Kraft Stars with Red, White, and Blue

A simple note card design, with a variety of textures and patterns.  The faux stitching adds interest and a third touch of red.  

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink classic kraft, pure poppy (red), stamper's select white, and enchanted evening (dark blue) patterned paper from the 2009 bitty dot basics paper pad.  
• The sentiment "Thanks" is computer-printed in red ink with Stencil Std font (expanded spacing).
• The stitching is hand-drawn with a red Signo Uni-ball gel impact pen.  
• The embossing folders are Cuttlebug candy cane stripe and Craft Concept solid stars. 
• Dies are WPlus9 label layers 1 (blue) and the small inner shape from Papertrey Ink framed out #7 (white). 

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." (221)

Lace Flowers with Gingham Ribbon

Today's Valentine-themed card is sweet and lacy, with lots of texture, contrast, and dimension.   I love the effect of the gingham ribbon weaving through the lace flowers.  And more lace in the tag border and the red card stock behind the flowers.  The flowers lie very flat, and the double bow is soft and squashable, so it's very mailable - important for Operation Write Home cards. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink pure poppy (red) and sweet blush (pink).  
• Dies are Memory Box Charlotte border (lace border) and Papertrey Ink heart prints (red heart on tag) and tiny tags (pink tag).  The red border on the tag is a small piece of the same tag die, cut in red and glued on.   The bottom end of the tag is popped up with a bit of foam tape. 
• The 2" lace flowers are by Maya Road - vintage lace trim daisies.
  
• Ribbon is 1/4" red-and-pale-pink gingham.  I don't know who made it. 
• Embroidery floss (on the tag) is DMC 347.
• The sentiment "Love" is computer-printed in red ink with Hobo Std font, small caps, bold.

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." (220)

Black and White with Raspberry Heart

 

I had a scrap of paper with an angled end.  One thing led to another.  I really like the finished card!

Black and white with a bright splash of raspberry pink.  The black and white sentiment is strong and simple, the patterned paper is busy but has a clean "arrow" shape, and the raspberry and white twine carries across the sentiment colors.  

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink true black and raspberry fizz (pink) with patterned paper from Black and White Basics.  
• Dies are Papertrey Ink heart prints (large and medium dies).  
• The tiny pink heart is punched with a 1/4" Fiskars hand punch.   
• Twine is pink sorbet from The Twinery.
• Sentiment "Love you" is computer-printed with black ink in Cooper Black 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." (219)

Stitched Hearts with Pinking

Today's card is for the November challenge sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs (thank you, ODBD!) to benefit Operation Write Home.  This month's challenge theme is to "dust off a rarely used tool or technique and use it on your card."  It's been quite a long time since I added any stitching to a card, so this was a good reason to pull out my Janome Sew Mini.  Just that one simple stitched line adds a lot.  I like the "textile" effect of the dotted Swiss card base, gingham and dotted squares, and pinked edges.

 Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink stamper's select white and pure poppy pattern pack (gingham and bitty dot prints).  Note: the gray is background, not part of the card. 
• The squares are cut with the two smallest dies from WPlus9 pinking squares. 
• Embossing folder is Cuttlebug Swiss dots. 
• The hearts are computer-printed in red ink.  On the keyboard, type alt-g, using the Symbol 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." (218)

Butterflies - Before and After - Yellow, Orange, and Brown

 Before                           and                               After

This week's featured cardmaker for Operation Write Home is Renae C.   The first of her featured cards inspired me to try something similar - three blocks of patterned paper and a large sentiment circle with images.   Thank you, Renae! 

My first attempt, the "before" card, isn't bad.  But the yellow butterfly needs more contrast, and it seems to pull my attention away from the sentiment. 

For my "after" card,  I made both butterflies orange.  Then, to echo the yellow at the top of the card, I added some yellow to the sentiment circle.  Also I added some embossed texture to the butterflies.  I think the "after" card has much better eye appeal. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Neenah solar white (sentiment circle) and Papertrey Ink dark chocolate (card base), orange zest (butterflies), and In Bloom patterned paper in summer sunrise (bright yellow), melon berry (light orange - not so pink in real life), and orange zest.   The "before" card also includes summer sunrise card stock (large butterfly). 
• The dies are Impression Obsession butterflies and Spellbinders (2-5/8" circle).  
• I colored the butterfly antennae and bodies with E29 Copic marker.  On the "after" card, I added texture to the butterflies with Darice dot point embossing folder.   
• The sentiment "Miss you." is computer printed with brown ink in Brush Script MT Italic font.  The brown and yellow circles 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." (216)

Burgundy with Pink, Rose, and Cream - Hearts and Stripes

Today's card is CASEd from Erin Lincoln's Procrastination Station blog - see the last card in her post here.  I love the look of the patterned stripes with some twine or floss, a repeating sentiment, and repeating embellishments.  Thank you, Erin!   Perfect for Operation Write Home's mid-week challenge to make a valentine-themed card. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink scarlet jewel (burgundy), autumn rose (medium pink), sweet blush (light pink), and vintage cream, with printed papers from the scarlet jewel pattern pack. 
• Dies are Spellbinders classic hearts.
• Embroidery floss is DMC 902.  
• The sentiment "Love you ~ Always" is computer-printed with burgundy ink using Trajan Pro font.  The dotted lines are also computer-printed (periods in a text box).  

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." (215)