Continuing Thoughts on Card Making

Three-quarters of the way through April, I am nearing the finish of my month-long focus on card making. And I regret to say that so far my card-making flame has not been rekindled to the same extent as my passions for scrapbooking and art journaling. So far, I enjoy making cards, but I find it a bit of a chore. It doesn't bring the same happiness to my creative heart as making scrapbook layouts or working in my art journals. And that's okay. I know that I will always dabble in card making now and again, but I'm beginning to think that it is not something I will try to integrate into my regular creative time. 
Before the month ends, I do want to try to make some stamped cards for Christmas, Halloween, birthdays and get-well because most of the cards I have made this month, the cards that have fallen together easily and have given me a sense of accomplishment, have tended to be those based on photography and ephemera, rather than stamped images. And the ephemera cards don't seem to be occasion or holiday related.  
I'm hoping this month long exploration will help me determine if I should STOP buying more card-making related stamps and PURGE more of my existing stamp collection. 
I'm also thinking that maybe I just need to get better at sending out cards. Because I think some of my disaffection for card making is tied to the fact that they tend to stack up in my studio, rather than making their way into the post.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and input on my musings.

Art Cards from ATC's (Monday Give-Away)

Here's one more pair of cards, these ones themed around "Art", made with some ATC's in my stash. I thought I'd start the week with a little give-away. If you'd like one of these cards sent to you, simply tell me which one. At the end of the week, I'll choose winners at random and pop them in the mail to you! Happy Monday!

Ephemera Cards from ATC's

I had a little creative time the other day and decided to continue with my month-long exploration/return to card making. I dug around in my supplies and found a whole bunch of Artist Trading Cards (or ATC's). For an explanation of what an ATC is, check out this post. I decided to use these as the focal point for some cards. For these first two, it was simply a matter of putting them on a matted card front and stamping a message.

 

I did a bit more to create the background for these two cards. Washi tape, greeting and card stock squares for the one on the left; just a little washi tape for the one on the right.
They were fun to make and very easy. I hope you like them because I've got a few more ATC-based cards to share next week. In fact, I'll be doing a little give-away on Monday.

Photo Pairs: Mixed Media Ephemera Card "Color Study"

I made a few cards over the weekend, including this pair of mixed media cards. The first one used ephemera and the second one used stamps, water color paint, ink and flowers. I'm linking this pair as my photo pair for this week and calling it "color study" because I've got a nice monochrome story and a complimentary color story. You can find more photo pairs at Helena's blog.

QOR Water Color Cards

I made a couple of simple cards over the weekend. Stamped and water colored, with some nice matting. Normally, when I color images, I use twinkling H2O water colors or markers. For these, I used some new tube water colors I recently purchased - QOR from Golden. I love Golden acrylic paints and decided to use my Christmas Amazon gift cards to try their new water colors. 
I have never worked with tubes of water colors before, but I found them pretty easy to work with. I bought an inexpensive plastic palette with a locking lid. I squirted a bit out of each tube into the palette and used as much of the paint as I needed. I left the rest to harden a bit and then closed up my palette. There was no spillage and when I went to use the paint again a few days later, I was still able to use the paint simply by adding more water. Since I love the Golden palette, I really like these colors. Especially because they seem more saturated than my travel water color palette or water color pencils that I would otherwise use.
If you make cards that involve coloring images, I'm curious as to what you use. Paint? Markers? Colored pencils? 

Some Thoughts and Questions on Card Making

I took a stroll through my old posts with the "card" label and am featuring a few of them on my blog today to accompany some thoughts and questions on card making.

I enjoy making cards with ephemera and collage sheets. Julie Kirk of Notes on Paper also makes ephemera based cards.

I also enjoy making cards that feature my photographs (not on collage sheets).

I like to stamp and embellish. Karen of Random Reflections makes lots of wonderful cards using stamps (and recently lots of dies).

