A Million and One Thanks Bluebird

May is Military Appreciation Month in the U.S., and Operation Write Home is trying to collect as many thank-you cards & letters as possible to send to our military heroes. While they do this year-round, this month is especially important, given the MAM occasion. So I have started making thank-you cards for people to write a note of thanks in. This is my first.

I based my design on the first sketch on Hero Arts' Sketch Challenge post. (Unfortunately, I can't enter this card in their challenge, as I forgot the requirement to use a Hero Arts stamp. SIGH! But at least I have until May 25 to create more cards for that!)

I started by creating the curve on the card front. I cut a standard A2 panel from watercolor paper, then cut off the bottom portion with Simon Says Stamp's A2 Curved Edge Die.

I used this digital stamp from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps for the focal image, printing it directly on the upper watercolor paper panel and coloring it with Inktense pencils and a wet brush. I stamped the greeting using this stamp set on a piece of white cardstock in Versafine Onyx Black ink. I then die cut it with a Spellbinders "Labels 8" die, and inked it with Tumbled Glass Distress ink and my mini ink blending tool.

For the bottom part of the background, I used a technique I learned this week in Online Card Classes' "Watercolor for Cardmakers" class. Laura Bassen showed how to apply Distress ink to an acrylic block, mist it with water, then smoosh it onto a piece of watercolor paper. You do this with several colors in a row on your paper to give a gradient effect. The colors I used for this card were Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, and Barn Door. I didn't get them to blend quite as much as I wanted, despite being very generous with my water mister, but I still think it turned out OK.

Once I had my pieces stamped, inked, and die cut, I was ready to assemble my card. I used a 5.5x4.25" card base, and adhered the background panels directly to the front of that. Then I glued down the label and the flourishes, which I had cut with a My Favorite Things die. Finally, I used my 1/2" Corner Chomper to round all four corners.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Sweet 'n Sassy Stamp's Challenge #10: "Birds"
Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday "Spring Flowers" (dogwood blossoms in the bird stamp)