Tag Archives: patriotic

Star Spangled Banner

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by Karen @ Carefree Creations - Military Thanks

This week’s CAS-ology challenge cue is Song. I chose to be inspired by the Star Spangled Banner (I even managed a banner on the card!!).

When I first stamped the stars and stripes they ended up being very bold and overpowering the eagle image. One tip I learned in the Pattern Play course was to alter bold patterns to dampen their affect. I used distress inks (Old Paper & Tea Dye) to tone down the colors. Also, I originally cut closely around the eagle, but I think the lack of edge helped it get lost. So I stamped it again and this time left more of an outline; I think that brighter border helps bring focus to the image.

It is hard to tell in the photo, but the sentiment banner has some additional shading. After stamping the banner image with Linen ink, I went back with a Copic marker and slightly darkened the “behind” pieces.

The reason for the anchor is that this will be going to a naval recruit.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Thank You
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Est.1776, Bountiful Banners, Paper Tray;
Ink/Card Stock: Kraft, Cream, Linen, Dark Chocolate, Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy; Distress Inks (Ranger);
Other: Banner die;

Making a Difference

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My husband requested I make some cards he could give out at the office. They are doing a charity drive and the cards are for the top givers.

This is a government office so I went with a patriotic color scheme. Since the cards could go to either gender, I stayed away from frou-frou.

I did try 3 predominately red stars and I really liked having one white star – now if I just understood why! I think it just feels more dynamic and less predictable.

In addition, he wanted one card that was “more”. I have a hard time with more – especially if I don’t know the gender! I ended up adding a few touches and created this one:

I’m not sure anyone but a crafter would notice the “more” but at least it is different.

This is the inside of all the cards:

For the inside I used the Super Star border die, Seeing Stars die, and an image from Military Stars.

If you are interested, here is the card I did last year.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Making a Difference – First Card
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Star Prints, Think Big Favorites #2, Teach & Inspire;
Colors: Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy, Spring Rain, White;
Other: Seeing Stars die;
Making a Difference – Second Card
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Star Prints, Super Stars, Think Big Favorites #2, Teach & Inspire; Framed Greetings (MFT);
Colors: Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy, Spring Rain, Blueberry Pie, White;
Other: Seeing Stars die, Simple Stripes impression plate; star rhinestone (?-stash); Framed Greetings die (MFT);

Independence Day

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With all the recent fires here in Colorado, we did some donating to help support the fire companies involved. I, of course, couldn’t just send a check – I needed a card.

I came up with this quick and easy design. And liked it so much I made extras.

The extras will be used by my kids to send to our troops. Today we’ll be thinking of all those things we can do because of our freedoms.

FYI – these card will be getting to the troops via Operation Write Home.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Thank You for Your Service
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Military Stars, Military Hero;
Colors: Enchanted Evening, White, Pure Poppy;
Other: Limitless Layers Circle die, Star die;

World of Thanks

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I created a few of this card for my husband to use in his office – as thanks to those that donated for the charity drive.

Thanks for taking a peek!

You
Stamps: Year of Flowers: Rose (PTI);
Colors: Night of Navy, Real Red (SU); White (PTI);
Other: pattern paper (SU); Textile Rectangle die (MFT); Wonderful Words die (PTI); ribbon (PTI or stash);

Index Cards

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These cards are all ones that started their lives as index cards for the SCS gallery. It was fun to try to create an index card that I could “finish” as a real card.

The first card is actually the index card. I thought it could stand on its own fairly well. Since the image is the sentiment I didn’t need to add anything else. I kept the theme of stars and stripes when picking the pattern paper and ribbon.

The machine stitching was originally just on the layers, but it got lost in the patterns, so I extended it to the full horizontal. I probably will eventually add a couple vertical stitch lines on the edges, but the back is so horribly done with all the starts and stops I’m not even sure the needle would make it through, lol.



 
This next card is what I had in mind when I created the index. For the index, I could only use the ball and the “Home Run” sentiment since that is all that is part of the stamp set.

After taking the photo for the index, I went back and added the rest of the sentiment. Of course I had to do it word by word so I could squeeze it all in, and so it isn’t as straight as I would have liked.

The ball is hand-cut to have that “crack” graphic (comic-book) look.



 
This final one is another a la carte image, so the index card is sans the greeting, but also without the leaf die cut – mostly because I didn’t want to obscure the image.

The bird image is watercolored. The background is embossed with the Elegant Bouquet folder from SU. The ribbon, I’m not sure about the ribbon, but I think it is an old retired SU color – Cranberry (one of the first InColors).

Thanks for taking a peek!

Boot Camp Grad

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My nephew is graduating boot camp this week. I sent this card along to help him celebrate. I kept it flat (for mailing) and simple (for the “guy” affect).

Just random stamping to make the background. Then a label die for the sentiment, held on with twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Congrats
Stamps: Seeing Stars (Verve); Free Spirit Boy Sentiments (WMS);
Colors: Cherry, Navy, White (SU);
Other: twine; label die (Spellbinders);

Proud of You

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My nephew, a rising senior in high school, is currently at boot camp. He is joining the National Guard to become an MP. Obviously I have mixed emotions about this, but I am undoubtedly proud of him. He’s allowed to receive post, so I wanted to send him a card to remind him that we’re thinking about him.

I don’t have many “service” type stamps (guess I’ll need to remedy that 🙂 ), but this ribbon from CTMH certainly does work (I originally bought it to make cancer ribbons, so I don’t always remember it when thinking military). To do the two toned ribbon, I stamped the image twice – once in blue, once in red – and cut out the “front” piece from the red image and glued it onto the blue one.

I kept the card very simple – apparently any cards that are over the top (mushy or frou-frou) earn the receiver a few extra push-ups! I just used lots of dimensionals to give it depth. And the blue mat is textured paper.

I am entering this in the “Krafts-men” challenge at CAS-ual Fridays (cfc9). CAS-ual Fridays is a new challenge blog dedicated to clean and simple stamping. CAS is definitely the style I prefer. I heard about their challenge before they even started – because I was already following a few of their design team members – but this is the first challenge I’ve managed to complete. I still have a text flower I created for their first challenge!! Maybe I’ll get it on a card one of these days, lol.

Thanks for stopping by!

Proud of You
Stamps: Remember (CTMH); Fresh & Simple alphabets (PTI); Sanded background (SU);
Colors: Poppy, White, Kraft (PTI); Crumb Cake ink, Not Quite Navy (SU);
Other: dimensionals;

July Banner

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Today a new sketch at Waltzingmouse was posted (wmsc47). I just received my latest order and knew exactly what I would do.

I admit I bought the Bitty Banner set just for these rounded banners. I’ve always loved the 4th of July banners I’ve seen done in this style. I kept the card very simple. It ended up being a long card because I wanted that many banners 🙂 I love the new WM set – Say it Loud – such a happy font! I had to steal the “4th of July” bit from a Papertrey set.

Happy 4th of July
Stamps: Bitty Banners, Say it Loud (WMS); part of the sentiment – Vintage Picnic (PTI);
Colors: Cherry Cobbler, Not Quite Navy, Vanilla (SU);
Other: vanilla twine (?); Rustic button (PTI);

July 4th Picnic

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This card was made using a Fall-to-Layout (ftl88).

I colored the image with Copic markers, except for the red stripes – that is just a plain ole StampinUp marker. I’m still learning about shading, but I think I did well with the basket and the center star.

That is the last of my 4th of July cards. Thanks for sticking with me!

Happy 4th of July
All supplies Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Vintage Picnic;
Colors: Scarlett Jewel, White;
Other: Scarlett ribbon; markers (Copics);

Stars & Stripes, the sequel

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This card was created using a Fall-to-Layout (ftl90). I left off the ribbon along the top and maybe took liberties with the sketch – but really the essentials are there.

Happy 4th of July
Stamps: Vintage Picnic (PTI);
Colors: White, Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening (PTI);
Other: star punch (SU/EK Success); eyelets (Pink Hedgehog);