New Cards

I've got some new cards in my etsy shop. I hope to have some more gifty things up soon.

Check it out.

Thanks!

I just drew this on a card for a relative who puts us up very nicely every time we are in San Diego. I did it really quickly with a Sharpie and a crayon, and I think it's cute in the way only spontaneous doodles can be. Anatomy be damned.

Insert Clever Mafia Joke Here

I went to my second LA Craft Mafia meet up last Tuesday at Saints & Sinners in Culver City. These have been really fun. The first meeting Mark Montano of the Big Ass Book of Crafts came out and showed us how to make stamps out of craft foam (it's good for something other than props). I made a butterfly.



We also got to look at his book, which really is Big Ass and pretty sweet.

This week Sonya Nimri visited, promoting her new book Beadalicious. She brought some great glass beads and showed us how to make branched jewelry. I don't have pierced ears so I made a pendant, but these looked fantastic as earrings.



I've never been a jewelry maker, but the book has a lot of good simple ideas. I really like one where she shows you how to make a cameo. She has another book that I want to check out called Just for the Frill of It, about adding trim to blah clothing.

The Mafia meets once a month, check the website for more info, it's really fun!

Airstream Alchemy

I made this card on commission through Etsy's Alchemy, which is a pretty cool service. It's inspired by an old Airstream trailer.

The front is made with Stardream paper, one of the fabulous papers you can buy relatively cheaply at Paper Source in Beverly Hills.



This was a fun drawing to do. I like working with heavy blacks because it hides my deficiencies in line quality. I can draw, I just can't ink so good, no da?

Palm Tree Christmas Cards

This isn't strictly geeky. Or really, geeky at all. Sorry, I've already lost track of my mission statement. Um, you have to use a computer to make these cards. Computers are geeky. And coffee. Yeah!

I live in Los Angeles. We don't have any snow or quaint wintry scenes here. We have palm trees, with strings of Christmas lights run around them. I wanted a card with that.


Supplies you'll need
White linen resume paper
Strong black coffee
Burgundy corduroy-textured paper, or similar cover stock
An exacto knife and cutting surface
Gold seed beads
Beading wire
Glue sticks
Scissors
Blank ivory cards (I like Michaels "value pack" cards, with a coupon 40 cards for $6)
A computer with a printer


1. Coffee paper

Brew some dark coffee. This is kind of gross, but I just saved my grounds from the morning and ran the water through them again. Would taste really bad, but I'm not going to drink it.

Put the linen paper in a full size baking pan. Tip: make an extra sheet or two, because these are very delicate and can get destroyed. Pour coffee over it until it is soaked. After a minute, pull paper out, drain over a sink, and scrunch paper into a ball as if you are going to shoot waste basket hoops with it. But don't.

Wring excess water out of paper and flatten. The pattern of the coffee on the paper should be cool and chaotic. Put a paper towel on a flat surface, then place a paper towel in between each piece of paper and stack them on top of this, top with a heavy book, and let dry.

This will take a day, so move on, and come back to this. When you are done, it will look like this:


It's just flat enough to run through the manual feed of my Canon MP530. I printed my palm tree image and my holiday sentiment on it, like so:



The font I used is Christopher Hand, and the palm tree image is this little clip art I drawded, u can haves it, here:


It should print 2.5" square (crop the water mark).

Cut up the palm trees and the sentiments. The edges of the palm tree don't have to be neat because it's going to be covered by a frame.

2. Corduroy frame

Cut the corduroy paper to match the front of the cards, usually 5x7 inches. Draw a square on one card in the center (left-right) and towards the top, that is 2" by 2.25". Cut the square out with an exacto knife and use it to make all the other frames. Flip it upside down so you don't accidentally write on the good side.

3. Beads

String sets of 4 beads, 4 beads, and 3 beads each per card on the beading wire, tying off the ends so they don't slide around. With a pin, poke holes through the palm tree picture and thread the wire through. Tie it down in the back, keeping it as flat as possible.


Note: I am worried about these beads in the mail. You may want to make this easier and just use puffy fabric paint or something like that.

4. Assembly


Using a glue stick, glue the palm tree pic to the underside of the frame, so that it shows through nicely. Glue the frame and the palm tree to the blank card. Then glue to sentiment to the front of the card.

Now write something personal inside (or generic, whatever) send it to all you friends, and your mom, so she can put it on her fridge.