Cards

Why did I hesitate to rubber stamping and card making for so long?! Good question. I didn't want to use stamps because I knew they would give me, as a new scrapper, more choices than I wanted to deal with. And they required an investment. Stamps take up space (a lot) and require money.

Now that I have several colors of ink and more than a few stamps, especially alphabets, I find myself making cards more and more frequently. I don't need my _entire_ table like I do for scrapbooking, and I don't make much mess.

The cards you see here were not very complicated, which means just a few minutes of time were taken. I know, blogger turns my photos. Just tilt your head. The folds are on the right hand side -- right is "up."

The alphabet stamps have definitely been a good investment. They are not consumable like stickers, and I can make them be any color I want.

I also have watercolor paints in the form of pencils, cakes, and tubes. The front of the Father's Day card here came to me in a dream. It's a monogram for the recipient, and looks a lot like the bath towels we had growing up. Because I'm not layering embellishments and attaching them to the card and/or using crazy amounts of matting, these cards are not labor intensive.

I had an extremely cute card designed for my SIL. In my head. Doh! My great card idea was forgotten before I had the occasion to make and give it. If I ever have the occasion to celebrate another certification, degree, or similar accomplishment, I'll have to use my idea. Moral: make time to make cards. Review your calendar and plan accordingly.

Graduation Cards

May of every year means graduation parties. I knew I'd need to make cards, so I settled down this morning in front of bloggerland on my laptop. My research yielded these two ideas at Rainy Day Creations and  Thinking Inking. I adapted the designs to my supplies at hand, a Close To My Heart hexagon, an untouched denim scrap pad, and generic card and envelope set from JoAnn Fabrics. Oh, and a tiny bit of Rowan yarn. Love that yarn. I'll have to figure out something small to knit up with it. I think I originally used it for fingerless mitts.

Card making

 

Like my extended family (here and here), I find card making to be a good thing. Convenient in that I don't need to leave the house and my family and spend an hour choosing the 'right card' (which we attempted during January), I can make something that satisfies my taste and the recipient's. Also, in the long view, it is cheaper than buying a handmade or factory-made card for $2 minimum in a retail setting. 

The inspiration card on the left was my birthday card from my friend and business partner, Cathy (read about her here). Since I needed boy cards, I chose to stick with the circles and bands of her card, then changed the colors to be bright and congratulatory but not feminine.

All the materials I need to make cards are in my toolbox. For the cards above, I used cardstock stash and scraps, a circle punch and some alphabet stamps from Michael's $1 baskets, ribbon I received for my birthday, and deeply discounted ink that I found at Archivers. The blue and green inks are Fiskars high-density pigment ink, to which I say, "WOW!" The title is the truth, not false advertising. Twice the pigment gives very bright, true-to-color images. I am very impressed with it.

Card inspiration hits again

I publicly announced my birthday this year, and with a birthday comes cards. Maria gave me this handmade card on the right. My brother wrote something obnoxious about my age inside, so I won't show that part of the card.

Last night, during a thirty minute wait to start a movie (Hoosiers) laid down by my husband, I made an inspired card, the one on the left. You can see where her card inspired mine -- the happy birthday strip of paper, the brad, the package with ribbon. But I had no patterned paper (hers was really nice). I stamped my own pattern on the background (it says 'friend to friend'), and stamped 'happy birthday,' too. letter. by. letter. I wasn't really careful with the 'a' stamp, so while I cleaned it on the scrubby pad, the rubber tore away from the foam. I used a glue dot to repair it. I don't feel incredibly bad since I paid $1 for the entire mini-alphabet, but then again, I use this set frequently, so I do feel bad in that regard. But I guess I've gotten my money's worth.

Birthday Card

While I was searching for something else, I somehow ended up in the papercraft aisle at Jo-Ann Fabrics. How did that happen?! I took a tear-off idea sheet, thinking of my mother-in-law's birthday party later that evening. Here's what I came up with.

Getting rid of scrap paper feels good. I did not need to buy a thing in order to make this card. I already had envelopes and stamps, ink and pens, plenty of paper and cardstock, and my tiny ribbon collection was sufficient. I used my Xyron (1 1/2" width) a lot and had fun doodling. That little sticker-maker has been one of the best tools I ever purchased.

I'd read some about doodling for scrapbooks, but this was my first try. I doodled the cupcake and it went pretty well. My guess is that freehand doodling is harder when you are used to having an eraser to fall back on.

Card making may be a larger part of my future after this success. I've never been great at card making, but I can see how elements from a scrapbook page apply. "Mini-scrapbooks" instead of "cards" might be a better way for me to think.

life this week

Let's go backwards to review the week so far. My brother and I surveyed the burr oak restoration project. He'll need to create a name for the project. Having a place name would be helpful, but we don't have one. We did, however name the Tree, Burrt.

We found a may apple fruit, which I'll post to my geocaching blog. We also found a patch of blackberries (they didn't have any razz) and a lot of gooseberries. The most surprising find for me was a discovery of his, a trillium. I had never seen one until May of this year during a flower walk at the Saylorville Visitor Center. If I hadn't seen trillium there, I would not have been able to identify the one spotted yesterday. It was not in bloom.


I have also had my thoughts on making an address book craft with my daughters and nieces for three weeks. Here is the prototype. I hope to have them all over for crafting today. I got the idea from Future Craft Collective, which was introduced to me via Craft Corps. I couldn't find enough of the twine I had hoped to use, so I settled for dental floss. Not quite the look I was going for, but the floss will probably hold better with its waxy goodness.

Lastly, I made a card with the help of my partner Cathy. I had a funeral for a high school classmate's father. The funeral and the card were not foreseen, and I felt rather out of sorts that morning. I don't think I could have gone shopping for a card, and I didn't want to use the funeral home card. I really wanted something handmade, so I leaned heavily on Cathy to help me get it done.

Cards

Here are our first cards in process. The finished product is pretty cute.

Crafting while it's dark

Yes, it is dark here without daylight savings time. The girls and I started making Christmas cards. I was invited to a Stampin' Up! party a while ago, and it really motivated me to stamp. I've always shied from stamping for many reasons, but it seems right to start now. With my $1.99 stamps from the "cheap" area of a big franchise store and a bunch of cardstock and embellishments that I already had for an embarrassingly long time, we've made enough cards to send to Matt's cousins and a few of my cousins.

We have a ways to go yet, but I found a handy cardboard shoe box that is just the right size for storing everything. I turned some index cards into file cards to separate the half finished cards from the completely finished cards. I was happy to see the girls turn up the creativity. I just put things in front of them, and next thing I knew, they were getting their own stashes out to use on the cards. I have a picture, just haven't moved it from the camera.

Crafty card

My oldest and I went to a friend's beautiful confirmation mass this evening. I thought I would use a ready-made card for her gift, but it didn't seem quite right. I liked the idea on the front of the card, though. Very colorful, and a fitting accompaniment to a flowering plant gift. Inspired by it, I made the card you see on the left. The store-bought card is on the right.

Each flower on my card has a fruit of the Holy Spirit in its center. (That Bible school song has been playing in my head since I made the first Spirograph flower....) It's mostly made of doodles. The centers of the flowers are circles that I punched with three different sizes of paper punch. I would have used the tiny spirograph if I could have found it. It must be hidden in a child's desk, because I remember seeing it on the dining room table very recently.

I am extremely proud of Erin for confirming her faith and felt privileged to witness the sacrament.