Sometimes I stamp and color. The second card is definitely inspired by the amazing Jacky of Scrappy Jacky (the Queen of paper layering).

I also like making Christmas cards.

When I look at these cards, they feel very much like me. I think I will play with these styles this month,and I'm wondering:

Do you have a favorite among these various styles?

 Also, I would like to try some new things. And, I'm looking for ideas.

Can you suggest any good blogs for cards (other than the three wonderful card makers I mentioned here)? Also, do you know of any good sketch sites or challenge sites for cards?

And  I have one more big question:

What do you do with the cards you make?

Sometimes I send out cards, but, to be honest, not as often as I could. And I tend to make cards in advance and have a big supply (I probably have about 50 in my stash right now), rather than make cards as I need them (although I do that occasionally).

Sometimes I make cards simply to learn or practice a technique. And I am happy to hold on to these as samples. 

I used to sell cards at craft fairs, but I haven't done that in quite a while. I occasionally think about opening an etsy shop or trying to sell things on EBay, but I think that might be more trouble than it is worth.

I have sent cards to Operation Write Home. 

Sometimes I bundle up cards and give them as gifts.

I'll be off line for a few days, as Clara and I take a trip to check out Eastern Kentucky University. So, I'll leave this post up for a few days in hopes of getting your answers to these questions before I jump into some serious card making.

Setting an Intention for April: Card Making

This month, I am continuing my exploration of the various parts of my creative life by setting an intention to focus on card making. For many years, I taught card making classes and bought tons of stamps for cards. Now, the supplies sit lonely and unused. I purged a lot of them two years ago.  Am I ready to give the rest of them up? I don't know.  I really am not sure where card making fits in my creative life (or if it does at all), but I am looking forward to the journey.  

ZIZO #33: Christmas Cards & Best Wishes to You!

It's Christmas Eve here in California, and I'm enjoying some time writing Christmas cards. Yes, I know they won't arrive before Christmas, but I'm still happy to send holiday greetings around the world. And I really love receiving the same.  I keep my cards in a basket on the Christmas mantle, and you can see a few of them above. Since it's Wednesday, I thought it was a good opportunity to take a pair of photos for Helena's weekly photo meme "Zoom In Zoom Out." 
It's also a good opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Most years, I send out two different types of cards. Hand made cards for my arty friends that I know will appreciate them and a photo card for family and friends. The latter includes a brief letter on the back of the card. Here's what I wrote this year:
"2014 was a good year. We enjoyed music (everything from Luke Bryan to Drake v. Li'l Wayne) and sporting events (World Cup, Giants winning the World Series and *soon* the Rose Bowl). We rebuilt our decks and remodeled our bathrooms. Clara turned 16 and got her driver's license. Henry transitioned from freshman to sophomore at University of Oregon, moved from the dorms to the Sigma Chi fraternity house, had a summer internship at Coaching Corp. in Oakland and traveled to Memphis where his club soccer team placed third at the national tournament. Maria and Clara volunteered at the Peninsula Humane Society, and they brought Frida home from the kitten nursery. Now, Clara volunteers at Guide Dogs for the Blind and raises backyard chickens for her egg business. She also runs really fast - she was the League Champion in Cross Country. Paul and Maria will celebrae their 30th Anniversary this month!"
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas!!!

What's your style?

I love swaps. I love sending things out in the mail and receiving things from around the world. I signed up for Sian's "pile of post cards" swap and will be mailing out my selections tomorrow. I've also been working on a progressive swap called "Faces in the World," where I receive a semi-finished face and add what I want to complete it. I recently received this face:

And turned her into this:

But that's not what I wanted to write about today. I wanted to write about another swap I just joined, sponsored by a blog called A Swap for All Seasons. The swap called for me to send a card, a tag and some items from my stash which are "in my style." 
Hmmm . . . what would that be exactly? I think my style is mixed media, which includes a lot of my own photography and ephemera collected in my travels. I use a lot of women and a lot of quotes. I like stamping, inks and paint. So, I went through my stash and came up with two cards and two tags which I think capture my style. They're at the top of today's post.
And here are the items I gathered from my stash that I think capture my style:

It was a fun exercise, and I hope my recipient likes my style! LOL! How would you describe your style? What card and/or tag would you select to represent your style? What would you put in a "destash package" that represented your style?

