Stars and Stamps Challenge 96

Sending Happy Thoughts

Even though I didn't finish this card last night, it was a fun and quick card to work on. The reason is that I started with a sketch and used a stamped image I had in my stash that I had already water colored.

This beautiful stamp is from Anna Griffin's 2005 Rose Collection 580156 by All Night Media. I love the fine delicate lines and found it perfect for water colors pencils and a aqua brush. I sometimes will stamp images and take them with me to crops when I don't have a particular project I'm working on. That way I can still join my friends and have something to work on. When I saw the sketch this week I pulled out my image and picked some papers to go with it and did a little cut, paste and layering. The "sending happy thoughts" is a Hero Arts cling stamp that came in a special little set that I had received at a special crop at Archiver's a few years ago. I just carefully cut the lines of sentiment on the stamp apart so I could space them out in a line and stamp them. I used VersaMark and Zing White embossing powder, then tore the paper to make the little strips. The pattern paper is Sweet Threads from Basic Grey. I've used a little Broken China Distress inks to blend the edges of the card and tone down the bright green of the base card.

The sketch is from this weeks Operation Write Home Stars and Stamps sketch challenge.  I have a tendency to closely follow sketches. I probably need to loosen up a little bit. But that is the thing about sketches. It's up to you. You can either follow them closely, use them as a starting point and deviate madly or anything in between. Now that my card is finished I'll post it to the challenge page and check out what the other participants have done. If you want to play along with me click here for the details.

I'm pleased with how my card turned out and it will go in my collection to send to Operation Write Home. They will send my cards along with many others to our troops serving far away from home so our troops will have handmade cards to use when writing home to their friends and family. If you want to know more check out their website at:  http://operationwritehome.org/