Christmas Cards 2010

 I got together with some friends this weekend to make christmas cards. I actually took Friday off work for a special playdate!  I had gone to Paper Source a week ago to get some inspiration and buy supplies.   For the card above i used a robin's egg blue card and matching envelope.  I added the japanese paper that i tore with a ruler for a gentle edge.  I cut the birds out of old novels and darkened the edges with a bit of walnut ink pad.  A little blue gem eyeball adds a touch of bling.

 We had a long conversation about my self imposed rule that all my christmas cards have to be the same.  Why?  They don't really.  So after making the cards above (about 50 of them!) i went on to create these different designs. These gold trees were cut from paper from Anthropologie.  You HAVE to check out their selection of papers and tags - so cute and different.

 I copied this card from a sample my friend had saved from last year.  The original was made with pretty bright coloured felt squares with some stitching, rather than the snowflakes.  I liked the simplicity of the design. Cute and modern!

For these cards i simple cut out a tree shape from multi-striped hand made paper.  The green is from Paper Source.  The blue is from Anthropologie. I attached them to long cards and will probably add a bit more something - not sure what - maybe some gemstone ornaments or some sparkley garland.

 Next, one of the ideas i had been mulling over was to create cards with christmas tree shapes made out of old postage stamps.  I have HUNDREDS of these, but limited myself to christmas themed stamps from various countries, and stamps with kings and queens.  For no other reason than i had a lot in red or green.

 I also added some "faux" stamps cut from wrapping paper.  I applied the stamps with a mini glue dot roller.  It went really fast and easy.  I love how they turned out!

Finally - here is a shot of the rest of the wrapping papers from Anthropologie. Aren't they gorgeous?  The pink flowers are actually glued to a mesh background - so they are light and ethereal.  I can't wait to come up with more projects for these papers.  Um, no.  I will NOT be wrapping any actual gifts with them!!

Valentine countdown - 4 of 14

Here is my 4th valentine card - came today in the Saturday post. It still comes a surprise to me after living in the states for 9 years that the mail is delivered on Saturday. It isn't done in my native Canada. There is talk of cutting out one day of mail delivery as a cost cutting measure. But they say it will be Tuesday, not Saturday. Anyway,... I digress.

What a striking card today from Ramona. The bold red and black is nicely accented with aqua ribbon and hand set stones and sparkles. And flying beating heart - how cool is that! Thanks Ramona!

Deli paper envelopes

I have to thank Phyllis for this cool idea. She took a class with me a while back and learned how to make hand painted deli paper to use in collage. She took this a couple of steps further and made a really artistic envelope for her christmas cards. Gee i really wish she had sent it to me before i sent out my cards in boring plain white envelopes (albeit stamped with blue and silver snowflakes...!)

So i thought i would show you all how it is done. Deli paper is plain thin white paper used to wrap sandwiches at the deli, duh!? You can buy it around here at Smart and Final - try a jumbo store in your neck of the woods, or possible Costco. It is CHEAP - about 1000 sheets for like $8 bucks. I use it to paint with cheap liquid craft paint - it is a lot of fun and absolutly fool proof.
For this project i just used dye ink and some rubber stamps. First i stamped random images in one colour, then another stamp in another colour.

I did about 4 stamps in total. I think Phyllis did 5. My stamps all came from the doller bins at Michaels.

Next take a new piece of deli paper and either paint or use ink pads as i did direct to paper. Just randomly swirl or pounce on the paper. Paint gives a more dramatic effect of course - but i wanted to do this quick and not make a big mess on the computer desk.

My hubby will appreciate that.

Next glue to the two pages together - just use glue stick. Deli paper glues beautifully as i always say. It is great to use inside altered books for that reason.

If you have an envelope template - use that to cut out your envelope shape. if not, just wrap your card with the paper, and glue it where the paper overlaps, being careful not to get glue on your card.

Trim the corners at the bottom and glue the flap shut.
Trim the top and glue shut. The two pages glued together give the envelope a nice weight. And the painting the insides is an added treat for the recipient.
Address the envie right on the paper, or you could use a sticker.Add your return address, a stamp and drop in the mail!

economic recovery!!

Yes - it's true. Both the NASDAQ and the DOW were up today. You know why? Because Diane went shopping.
That's right -
S.H.O.P.P.I.N.G.
All will be right with the world. Your 401k's will rebound. The Grinch can bring back Christmas. And i had fun.
Does this mean i got a job? Sadly, no. But i have sent many applications, so there are jobs out there. I just have to find the right one. In the meantime, look at all the cool stuff i bought! Wall Street will be so pleased.
I had not been to the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse in a long time.(pictured above) If you are looking for cool stuff - this is the place to find it CHEAP. (This is the store in Oakland, there is a similar place in San Francisco.) They had buckets of plastic letters, many fonts and sizes. How cool! I just grabbed them by the handful. Oddly i got home with everything but an "L" and a "V" and the numbers 3 and 4.
I also got these cool little images. UC Berkeley donated them to the store. not sure what they were - but they have hundreds of images, mostly architectural, sculptural or art images. fifty cents each. I selected some images of gothic churches and a couple of pastoral scenes.
They have thousands of rubber stamps - a close out, i imagine, from Hero Arts. I had to hold back and just get one set of four. I will be participating in a cookie swap this christmas, so i can stamp "enjoy" on the tags! I also got dozens of card blanks - they sell them by the inch!
In addition to paper and fabric and office supplies, there are boxes of just stuff. You have to dig through it to find perhaps some treasures. I found these little angels and some capiz shell coasters. I have a project in mind for these little angels - i'll share with you next week.
While on the east bay, i went to Tail of the Yak, a cool shop on Ashby in Berkeley i recently read about on someone's blog. I had never heard about it. Very cool place - they have fascinating architectural fragments, a huge birdcage (with a real bird) and dolls dressed in paper gowns. I bought a few silly things - just to get a taste of their cleverness. These metal bird and bug pins are so cute and colourful. And the paper bobeches could be used for all sorts of things, besides protecting the table from dripping wax, that is. Angel wings maybe? Halos?
So all in all some fun finds. I spent less than $30 for all of it.