Saturday, July 12, 2014

Old School Tools and OWH Love

I may have decided to opt out of the whole die-cut machine investment so many stampers embrace, but years ago, my husband bought me the space-ship thingy from Fiskars, so I am not completely without the ability to cut a (very) limited number of shapes with a device.


I have a small stack of templates for the Fiskars ShapeCutter, and the hearts are among the most used of those templates.

Operation Write Home regularly requests love-themed cards for the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who are deployed. These men and women want to send lots of love home to their families, so I try to make a significant proportion of the cards I send love-themed.

My recent purchase of Hero Arts' Oh, Snap set was largely intended for Operation Write Home, and here are two cards showcasing a nice, big sentiment from that set.

First up, white-on-white layers of hearts frame and accent the sentiment. I love this in its simplicity, but I recognize that many people might feel it is too plain. On the negative side for me, though...that red (Memento Love Letter) just isn't my favorite.



My second card kicks up the interest with a bold color combination and an interesting border to anchor the single large heart. The Red Royal and Soft Gray from Hero Arts compliment each other perfectly, and the arrow border (with two rows going in different directions) gives a sense of movement to the design.



Visually, the second card is definitely more interesting than the first, but I do love the quiet layering of the first card.

What do you think?

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts
ink: Memento and Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: Fiskars shape cutter and template, dimensionals

4 comments:

  1. Actually I love the stacked white hearts...there's a certain oomph to the white on white that appeals to me. Also, I resisted, actually rejected the die cut craze early on. However, something happened last November, and I bought a Big Shot! Didn't open it for weeks, but finally did and it has been oodles of fun. Die cutting to me should be used as accents and not a card full of die cuts. So it has opened a whole new world and sort of restarted my mojo a bit!

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  2. Both are sweet! Though, I lean more towards your second card. Love the grey arrows with the white and red. ;)

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  3. I like both, but do find the second captures my interest. First, I like the red ink more. Second, the arrows in gray definitely add a spark. Seeing the two colors of red makes me understand why you say you have a lot of inks :)

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  4. I like them both.. but the first card adds a lot of emphasis to the 'more' I think :)
    The gray and red is a fabulous combo too

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