Valentine's

In every box of Crane's stationery there is a "Thank You" card. Over the years I've saved up a neat little stack, waiting for the perfect reuse opportunity.  It came this Valentine's Day! Inspired by a perforated card set I spied at Paper Source, I set to work.  Sketching different sized heart shapes as stencils. Grabbing my thimble and a small nail. Punching away. Then sewing, using sock yarn remnants.

I decided to employ the trusty fountain pen to fill up some of the white space, resulting in one of my favorite cards, which was sent to one of my besties:

Here's what my coffee table looked like at the end of January and beginning of February:

As you can see, I didn't just sew my cards.  I also picked up some cardstock and "X" and "O" letters at Paper Source to make some simple "hug and kiss" cards.  I splurged on the anatomical heart stamp and new ink pad to make a "heart of gold" card. And I printed out Zebra and Love Big cards, free printables courtesy of Bunny Cakes. The variation was absolutely necessary to save my poor fingers from all the needlework, and to flex some creative muscles. 

I had a good time creating about 20 cards, and more fun writing messages to my beloveds. Hope you all had a Happy Valentine's Day!

Hyper organization hack

So I pretty much decided that I was going to use the hyper organized (chou seiri) system, to which end I needed to create a case for my hacked calendar.  I considered upcycling a pair of suede pants into a nice cover, but realized that I don't need a nice one; rather, one that's just nice and functionanl enough.  I found a large wall calender envelope, made of heavy cardstock, and cut around its creases to create the "spine" of my chou seiri calendar. 

For the inside, I added just a couple of pieces of the envelope to make flaps, which I secured to the main cover with some teal colored duct tape I found lying around.  Instead of adding more layers of the cardstock to create pockets, I made some strategic cutouts to accoummodate credit cards, slips of paper, and a pen clip.

Here's what it looks like with stuff put into it:

The final touch was the addition of a Rhodia No. 8 notebook.  I'm glad to say it fits perfectly!  Lots of pages on which to jot down notes and doodles throughout the days.

Now, the only thing is to make sure I use it each and every day.  Knowing that I put a lot of work into making it will help with that.  Not only do I want to keep a good outlook on plans and projects for the year, I also want to see how the cover and tape hold up to daily use.  Never to late to improve, right?  Just the right attitude for the new year.

Christmas cards 2011

It took me a long while to come up with my Christmas card design for this year.  I thought I wanted to shy away from stamps, since I'd used them the previous two years, but in the end, a stamp is my most efficient cardmaking friend.  I toyed around with different ideas to practice, and a little light bulb turned out to be the final for most of my cards.  I also carved a snowflake and a star from a couple penciltop erasers.  They're awfully cute!

For the past couple of weeks I have been carrying around my cardmaking supplies, creating a card here, a card there... during lunch, a few minutes after work (before heading down to the post office), at home before bed.  Here's what I've been using:

• My favorite Fabriano Medioevalis cardstock


• Hand-carved stamps


• Black stamp pad


• "Satin rose" stamp pad


• Sharpies


• Japanese glitter and metallic pens

It was fun to bust out the old Japanese pens; they add just the right amount of sparkle and shine worthy of a holidlay card.  For the most part, though, the cards are pretty plain. Here's an example:

I explored a few different designs but ended up with an asymmetrical string of lights across the front of the card.  At first I randomly stamped the light bulb and added the "cord" with a black Sharpie, but then started drawing the line first and stamping afterwards.  Some have the bulbs colored in, too.  Just whatever I felt like.  I added stars or snowflakes in rose gold.  "merry and bright!" is the phrase I used most often; but some cards say "comfort + joy" or "happy holidays" or the four Advent themes of "hope, joy, love, peace."

Today is the last day I'll be making cards, as time's basically up.  I didn't pressure myself this year to write to everyone in my address book.  Instead, I just jotted names and addresses as they came to mind.  No-pressure cardwriting, what a concept.

I'll spend the next few days penning some new year's cards to send abroad, since I didn't come up with the design in time.  Better get to practicing my Japanese!

Decorigami

After a week of staring into a computer screen, emceeing events, and escorting people, all I wanted to do was relax and have a solo self-care evening. In addition to doing some culinary exploring, I sat down to turn my latest J.Crew catalog into a set of paper ornaments to string up in my apartment for the holidays. It felt really good to do something tactile and soothing to repeat the symmetrical origami pleats.

At first I was going todo what Katrina, of the clever and lovely Pugly Pixel blog, did with one of her catalogs. But I really have no use for tiny (albeit awfully cute) envelopes (though they'd be great centered on plain cardstock to dress up a gift card). And the catalog paper is awfully thin. Yes, paper balloons was the way forward for me.

Et voila. I especially like the one made of the ballet flats and sequin tank tops.

There was a stack of obsolete A4 memo paper pads at work; I added some red lines with a Sharpie and started folding. Result: candy cane origami balloons! I'm not done yet, but these are quick enough to bust out in between my little activities at home (making coffee, checking mail, tidying).  Other blogs suggest popping these guys onto a string of twinkle lights, but I don't think I will this year.  I hope to string them up by week's end.

What a fun, simple, and recyclable way to dress up my little apartment.  And who knows?  They may stay up a bit longer than regular ol' Christmas decor... How is your holiday decorating going?

Happy "moo" year!

It's the Year of the Ox (or Cow), and (one of) the cultural tradition(s) to which I adhere allows me until the end of this month to send New Year's cards. *sigh of relief* Finding New Year's cards is not so easy, especially those with the zodiac, so I kinda end up making my own.

[year of the rat cards]

Last year's cards were cutouts on origami paper.  I enjoyed the entire process, from conceptualizing to making a prototype to refining to executing.  However, they involved a lot of time with x-acto knife and glue.  A fun project, but intensely specific, insanely messy.

This year I wanted a project that was less time-consuming in the making.  I envisioned a cool, mod-looking, retro-ish design, paired with a clever saying...But do you ever have projects that look so good in your mind, but turn out horribly when you actually do it?  That's what happened to me on this year's cards. Check it out:

 

  

 

There go any dreams I ever entertained about being a greeting card designer.  And ohmygosh it took so long to draw that cut out that heifer stencil!  I am especially disappointed at how simply unpolished my end product looks.  There is absolutely no way I can send something like this out.

I am learning, though.  Whereas in years past I would have consoled myself by saying, "I'm sure it'll look better if there are more of them," and willed myself to keep going, I nipped the project in the bud this year and acknowledged my failure.  Then I hopped over to my local Michael's and, with the week's 40% off coupon, acquired a remedy.  At home tonight I pulled out some scrapbooking paper, ran it through the typewriter, inked up my stamp, snipped a bit with jagged-edge scissors, and ended up with these:

And I still have about two weeks to get these sent out--boo yah!  Or, rather, MOO yah!