Turquoise Hearts with Red and White

Red and white accents draw attention to the "love" sentiment.  The dotted ocean tides color (muted turquoise) recedes into the background while the brighter colors come forward.

Card details:

• Card stock is Neenah solar white, Papertrey Ink (PTI) tropical teal (deep turquoise for hearts and word), pure poppy (red), and gingham, bitty dot, and polka dot prints from PTI aqua mist (light turquoise) and ocean tides pattern packs.
• Dies are My Favorite Things heart full of love and PTI 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." (443)

Harlequin Greens with Turquoise

A trio of green and turquoise colors, layered with black and white, form a dramatic harlequin pattern. 

Note: the gray is background, not part of the card.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) true black, stamper's select white, limeade ice (top green), Hawaiian shores (turquoise), and new leaf (bottom green).
• Die is My Favorite Things harlequin.  
• I used my Silhouette Cameo to create the large black layer that backs the harlequin strips.
• The sentiment "thank you" is from Stampabilities card phrases, stamped with Versafine onyx black ink.
• Twine is charcoal stripe from The Twinery.

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."  (444)

Red Geraniums with Green

For a friend's birthday.  Very simple and beautiful, with luminous colors.  It's my 2009 geranium drawing with a green and red mat.  I tried a few ideas for a sentiment on the card front, but decided to place it inside instead.

 Card details:

• Card stock is Neenah solar white, Paper Source spruce (deep green), and the bitty dot print from Papertrey Ink pure poppy (red) pattern pack.
• I scanned my original line drawing before coloring, so I can computer-print it on Neenah and color in different ways.  To see more card examples, click here and scroll down.  
• Today's card is colored like my original, posted here with a list of the Copic marker colors I used. 

While I was coloring, I made an extra 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."  (435)

Burgundy Heart with Aqua on Rose

The aqua lace and oval glow against a rose and burgundy backdrop.  I challenged myself to try this color scheme and to use a small oval piece from my leftovers.  I like the contrast of the bold scale background (large stripes and polka dots) with the more delicate details of the heart-shaped focal point. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) rustic cream, autumn rose, scarlet jewel (burgundy), aqua mist, and the polka dot and bitty dot prints from PTI scarlet jewel pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI limitless layers: 2-1/4" hearts and framed out #8 (the small inner oval).  If I hadn't been using leftovers, I would have cut my oval with framed out #10 die (like the stamp set I used) but #8 has a very similar size and shape.
• The top of the cream banner is notched with the heart die, to fit the V curve, and the bottom is notched with scissors.
• Embossing folder is Lifestyle Crafts stripe.
• The sentiment "missing you today" is from PTI framed out #10, stamped with PTI scarlet jewel ink cube.

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." (442)

Two Diagonal Stars with Gingham - Brown and Green

A pair of cards with the same elements...  Tan and green ginghams, a diagonal strip of stars, cream twine striped with gold, a brown card base, and a diagonal sentiment strip.  With the cream, I get a "neutrals" feeling from the tan and brown colors, so I'll call these cards monochromatic.

Card details:

• Card stock is  Papertrey Ink (PTI) fine linen (tan - left card), spring moss (light green - right card), dark chocolate (brown), gingham print from PTI fine linen and simply chartreuse (medium green) pattern packs, and book print from PTI dearest Jane paper.
• Twine is gold shimmer by The Twinery.  I used a hole punch to make a shallow notch for the twine on each side, to keep it from slipping.
• Die is PTI super star border.  I used a Copic brown 0.3 multiliner to doodle a line on the left card's stars, along with some Copic E43 marker edging.
• The sentiment "Thinking of you" is computer printed in green ink with brown text line using Wide Latin font, expanded character spacing.  The sentiment strips are edged with Copic E29 marker.

 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." (441)

Yellow, Orange, and Rust Comet with Stars

Earlier this week, I posted a card with curved stripes in red, orange, and yellow.  Today's card uses the outer scrap pieces left over from cutting those orange and yellow stripes.  Laid together, the scraps made me think of a cape, a flying banner, or a comet's tail.  So I added some stars and a sunny nucleus to make a bold, bright comet.

Not astronomically correct, but it carries the "hugs" message across the miles.  And I love using up my scraps.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) terra cotta tile (rust), orange zest, summer sunrise (yellow), ocean tides (teal),  and the stripes print from PTI ocean tides pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI big hugs, super star border, notched flower (medium), rainbow stripes, and ad sense.
• The little teal star is punched with 1/4" Fiskars hand punch.

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." (440)

Oval with Red, Orange, and Yellow Stripes

I find ovals challenging to use with my cards, tending to look formal and a bit too static for my eye.  But this card has movement with its bold and bright curving stripes.  The polka dot strip grounds my oval to make a strong focal point.  These shapes work well together, and I'll try the layout again sometime, maybe with bright green and turquoise colors. 

Note: the gray is background, not part of the card.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) rustic cream, pure poppy (red), orange zest, summer sunrise (yellow), and the polka dot print from PTI summer sunrise pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI limitless layers: 2-1/4" ovals and rainbow stripes.
• The sentiment "thank you" and the oval frame are from PTI keep it simple: thank you and limitless layers: labels, stamped with PTI pure poppy and orange zest ink cubes.

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." (439)

Red, White, and Blue - Stars with Gingham

A simple layout and color scheme, with lots of detail in the gingham, sheer starry vellum layer, and diagonal striped embossing and circle stamp.  The sentiment makes a strong focal point with bold white ink on red, and "using a sentiment as the main focus" is our theme for Our Daily Bread Designs (ODBD) March challenge for Operation Write Home. 

This will be one of my Any Hero cards to write a note of appreciation to our deployed heroes.  Thank you, ODBD, for continuing to support our troops each month with these challenges!

