July 4 Operation Write Home project

 

My project (or mission ) for July 4th is to use the odds and ends of designer papers and make some cards for Operation Write Home (OWH).  OWH provides handmade cards for the military personnel to write home to loved ones.   I love making cards but there is no way I could use all that I make so this is a great way to share my talent.

 I had a stack of scraps all cut the same size that worked well for these triple pane cards.   Really quick and easy but colorful, bright, fun cards.

 Another triple pane and a very simple card using some polka dot paper.  The paper reminds me of confetti or sprinkles. 

I pulled out a new stamp set, Road to Happiness, for this one.  I think it would make a great birthday card for a teen-ager who is getting their license :-) 

Some more sketch stamps.  I have lots more to play with in the 3 sets I got off E-Bay.   "Thinking of you" cards are requested by the soldiers.

And a couple more using the same Melon Mambo background paper.  Very pretty paper with a tiny feminine flower design.  The Fancy Flower punch is one of my favorite and it fits nicely on the 2 3/8 Scallop Circle punch.   I use that combination a lot.

Operation Write Home also accepts Any Hero cards.  These are cards made for the soldiers to thank them for their service.  There are less restrictions on those.  I always try to include some of them in my shipments.  Here are a few I made today.

Since it is Independence Day, I used a red, white and blue theme.  Seems I had quite a bit of red or blue designer paper scraps.  

If you aren't able to make cards but would like to send some thank you cards to the soldiers, you can do so. They do not have to be handmade cards.  They suggest writing a short note about your family or life events as the troops like to hear that life is going on as normal back home.   Today with email and skype, many of them stay in touch without the cards but a card is something tangible that was held by the other person and selected especially for you.  Much more personal and encouraging than an email :-)

More craft therapy

Time in the craft room whether sorting paper, cataloging my stamp sets or actually making cards is always a sort of therapy.  I can sit and think through troubles while doing something like sorting paper scraps or push troubles out of my mind while searching the internet for new ideas and techniques. 
Recently I worked on some sample cards for one of my customers.  She does not have access to the internet so is always thankful when I share some of my card samples with her.  She recently purchased the Floral Frames framelits and I wanted to show her a couple fancy cuts using those.

 

 The Floral Frame is partially cut through the cardstock - just from the back of the card - so that the flower sticks up about the fold of the card.   The Daydream Medallion stamp set coordinates well with the frame dies. I have used some retired Designer Series paper and a retired stamp set, Sketches for the card. 

 

The Floral Frame again for the card on the left.  I set it up wrong and cut out more than I wanted but it works :-)  For the card on the right, I used the Oval framelits.   Another one I like to use is the Heart framelits.  I will have to make some more of those and post them.

 

Another request from my friend was a cut-out card.  She saw one in the new catalog with a square and just a single flower stamped inside the card.  I know she has the Floral Frames so tried that on one.  The other uses the Heart framelits   I will probably do more of these as they are 'special' but still easy.

 

 

I also am low on anniversary cards.  Last time my sister was visiting (probably around Christmas/New Year) I asked her to bring along any stamps she had for anniversary cards.   I stamped up a bunch of the love-birds and love image and finally got around to doing something with them. 

 

 

Here are some more of the love image.  The scraps of retired designer paper worked perfectly for the hearts. 

 

 

I also did some of these Sketches images.  really like these for an anniversary card.  I stamped on whatever scraps I had so had a variety of colors.  These were quick and easy.

 

 

I liked the Sketches set so much that I checked it out on E-Bay.  I found 3 retired sets of various sketches that I wound up bidding on and winning.  This one is a sketch of a woman with a baby.  I combined it with sentiments from the Cuddles and Kisses set.  I really like some of the sentiments in that set.  There is one for twins, one for adoption and one for either boy or girl babies.  So you can be more specific on the card if you like.  I love the grandma sentiment on the card on the left.  I have a couple friends who will become grandmas for the first time later this year so will put that to good use.  The set also has a "Thank you from baby and me" which I used for thank you cards I made for my daughter. 