Challenge Cards for Refreshing Blog Event

Jennifer Grace ran a fantastic blog event this weekend with the theme of refreshing your craft and your soul. When I read about the event, I resolved to squeeze some time out of my busy weekend to do a few of the challenges and make some cards (especially for graduation parties I'm attending next weekend). These cards, using Studio 45 paper and stickers, as well as some patterned paper and card stock from my stash were made in response to her "keep it simple" challenge.  They're for two very special team mates of Clara that are graduating this year.

I also made these card in response to the "teal, orange and white" challenge.  The second one is birthday-themed, but I think the first one can work for graduation.
I had lots of fun checking in with the event, as time allowed. The challenges and many of the give-aways are still open. You can check out the wrap-up post here.  Thanks Jennifer for a fun weekend!

Graduation Cards for Jennifer's Refresh Blog Event

Jennifer Grace is hosting a Blog Event this weekend called Refresh your Craft and Soul. She has tons of great inspiration filled posts, a few challenges and lots of prizes. I decided to play along when I could and focus on making some cards, especially graduation cards which I know I will need next weekend. The one of the left is in response to her inspiration to make something monochromatic. The two on the right respond to an inspiration to "use your favorite technique to keep things simple." I used some die cut frames, added a strip of washi tape and some stamping. The cards are super simple, but they're for boys and I don't think they'll care about simple! 
Her last post of the day included the inspiration to "make something spontaneous without fussing over it." I made this card.

I started with the cut-out appropriate for graduation, matted it a few times, added the washi tape and then found some German scrap to fill in the blank space. I think I'll give it to a young man from the gym who is graduating and then going in to the Armed Forces. He joined the gym at the beginning of the school year because he knew he wasn't fit enough to make it through basic training. Now, after nine months of cross-training, he's in great shape and ready to go. I think the red, white and blue color palette works for him. Don't you?
That's all for now. I'm hoping to make some girl cards tomorrow or Sunday, plus a few more quick and easy boy ones. 

Blog Friend Random Goodness

I received a wonderful package in the mail recently. It was a blog hop prize from Jennifer Grace.  I used it make a couple of spring cards! She even has another give-away going on now. Click on this link to check it out. I also made some Valentine's cards.

I was inspired to make them by an assignment in the "Studying under the Masters" online class I'm taking. Matisse is the first artist, and I learned how he liked to combine at least three patterns in many of his works, so I decided to the same in a batch of cards! I'm not sure why I've been bitten by the card-making bug this year, but I have. 
And speaking of blog friends . . . 

I had the tremendous good fortune to be visited by Alison of Life in the Slow Lane. We had phenomenal weather and a wonderful time together. She wrote this nice post about our visit. Alison and I met last year in Spain (where she lives), and we picked up just where we left off - chatting the morning away. It was great to see her!
Last, but certainly not least, if you like Stacey's blog "Havoc and Mayhem," be sure to go visit her (here's a link). And if you have been a follower of hers, please check your reader to see if she's in there. Apparently many readers mysteriously dropped her blog. I know mine did, and I missed several weeks of her acerbic, hilarious writing. Don't let that happen to you!

Holiday Crafting: Christmas Cards and Gift Card Holders

I had a very productive morning - I made 20 Christmas cards and 8 gift card holders! I worked with the Club Scrap Gnome for the Holidays Stamp/Stencil set and the matching card blanks, which made things really fast, easy and fun. Most of the cards I made were really simple:

But some of them had a few more bells and whistles:

I had so much fun making the cards that I found some little manila envelopes that I thought would make good gift card holders, and I stamped on those, too!

