Thanksgiving thank you notes...EZ step by step

I visited some dear friends over the thanksgiving weekend and i thought i would send some simple handmade thank you notes. One couple invited us to dinner and to stay with them for the weekend. Another couple hosted a casual party for us Friday night. And another dear friend gave us all little gifts. (more on that later!)

For ideas i flipped through a vintage Larousse illustrated dictionary and found this little bird.

I already had some nice orange card stock folded into a journal that i never used - but it was a bit too big for the envelopes.

Here's how to decide how big to make the cards - i measured the envelopes! They were about 7 1/4 by 5 1/4.

This is my favorite precision cutter - just the right size for this type of project. Keeping the cardstock folded, i cut along the long edge so that it was 5 inches wide.

Then i cut the short end so that the card was 7 inches tall.

A perfect fit!

I scanned the page from the dictionary with the dinde, (turkey in French) and printed it out 4 to a page. My HP printer program asks me if i want to print any image one, two, three, 4 or 9 to a page. Otherwise i would not know how to do this!

The dictionary paper was a little to small and lonely on the card. I tried a few scenarios and decided to make a simple frame.

To get the perfect measurement - i looked at the card and the dictionary page, lining them up on the edge of the paper cutter. One was 5 by 7 the other was 3 by 5 - so the frame should be cut to 4 by 6.

Perfect!

This scrapbook paper had a preprinted rough edge all around. But since i cut it into peices- i only had one "rough" edge left. So to make all sides "match" - i used a bit of sanding square to rub off a bit of the colour.

Here you can see how much better it looks when all edges have that faded effect.

Here it is all glued together. I used my fav UHU glue stick.

I wanted a little something something to add to the card. I tried and rejected buttons, ribbon and stickers. Instead I added a single skeleton leaf to the front of each card with two tiny glue dots. Put them right on the stem or you risk tearing the leaf.

So sweet and simple - i call this perfect symmetry - like a matted picture in a frame.

So the gift i received from Mary was a calligraphy pen and violette ink - scented as well as coloured purple. I totally suck at calligraphy - but i thought it would be rude not to try. Here's a tip - write on a separate piece of paper - NOT directly on the card. That way you can make MANY mistakes and just save the best one.

Here are the three cards. I added a little autumnal fruity sticker to the inside of the card - to hold the sentiment in place. Off they go into the mail!

Now, what will i do for christmas cards...hmmmm....?

Happy Thanksgiving...!

Here are some pages i did in some calendar round robins a few years ago. Back soon with some creative projects.

Fall Theme Altered Book Workshop

Sunday i met with my altered book group at Scrapbook Territory in Berkeley, CA. I have to say that the paper craft community sure does a great job of coming out with new and exciting papers, patterns and imagery to provide visual stimulation for the altered book enthusiaste.
I happened to have a supply of small green books, called the Underachiever's Manifesto. I did not buy them to read, although it is an interesting concept. I bought them because i thought they would be the perfect quick altered book project!
I started by scouring the store for thanksgiving themed paper. When the girls arrived, i thought, why should i have all the fun? Let them pick out some paper too!
Next we picked out ribbon from the vast wall of choices. I never asked, but it turns out EVERYTHING is $1 a yard! You cannot beat that! We attached the ribbon inside the cover - by gluing the first two blank pages shut. Repeat with the last two. This created a solid hold for the decorative ribbon that can be used to close the books.
We prepped the books by sanding the covers and removing the label on the back. A bit if sanding screen worked great for removing the gold printed title from the book's spine. I had templates prepared for the dimensions of the front and back cover, so we cut those out next. I went ahead and covered the middle of the book too - to create a large "greeting card" out of the book. I added a print of a vintage thanksgiving postcard on one side and left the other side for a message.
Well, then a funny thing happened. Dorothy and Carol actually wanted to READ the books, so decided NOT to cover up the text. Go figure!
The girls thought the books would make perfect little journals. You can see that Dorothy chose "NADA" for her title, whil Carol chose "2009". There were plenty of blank pages, or illustrations inside they could cover with blank paper and use for journalling.

(psst - i'll be using mine as party favours at our thanksgiving dinner!)

I also wanted to share with you this awesome picture of Dorothy's craft studio. Check out her great idea for storing rubber stamps. She nailed metal silverware trays to the wall. Isn't that a great idea?