Wildflower Garden

Do you ever find yourself returning to the same stamp over and over?  I absolutely love this image from the Wildflower Garden set, and I can't seem to resist using it often. Perhaps because it lends itself to a number of techniques, like this distress ink "smoosh stamp" technique (see this post for more information on the technique).

In this rendition, I was inspired by some scraps of designer paper I had on my table.  I wanted to make a card for Operation Write Home that could be sent to either a male or a female, and I think the stripes, dots and colors are gender neutral enough to work for either.

Anyway, I actually put the card front together before I considered what I'd use for my focal point and was stumped for a minute until I remembered this weed image from Wildflower Garden. I think the distress ink technique adds a nice softness to the rather stuffy stripes, and the colors help tie everything together.  I added a bit of paper piercing to the corner for a little detail, and tied it up with gold cording (another go-to favorite!), before popping the focal on with dimensionals. 

What do you think? Will it work for either a guy or a gal? Guess it depends on the eye of the beholder, but it works for me! 

So, how do you make gender neutral cards? Got any tips to share? Would love to hear your comments.

Oh, by the way, in case you're curious, here's the supplies list for this card:


Cardstock:  Papertrey Ocean Tide, Ripe Avacado
DP:  Die Cuts With A View Linen Closet 8x8 pad
Stamps:  Papertrey Wildflower Garden
Inks:  Ranger Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters

Autumn Abundance

Today I thought I'd share another card I made for Operation Write Home with a fall theme.

For me, sometimes all the fall colors can start too feel a bit too much. On this card, I thought I'd try mixing kraft and white, with just a touch of fall color.  (Please excuse the fuzzy picture. So much to learn, so little time...)

The focal stamp is from Papertrey's Autumn Abundance and colored with Copics. It was then cut out with a circle Nestablities, then matted with a kraft piece, also cut out with a Nestie.  To add a little interest to the white background, I embossed it with a plaid impression plate from Papertrey.  Finally I tied on a little twine (which seems fall-ish to me) and added a small tag using Papertrey's Tiny Tags die.  Love that little heart the die cuts. I simply added a scrap of orange behind the heart to pop it a bit, the adhered the whole lot to a kraft card base.

A pretty simple card, actually, but I think it expresses the season. What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.  Now go do something creative!