Around lunch time, I looked at my completed stack of goodies and smiled broadly.

It was a good morning indeed. I also got my order of photo Christmas cards today. So, now all I have to do is work on addressing envelopes! Am I the last one to be getting my cards in the mail?

Want to give handmade cards as a holiday gift?

I love the convenience of giving gift cards at Christmas.  But I never feel like I'm giving a real gift when I give one  . . . you know, a real gift - a package with wrapping and ribbon.  So, what I've taken to doing is to give a handful of homemade cards with the gift cards.  I have A LOT of cards in my stash, so I choose a nice assortment and bundle them up with the gift card.  Most people really seem to appreciate them (because people always need cards but many people don't have the time or know-how to make cards). A few years ago, for my brothers and sisters, I took collage sheets I made with family heritage photos and used them to make simple note cards.  They were a big hit.

What if you want to give handmade cards but don't have any on hand? 

Here's an easy recipe for using collage  images in cards:  patterned paper + image + ribbon + embellishment.  Need more detailed instructions?

1.  Choose a collage image. It can be vintage, fun, grungey, whatever.  Mat if desired.

2.  Choose a patterned paper for the background - coordinate color and mood, but a small and fairly busy pattern works best. 

3.  Choose an embellishment (or set of embellishments) that captures the same color and mood of the card.  I like to use small embellishments in groups of three.

4.  Choose a coordinating ribbon.

5.  Arrange the image and embellishments.  Adhere.

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Acknowledgement and Variation

I got this idea from a pair of cards I received in a card swap.  The cards were created by Debbie B, and her original card (with the Dubai postage stamp) is below.  If you would like more layers on your card (or if your patterned paper background is not busy enough), you can add some stenciling on the patterned paper and stamped script, like I did in the "Daddy's Girl" card below.

You may be wondering - what is a collage sheet?  It's basically a collection of images that you can cut up and use in your art.  You can buy them at places like artchix, or you can find lots of free downloadable collage sheets by googling free downloadable collage sheets.  Here's a link that's a nice start (you just click on her image and it will give you a screen that you can print out).  

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p.s. This post is a combination of a couple of posts from 2009. I got the idea to freshen them up and repost from Sian's "Blog cos you want to" Suggestion #2: Play on the Popular. You can read her great idea here.

Cutting and Sticking: Snippets of Words

The amazing Julie Kirk of Notes on Paper has been running a series of cards she makes called "snippets of words."  The idea is to find a random phrase from pages of text and use them on a card. I think she suggests starting by building a card and then searching for a phrase which will make your creation complete. That works for me! Here's two cards I've created recently.  The one on the right says "parties and late nights should be left until the week-end." I think I'll send it to Henry once he's away at University with a bit of cash tucked inside.  The other reads "'I don't quite understand you,' she said, as politely as she could." I'm not sure to whom or for what occasion to send that card (but I like it anyway)! Do you have any ideas?

Inspired to Make Cards

Last weekend, Jennifer hosted a really fun blog event called "Onward and Upwards," which included many fun challenges. The challenges close soon, so I wanted to post my last entry.  This was for a "Be Inspired" challenge which asked you to be inspired by any of the posts from the blog event.  I was inspired by this post about making cards.
My cards used some random patterned paper I had on my desk and some Elle Studio journaling blocks (which were probably meant to be used for Project Life). What I love about these cards is that I started with some fairly standard products but then made the finished project completely and totally my own by using unique images from my collection. These images are not well-known or widely seen because they come from my heritage photos, my own photography, and ephemera from my travels, which I have turned into collage sheets.  I think my design sensibility in these cards tracks some of Sian's, seen in cards such as these and Julie Kirk's Pludering Pages (such as this one), but these still very much "me."  For years I collected rubber stamps and made cards based mainly on rubber stamp images. Right now, though, I'm really loving this style of cut and paste card.  It's interesting to realize that my style is evolving. What about you? Have you noticed any changes in your card-making, painting, collaging or scrapbooking styles?
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Edited to add: If you are interested in learning more about my collage sheets and how I make them, check out my post at this link.  Also, some time ago I posted a "recipe" or tutorial for using collage images in cards.  You can read that post by clicking here.

