Prepping and Plotting

 

The busy holiday season is upon us again! I’ve had so much fun this month preparing Halloween, Thanksgiving, and general fall-themed cards. 

I have stacks of all these types—some needing envelopes and some still waiting to see what kind of card they will be.

 

 

 

While watching card tutorials from Gina K on YouTube, I discovered foiling products I’d never used. That changed quickly! I love foiling and these new materials make it so easy—easy to use up a lot more foil, but they make beautiful cards with plenty of shine.

Gina's products enable me to use both the original foiled design as well as the leftover foil. Another product came out recently that makes it easy to foil without heat and the results were very satisfying.

Leftover foil

Original foil

 

 

But that’s not all the preparations I have going. There are already many, many Christmas cards to donate to the food bank clients, and I’m eager to put more new supplies and designs into use.
 

More stacks of cards--all Christmas

Amidst all this card making fun, I'm also busy plotting for NaNoWriMo. This year’s sweet romance story involves heroine and hero working to keep residents at a senior living facility jolly and safe throughout December. Their two goals don’t go hand-in-hand, so my characters will need a little compromise to find their happily ever after.

What I haven’t planned is the title for my NaNoWriMo story. While the days are growing shorter, I'm hoping for a flash of inspiration for a title idea or two.

A Gilded Mess

 

Large gilding flake, off-brand flakes, and washi tape

Those who detest glitter probably want to read no further. It gets messier. Messier than glitter? Oh yes. Myself, I love glittery and metallic papers for card making. Sparkle just makes a card better! But I’ve met my match with some off-brand gilding flakes.

The major brands of gilding flakes come in large pieces (see above) that are easier to manage. But I loved the colors in this thirty pack set. 

 

 

 

After an initial attempt at using them I immediately discovered this was an outdoor endeavor. Why? Gilding flakes are incredibly volatile, in the sense of flying. As soon as you open the jar, flakes take flight. This is neither an activity for anyone with hay fever nor undertaken on a breezy day.

 

Gilding flakes can be used in several ways, though my favorite is with sticky-back paper. Other methods are with glues applied to an entire card base (4.25 x 5.5), or with stamps to gild an image. They also cling to anything in sight--skin, clothing, everything in the crafting room, and kitty.

I do love the effects of beautiful metallic pieces for entire card backgrounds or used to die cut shapes as accent pieces on cards. I tried several backgrounds and decided the multicolored panels don’t show up that well when embossed.

Gilding flakes and glitter work great in resin coasters without making a mess! 

I’ll be sticking with hot foiling, metallic papers, and metallic washi tape for a while now. My gilded age is taking a break while I attempt to clean up the craft room, sweep the patio, and brush kitty.

Birthdays

 

Foiled and hand-colored card

 

I continue to bring in cards to the food bank where I volunteer weekly. Since we are past Mother’s Day, I’ve focused on birthday cards. Every day someone is having a birthday!

Watching a card maker who has fantastic videos, Natasha Foote, I’ve learned new techniques to use with my cards. Natasha encourages everyone to use what they have when recreating cards they see online—you don’t have to buy the latest dies, inks, or patterned paper. I appreciate this approach as I have neither unlimited funds nor space to store regular purchases of card making accessories.

So, focusing on using what I have, including those pieces that don’t turn out as hoped, these cards are going into the food bank this month.

Embossing folder and paper

Two cards were made using my foiling machine and an embossing folder.

 

Unfortunately, embossing with foil didn’t work well. By trimming the bad pieces, I was able to make two very nice cards.

  

 

 

 

 

Employing the same embossing folder in its intended use--without foiling--and adding some inks, this card came out very nice.

 

 

Using both pieces of a card front with a balloon cut, I was able to make two cards that I really like. One card uses the empty space, and the other uses the piece that was cut out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another way I use what I have, is to recycle pages from my daily calendar into cards. Using dies to cut a nice edge and adding some embellishments, I love the way these cards turn out. I figure anyone can use a pick-me-up card now and then. 

Sometimes Life Does Imitate Art

 

The book I’m currently working on features a protagonist who is an assistant manager at a food bank. The idea came to me because I love volunteering at a food bank near me. Recently, while setting up for the morning shift, I noticed several Easter cards on a table with miscellaneous non-food items.

If you’ve read this blog even occasionally, you probably know I’m a card maker. I love incorporating new techniques and patterned papers, but

have far too many cards to use myself. In my book, the main character is also a card maker (write what you know, eh?). I asked one of the managers at the food bank if I could bring in cards that I make and he gave the okay.

Joy! Something to do with the cards I love making, and our clients have been enjoying them as well. I brought in several Easter cards last month and since it’s a little too early for the Mother’s Day cards I’ve stockpiled, I focused on birthday cards this month. 

 

I pulled out the hot foil plates and press and spent 45 minutes preparing card bases that were then ready for embellishments. The week after Easter, I started taking in the birthday cards and saw one woman take home three! 

While there are organizations that take extra cards, like my protagonist, I enjoy seeing my cards go home with people who are excited when they see them.

I'm blessed to be able to craft cards and have a full plate. I'd love it if readers would consider regular donations to their local food banks. All proceeds from my upcoming book will be going to the food bank where I volunteer.

https://www.udistrictfoodbank.org/donate/

 

Easter 2024

 

 

 

Easter seemed to be early this year, so I checked the earliest and latest dates it can fall, which can be anywhere from March 22 to April 25. So, not the earliest this year, but I still had to get hopping on card making!

Pinterest is always a great source for card ideas, and Easter is no exception. I also found a tutorial for an Easter hat card on a blog by a card maker I follow. Along with patterned papers, ink, glue, die cuts, and the Cricut, several different cards are now ready for mailing.

I love the simplicity of the card at the top of the page and the cute little bunny standing in for the letter “A”. The Cricut made this one easy.

What’s Easter without a chocolate bunny? I used the bunny cut out from another card to make this one. The patterned paper featuring chocolate bunnies made a perfect background.



 

This card uses the reverse of the chocolate bunny card above and features an embossed design over patterned paper. The cut image allowed me to use another sheet of patterned paper.

 

 

Here’s a cute little bunny peeking in to wish us a happy Easter. This one used very basic shapes and it was fun to powder the bunny's cheeks and draw on whiskers.

 

 

This card allowed me to use the most patterned paper of all the cards. It’s simple, and I love how it turned out.

 

What’s Easter without an Easter bonnet? Yes, this is a card based on a card maker’s blog this month. The bottom of the hat opens up to allow for a written message.


 

 

But the best Easter basket of all? This little cutie! :)