Serve and Protect {so grateful for you}

I was so thrilled when my package from Simon Says Stamp arrived with the new First Responders stamp set and coordinating dies! I wanted to make a few thank you cards for some deserving recipients. One is going to a friend of ours in the neighborhood who is a Police officer and the other  is going to the entire Police Department for our city. I've also made a coordinating tag that you can see at the bottom of today's post. We put together a package of treats to send over to them as part of a community event.

I used quite a mash-up of products from some of my favorite companies to bring these cards to life. To begin, I die cut 3 pockets and flaps using the new In Stitches Back Pocket Die out of Enchanted Evening cardstock. Once that was done, I added some Dark Indigo ink around the edges of each piece for some added definition and contrast.

I used my mini MISTI to align the "You are my Hero" sentiment and then stamped it in Versarmark ink and heat embossed it with Silver embossing powder from Imagine Crafts. I adhered the flap to the pocket portion using foam squares for dimension. I set those aside and got to work on the police badge pieces.

I heat embossed 5 in total and cut them out using the SSS First Responders dies. I just love how crisp the silver embossing looks against the blue cardstock! I also stamped the "thank you" portion using the same Dark Indigo Ink onto Spring Rain cardstock. There is also a die to cut this little piece out, which I love! I am a die loving girl through and through! 

I cut two pieces of Enchanted Evening cardstock measuring 4 by 5 1/4 inches and stamped the Pinkfresh Studio Diamond Tiles Cling Rubber Background stamp using Sapphire ink. I positioned the stamp so that it wouldn't stamp all the way to the bottom of the panel so that I would have some blank space for the heat embossed "for your selfless service" sentiment. 

The reason why I switched to Sapphire ink was that the other ink I was using needed to be refilled and I don't have the reinker! Ack! This ink is gorgeous and works nicely with this card. From there, I continued using it to add some ink blending around the edges of the stamped panel. Once this was done, I was ready to put all of the pieces in place to create this fun design! I used additional foam squares to add the pocket to the stamped panel. I adhered it to a top folding A2 Spring Rain card base using additional foam squares.

I knew that in addition to the treats we were dropping off, I wanted to add some gift cards to both of the cards. It might be a little cliche, but we decided on Krispy Kreme for the local Police Department! LOL! I think everyone pretty much loves donuts, cops or not! ha ha! I used the AMAZING Gift Card Pop Up die to create this fun addition to the inside of the card.

As you can see, this card has a pizza gift card; this one is going to our friend in the neighborhood. I used my mini MISTI to get the "so grateful for you" sentiment stamped and then heat embossed in silver as well. I like to use ScorTape to secure these to the inside of my cards for security. I used two 

 of the shield/badge pieces that I created earlier to decorate the inside as well.

Here is the gift tag that I made to add on to the package of treats. I used a wooden type basket to package up some Pepperidge Farms cookies, mixed nuts, Raisinets, and Beef Jerky. I placed it in a large cello bag and then tied it up with ribbon and this tag.

Easy, peasy! I just used all of the same elements as the card, but added the "so grateful for you" sentiment to the bottom of the popped up "thank you" sentiment. I used my Crop-a-dile to punch the large hole in the corner so that I could thread it through the ribbon. I used quite a thick ribbon so a large hole was necessary! I had so much fun creating these cards and tag! Thanks for fluttering by!