Cards

More card trials. I wanted santa and the reindeer on the card on the right to be ghostly and faint but maybe they are TOO ghostly and faint!

Morning temperature: 57 degrees

Steps: 9287

Yay! Handmade Greeting Cards

These are some easy cards I made to donate. When I saw the "Yay" on Kristina Werner's blog I knew it would be perfect to use on some of the backgrounds I have been stockpiling. Kristina had been inspired by a card she saw on Emily Ley's site. Kristina's background is a diagonal design made by a different technique.

Yay seems like a great lead in for all kinds of greetings. In this case, the inside reads "It's your birthday!" But it works for "it's your anniversary", "you're a graduate", "you're retired", "your baby is here!", "you have a new house", "you have a new job" and more.

I had been making the backgrounds with decorative washi tape while watching (or listening) to TV. I like clean and simple cards and these backgrounds are easy. My vast collection of washi tape yields lots of combinations. I've done the technique with paper scraps too but the washi tape eliminates the adhesive application step which is perfect for a lazy person like me.

The colors in my photos are a little off. Natural light and my apartment are not friends. I had to resort to a weird little spot outside. But you get the idea I'm sure.

I'm planning to send off a package of cards to Splashes of Joy. Their mission is to help ill or homebound people. Most of their services are more hands on but they also accept handmade cards to send or give to the people they serve.

Morning temperature: 22 degrees
Morning steps: 4294

Cards & Mail

This is a New Year postcard that I sent some of my crafty friends. Paint splattered book pages, punched numbers and some washi tape from my vast collection.

I love getting mail...that's real mail, of course, not bills and junk. I still send cards but I admit to not writing as many letters as I used to write. It's SO much easier to type up an email. Typing is especially addictive to someone who HATES to have to cross out a mistake and have an ugly spot in the letter!

I have not purchased a greeting card since 1996. I remember standing in the pre-1996 greeting card displays reading cards for hours to find the perfect one. Now I pull out some rubber stamps and cardstock and make my own. And, although buying supplies is fun (and gets out of hand sometimes) I think my investment has paid off over the last 18 years!

Making cards is also a way that I donate to various causes. I've sent cards to deployed military personnel through Operation Write Home and to various other card drives for nursing home residents, seriously ill children and other organizations that I find listed in Cardmaker magazine. I'm also happy to send cards to my mom who sends them out to members of her church who are unable to attend services.

Morning temperature: 28 degrees (feels like 19)
Morning steps: 6363