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) pure poppy (red), enchanted evening (dark blue), sheer basics vellum (star print), and gingham print from PTI pure poppy pattern pack.
• Embossing folder is Darice diagonal stripe. 
• The sentiment "thank you for all that you do" is from two different stamp sets: PTI wonderful words: thank you and Stampabilities card phrases.  The striped circle is from PTI boy basics: simple circles.  All stamped with PTI fresh snow ink cube.

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." (438)

Purple Doilies with Green

Beautiful fresh colors in this card.  The unexpected green accents and striped pattern mix well with my more traditional doily lace, scallops, and script sentiment.  I started with the tone-on-tone purple panel, then struggled to use it.  It really came to life when I inlaid a few small green pieces. 

This card would not have happened without a new (to me at least) double-sided adhesive by Ken Oliver, stick it, that cuts very cleanly with intricate die cuts.  It needs to be burnished/ pressed down hard with a bone folder to adhere properly.  Before making a card with it, I tested a sample with some heat, cold, and damp, and after a few weeks it's still holding strong, so I feel OK to use it with my Operation Write Home cards.

My typical adhesive sheet is scor tape (aka be creative.)  It's super strong, and I'll continue to use it with most dies when I want to cut them with adhesive backing.  But it doesn't quite cut all the way with such delicate detail as the doily dies.  It works better with simpler shapes, like the hello die. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) royal velvet (dark purple), winter wisteria (light purple), spring moss (light green), and the stripes print from PTI spring moss pattern pack.
• Dies are PTI fabulous frames (banner), Elizabeth Craft hello, My Favorite Things (MFT) mini delicate doilies, and MFT stitched scallop edges (small). 

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." (437)

Big Thanks with Pennants

The sentiment has center stage on today's card.  I like the big teal "thanks" placed diagonally and the line of red pennants to accent it.  My bright, bold color scheme is based on the two patterned papers.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink tropical teal, summer sunrise (yellow), and pure poppy (red), with two prints from Basic Grey pb&j 6x6" pad.
• Dies are My Favorite Things (MFT) many thanks, MFT notched border (retired), and Poppystamps simple banner (retired).

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."  (434)

Landscape with Rainbow

I love this little imaginary landscape, which I drew in 1983 for my mom.  She was taking calligraphy lessons, and we collaborated on a book plate with her "Ex Libris" and my illustration - all in black and white.

I still have a few of the book plates, and I thought it would be fun to color my landscape for a card.  So I scanned the drawing, resized it slightly to fit the die cut frame, and printed it, then colored it with bright Copic marker colors.  I really like it with the "missing you" sentiment.  My mom would have liked it too! 

The only thing I'd like to change is the rainbow, which I colored with red on the bottom when it should be red on top.  Not the first time I've made that mistake, and I'll hope to remember better in the future!  But I guess if my rainbow can have three large stars, it can also have upside-down colors. 

Card details:

• Card stock is Neenah solar white, Papertrey Ink (PTI) smokey shadow (dark gray), new leaf (green), harvest gold (yellow), and the bitty dot print from PTI aqua mist and soft stone (light gray) pattern packs.
• The sentiment "missing you" is from PTI fillable frames #2, stamped with PTI true black ink cube. 
• Dies are PTI fabulous frames. 
• If you'd like to know the Copic colors that I used, please leave a comment and I'll be glad to edit my post to add them.

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."

Striped Vellum with Eyelet Lace

An elegant thank you card with rich deep colors, a panel of striped vellum, white eyelet lace edging, and touches of silver for the sentiment and strands of thread.

I also made this card in two other deep colors - teal and dark green - with damask and leaf prints in place of the bitty dots.  They too look very nice.

Card details:

• Card stock is Neenah solar white, Papertrey Ink (PTI) royal velvet (purple), luxe silver, sheer basics vellum, and the bitty dot print from PTI royal velvet pattern pack.
• I adhered the vellum with 1/8" scor tape on each side, then concealed the edge with the eyelet lace. 
• Thread is DMC silver embroidery thread.
• Banner is notched with scissors.
• Dies are PTI wonderful words: thank you and eyelet lace.

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." (430)

Kraft with Hearts and Bright Circles

Bright circles with a strong color combination.  I like the little pennant with hearts behind the red circle.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) stamper's select white, classic kraft, pure poppy (red), enchanted evening (dark blue),  summer sunrise (yellow), and the bitty dots print from PTI summer sunrise pattern pack.
• The sentiment "I love you xoxo," large open dotted heart, and row of tiny hearts are from PTI tag-its #11, stamped with PTI pure poppy and enchanted evening ink cubes. 
• Embossing folder is Darice diagonal stripe.
• Dies are PTI limitless layers: 1-3/4" circles and 2-1/2" circles and My Favorite Things mini wavy pennants.

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." (433)

Raspberry and Burgundy Hearts with Green

I challenged myself to work with this color combination ... then realized I made it harder by choosing hearts for my theme.  Somehow green hearts don't work for me!  So I used the green for the background and a small circle accent.  

My card has some very traditional elements - the damask and dotted prints, scalloped and layered pink hearts, and an old-fashioned "love" font - with the green adding a bit of a modern twist. 

In real life, the raspberry colors are the same between the dotted and solid colors.

Card details:

• Card stock is Papertrey Ink (PTI) raspberry fizz (bright pink), scarlet jewel (burgundy), and the damask and bitty dot prints from PTI raspberry fizz and simply chartreuse (green) pattern packs.
• The sentiment "with love" is from Stampabilities card phrases, stamped with PTI scarlet jewel ink cube. 
• Dies are PTI limitless layers: 2-1/4" hearts and the inner heart from framed out #11.
• The small dot is punched with EK Success 5/16" circle punch. 

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." (429)