(Quote: Jandy Nelson, The Sky is Everywhere)
May 25, 2022
April 09, 2022
Easter Greetings
Welcome to a longer post today to explain my inspiration for this greeting card and to share some family memorabilia.
It was made with an old pillow case scrap and I traced a design that was machine- and hand-stitched, tinted with watercolors and framed on texture-embossed mulberry paper.
I took my inspiration from a collection of vintage embroidered postcards sent to my great Aunt Esther by her brother (my grandfather) from France in 1918 when he was a soldier during World War I.
The cards were made with machines that imitated hand embroidery and were provided with patriotic, romantic or religious messages. They were sent home by the officers and soldiers that lived and fought in the trenches of northern France. You can learn more about them here.
These were mailed in an envelope to protect them, were lovingly stored for more than 100 years and are in excellent condition. One has an inscription on the back which reads, "Dear Esther, the money enclosed is worth 17-1/2 cents American money. That's what these postcards cost a piece."
It's worth noting that my aunt was an avid postcard collector so I expect she was overjoyed to receive them. Though her greatest joy, I'm sure, was when the war ended and he returned home. My grandfather was very young when he served and the experience had a detrimental affect on his mental health.
My hope for Easter this year is to see an end to the war in Ukraine and I will pray for it.
I'm linking to Simon this week for their Easter/Spring challenge and my card will be mailed to my good friend, Thelma, who introduced me to card making many years ago.
As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.
Until next time, take care.
H A P P Y E A S T E R !
January 22, 2022
No. 92
Mom turns 92 in about a week and this is the card I made for her. I used a stencil and white paint over a piece of scrapbook paper then tinted it slightly with colored pencils and inks.
I glued a scrap of white mulberry paper on the back of a die-cut butterfly then embellished it with glossy accents. The label was hand-made then stamped. The corner bits are just paper hole punches.
As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.
Until next time, take care.
December 18, 2018
12 Tags for Christmas 2018 - No. 10 & 11
I'm still looking back to Christmas tags from the past and I've saved some of my very favorite tags for when we get closer to Christmas. This is one of them.
The background is made from mulberry papers and the tree was hand-cut out of kraft paper that had been randomly stamped and embossed to create texture. I added the tinsel using glitter glue and a white gel pen.
The text was cut from a recycled store-bought Christmas card and illustrates just how far I will go when it comes to fussy-cutting. Crazy I know but I loved the style of the lettering and I was several years away from owning a die-cut machine. Since the text was wider than the tag, I just let it bow out when I attached it to the bottom of the tag.
This one's a favorite because of the Thomas Nast Santa (an image transfer). It's an early example of learning how to blend Distress inks, how to emboss (the white scrolls) and how to use masks when stamping.
If you don't recognize the kind of stamps I used at the bottom of the tag they are called Christmas Seals. I inherited a small collection from my Great Aunt Esther, they're a terrific embellishment--I must remember to use them more often!
July 28, 2018
Christmas in July
Simon's Monday challenge was prompted by a special blog hop and a chance to win some crafting goodies, but Christmas in July--really?
While it was hard to "get in the spirit" when we've had record-breaking high temps this week, I accepted the challenge and here's my entry.
My card may be a little unconventional so I thought you'd appreciate a peek at the main ingredients before I applied a wash of gesso and then Distress Oxide (Peeled Paint) to create the background.
It would be difficult to pull this off without using a strong backing so I pasted the collage onto some thin packaging material which would be cut to size near the end.
Some Liquid Pearls (Ranger) were dotted around the oval, the backing was trimmed and then I pasted brown mulberry paper (because it's thin) on the back to frame it. Before mounting on folded cardstock, I stitched around the border.
The poinsettas were cut out of Graphic 45 Winter Wonderland, the bird is from Wallflower and the calendar page is from Tidings (Tim Holtz Paper Stash).
I used a glue stick for everything except the poinsetta (attached using spray adhesive) and the final mounting (double-sided cellophane tape).
August 28, 2016
Timeless Flight
When I browse Pinterest, I'll see an image and next thing you know I'm inspired to make something. That's exactly what happened with this tag. Here's the pin that prompted me to research and find the image I used. Nature never ceases to amaze me and Cithaerias pireta (the Blushing Phantom) is no exception!
May 11, 2016
Poemata.
Poemata. That's Latin for poems. This word, along with a British Museum seal (in red), appears in their Flickr photostream where they have scanned and made available to the public over 1 million images. The small ornate frame with the word and number Tomo III also came from the stream.
I can't remember where the butterfly (actually a Luna moth) came from but it's an image transfer (along with the words) and appears brown because the particle board surface of my support is that color.
The wreath (Prima Noble Darling) was stamped onto old book paper and cut out, the lace was "borrowed" from a card a friend of mine gave me and the border was made with Liquid Pearls (Ranger).
The background text (Tim Holtz Ledger Script) was stamped with Ranger archival ink (Potting Soil) and the support is actually one of Tim's 4" x 6" burlap panels sans the burlap. There's also a tiny strip of white mulberry paper on the left-hand side.
I like working small so this was a good size for me and you can pull out more stops on wood than you can a manila tag. Maybe I've found a new calling? We'll see.
April 10, 2015
Asian
August 29, 2014
Aporia crataegi
I've never seen a Black-veined White Butterfly (except via You Tube) and I think they are quite nice.
Inspired by this this photo, I created a tag by printing it, cutting it out, pasting mulberry paper behind the wings, tinting it with paint, ink and colored pencils, and pasting it to a distressed background.
I'm linking it to the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp. This week's theme is "witch kraft" and while it may not be apparent that I used kraft paper--it's there, as a background, now covered with layers of paint and ink.
A happy accident caused by using too much Seedless Grape distress stain to darken the kraft paper compelled me to sand and rub at it with the hopes of making it lighter. When the top layer of the paper began to peel away, I gathered up the bits and pasted them back on and spread a layer of thin white paint on top.
May 21, 2014
Dos Centavos
Click to Enlarge |
This week, the Monday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp is botanical so it prompted me to finally finish a collage I started a while back that includes a bird cut from an out of print Graphic 45 paper collection called Botanicabella.
It's mounted on an old book cover, the paper on the right and at the bottom are vintage, the map on the left side was printed on beige cardstock then antiqued.
A stamp from Anna Griffin was used in the lower left corner, tissue paper from an old pattern, a bit of black mulberry paper and a vintage postage stamp completed the project.
December 13, 2013
Compliments of the Season
The best part of making cards and tags at Christmas--you can never have too much glitter!
The poinsettia was made by printing a page of leaves on vellum which were cut out after painting the back side. The leaf edges were embellished with glitter and diamond bling was used for the center.
The greeting (an image from Graphics Fairy) was pasted on card stock and it also received some glitter. A simple red bow became the topper.
I think the best feature of this tag is the gold-printed mulberry paper. I never tried using it with Distress inks but I applied it gently (the paper is soft and thin) and it helped break up all that gold and gave it an antique-like quality.
My inspiration came from the Tim Holtz December tag and Simon Says Stamp Monday blog challenge, which was tissue paper.