Saturday, May 31, 2014

Masculine Designs for Cards

Since the vast majority of us who make cards for Operation Write Home are women, many of the cards we make feature flowers, butterflies, and other elements that aren't suitable to send to a man or to a child back home.  Here are some examples of recent cards that aren't girly.

This Gartner Studios 12x12 paper from Big Lots caught my eye.  Twenty-four sheets of one design, one side with a pattern, the other solid, paper with a white core that lends itself to be embossed and then sanded to show the embossing...sold!  

One pack is "Paris" with dark brown on the back, and the other is "World Map" with dark red on the back.  A section of the map has script written on it so I used the back of that part.  The Paris paper is a collage of two photos of carriages and three of the Eiffel Tower.  Since the Eiffel Tower isn't an image I'd normally use for cards for Operation Write Home, I used the brown side of those sections.

The six cards were made with one sheet of each design, meaning I can still make more than 130 cards, depending on the sketch I use.  These used no sketch - I was just playing around this time.


When I read on an online forum that Jo-Ann's had a sale on packs of 12x12 Darice paper with an embossing folder included, I got some, of course.  There was a black and white stack, a neutral one, and one with bright colors, so all three came home with me.  It's very thick textured paper with white on the reverse side.  The black and white makes great masculine cards.  Both stamps are from Inkadinkadoo and must be discontinued because they were at Mighty Dollar.  To keep from forgetting what papers I have, I cut one sheet of each of the ten designs into 6x6 pieces and put them into my go-to box of papers.  The 12x12 stacks are out of sight in a drawer, so I forget what I have unless they're in my 6x6 box.


During the 2014 Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop I visited The Efficient Crafter's blog where I found a cutting formula for using four pieces of 12x12 double sided paper to make four cards.  It sounds like a lot of paper for just four cards, but that includes four card bases, the the four pieces for each card, plus the matting pieces for the top three.  No need to go to the stash of paper to find coordinating solids for matting.  It's all there.  I used four sheets from the "Best Occasion" collection from Wal-Mart and the "Hello Handsome" stamp from the Hero Arts OWH fund raiser set. 


Red, white, and blue are good for Operation Write Home cards, and I combined those colors with a goal of using each of the OWH sketches found on their website.  I got really tired of these colors and only got to Sketch 24.  The dimensional stickers are Sticko by EKSuccess.  The flag card is labor intensive and uses the Martha Stewart Doily Lace edge punch.  I really like the way it turned out.

Friday, May 30, 2014

Using an Entire 6 3/4" x 4 3/4" Paper Pad

Following posts by various card makers about how to use up an entire pad of 6x6 double-sided patterned paper, I decided to try it.  However, the K&Co. paper I got from Mighty Dollar last year was 6-3/4 x 4-3/4, meaning the cutting formulas used by others wouldn't work for me.  I made 32 cards from the eighteen papers (two each of nine designs)  First I came up with a plan to use six pieces (three designs) to make twelve cards.


Having double sided paper makes the options more varied.  One side is very busy and the other more muted, making it unnecessary to use matted papers on many cards.

 
 Gingersnap tries to decide which of the cards is her favorite.


This one, Mom.

Then I used the rest of the sheets but used only one sketch. The twelve remaining papers made twenty cards, but I did add one other paper to each card.  Some were embossed, and a few were corrugated Kraft paper.  All had one large piece of contrasting paper behind the pieces of patterned paper to provide a matted look without my having to mat each small piece.  Again, Gingersnap chooses her favorite, the one with poppies and embossed cream card stock. 

This clean-looking design is one that might appeal to those who don't care for the fussy, girly cards.  

Before I started the cards I got busy with the Cuttlebug, the Spellbinders ovals and scalloped ovals dies, and the Hero Arts and TPC Studios stamps to make the matted sentiment pieces.  Since the most requested cards for Operation Write Home are love you and miss you, that's what I used.    All of these cards will be used by our deployed service personnel to write home.  I'm doing my part to encourage the art of letter writing, one card at a time!

Thursday, May 29, 2014

February, March, and May Card Classes

One of my favorite monthly activities is the card class Vicky holds.  She uses Stampin' Up products and is so organized with the boxes with all materials and equipment for each of eight cards.  From 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. fifteen or twenty women make cards, chat, laugh, and have lunch.  It's a refreshing change from everyday life.


The February class included five cards that are perfect for a man to send or for anyone to send to a man, which means they went into the May Operation Write Home box.



The March class included some techniques we'd not used before, including the Sending Good Thoughts Your Way card that's tied with ribbon and the card that uses part of a Lattice die cut to make the cross.



I think the May class had some of the best cards we've ever made.  The little dresses on the line are so cute!  The owl card - hmm, I wasn't watching what I was doing and took the photo without making sure all the owls show.  See the next photos to see the front and also to see how it's constructed.  The card held together with the button is really a nice fold. I see the Thanks card is sideways.  Oops.  Rotated photo below as well!

