A Pair of AnyHero Cards

Operation Write Home likes to collect what they call "AnyHero Mail." Basically, these are thank yous written to our military heroes serving overseas. I like to include at least a couple with each package I send them. These are my two most recent cards.

My first card is based on OWH's Sketch #220:

I must admit, I have a love/hate relationship with this particular sketch. I love the wonky appearance, with the angled lines, but I hate that there are no clear measurements! It took me a bit of work to make this design come together for this card, but I think I succeeded pretty well.

I die cut the "thanks" using Savvy Stamps' "Thanks Script." Like many things in my stash, I've had this die for a while, and have never used it--until now. Because it is such a delicate die cut, I ran it through my Xyron machine, to apply adhesive to the back side.

For the background, I cut a piece of kraft cardstock to 4.25x5.5". I used the angled die in Avery Elle's "Custom Panels" set to die cut the first angle. Then I glued the 2 kraft pieces, slightly separated, onto a piece of black paper. I cut 2 more black strips, and glued them below for the other 2 lines in the sketch. I used 3 patterned paper scraps to fill in the open spaces. After adhering the "thanks" die cut, I stamped the rest of the greeting, from this Simon Says Stamp set, using Hero Arts Navy Mid-tone Shadow ink.

My second card is a bit more patriotic-looking. Since AnyHero cards don't need to fit in an envelope, I decided to make one with some dimension. OK, maybe a LOT of dimension! :) I cut the background cardstock from a pad by Momenta, and adhered it on a white card base. Then I stamped the "USA" from the Stampers Anonymous "Americana Blueprint" set on one side, using Versamark ink. I heat embossed that with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder.

For the rosettes, I die cut one each from red, white, & blue cardstock, using the "Medallions" die from Sizzix. This die cuts and scores the paper strip, so all you have to do then is accordion-fold it, glue the ends together, and flatten it into a rosette. It does 2 diameters, so I cut one from the red and the other from the blue & white. For the larger rosettes, I then punched a 1" circle from the corresponding color of cardstock, and a 3/4" circle for the smaller, red one. I applied a generous amount of Ranger Multi Medium in the gloss finish to each circle, and flattened my rosettes, adhering them to those circles. I placed acrylic blocks on them until they dried, to keep the rosettes from popping up again.

I found red, white, & blue buttons in my stash, and threaded them with embroidery floss that was close in color to the Liquid Platinum embossing powder. After my rosettes had dried, I glued a button to the top of each. I adhered a narrow strip of each color of cardstock to the card front, then glued the rosettes in place on top. And that finished this card!

I'm entering my second card in Virginia's View Challenge #14: "Layers & Dimensions."