My dear husband (DH) has recently returned from a trip around the world. That sounds nice — even enviable, right? I’m a silver lining kind of person. In actuality, it was an arduous 8 month Navy deployment. Not exactly fun, but the care packages totally helped brighten some days.
DH’s closest comrade on the deployment is particularly fond of a New York coffee brand, Gorilla Coffee. Gorilla Coffee made repeat appearances in Comrade’s care packages; thus, during their time together, DH also became quite fond of it. They live on different coasts now, so Comrade sent DH a little care package of his own a couple of months ago with some Gorilla coffee. He’s such a nice guy! So, DH turned to me and asked so simply, “Can you please make me a thank you card to send to my comrade?” To which I replied, “Of course I can! You’ve come to the right place! You can count on me!”
And now, 2 months later, I made it :/ (I’m both an optimist and a procrastinator.)
Step 1: Watercolor the Stamped Image
In my defense, I was beginning to conceptualize Comrade’s card a couple of weeks ago. I knew I wanted to use the Tim Holtz Freshly Brewed Blueprint stamp set. And I knew I’d be spending a lot of time traveling to/from my amaze-balls Artfest retreat. So, I stamped the Tim Holtz stamps in archival ink on watercolor paper and stuffed them into my carry on with my Windsor Newton watercolor set and travel brush. I painted several of the stamped images on a flight and decided which one to use.
Step 2: Back it with Burlap
Last night I stared at the watercolored coffee cup and tried to figure out what would make it a complete, polished thank you card. I opened up my laptop and jumped on Pinterest knowing one of you craft geniuses would save me.
When I saw this Susie Campbell card from Darkroom Door, I loved the use of burlap. I have a large roll of burlap ribbon I picked up from Michael’s, so I cut it to size and double layered it to fit behind my watercolored image. That still didn’t seem like it was complete, so I decided to sew around the exterior. I liked that (even though it went kind of wonky), but it still needed a sentiment. I got out every thank you stamp and die I have and played around with them, but they were too big or the wrong font or didn’t work with the image.
Step 3: Add Coffee Pun
I was stumped. DH came around about that time and asked what I was up to. I sheepishly admitted I was finally completing his thank you card and explained my dilemma. He offered the suggestion, “Thanks for perking us up.” Brilliant! A coffee pun. Of course. Why didn’t I think of that? Back to Pinterest. I searched, “coffee pun.” After a few snickers and a few groans, I came upon the perfect Pin. I slid some Kraft paper into my typewriter, typed it up, cut it out, edged it with the Archival ink pad, and Voila! “Better Latte Than Never” was created.
Any bets on how long it will take me to write the message, address the envelope, and actually send it?
