Tropical Colors with Hearts

My card design started with the two vertical pattern strips, which gave me this happy tropical color scheme.  I like it a lot! 

Card details:

• Card stock is Paper Source blossom (pink),  Papertrey Ink (PTI) Hawaiian shores (turquoise), ripe avocado (green), damask print from PTI lemon tart (light yellow) pattern pack, and two multicolor patterns from Basic Grey 6x6" PB&J (retiring) paper pad.
• Hearts are edged with Copic marker RV13.  Vertical pattern strips are edged with YG97.  Edging with marker is a nice way to create some definition and contrast, without needing to add a layer of card stock.
• Dies are PTI one liners and heart border.

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." (382)

Green Doily with Aqua and Cream

Today's card was inspired by Dawn's challenge on the Papertrey Ink forum, to make something inspired by this lovely photo on Pinterest.  I chose the photo's aqua, green, and cream for my colors, and those intricate china patterns reminded me of doilies and lace.  Thanks, Dawn, for a fun challenge!

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) aqua mist, ocean tides (muted teal), new leaf (green), vintage cream, and the bitty dots print from PTI ocean tides pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI wonderful words: thank you, Parisian lace doily, and loop de loop.  Note: the "thank you" is cut from ocean tides, though my monitor makes it look a bit like the green.
• Embroidery floss is DMC ecru (cream) and 703 (green), tied in a square knot. 
• The vintage cream panel is edged with Copic marker BG72. 

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." (385)

Hello with Gingham and Banner

For today's color challenge - cantaloupe and pistachio - on the Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps blog.  To go with the soft and summery color theme, I chose a white sentiment, shadowed in cantaloupe, and a strip of white banners with cantaloupe and pistachio dots. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Ellen Hutson white linen, Paper Source mint (light green) and coral (light orange), and the gingham print from PTI melon berry (light orange) pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI wonderful words: hello and My Favorite Things party banner.
• Colored dots on the banner are punched with a 1/4" hole punch.   
• The angled green layer is cut with my paper trimmer.
• Embossing folder is Cuttlebug Swiss dots.

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." (384)

Multi Colored Chevron Thanks

A simple design that I struggled with.  On my first try, I used a larger label shape and a larger sentiment, and it was ... OK. 

This one is much better, and sometime maybe I'll see what it needs to be fabulous. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) aqua mist, orange zest, simply chartreuse, enchanted evening (dark blue), and rustic white.   The multicolor chevron print is from Echo Park "all about a boy" 6x6" paper pad.
• Embossing folder is Sizzix chevrons (retiring).
• Dies are Elizabeth Craft thanks, PTI eyelet lace, and PTI photo finish strips (in addition to the oval-center die for the white strip, I used the wider straight die for the orange strip, which has a nice embossed border line that's hard to see in my image.)

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." (383)

Purple Flower with Turquoise and Yellow

I had the urge to make a purple card, and so I used purple for my card base, flower, and sentiment.  For contrast, there's turquoise and light yellow with a touch of green.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) plum pudding (deep purple), lemon tart (light yellow), Hawaiian shores (turquoise), simply chartreuse, and bitty dots prints from PTI winter wisteria (light purple) and Hawaiian shores pattern packs.
• Embossing folder is Sizzix berry splash (retiring).
• Dies are Impression Obsession butterfly, PTI signature series: flower, PTI heart-2-heart #7 (larger flower), and PTI polka dot parade #6 (larger flower).
• Punches are McGill 1/16" circle punch (for the yellow dot inlaid into the purple flower center) and EK Success 1-1/4" scalloped circle punch. 
• Sentiment "Miss You" is cut with Silhouette Cameo.  It's the same as this card, except that I removed the "ing" and offset the letters to make them thicker.

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." (380)

Dark Green with Yellow and Rusty Red

Strong colors, shapes, and patterns.  The gingham and small dots have a clean and modern energy in this setting.  I like this card a lot.

The rusty red (Papertry Ink's terra cotta tile) is a great color, but always hard to capture in a scan or photo, where it tends to look much too red.  So I'm happy to have it look good enough to post!

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) terra cotta tile (rusty red), pinefeather (dark green), summer sunrise (orangey yellow), and gingham and bitty dots prints from PTI pinefeather pattern pack.
• Stars are punched with a 1/4" Fiskars hand punch.
• Die is PTI wonderful words: thank you.  The pinefeather is inlaid into the terra cotta tile.
• The zig zag border on the summer sunrise panel is cut with Silhouette Cameo.  I took a smaller-scale border design and enlarged it.
• Embroidery floss is DMC #920.

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." (379)