patriotic card for "Less Is More" challenge

Hello!  I have had such a lazy and relaxing day reading and napping, and I have to admit this little break was greatly needed.  I had planned to do a little reorganizing in my craft area after I finished reading my book but then inspiration struck so I have had a little fun creating first.  This card was inspired by a friend's family; she is an Army wife and she and her husband just went on a trip to DC as he was the recipient of a prestigious (and no doubt well deserved) leadership award.  I have always admired this family as they are such a great example of service, values, and teamwork so I wanted to do a little something to say "thanks" and help them celebrate this achievement.  As I used multiple stamps, I will also be entering this in this week's "Less Is More" challenge.

details:  All products used were from Close To My Heart.  I used a spare piece of CS and made my own striped background using the backside of one of the border stamps from the Stitch Wonder set in Cranberry and the stars background is from a retired set called Vintage USA in Outdoor Denim.  I then used the USA outline border stamp from the Adventure USA set (also retired) in black and then fussy cut the image and adhered it to the center of a 6 x 6" card base.  The sentiments "Land of the Free" and "of the Brave" are from one of last year's promotional sets called "Home of the Brave."  The second sentiment actually reads "Home of the Brave" but I used decorative tape to mask off "home" and the used the Keyboard Uppercase alpha to spell "because."  On the inside of the card is a sentiment that reads, "Thank you for your dedication and sacrifice." which is from the "Courage" stamp set that was also part of last's summer's promotion.  By my count, that's 6 stamp sets so I think that will qualify for the challenge.  :-)

Happy crafting!  Annette

first layout with the Artbooking cartridge!

Just in case you haven't heard the news...  Close To My Heart has come out with another exclusive Cricut  cartridge and it is absolutely FABULOUS!!!!  Here's my first layout using the Artbooking cartridge:

I am finishing up my daughter's graduation and senior year pics so I really wanted to use the school's colors.  I tried one of the layouts in red and one in black and ended up taking the negative space pieces from one and trimming them down about 1/4" and resetting them in place.  I had to use my computer to scan, copy and size the mascot emblem and I cut a piece of cardstock down to a 4x6" rectangle and ran it through the printer, cut it in a circle and inked the edges to make it stand out.  I also cut the banner photo mat with the Artbooking cartridge and used the Keyboard Uppercase stamp set for "class of 2013."  Prior to getting the cartridge I had already cut out several of the "Red Raiders" pieces using an alpha from a Cricut cartridge called Paper Lace so I used those, and I just love what I came up with!