Summer Reading

A bookmark creation for my brother who is currently stationed in Iraq. He has been asking for pictures of his kids and wanted a bookmark so I combined the two and added a magnet. I started by choosing a pattern that was somewhat androgenous. I cut three squares out, 2 on one side and 1 on the other side of the 8 inch length that was folded in half. Once the pictures were cut and glued in place I pasted another piece of pattered paper to keep the pictures in place. I will lamenate the bookmark to keep it safe from the elements in Iraq and place the magnets I bought at Michael's on the inside.

Hawaiian Fever...?

Just being creative-ish...I think this card might be good for a little girl--maybe a little neice of mine???

The Long Good-bye

So my dear friend and Partner In Crime (hereafter referred to as my PIC) is making the big move to the East Coast for a wonderful Grad school opportunity. While we, we being my husband (and countless others) are excited for her, we are saddened by her departure.

(Front of card)

My PIC has been an integral part of my life, from being my first friend at work and carpooling buddy to my PIC and person who introduced and fostered the relationship of my husband and I. She was a part of our wedding and has been and will continue to be a huge part of our lives.

I am unsure of what I will do without here here to for our "coffee trains" and girl chat in general (Lisa, I understand more so than ever before how you must have felt when I moved to London).

In honor of her departure, I spent several hours and days trying to create the perfect card. While I came up with quite a few fun ones and a few that only made it to the sketching phase, I finally found the 'One'.

Sophie, my PIC, has a love for modern art, and for her I decided to watercolor a special card. Now, I recently bought this wonderful paper that is a great textured card stock--adding that layered feeling I love in arts and crafts.

Now, as I cut it close to our "see you later" dinner date this evening, I had to 'cheat' if you will on the watercolor card...I must admit that I first used water color pencils and painted over it with water, much like you probably used to do when you were a child with the paper that turned the color when you spread water across it...although, these start off colored, but the water takes away the strokes of the pencil. I hope that Sophie enjoys this special card made especially for her.

(Front of card at top, back of card at bottom)

Meggie A.

For the Love of Jacq!

My dear friend has asked several times for a handmade card just for her...well my dear friend Jacq, congratulations on your new home! I hope this whimsical card brightens your new space!

For this card I double layered the paper as it was solid white on the inside and pretty thin to begin with. The inside I chose to highlight the light pink polka dots that pattern the outside of the card. Then I accented with green on both the inside and outside of the card (and envelope too!) I used green fabric tape on the inside to frame the sides and the middle. This fabric tape has a slight polka dot pattern on it too in pink, white and brown on a solid green background. On the outside of the card, I again (much like the "Lovin' Lavender" post) cut out three flowers of the same size, two in light pink and one in green, to layer. Then I glued and sewed them together.

For the envelope, as this is being shipped across America (literally!) I choose a sturdy green paper which I chose to embellish with the pink polka dot paper cut in the shape of a flower...

Jacq-A-Lac, I hope you adore this creation, custom made for you!

Okay, I love these flowers! They are perfect for framing in shadow frames, placing on cards or
wrapping paper, or as my good friend Sophie pointed out, they could just be hung by ribbon or string on the ceiling.

These flowers are made by creating a pattern and using your exacto knife to cut out all of the details. I have found that it is possible to cut several sheets at one time--as these take a bit of time to maneuver. I originally found the pattern for these flowers on http://www.marthastewart.com/ (yes, I admit, I occasionally watch and peruse the Queen of Crafts).

Lovin' Lavender

A birthday creation for my sister-in-law, who loves the color lavender. I started out by cutting out six flowers, then I glued them together and sewed in the yellow centers. I placed one on the front of the card and one on the envelope. The inspiration for the color scheme came from my sister-in-laws love of lavender and the color of the shirts I got her as her present: grey, light blue and lavender.

Baby, oh Baby!

A good friend recently had a beautiful baby girl (!) so I made a card and envelope to send our congratulations in. Silly me, I forgot to photograph the "Congratulations on your beautiful baby girl" card before I sealed it into my floral envelope, so I will give you the run down on what the card inside this envelope looks like!

So the card is 4x6 (as most of my cards are) with a left side fold. The outside card paper has a white background with a squiggly lines in light pink, hot pink, blue, green and brown. As I have mentioned before, I like to mix and match, layer and play with color and patterns. So, on top of the squiggly lined paper I placed a hot pink square (about 1.5 inches tall and 2.5 inches long) that had "Congratulations" written, then I placed two embroidered light pink flowers on opposing corners, giving the card some depth.

The inside of the card is light pink, so to dress it up I added a bit of ribbon sticker (like what you see on the envelope below) to the bottom edge in a whimsical polka-dot pattern and my husband and I wrote our sentiments inside.

The envelope pictured below is the first envelope I have made to go through the mail, so I reinforced the glued edges with the fabric stickers (of course in cute strips and hot pink!) to help it survive the post office. As I create more and more envelopes, I get better at making the proper cuts and angles---maybe one of these days I will make a pattern for one!