Red, White, & Blue--Missing You

Operation Write Home, a charity that has supported heroes with handmade cards since 2007, will be closing later this year. All cards need to be sent in by August 1st, so I’m helping to get the word out! This is GOOD news, because it means there are not enough troops overseas who need cards to send home. Rather than communicating across thousands of miles, they are (or soon will be) able to communicate with their loved ones across the dinner table! I have created a card for this, OWH's final Memorial Day Bloghop.

I began by choosing one of their bonus sketches:

I used patterned papers from the "Red White & Blue" 6x6" pad by We R Memory Keepers, Simple Stories' "SN@P Color Vibe" 6x6" pad, and my scrap stash. I cut most of them into 1.5" wide strips, then punched the long edge with the "Arched Lattice" border punch by Martha Stewart. I added a strip of dark blue cardstock behind the punched area on each strip, and trimmed that to follow the curves of the punched edge. Then I adhered the strips so they completely covered a piece of white cardstock cut to 4x5.25".

I stamped one of the greetings, from this Hero Arts set, in Versamark ink onto a piece of red cardstock. After white heat embossing it, I cut it in a circle, and matted it with a circle of white cardstock. I inked the edges with Salty Ocean Distress ink, and adhered it to the card with foam tape.

***Added note: I forgot to mention that you can return to the top of the hop, at the OWH blog, by clicking the #FinishingStrong graphic at the top of this post. I apologize for any confusion!***

I'm also entering this card in a2z Scrapbooking's "Anything Goes" challenge.