I have been forcing myself to use up scraps before I can get anything new :-)  I have done a pretty good job but still have so many to use!   The polka dot ribbon on the grandma card was from a baby gift at my daughter's shower.   I don't throw anything away - one reason why I have so many scraps to use up.

 











Using up scraps

My goal for today was to use up some of the random pieces of paper scraps I have in a box.  Only rule - can just use paper from the box (except for card base if necessary - not too many pieces in the box big enough to be the card base).
So here is what I came up with...

 I had a lot of strips left from a herringbone class so did a few of those with some love bird images I stamped from a retired set my sister loaned me for a couple days.   I stamped a bunch and put them in the box for future use.  This will be anniversary cards. 

 I had these images from a 'wish list' on the demonstrators' site.   These pieces were all cut for a workshop - but can't even remember what we made with them :-)    These will make nice masculine birthday cards.

And some more love birds from a retired set of my sister's.  More anniversary cards.   I think I did pretty well - but believe me I did not even make a dent in the box of paper.   More for another day.

Scraps challenge

 Today I challenged myself to use up some scraps.  I have so many of them that they are taking over the craft room :-) 

I pulled these from the Whisper White supply.  Two are embossed with the Honeycomb folder and one was a piece cut with the Top Note die.  This were from other projects that I did not need for some reason - and just threw them in with my stock.

To go with those I grabbed these items from a shoebox where I had thrown items left over from a day of crafting - to sort and put away later and that never happened.

So - here is the first card I finished. I used one of the honeycomb pieces and spritzed some Summer Starfruit on it.   Then I took 4 other colors - Regal Rose, Bashful Blue, Tangerine Tango and Wild Wasabi and cut strips.  The Wild Wasabi was embossed with the SAB Vine folder. 

To get the rounded edges, I placed just one end in the 1 1/4 circle punch.  The strips were about 1 inch wide.   This works great!

Then to get the 'stairstep' lengths I took the shortest one (Wild Wasabit) and laid it on top of color #2 - Tangerine Tango.  I just cut the second piece a little longer using a pair of scissors. The edge did not have to be prefectly straight since I was going to cover it with ribbon.  I did that with the remaining 2 colors.

I lined them up on the lower portion of the card front (The photo is really upside down).  The hexagons on the white made it easy to get these in a straight line.  Then I just wrapped the ribbon around over the edges of the strips and added the flower.  

This one also uses the honeycomb background.  The Wild Wasabi is the remainder of the piece of Wild Wasabi with the vine embossing.   I tied around the scrap of Soft Suede ribbon and mounted that on a piece of Soft Suede card stock and then put it all on a Whisper White card.   I tried adding circles and ovals of the other colors but just did not look right.  At one point the ovals on the green might have made a cute Easter card but I did not want to go that direction.  So I just added the simple Hello stamp from the Tiny Tags set and said "Done!"   I like it and it is such a simple design I  will probably make more  :-)

Number 3 uses the Top Note die.  I adhered it to a piece of Regal Rose so that it hung off the edge - then trimmed it flush.   The swirly stamp is from a retired set but any decorative stamp would do.   The Certainly Celery satin ribbon is accented with a piece of Pretty in Pink gingham ribbon that I found on the clearance rack a couple years ago.  I hate to see Pretty in Pink leaving since I use it a lot for baby girls (and have that new granddaughter !) I'm sure I will find alternates.  I used the birthday sentiment from Petite Pairs ......



and stamped the other half of it inside with another one of the decorative swirls.  I think this is the favorite of the 3 scrappy cards I made.

So here is what I did with my scraps.......

or at least some of them.  This is what I had left after making those 3 cards (see the ovals and circles that I tried to use on card #2)   Saving those for another day :-)

And speaking of the new granddaughter - meet Adelyn Kaylee --

here she is 4 days old and visiting Grandma and Grandpa at work.  We just love her!