! Square Lattice.
• The sentiment "Hello" is computer-printed with red ink in Stencil Std 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." (173)

Brown and Cream Pinwheel with Stars

 

Playing with some new patterned paper.  Usually I think of pinwheels with bright, contrasting colors, but I like the subtle effect on this card.  And the star in the center adds some drama! 

Pinwheels are easy to do with this April 2011 Pinwheel II tutorial on Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps blog.  (note: I prefer a wider border, so my background squares are 2-3/4" instead of the tutorial's 2-5/8")

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink rustic cream (speckled card base), vintage cream (star and sentiment), dark chocolate (brown), and Dearest Jane patterned paper (book prints).
• Dies are Papertrey Ink medium star from seeing stars (brown star) and My Favorite Things Die-namics stacking stars (cream star). 
• I edged the pinwheel squares with E53 Copic marker.
• The sentiment "Thinking of you" is computer-printed in brown ink with Bookman Old Style font (outline, no fill).   The stars with the sentiment are Monotype Sorts font (bold), capital letter O. 

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." (171)

Blue Damask with Button

A simple note card in shades of blue with a touch of white.  It's for the July "cool colors" challenge sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs (thank you, ODBD!) to benefit Operation Write Home. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink spring rain (light blue base), blueberry sky (medium blue button), enchanted evening (dark blue layer), stamper's select white (sentiment), and enchanted evening damask patterned paper.
• The button is sewn with DMC 930 embroidery floss.
• The dies are Papertrey Ink buttoned up #1 and double-ended banners (the smaller of 2 banners).
• The sentiment "Thinking of you" is computer-printed in blue ink 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." (170)

Chevron Print with Green, Yellow, and Rust

A bit of abstract art on my card today.  My chevron pattern is an "original" hand-pressed print.  I love the clean, modern colors, and I'm very happy with my layout, which I'll use again sometime to showcase an interesting paper.

My print came from a "what have I got to lose" experiment.  After much Copic airbrushing with a 6x6" plastic Crafter's Workshop chevron template (stencil), it was time for a cleaning.  (I don't clean it every time, just when the ink starts building up heavily.)  I knew it would clean up nicely with alcohol, but I wondered if I could put all that ink to a good use.

So with my template lying flat on some scrap paper on my table, I spritzed the template with Copic "0" blender solution.  Then I pressed down on it firmly with a piece of white card stock.  The result was beautiful. What a nice reward for cleaning the template! and a lot less messy, too ... 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink simply chartreuse (green), summer sunrise (yellow), terra cotta tile (rust), rustic white (patterned paper), and stamper's select white (sentiment). 
• Copic colors are ... quite a mix!  I know there's some Y19, Y38, YG97, B05, R35, and more.  I could never recreate this exact pattern.  It's just the happenstance of colors that ended up on my template.  
• Dies are Papertrey Ink double ended banner (smaller die) for sentiment, and pinking shears border die.
• Sentiment "Thinking of You" is computer-printed in green ink with darker green outline, using "BlairMdITC TT-Medium" 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." (169)

Balloons and Rickrack - Happy Thoughts

Just a happy card! 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink new leaf (green), plum pudding (purple), Hawaiian shores (aqua),  pure poppy (red), summer sunrise (yellow), stamper's select white, and 2008 Bitty Box Basics spring rain (light blue patterned paper). 
• I punched the balloons with a Martha Stewart punch and cut the rickrack with a Papertrey Ink XL rickrack border die.
• The sentiment "Happy Thoughts of You" was computer-printed with red ink in Apple Chancery font.  The horizontal black line was also computer-printed.
• I drew the balloon strings with a Copic 0.05 black multiliner.  

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." (168)

Pink Hearts with White Embossed Panel

I don't use a lot of white on my cards, but I love the lacy look of this with its embossed pattern.  Though I made some changes, I took many of my ideas from Natasha's card for her layout #190 on the Clean and Simple Stamping blog.  Natasha, thank you for (yet another) beautiful layout and example! 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink rustic white, scarlet jewel (burgundy), autumn rose (medium pink), sweet blush (pale pink), and 2009 Bitty Dot Basics hibiscus burst (bright pink on large heart).
• Embossing folders are Sizzix Berry Splash (on white) and Stampin Up! Square Lattice (on pink).
• Dies are Spellbinders Nestabilities big scalloped circles LG, and Papertrey Ink photo finish strip A (sentiment strip) and heart prints (large heart).  
• The smaller heart was punched with an EK Success 1" punch and the white circle with an EK Success 1-3/4" plain circle punch.  
• The sentiment "Love you, miss you" is computer-printed in pink ink with burgundy outline, using "Lucida Calligraphy" 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." (167)

Purple with White Accents, Pink, and Green

My sweet and simple card is CASEd from a card on Cristina Kowalczyk's My Paper Secret blog.  In her May 11 Vol. 10 blog hop post, scroll all the way down to item #10 and her bottom-most card.  As she explains it, the essentials were a "banner, a dark mat, gel pen frame." 

Along with those elements, I also used a variation of her purple mat, green leaves, pink flowers accented with white, and all-caps sans-serif sentiment font.  Thank you, Cristina, for the beautiful inspiration! 

Card details:

•  Card stock is Paper Source beet (deep reddish purple) and Papertrey Ink hibiscus burst (pink), spring moss (green), and stamper's select white.   
• The purple is layered onto a white card base.  The light grey is not part of the card - it's just background to set off the white border. 
• I used a Sanford Uni-ball Gel Impact pen for the white line and flower centers.
• The flowers were punched with a small EK Success daisy punch.  The leaves were cut with WPlus9 folk art florals dies.  The sentiment banner was cut with Papertrey Ink's double ended banner die set (the shorter of the two banners.)
• The sentiment is computer printed in purple ink using "BlairMdITC TT-Medium" 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." (166)

Brown and Orange Chevron Hello

Chevrons on a striped background.  Simple and strong shapes and colors.   The notched sentiment flag echoes the chevrons' angles.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink dark chocolate (brown), orange zest, vintage cream, and striped paper from the fine linen pattern pack.
• The chevrons and the orange flag notch were cut with Papertrey Ink chevron stripes border dies.  The cream notch was cut with a square punch.  The chevron's angle is wider than the square punch, but on my narrow sentiment strip, it's not a problem. 
• The sentiment "Hello" is computer-printed with brown ink using Wide Latin 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." (165)