On Being "Free as a Bird"

Last weekend, Jennifer hosted her "Onwards and Upwards Blog Event" which had many fun challenges.  One, called "Be as Free as a Bird" encouraged you to experiment on a project, doing something you normally wouldn't do because you worry it will spoil everything.  I decided to give the challenge a go and created some blank card bases using pretty paper, images from my collage sheets and some Elle Studio journaling blocks.  I created them, by matching colors and mood. The scary part was I didn't know how I would finish them and worried about whether I had any appropriate stamps to add.  Here's what the bases looked like:

 

I added "Happy Birthday" to make the one up top and really liked it. Here's how I finished the other two:

Maybe not as successful as the Birthday card, but I'd still feel good about sending these out.
Jennifer also said you could fulfill the challenge by making a project with a bird on it or by putting down embellishments without worrying too much about placement.  So, I made these two cards:

I like them both very much. They feel very "me." It was a lot of fun to create cards quickly and without stressing about whether they would be "perfect" or not. 
When was the last time you let yourself go creatively and be "free as a bird" without worrying about perfection? If it's been a while, I would highly recommend it!

Monthly Make: Purple Thank-You's

I made 24 thank-you cards today!  I have been so blessed with the outpouring of support from people supporting me and Clara in our training for a half-marathon and our fundraising to help find a cure for leukemia and lymphoma (you can read more about it here or click here to join us) that I have run out of thank-you cards in my extensive stash.  I wanted to make purple thank-you cards, as that is the color of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. So I gathered an assortment of purple papers and got to work.
How did I make them so quickly?  I used a couple of "assembly line" card making formulas that were developed by Julie Heyer of the Cape Cod Scrapper blog.  The first recipe is at this link, and the second one is here.  I used 24 sheets of 8.5x11 paper to create 24 cards. Pretty cool, huh? I'm calling this my Monthly Make for March (a project started by The Felt Fairy blog, which I am continuing this year, even if she is not formally running it this year due to her health).  
It felt really good to get back to card making after such a long time. I'd forgotten how nice it is to make cards. Let me know if you check out Julie's blog or if there's something you've returned to lately.

Monthly Make: Operation Write Home Cards

This weekend I'm getting together to craft with a group of friends at an annual crop we call "Scramp Camp."  The organizers have asked participants to contribute cards to "Operation Write Home." So, this morning, I pulled out a whole bunch of card fronts and stamped images I found the last time I organized my stash and started making cards. I ended up making about 20 cards in just a few hours! I'm calling this my "monthly make" for September. It was great to get these things out of my stash and into a usable form.  Do you have a stash of images or card fronts lurking in your stash? If so, when was the last time your turned them into cards?
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The "monthly make" is sponsored by The Felt Fairy.

Cards, Cards, Cards!

I occasionally say that I'm going to give up making cards.  

But . . . sometimes when painting or art journaling just seems like too much work; 

when I don't want to haul out all my scrapping stuff and figure out where my pictures are; when my wrist hurts too much to work on editing images; 

but . . .  I still want to create, then it's fun to pull out a stack of patterned paper and make a bunch of cards.

And it's good to have a stash of cards for the important events in life, including the sad times when someone needs a sympathy card:

Thanks to Ali Manning for sponsoring this de-stash challenge which encouraged me to use up some of my patterned paper.  Each of these cards used 3-4 different patterns, and it was fun to get them out of my stash and into my card bin.  And easy. And sometimes that just what an artist needs.  Is there something you turn to when you want to create but are low energy?