Thoughts & Dreams

I am working on cards for my final shipment to Operation Write Home. I have always sent my cards in USPS Flat Rate Envelopes, since I never sent that many at a time. Since I have a couple of months to finish my cards, my goal is to make enough cards to fill a medium Flat Rate Box. This is one of my cards towards that goal.

I chose OWH's Sketch #244 for my card design:

I did omit the banner behind the greeting strip, just to accommodate my focal image, from Doodle Pantry.

I printed the image on a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I colored it with Inktense pencils, blending the colors with a damp paintbrush. After that dried, I inked 3 sides with Gathered Twigs Distress ink, to add some definition. I cut a strip of a light tan cardstock, and inked 3 sides of that as well.

For the background, I chose Jillibean Soup's 12x12" "Macho Nacho 4 Parts Hero" patterned paper. I cut a piece to 4x5.25". Because the pattern is a little busy, I whitewashed it with Adirondack Snow Cap acrylic paint. Then I set that aside to dry.

I printed the greeting, from Doodle Pantry's "Missing You" set, on a strip of green cardstock. I inked the 2 long edges and one end with Gathered Twigs. Finally, it was time to assemble the card.

I adhered the focal panel & tan cardstock strip to the patterned paper panel. I adhered the greeting strip over the lower part of the focal panel, and glued a heart-shaped wooden button at the left end with Ranger Multi Medium Matte. When that had dried, I poked holes in the paper through the buttonholes, and used a dental floss threader to thread a piece of embroidery floss through. I tied the floss into a bow, added a little Multi Medium to the knot to keep it from untying, and cut off the excess on the ends. After matting the panel with dark green cardstock, I adhered it to a white A2-size card base.