Crisp Crane Card

Can you say that title three times fast? I found this card and its twin last week when I was going through a box of envelopes. My gut reaction was "Ooh, I like this one." That may sound silly, but I probably made this card five years ago, at least.  It was a wonderful little surprise and it made me smile all day.

Of course, if I had taken a photo of the card when I made it, I would know the year and month, but those dates aren't nearly as important as why I made the cards. That is what I do remember, and the verse explains what I wanted a handful of ladies to know. "Let us not give up meeting together... but let us encourage one another –" Hebrews 10:35

Last week I didn't just happen upon a couple of old cards, I encountered a sweet memory. 

Card Details: 5" square folded white cardstock; stamp cranes (Judikins) on peach marble cover paper in rust pigment ink and heat emboss with clear detail powder; print verse from the computer in matching ink color; layer on rust paper and adhere with mounting tape. 

A Love for Fonts Card

"In Budapest, surgeons operated on printer's apprentice Gyoergyi Szabo, 17, who, brooding over the loss of a sweetheart, had set her name in type and swallowed the type." (Time magazine, 28 December 1936.)  

"Just My Type" by Simon Garfield opens with the above quote. One hundred pages into the book I read about a font designed in 1996 called "Mrs. Eaves". Why bother including the title "Mrs." with the font name? Because of the story. She marries at the age of 16; her husband deserts her and their five children; she works as the live-in housekeeper for John Baskerville (of font design fame); falls in love with him; can't marry him until the death of Mr. Eaves in 1764.  Wow!  

Romance, heartbreak, history, and glory all pulsing within the dotted i's, crossed t's and curled g's and q's. With chapter names such as: "We don't serve your type.", "Can a font make me popular?", and "Pirates and Clones", it's all more fun than you would expect a book about fonts to be. Unless, of course, you're me, then it was all I hoped and more.  


Card details: Finished card 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" white folded cardstock; layered with navy blue and medium blue yardstick allowing 1/8 inch borders; stamp alphabet collage (Hampton Arts Stamps) on medium blue paper in stonewash dye ink (Adirondack); punch corners; stamp alphabet square (Wordsworth Stamps) in night of navy dye ink (Stampin Up) on three colors of paper and layer; stamp W (SU) in faded jeans distress ink (Tim Holtz); cut out and layer and adhere to card front. 

A 95th Birthday Card

Yesterday was Aunt Janice's 95th birthday.  She is my father-in-law's oldest sister.  If you talk to her for any length of time you will hear the story of how she recently renewed her driver's license and wasn't even asked to take the eye exam!  I'm not sure if that is a scary thought or an amazing accomplishment, but there are other things about Aunt Janice that inspire me.  When I first met her about 15 years ago at the wonderful age of 80 she was walking three miles a day.  At the fabulous age of 90 she finally took her doctor's advice and stopped mowing her own lawn!  What???  

My favorite thing about Aunt Janice is the relationship she has with her sister Jean.  They can tag team a conversation and rip on each other like, well, like they've been doing it all their lives.  It's a wonder to behold, and better yet, my husband and I swear we see Aunt Janice & Aunt Jean 2.0 in our own two girls.  

What do you send someone on her 95th birthday?  Flowers, of course. 

Happy Birthday, Aunt Janice!

Card Details: Finished card 4 1/4" x 5 3/4" folded white cardstock; stamp swirl (Hero Arts) on card front in More Mustard ink (Stamping' Up); I stamped large flower (SU) on light blue paper with brilliant white pigment ink and heat embossed with clear detail powder. (I was expecting the flower to show up more white, but I like the watermark effect.) Cut out flower and adhere to card.  Stamp violets (Inkadinkado) in tangerine ink, cut out and adhere to card; use mounting tape with one.  The light blue flower with navy blue center is made with a two-step stamp set from Japan. (The box is written in Japanese characters; so I cannot give a product credit.) Add pearl embellishments. Stamp and die cut happy birthday banner (SU) and adhere to card.

Time for Thank You Cards

"Mom, do you write thank-you notes?", asked one of my daughters last week. She didn't ask if I had written them yet, just if I wrote them. I was a bit stunned by the question. I didn't ask her why she asked me, but I paused before I answered. I don't know what was going through her mind, and honestly only a couple of seconds past before I responded. (Funny, how an idea for a blog brings so many questions to mind.)

Hasn't she been sitting at craft tables with me since she she could first hold a crayon? Wasn't I the one who taught her how to write them? Did she really think I didn't write them? Does she think I steal her creative ideas for nothing? Maybe she's hoping when she's grown up she won't have to write them any more? Maybe she was hinting that I needed to write mine, since she was almost finished?  Who knows? 

This wasn't the time for sarcasm, nor does it suit me, so I answered, "Yes, I sure do!"

Card Details: Finished cards 4" x 5 1/4" folded, speckled confetti card stock; folded card is mounted on colored card stock with a 1/8" border; punch a 1" wide strip of paper with dots border (EK Tools); stamp sentiments directly onto the card front (Thank You by Stamp It! and Thanks by Stampin' Up); stamp images (Magenta) using night of navy ink (Stampin' Up) on confetti paper; trim and adhere to blue, then pink paper; then place on card front.

A Card for the New Year

Is there anything else that is observed around the world at the same time other than New Year's Eve? That's what I was thinking when I made this card.  I know the Chinese New Year occurs later in January and the Jewish New Year is celebrated in September, but those each surround a distinctive heritage. The 31st of December is unique.

Here's why.  The change in the calendar year dictates commerce, influences politics, identifies a birth, anniversary, or graduation, welcomes decades, centuries and millennia, encourages resolutions, and above all – bears all hope.  My first handmade prayer of 2015 is for peace on Earth. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Card Details: Finished card is 4 1/2" x 4 1/2 " folded black card stock; silver metallic card stock is cut to allow 1/8" border; stamp earth (Hero Arts) and "happy 2015" (Stamping Up) on white card stock with ocean blue ink (Stamping' Up); cut out and layer on blue swiss dot textured paper (Bazzill Basics/Marco's Paper); mount earth image on beaded circle die cut (Spellbinders) and adhere to silver card stock; use mounting tape to adhere sentiment to card front.