There are so many holidays and occasions on which we have to send cards, I also like sending cards out of the blue. I'm not saying holiday and birthday cards don't have meaning; it's wonderful to send and receive those cards. But it can be a real day brightener to find an unexpected card in the mailbox. Over the years I've also come to realize that when a little voice in my head says "send a card", I shouldn't ignore it because there have been just enough times when a recipient has commented that my card came just when they needed it most.
For today's card, I just felt a need to check in on a long-time acquaintance that I haven't heard from or about in way too long. I need to call or schedule coffee too - it's on me for letting it go this long - but I was thinking of her early this morning and decided to first send a card.
I pulled out a die set that includes hey, hello and hi word dies and also this old-fashioned phone. (My friend and I are both old enough to remember rotary phones!)
I had the time this morning to step it up just a bit, so I added dimension by using the negative die-cut technique on the words, then added the phone on top - you can see it better on this picture. I cut a smaller piece of white cardstock and sponged it with a rainbow of colors to coordinate with the paper and adhered it behind the die-cut words.
Lining up the dies can be a real pain when you are doing a variety of die cuts directly into your main piece of cardstock. Here's a picture of how I do it (there are likely better ways, but I've gotten comfortable with this - it works for me!) I cut a piece of grid paper or graph paper - anything with lines to help line things up - to the same size as the cardstock that I'm cutting. I put it under the bottom plate on my Big Shot, then the cutting plate, then I line up the dies facing up. (Normally I used my Big Shot with the cardstock first and dies facing down onto the cardstock, so this is a unique step for me). Then I can just place the paper on top using the grid/graph paper to get it straight and I get a perfect cut! BTW - I added the phone die so I could get the alignment right, then I took the phone die away before I actually cut the paper.
Time to get the envelope addressed and find a stamp!
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The paper is Pink Paislee Switchboard.
To sponge the colors, I used Distress Inks in Cracked Pistachio, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Ripe Persimmon.
