What do you do with all the hand-made cards you create? Do you give them all away to family and friends? If you're anything like me you often have extras. After all, card making is just too much fun to reserve for the times when you need one!
One of the things I love about crafters is their big hearts. If you've been crafting for awhile now, then you've probably heard of Operation Write Home. It's a non-profit organization that sends hand-made cards to US troops so that they are able to write home to their friends, family and loved ones. It's been an incredible success and what a wonderful way for so many giving people to share their love for crafting and support those serving overseas. A big round of applause to Sandy Allnock for her devotion to this project.
All good things come to an end and one of the reasons we are sharing an Operation Write Home project with you today is to get the word out that Operation Write Home is ceasing operations. This is a good thing and there is not so much need for it any longer. You can find all the details here if you'd like to read about it.
For today's project the challenge was to create a card for Operation Write Home with a red, white and blue color scheme. I do admit that adding in the green MIGHT be cheating a little but I really needed some leaves to make my wreath. I also freely admit that it took me quite awhile to come up with this card. Most of my projects use lots of dimension and embellishments. I love STUFF!
So back I went to my stamping days where I designed a little flatter and more in keeping with the Operation Write Home guidelines.The key to sending in cards for the troops is to keep them as flat and uniform as possible to facilitate mailing. I also needed to find something I had on hand to create with as I didn't have time to order something new.
Flower stamps to the rescue! You can always make florals work into any color scheme and all Operation Write Home cards do not have to be masculine looking. There are lots of female troops and think about it... If your husband or son goes out and buys a premade card for you, it generally looks pretty feminine as that is who is receiving the card.
To start off my project, I cut a layer panel 3.25" x 4.4" in size and decided to create a stamped floral wreath on it. To stamp in a wreath shape, it's always a good idea to start with a circle shape. I very lightly drew a circle in pencil on my white cardstock panel. I actually used a mason jar lid as I happened to have one on my desk. I measured the size for you and it's 2.15" in diameter. You could trace a punched circle or even use a compass. Slowly start in adding stamped images of leaves and flowers around your penciled circle. Start with your largest stamps first and then work to the smaller ones.
Keep adding in stamped images until you have a nice full look. Don't worry about being perfectly symmetrical. In fact slight changes in the design around the wreath make it look more natural.
Once the wreath is complete, I stamped in the sentiment. It's one of the ones included in the Fresh Cut Florals Stamp Set that I used to create the wreath. Some of the stamps in this set use the two-step stamping technique. You start off by stamping the largest stamp in a lighter ink and then stamp again on top with a darker ink. I love the look this adds!
I can never create a card without embellishing it and Perfect Pearls was the perfect solution. I love the shine and shimmer these tiny dots add in without adding in bulk.
This white panel looked best as a white on white card design so I then created my card base and mat layer from Solar White cardstock as well. I'm pretty excited with how it all turned out. Sometimes pushing yourself out of your box with a challenge is a great idea!
If you'd like to create for Operation Write Home and the Finish Strong Campaign, please note that cards will only be accepted until August 1, 2015. All cards received after that date will be returned to sender at the sender's cost.
Thanks so much for joining me today in the CLASSroom! Happy creating!
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