January 2025

The first card uses one of my favorite sketches - #218 from Operation Write Home.  I modified it a bit by rounding the right corners of the focal and background panels and only adding 2 embellishments next to the focal panel.  For a bit of shine I added Love from Lizi peel-offs along the green watercolor horizontal panel.  I used the "Summer" word die and stamp set to create the sentiment.

I know orange isn't everyone's favorite color but I actually quite like this bright cheerful shade.  For a background I used both orange papers with the striped paper placed on an angle.  Since I didn't have a focal print, I used a bright white die cut sentiment as the focal point.  To keep it from just floating around on the card, I anchored it on a long thin orange banner.  To finish the card I added 3 orange Queen and Co. bubbles.

I found the pink papers the most difficult to work with.  They just didn't seem to match well.  Also, it was difficult finding cardstock to use for the matting.  I typically use a darker matting but nothing I had in my craft room coordinated with the darker pinks in the 2 papers.  I ended up using a light pink for most of the matting and an off-red color for the "enjoy" sentiment.

Still stretching the lemon paper, I paired it with the green watercolor print to create a large focal panel.  A thin green satin ribbon separates the prints and adds some texture.  The card still needed something so I went through my stash and found a fruit die set that included a lemon.  It's not an exact match to the paper but close enough.

This was the last of the lemon print.  I paired it with a strip of the black and white print from the first batch of cards.  Another print would have been too much so I kept it simple by adding a plain yellow textured cardstock.  I used the "summer" die and stamps again to create the sentiment.  A few green Queen and Co. bubbles completed the card.

At this point I was down to just scraps.  I pulled out white shimmer paper to use for the background and added texture with a cover plate die.  I used up the last of the orange papers for the 2 panels on the card.  For some sparkle I added a few Recollection orange rhinestones around the sentiment and the bottom corner of the card.

The first card featured a 3" wide piece of the 6x6 paper as the focal panel.  At 3" wide I was able to make 2 cards from one 6x6 sheet.  The polka dot background on this card is 4 x 5.25 inches.  On other cards using this layout I created the background by using scrap paper strips cut to about 1.25" wide.  Once the focal panel was attached no one would know the background isn't a full 4 x 5.25 inches.  To give the card some texture I added a ribbon around the lower portion of the card. The sentiment is stamped on a punched tag.  To fill in some of the blank space on the tag I added a gold Love from Lizi peel-off on the bottom and a gold star brad at the top.  I think the star brad worked well with the sentiment.

This card used the 6x6 sheets for the background.  Flipping through my scrap bin I found a couple pattern papers to use for the focal panels.  I also flipped through my bin of cardstock scraps and found a few pieces of dark green cardstock to use for the matting.  The "Hello..." sentiment is stamped on a diecut circle using Versafine Onyx Black ink.  To finish the card and add some interest on the right side of the card I added a few dark green Queen and Co. bubbles.

The last card used the last of the 6x6 paper for the background.  I used more scrap paper and cardstock for the focal panel and the matting.  For this card the sentiment is stamped in pink ink which picks up the pink in the focal panel.  On other cards I used different color ink to match those focal panels.  For embellishments I added a small banner in the upper corner of the focal panel and a few Nuvo drops around the sentiment.

For the first card I wanted to use the "Summer" word die.  Since it's a bit long I knew it would need to be a landscape card.  To make sure it showed up I selected a tone-on-tone print for the horizontal panel.  By chance, the flip side was the peaches print.  1 sheet of paper made 1 card.  The word "Summer" is die cut from white shimmer cardstock and everything is matted with a peachy orange cardstock.  I stamped the rest of the sentiment in Versafine Onyx Black ink on white cardstock.  A few orange Queen and Co. bubbles finished the card.

The next card is all green.  These 2 papers only seemed to coordinate with each other so that's what I went with.  I tried the stripes horizontally and vertically and thought horizontally worked best for this sketch.  For the leaves focal panel I rounded the bottom corners to break up the straight lines of the background.  The sentiment is another stamp and die set that has been sitting in my craft room since last fall.  "Wishes" is cut from white shimmer cardstock and the shadow and outline are cut from 2 shades of green cardstock.  A few clear bubbles around the sentiment complete the card.

For this card I used 3 prints.  The floral worked with the stripe, but needed another print with a bit of white to tie it all together.  The pink/white polka dot was perfect.  The dots worked with the white in the floral panel and the pink matched the stripe in the background.  I used white cardstock and a light pink cardstock for the mattings and the "Summer" die cut.  It's not my favorite card but I think it worked.

This card ended up being my favorite.  I'm sure the lemon print and green color contributed to this but I really liked the bold black/white background which picked up the bit of black in the lemon print.  Matting everything in black cardstock kept everything crisp and clean.  The yellow Queen and Co. goosebumps were the perfect embellishment as their texture reminded me of a lemon peel.