Teal with Brown and Cream Wreath

For today's Operation Write Home "teal or turquoise" color challenge.   My card started with the beautiful new Tropical Teal card stock color from Papertrey Ink.  It's more of a green color than my other teal, the also-beautiful Paper Source peacock.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) tropical teal, aqua mist (light aqua), dark chocolate (brown),  Dearest Jane script and book prints, and the gingham print from PTI dark chocolate pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI heart-2-heart #9 (bird), wonderful words: love, and rustic wreath (cut twice and layered).  I snipped one wreath between its leaves, and then I could interweave the layers. 
• The bird's eye is cut with a 1/16" hole punch.
• I used another die, PTI cover plate: stripes diagonal, to emboss the teal and aqua.  The aqua piece is layered on top of the teal A2, with the stripes lined up to look continuous. 

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." (360)

Diagonal Gray with Cream on Blue

Yesterday's card left me with some patterned edge strips, cut from the overall gray pattern.  Nice light blue/cream diagonal stripes with a washi-like rectangle in black/cream.  It prompted my color scheme and diagonal theme of today's card.

To the patterned edge strips, I added a cream sentiment strip, strands of cream/silver twine, two strips of gray dotted print, and a chevron-embossed blue card base.  The twine bisects the pattern strip for an interesting look.  A very nice masculine card for my Operation Write Home box.

Card details:

• Card stock is Paper Source lake (blue), Papertrey Ink (PTI) rustic cream, and the bitty dots print from PTI smokey shadow (gray) pattern pack.
• Embossing folder is Sizzix chevrons.
• Twine is The Twinery platinum shimmer.
• Sentiment "Thinking of you across the miles" is computer printed in gray ink with American Typewriter 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." (359)

Gray Pattern with Burgundy

A handsome card with a gray pattern (slightly gray-green in my image and also in real life), accented with burgundy and bright white. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) soft stone (pale gray), scarlet jewel (burgundy), and a print from Pink Paislee "portfolio" 6x6 collection.
• Dies are My Favorite Things scallop ribbon border and Elizabeth Craft thanks.
• The white eyelet strip is from Doodlebug Design paper frills - lily white. 
• The upper right and lower right corners are rounded with 1/4" Corner Chomper.

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." (358)

Pink Lace with Dots

Finishing up my "scrap" focus.  This card started with a leftover die cut of pink lace and a strip of turquoise.  I like the pastel effect and all those various dots, with a striped accent of twine. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI)soft stone (gray), sweet blush (pink), and Hawaiian shores (turquoise).
• Twine is Caribbean from The Twinery.
• Embossing folder is Cuttlebug Swiss dots.
• Dies are WPlus9 scalloped border, Memory Box charlotte lace (retired), and PTI stitching lines (for the line of pierced dots to the left of the twine).
• Tiny pink dots on the scallops are Ranger liquid pearls - petal pink.

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." (354)

Bright Flowers with Aqua and Gray

Bright and simple, using some scraps for the banner and flower shapes. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) limeade ice (green), Hawaiian shores (turquoise), aqua mist (light aqua), raspberry fizz (pink), vintage cream, and the leaf print from PTI smokey shadow (gray) pattern pack.
• Embossing folder is Darice honeycomb.
• I notched the banner with scissors.
• The flowers are cut with a variety of dies.  If you'd like more info, please let me know via a comment, and I'll add the die names to my post. 
• Flower centers are dotted with Copic 0.3 pink 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." (355)

Purple with Lavender Print

A luxurious look of fabrics and applique.  I like the mix of textures, colors, and patterns in this purple with lavender card. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) plum pudding (purple), lavender moon, and a small print from PTI guide lines 6x6" pad.
• Embossing folders are Sizzix berry splash (card base) and the button border from Cuttlebug just my type. 
• Twine is The Twinery lilac.

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." (353)

Brown Script with Blue and Cream

Three strips and two dots of blue to brighten my cream and brown color scheme.  The script lettering and jute twine give this card an antique feeling. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) vintage cream, dark chocolate (brown), blueberry sky (blue), and the script print from PTI Dearest Jane.  
• Dies are PTI my mother, my friend small label and the inner shape from PTI framed out #7. 
• Blue dots are punched with an old 1/4" hole punch. 
• Twine is PTI rustic cream button twine. 
• Sentiment "Hello" is computer-printed with brown ink in Edwardian Script ITC font, expanded spacing, with the "H" in a larger font size.

