Pillow Boxed Thank You's

I made these awhile ago and plan to send them as thank-you gifts this week to the friends and family who hosted us when we were in California so I thought I should take a picture to show you!

This is a set of folded notes with ribbon, paper, and fabric flower embellishments. The card base is white linen cardstock and the envelopes are kraft paper. The box is one I bought and decorated to coordinate with the card set.

This is a set I made from recycling my calendar (I've used a few pages to make card sets and pillow boxes. You can see another here at my "family blog"). I punched a circle out of the patterned part of the calendar page and added a white punched-dove to each card. All of the cards are slightly different and they fold on the horizontal.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

... Because she's so pretty!

Here's a box of notes I made for a recent order.

It's a flat note on white linen card stock.

The font for the text was inspired by an old-fashioned typewriter.

The stamp is one I've had and you might recognize a smaller scanned version from our Halloween cards last year.

This time, I embossed the stamp:

I really like the way these cards turned out.

Beautiful Blue

These swirly folded notes turned out so well!

My friend Shaley actually designed them... she just got married (congratulations, again!) and wanted some simple notes to send as thank-you's. 

She described the style and "look" of the cards she had in mind, then I made several "samples" for her to choose from.

Within the scrolled stamp is a crystal glitter embellishment.

The box was sweet too!

Coin Invitations

A few of my girlfriends are expecting their first babies right now. It's always so exciting for me to see my friends go through the amazing experience of making a baby.

Here's an invitation that was inspired by my friend Amy who is expecting twins.

The coins are punched from kraft paper (like a brown paper bag) and affixed to a flat card.

Here's the same idea in a different layout with a green accent color.

And of course, I needed a pink representation.

The punch for this elephant actually as a little raised ear (very sweet).

Embossing--Who Knew?

Who knew how much fun embossing could be?

The thing with embossing, is that you have to work from stamps. Stamps are tricky... if you're a perfectionist like I am. The ink has to be just right; the pressure needs to be "even" for a clean mark; the placement can be off with wood blocks if you're not careful... But aside from all that--it really is fun!

Here is a simple horizontal flat card.

The stem and chick were in the same stamp set that I had purchased recently.

Embossing involves several steps and can be time-consuming; however, I think the result is worth the effort. 

Here's a close-up:

The process results in the pigment becoming glossy and rising from the paper.

Here are a few I did with a stamp that was more "substantial" when pressed.

The card is a vertical fold; kraft paper on heavy white cardstock with a kraft envelope.

Obviously, the stamp and embossing has been done in white.

Here's a close-up to show the texture of the printing when the process is finished.

I liked the white set so much I followed the same format to create a chocolate embossing on "natural" cardstock (vertical fold) with a chocolate envelope and pink embossing on white cardstock (horizontal fold) with a pink envelope.

Oh my... now that I have this new crafty way to spend my free time... I wonder just how high my laundry pile will get?

New Invitation Ideas

I'm participating in an "Opportunity Party" this weekend and trying to figure out how to market what I do. Usually, I make gifts with my cards and occasionally I make a gift of invitations for my friends. Here are some "sample" invitations I made for the event to give folks a little idea of what I can do.

Caterpillar

(with complimentary green envelope)

Pink Cupcake Cloud

(with chocolate text and corresponding chocolate envelope)

Rocket Ship

(with green envelope)

Classic Car

(on natural cardstock, rather than white)

All the cards are flat A2 size (4.25 x 5.5).