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HAPPINESS AND SORROW - ITS JUST LIFE
I sell my cards and as I have said, I am adding my stock to my Etsy Shop and will launch it when I have enough stock. Until them, email me at purplepaisleypapers@gmail.com with your request and I will get right back to you for any information I may need. Thank you.
Thank you for visiting my blog today. I love paper crafting! I love everything paper! I love the way it feels, sounds and what can be created with it. I am experimenting with junk journals and will be posting some soon. Talk about paper fun! Junk journals are a paper party!! In the meantime, below are a few greeting cards I made this week.
I received an order from a friend requesting specific cards for specific people in her life. This is my favorite way to create. Sometimes I am able to find out who the recipients are, their age, and their interests then go forward. Sometimes I have to just let my creative juices flow and with a little help from someone special, I nail it! Then, sometimes not so much!
Strangely enough the sympathy card below I created without knowing too much about the person it was for. You know when God just shows you what to do in certain circumstances? You follow His lead and it turns out to be the perfect thing you needed in His perfect timing. (Not just in cards, but in daily life as well). He did that for me with this card and I did not even know it until I delivered it to my friend. Here it is and the story:
I chose a watercolor paper with a serene lake look, stamped a few trees and birds on it, created a focal point, and placed it on a card base to bring out the green in the paper (more masculine). I thought it portrayed, peace and quiet and love. When my friend received it she said to me, "You know, my brother and his wife had a lakehouse." Ok God! You are just too awesome! I was so glad that He had helped me to create this card in just the right context, and I had a happy, happy friend and customer. I am hoping that this card brings her brother peace, love, and amazing memories.
Sympathy cards are so hard for me to make, yet I consider them an act of love. I am an empath and I "feel" these losses. I feel the grief of the family and of the person(s) to whom the loss is affecting so profoundly when I am creating them. Our family has gone through (and will for the rest of our lives) a great loss and I am still not sure how we got through it to where we are now or how my Son and Daughter In Law get through each day. We have our Faith in the Lord to guide us through each and every valley and to rejoice with us on the mountains. I think that our loss helps me to really feel the magnitude of other's losses. (go to Kendall Rae and Reagan Grace's page here on my blog to hear our story).
BIRTHDAYS - PRETEENS - GOOD FRIENDS - CELEBRATIONS
Is it just me or are preteens hard to buy gifts for, make or pick out cards for, and just their ever changing what is "in" and what is not? As I grow older I find myself losing touch with the younger generations and that makes me pause. I have always had a place in my heart for the younger generations as I was a high school bible studies leader for 5 years when my son was in high school. I have kept in touch with some of my girls and I made some very strong bonds with them as well, but now that I am not in touch with younger kids, it's hard to create this genre of cards. But I tried.
I thought . . . balloons are always good for birthdays and flowers are always good for girls. That is all I knew about this recipient. I went on to create the following card for an eleven year old girl I have never met:
I stamped balloons on white card stock in colors to match the floral paper used and then punched them out with a balloon shaped punch. I added them to the card with dimensional adhesives to make them pop up off of the card. Black twine was used to create the balloon's strings. I love double sided paper because it is so easy to create beautiful cards with. You can create your card's focal point just by using folds like this one that shows off both sides of the paper and makes a statement. I call this the "tuxedo fold". The sentiment "A Bunch of birthday love to you" fits perfectly with a "bunch" of balloons. Or . . does that have a specific name, like a gaggle of geese or a pride of lions? I don't know! I will have to look that up.
Anyway, after I made this card I second guessed myself because after all, it's a tween, right? So I went on to make the next card so my friend could choose which one she thought would be best for her 11 year old niece.
This is a new stamp set and dies I just purchased along with matching printed paper. This set makes me SO happy! Rainbows, Rainbows, Rainbows!!! The colors, the die cuts, and the images are amazing. Be watching for a lot more of this new set and cards made from it.
The rainbow was cut out of a piece of the patterned paper from the set. I placed dimensional adhesive on the back of each piece and made the rainbow pop up from the card. Then I added the clouds cut from the set's dies to the bottom of the rainbow. The small rainbows at the bottom of the sentiment are also a die that I cut from the same paper. Oh the colors of this card! Hurry up spring. And . . . my friend took them both! Yay!
Now for the birthday card my friend wanted for her sister who I know a little bit more about as we are also friends.
I give this stamp set an A+ for creating a beautiful card very simply. This stamp set is A-mazing! I used a border die to cut the frilly border, stamped the image in dark green on light green card stock, and placed the image on a dark green card base. Then with my white chalk marker I outlined and colored in the flowers. I don't know if you noticed or not, but I love bling-bling on my cards; okay on everything! I have a drawer full of embellishments and I use them whenever appropriate. This card was appropriate. Just the three green rhinestones I put in the middle of the flowers, brought them to life! I hope her sister LOVES this!
Of course I had to create a card for her sister from me as well. I went with brighter colors, gold, and a beautiful floral die cut.