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." (350)

Pink Butterflies with Doily

A sugary pink card for the day after Valentine's.  Damask, doily, butterflies, faux stitching - it doesn't get much sweeter in my crafting world. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Paper Source blossom (pink butterflies), Papertrey Ink (PTI) stamper's selsct white, raspberry fizz (dark pink) and the damask print from PTI sweet blush (pink) pattern pack.
• The faux stitching is drawn with Copic 0.3 pink multiliner and with Signo Uniball white gel impact pen.
• Dies are My Favorite Things mini delicate doilies and Impression Obsession butterfly set.
• I notched the banner ends with scissors.

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." (356)

Brown with Aqua Swirls

This card started with a scrap of swirl-embossed aqua.  I'm in a push to work down my excess scrap.  I use most of it as I go along, but sometimes it builds up.  Really I could just toss it, but I enjoy the challenge in finding ways to make nice cards with it.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) stamper's select white, aqua mist (light aqua), Hawaiian shores (turquoise), dark chocolate (brown) and the leaf print from PTI dark chocolate pattern pack.
• Embossing folder is Cuttlebug d'vine swirls.
• Dies are PTI my mother, my friend large label and the inner shape from PTI framed out #7. 
• The "thanks" word is cut with Silhouette using Lori Whitlock's ribbon slide set.
• Twine is The Twinery caribbean.

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." (348)

Embossed Leaves with Copic Coloring

An elegant card with the look of an old book illustration.  The leaf outline is embossed (impressed) into the cream panel with a die, then outlined in brown and colored with Copics.  (Note: the gray is background, not part of the card.)

Embossing with the die gives a beautiful detail and texture.  It also makes the outline and coloring easy to do!  See below for the image before and after coloring.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) rustic cream, dark chocolate (dark brown), simply chartreuse (medium green),  script print from PTI Dearest Jane, and the bitty dots print from PTI ripe avocado (dark green) pattern pack.
• Dies are Elizabeth Craft thanks (die cut from brown) and Savvy Stamps tall branches with leaves (embossed into cream panel). 
• I notched the banner ends with scissors. 
• With a 0.3 Copic multiliner in the new brown color, I outlined the leaves and stems, added some short lines where the leaves join the stems, and drew a few sketchy horizontal ground lines.  
• Technique: For the outlining, simply trace along the "valley" of the impressed line, moving the pen at an even speed from one "corner" to the next.  Any fine-tip Micron-style pen can be used for this technique. 
• Copic markers are E23 (stems and panel edging), YG91 (base color for leaves), YG63, YG23, and E21 (some blending on the leaves). 
• The bitty dot paper is edged with Copic E29. 

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." (340)

Blue Thank You with Dots - Before and After

 

                       After                                                 Before (timed version)

For today's Papertrey Ink 7th Anniversary limited supply Timer Challenge - select 7 items in 7 minutes, and then 17 minutes to complete the card.  I had a few "oops" moments, but I got it done before the buzzer!

My 7 items are 3 card stock colors, 1 word die, and 3 lengths of stitching line dies.   Thank you Nichole for a fun challenge!

Edited February 8 to add:  The "limited supply" part of the challenge was more enjoyable for me than the "timer" part.  I began with a general idea of my card design, but then, of course, no time to refine it.  I'd like this card better with my diagonal layers cut to the same angle as the pattern paper dots, and narrower to close up the space above the sentiment.  In my "after" version, some knotted twine (denim and shore from The Twinery) fills the excess space.  It also hides a smudge (not visible on the scan, but very obvious to me in real life!) that in my haste I didn't notice.  I'll try this design again with a few changes. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) spring rain (light blue), enchanted evening (dark blue), and the bitty dots print from PTI blueberry sky pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI wonderful words: thank you and stitching lines.

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." (352)

Yellow Dots with Diagonal Stripes

A bright and cheerful "love you" card, made with a color recipe and sketch recipe from Papertrey Ink's 7th anniversary celebration. Thank you, PTI, for all your great products and inspiration! 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) vintage cream, raspberry fizz (pink), Hawaiian shores (turquoise), scarlet jewel (burgundy), and the polka dot print from PTI summer sunrise (yellow) pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI heart-2-heart #11, block alphabet lower case, and photo finish 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." (351)

Cream Branch with Tan and Red

Working my way through some excess scraps.  This design used some leftover red strips in varying widths. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) pure poppy (red), vintage cream, and the stripes print from PTI fine linen (tan) pattern pack.
• Dies are Elizabeth Craft thanks and Memory Box floral vine (retiring).
• Technique:  I traced lightly around the die cuts with an E43 Copic marker, before I removed the surrounding card stock.  This gives an nice uneven outlined effect. 

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." (349)