                    
All three owls

This photo shows the way this card is made.  The wings are scalloped circles cut into wedges and glued to the back; two of the owls are flying, but when the card is folded they land on the branch with the blue owl.  The orange one has a cupcake on his head and the red one has a party hat.  So cute!



The embossed image is on vellum so the patterned paper and sentiment show through.  



Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Cards Sent to Operation Write Home - February, 2014


Here are the cards laid out on the table - all 156 of them.  Watch for later posts which will show groups of cards and notes on materials I used.





Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Blog Candy Winners!

Thanks to all who commented yesterday on my stop on the OWH Blog Hop.  It made this new blogger feel great!  There were nearly thirty visitors who hoped to win the blog candy shown here and I used random.org to chose for me the twelve lucky people to receive the paper pads.  Now to package them all up and get them mailed.

Congratulations to Marsha, Kathy S., Andrea T., Cherie, Rufus, Michele Smith, Coco, Amy C., Betty, Diana N., Nancy M., and Bobbi.  Look for your e-mail message, you lucky card makers!

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Operation Write Home 2014 Memorial Day Blog Hop





Blog Hop Headquarters

Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home 2014 Memorial Day Blog Hop  This blog is so new that I'm still muddling through and learning as I go.

My card is one of a series of Any Hero cards made with the "Pages of Honor" 6x6 paper pad from Glimpses by SignifyPink.  It's discontinued, which is why it was at the Mighty Dollar store.  The May 20, 2014, Midweek Throwdown inspired me to use OWH Sketch 215.  It uses large pieces of paper, which will help use up my paper stash. 

     Sketch 215

215


(Someone can't take a straight photo!)
Paper - "Pages of Honor" by Glimpses by SignifyPink, discontinued
Embossing Folder - "Stars" by Cuttlebug
Sentiment - Unity Stamp Company

Thanks so much for hopping in!  I look forward to your comments.  

To win a pack of this great 6x6 paper, scroll down to YESTERDAY'S post to see all the designs and follow the directions for leaving a comment.  Since everything in the Mighty Dollar store is a dollar, I scooped up a bunch of these paper pads hoping to share them with you! 

The link to return to the start of the hop is HERE
The link to Linda's blog, the next stop, is HERE
Happy hopping!
Elsie

Friday, May 23, 2014

Blog Candy for the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop

Since the Mighty Dollar store had so many 6x6 "Pages of Honor" pads  by Glimpses by SignifyPink, I picked up some to use for prizes.  Leave a comment below with your e-mail address (spelled out, please) and I'll choose several winners of this great paper.  It's perfect for Any Hero mail.  I'll contact the lucky winners soon!
 

e-mail example:  myname at gmail dot com

(May 25, 10:50 p.m. note:  Hooray for 13 people who have left their e-mail address as requested above!  I'll wait until Tuesday morning and choose winners from those who left comments and e-mail addresses on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.)
   


Fronts and backs of the twelve patterned papers.  There's a large and a small version of each pattern.



 Front and back views of the thirteen solid papers.

Happy blog hopping!
Yesterday's post has the entire set of 45 cards made with this paper pack.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Any Hero Cards

When we send cards to Operation Write Home for our deployed service personnel to use when they write home, we also send Any Hero Mail, which are letters and notes of encouragement and support.  This time I ended up with 45 Any Hero Cards, so typed up a chatty letter, printed out enough for each card, and added a short hand written personal note when I signed them.

Last month when I saw the 12x12 packs and 6x6 pads of "Pages of Honor" paper by Glimpses by SignifyPink at the Mighty Dollar store, I knew the 6x6 pads would be perfect for Any Hero cards.  They're no longer available since SignifyPink discontinued their scrapbooking supplies in 2012.  I made 45 cards with the 25 sheets in this one 6x6 pad of double-sided paper.  There are two pieces of each patterned paper, one with a large and one with a small motif.  I used random sketches from cards I've seen for most of these.

Brave, valiant, proud, courageous, and patriotic spelled out in camouflage colors.
I made a bunch of sentiment pieces that fit into the Spellbinders rectangle, but had to cut off the last two words "and service" to make it fit.  The next time I'll stamp them separately instead of putting them onto the same acrylic block.  I think there's too much space between the lines.

Camouflage

I used the cutting formula from Poetic Artistry for the cards in the next two photos using two flag papers and two solids.  The formula shows four cards from one 6x6 sheet.  Since I have more paper than I can use in several lifetimes, I realized there's no need to make cards using such little pieces, such as the four cards with the 1-inch square and strip.



At least the group above uses larger pieces!

There were four of these, but I'd already sent one to a friend before taking the photo.

 These card bases were smaller to make them fit into the remaining space in the Flat Rate box of cards.



These are Stampin' Up stamps which go so well with the Unity Stamps sentiment "Real men don't wear capes.  Real men wear dog tags and combat boots."


Sunday, May 11, 2014





This will be a learning experience - participating in the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop.