Hoo Loves You - An Operation Write Home Card

It's Sis from Paper, Craft, and Scissors with an Operation Write Home (OWH) card to share.  For those of you that may not be familiar with OWH, it is a wonderful way to share some crafty goodness with service members.  Crafted cards are collected and forwarded overseas for members to use and send to celebrate the holidays and the every days with their families and friends.  

The guidelines on OWH state that some dimension is okay (and loved) but not to go crazy with big buttons and embellishments.  So, here is my first OWH card with a total of one pop dot and six Viva Decor pearl pen dots.  I will be sharing the details with you and some insights into gaining dimension through color.

To start, cut an A2 card base (mine is khaki colored card stock) by cutting an 8.5" x 11" piece of card stock in half.  I like to cut this size by placing the long edge along the top of my guillotine cutter and cutting at 5.5 inch mark.  Fold the cut in half and while matching corners, crease with a bone folder. You get two card bases from one sheet of paper.  In this card, I wanted the dimension on the inner layer, so I used Cricut Craft Room (CCR) to cut a scalloped heart shaped window in the front of my card base. 

Before cutting the heart window with my Expression, I cut the patterned wood grain paper layer at 4" x 5.25".  I put good quality adhesive (like ScorPal tape) on my patterned paper.  As I planned to adhere the patterned paper to the card base and cut through both layers at the same time, I wanted to make sure to use a good quality adhesive to keep the papers together while cutting.  I edged the patterned paper with Tim Holtz Wild Honey Distress Ink before adhering it to the card base.

Step 1 - Firmly adhere patterned paper layer to card base on the front right side of the A2 card base using the card crease line (on the left) as an alignment tool. 

Step 2 - Cut the heart window in your card base with adhered patterned paper layer.  Use CCR Basics and select the scalloped heart (2.5" wide x 2.75" tall).   Carefully line up the long edge of the card stock across the top edge of the mat.  The edge of your card should be flush at the 11" line.  The left edge of the card should be aligned to the left edge of the mat.  This screen shot shows the position for cutting on the right hand side (front) of a card that opens from the right.  Unless you have a super sticky mat, use painter's tape on all the edges of your card.  Remember, you are cutting through two layers (the card base and the patterned paper).  I cut my card on the Expression using medium pressure and a blade depth of six.  I selected 2 in the "number of times" drop down menu on the "Cut" menu.  After cutting and WITHOUT unloading the mat, I determined that it needed additional cuts (another two), and the cut easily popped out after that.  I added some dimension by shadowing the cut edge with Copic E55 Light Caramel.  The dark patterned layer with the darker shadowed edge around the heart adds some visual dimension.

 

Step 3 - Cut the interior heart in bright rose patterned paper.  Using a brighter interior color also builds visual dimension.  I cut the interior heart slightly larger at 2.625" x 2.875" tall so that the interior heart would easily cover the window heart cut.  Once cut, I used E55 to edge the heart.  To attach the interior heart in the right location, I opened the card (so the cut window was face down to my left) and placed the interior heart right side down on top of the window.  Holding the card and interior heart in place, I carefully picked up the card and looked at it from the front.  After adjusting the interior heart location and carefully laying the open card back down on a flat surface, I added small drops of Glossy Accents on the backside of the interior heart cut and then closed the card by turning the interior card page onto the back side of the heart so now the back of the card was facing me.  Press firmly adhere to adhere the back side of the heart to the interior page.

Step 4 -  Cut nine leaf spray cuts from Mother's Day Corsage at 1.2" x 1.3" tall.  Edge with Copic E55.  Cut 20 "daisy2" flowers from Flower Shoppe at approximately .65" tall.  Assemble 10 flowers by placing a small dot of Glossy Accents on top of the base layer and adding the second layer.  Try to keep the petals fanned out rather than directly on top of each other.

Step 5 - Cut the owl at 2" tall and all its layers from Everyday Pop-Up Cards.  Add shadows with Copic E55 and use Glossy Accents to add dimension to the eyes and beak.

Step 6 - Assemble the inner heart layer.  Arrange leaf sprays as you wish and determine owl location.  Add flowers.  To add dimension, attach owl with one pop dot under the head and glue the feet down.  Place one trimmed flower spray under the owl's feet.  Here is an close-up of the interior heart.  The leaf sprays extend past the heart's edge.  I used five sprays; I always cut extra when dealing with smaller cuts and make sure to take down the pressure and blade depth.  Multi-cut when necessary.

Step 7 - Print sentiment or stamp sentiment and attach.  This sentiment uses Birch Std at 36 point.  The edges were inked with Tim Holtz Wild Honey Distress Ink.  Add one spray and two flowers.

Step 8 - Add ribbon or twine and tie a bow. 

Step 9 - Add flower centers with a Viva Decor Pearl Pen in Icy White.  Once dried, slightly curl flowers.

This card used paper from My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose and Echo Park's Hello Summer.  Using 6" x 6" paper pad is a great way to keep scale and color in your card creations.

Cricut Info & Supplies Used:

Designed By:  Sis Patterson

Cricut Machine Used:  Expression (with Cricut Craft Room)

Cricut Cartridges Used:  Mother's Day Corsage, Flower Shoppe, and Everyday Pop-Up Cards

Other Supplies Used:  My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose and Echo Park's Hello Summer. Papertrey Ink Rustic Twine.  Viva Decor Pearl Pen in Icy White.  Copic E55 (Light Caramel).  Tim Holtz Wild Honey Distress Ink.