Hello everyone! For those of you who didn’t come here via the Operation Write Home blog-hop, please, feel free to click the badge above to go to Operation Write Home’s Stars and Stamps Blog and join in the fun! Over 150 blogs, each with a holiday card or cards for inspiration (and many with the card “recipe”, a tutorial, a freebie, or other goodies)! C’mon, you know you want to check it out!

Operation Write Home is a non-profit organization that makes handmade cards for U.S. troops in active deployment away from their families. These boxes of handmade beauty are then shipped to the troops wherever they are (on a ship, in Afghanistan or Iraq, wherever) so that they can have beautiful cards to write home on. Yes, email is immediate and reassuring, but a physical card from an absent loved one is something else indeed. Many spouses thank OWH for providing cards that then get sent home to loved ones – especially children, for whom a physical reminder of the absent soldier or sailor is very important. Please consider joining us in making cards – whether you make 2 or 200, your efforts will be appreciated. But please check the guidelines first – as there are a few rules (all with good reason) – for example, no glitter because it gets on uniforms and makes the wearer extra visible to night vision goggles – thus putting the lives of troops at risk. So please, read the guidelines first and then join with hundreds of others in this worthy cause!

Okay, so here are my cards:

The photograph of #2 is much better and much larger, even though I think #1 is a better card. Here’s what I used to make each card:

#1: Tidbits Trinkets image sentiment (see below);  Sargent Art Liquid Metals metallic markers (www.sargentart.com); Generations Finishing Touches “Poinsettas embellishment” (GE12008) (www.GenerationsNow.com); acrylic rhinestones, source unknown.

I printed the “Noel” sentiment on red card stock, and, using the edge of a scrap piece of card stock as a mask, edged the sentiment with gold metallic marker. I positioned it on the green card base, and added the poinsettas and rhinestones.

#2: Tidbits Trinkets sentiment image (see below); Walmart Dept. 44 fashion trim beaded and sequined trim; Fiskar’s adhesive foam dots; patterned paper from an “assorted paper pack” purchased at Big Lots, manufacturer unknown.

For this card, I cut a piece of patterned paper just slightly smaller than the blue card base. Using glue dots, I adhered the trim, being careful to make sure it was well glued – especially the ends on the back of the paper. I then glued the patterned paper to the front of the card base. I cut out the individual letters from the sentiment (after printing it on white card stock), and then matted them on dark blue card stock, cutting around the letters again. Using foam dots, I mounted the individual matted letters on the card.

Both cards are blank inside, and on both I used Elmer’s Craft Bond glue dots and Tomblow Mons Aqua liquid glue. Personally, I love glue dots. I use them to adhere rhinestones, buttons, ribbon, trim (in this case I also used glue dots to keep the trim stretched on sideways on the card),  etc.

I am not as pleased with the second card. I think maybe, in the end, the font was a bit hard to read. But I like it. It’s fancy. So, I included it in the freebies anyway. Today’s freebies are the sentiment “Noel” in 6 different fonts:

And finally, another Christmas sentiment that I hope someone can use:

I hope you enjoy making cards with the freebies, and I hope you enjoy OWH’s blog hop as well! (If you need instructions on how to download any of my images, see the sidebar at the right.

Please consider checking out my Artfire store – I only have a digital stamps for sale right now, but I am adding new stamps and new items all the time. Please take a look and if you like what you see, book mark me! And please come back every Saturday for a different free digital stamp!

Peace,

Bekka

Tags: cardmaking, cards, Christmas, digi-stamp, digi-stamps, digital stamp, digital stamps, Edwardian, free, graphics, holiday, image, noel, Operation Write Home, OWH, PD, png, public domain, sentiments, Winter, World Cardmaking Day