My 2015 Valentines

Happy Valentine’s Day lovelies!

Just popping in to share my 2015 valentines.  I started designing and sending valentines to my girlfriends in 2013.  I love the chance to work on a different project and I love sending mail (obviously).

I also like to challenge myself to use up supplies.  This year, I had a bunch of 5×7 envelopes. 5×7 valentines here we come!  I’m in love with how it turned out — it’s huge.

I used a photo from a Paris market I took a couple of years ago.  Then I added some text on top in Photoshop (this easily could have been done in Picasa too).

Have a great weekend!

Earlier: 2013 Valentines, 2014 Valentines

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Making Some Notecards

I went paper shopping last year in Sydney.  I brought home lots of goodies.  I’ve used some of them but haven’t touched these cute envelopes.

I picked them up at Kikki.K, a rad stationary store chain.

The thing is, since the envelopes are by themselves, I’ve never used them.  It’s been over a year.  I’ve been waiting for an excuse to use them but never think anything is cool enough or matches well enough to go with them.

My stationary box is busting at the seams, so these have to get used.  I decided to make some matchy notecards so they’re ready next time I have to send a note.

I had this shimmery stock laying around.  It isn’t acid free so I can’t use it in my scrapbooks.  I’m psyched I found a use for it.  I glued some white stock to the other side to make the cards nice and hefty.

I love how they turned out!  Hopefully I’ll actually use these very soon!

2014 Valentines

I participated in a valentine exchange with a bunch of my friends this year.  Because I’m me, I designed my own!

I gave myself a challenge: use up all of those pink envelopes leftover from the wedding scrapbook.  You know the ones I’m talking about: the envelopes I bought to cut up and make pink accents because no one was selling pink shimmer stock and then I overbought on the envelopes to make sure I wouldn’t run out. *Exhale*

I designed a long narrow valentine to fit in the envelope.  I went with “all you need is love,” printed in Ostritch Sans and Lavanderia.  The text is printed on white cardstock, then backed in kraft paper.

I cut tiny little gold hearts with the Silhouette and glued them to the front.  Easy enough!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Recycling Christmas Cards into Notecards

It’s the day after Christmas!  What does one do with all of those Christmas and holiday cards?  I’m always looking for neat ways to reuse them.  I turn some of the cards into next year’s gift tags.

Other cards have such pretty pictures that I want to reuse the whole thing!

The solution?  I turn them into notecards!  I pick my favorites and use my recycled notecard tutorial to turn them into new cards.

I use leftover response cards from my wedding as the base layer for these new notecards, but you can use any heavy stock you have on hand.  Craft paper would work really well here!

I have this nice set of cards ready for next year in case I need to send a note to someone during the holidays.  Easy!

Earlier: How to make recycled notecards, even more recycled notecards.

Valentines for My Ladies

Valentines for adults?  Valentines just because I felt like it.  Also because I like sending mail.  What’s wrong with going back to the days of handing out valentines to your friends?

I was inspired by Kelly Purkey, who sends handmade valentines to her girlfriends.  When I made my resolution to send more cards, I decided I was definitely going to send some valentines.

I thought for a long time about what they were going to look like.  I even picked up some hot pink sparkly cardstock when I was in Sydney, but wasn’t sure how I was going to use it.

One day, I saw the line “Do More of What Makes You Awesome” and thought, that’s it!  After that, they were easy to put together.

I designed the block of text in Silhouette Studio using the font Bebas and cut the cards out of craft cardstock.  I thought for a while about gluing the craft cutouts back into the O’s and A’s, etc. but realized that would take way too long and I kind of liked the negative space look.  Good decision.

I glued the sparkly cardstock to the back of the cards, then glued everything down to another layer of craft cardstock.  I made two versions, some with the hot pink stock and some with pearl shimmer stock.

Off they went in the mail to some of my favorite ladies.  Sometimes I thought it might be weird sending valentines to adults, but who cares?  I really hope they brighten someone’s day!

More Recycled Wedding Notecards

These notecards rock!  Yup, I said it.  They are so much fun to make!

I first made these back on Earth Day as a way to repurpose the thick response cards we received from our wedding invitations.  I’ve been collecting pretty pictures and paper ever since then so I can make another set.

Here’s a mishmash of cards and pictures torn out of magazines.  If I like a card someone sends or if I get a corporate postcard that looks neat, I save the design to use it for this project.

I tape or glue the design to the written side of the wedding response card, then I cut around the card to trim.  Got that?  Glue first, cut second.  The results are so pretty and unique!

Wait, there’s more!  Do you ever cycle new pictures into frames around your house?  What do you do with the old pictures?  It finally dawned on me to turn them into notecards!

Check. that. out.  I patted myself on the back big time for thinking of this one!

I’m such a stationary dork (don’t forget about my ode to pretty postage stamps).  I can’t wait until I have to send a note or mail a check to someone so I can use these.

Mail Art Exchange: Words

I was excited to participate in another volume of Ginger’s Mail Art Exchange!  If you are interested in participating, read more about it on Ginger’s blog here.

The theme was Words.  Below is the awesome piece I received.  Scroll further down for pictures of what I sent.

Alexa’s Mail to Me

Alexa sent a lovely piece of mail to me – very exciting to receive when I got home from China.

She used pages from a copy of Modern Manners to create the piece (the tag made me smile).

I love how she stitched everything!

Inside was a lovely card and other goodies!

Thanks for the nice surprise Alexa!

My Mail to Jemma

I couldn’t believe my luck with the “words” theme.  I still have a ton of leftover book pages from the Book Project/Wall Art.

I had a lot of fun making the envelope.  I used strips from several different books for a neat effect.  I glued them to a piece of cardstock, then Mod Podged the top.

After it dried, I cut out the envelope.

Inside I included a card with book page butterflies on it.

Jemma blogged about the finished product here.  Thanks again Ginger for hosting the exchange!

Two New Wedding Cards

It’s wedding season.  I’m working on my wedding scrapbook.  Are you tired of hearing about weddings already?

I never get tired of weddings no matter whose they are.  Truth.  I DVR-ed all of the Will & Kate anniversary specials and am watching them one by one while I scrapbook.

We attended two weddings in May!  I made wedding cards for both of them using my own wedding pictures.  For a complete tutorial, visit my wedding card post.

The first was for a friend of mine.  I usually make the card match their wedding colors, but I didn’t have the right paper.  Instead, I made it her favorite color!

Second was my little sister’s wedding.  Her wedding colors were black, red and white.  I did have those – some sparkly black and shiny red to boot!

I made envelopes this time using my Paper Source envelope templates and envelope liner templates.

Two lovely weddings, two beautiful beautiful brides.

Earth Day: Turning Response Cards into Notecards

Happy Earth Day!

I’m posting today as part of Danielle’s Earth Day Blog Hop over at EcoScrapbook.  Everyone today is sharing great Earth Day tips and some are even hosting giveaways!

Danielle: EcoScrapbook
Jules: Inspired Jules
Renee: Charms Buttons & Bows
Mariah: Its Fun2Scrap
Stephanie: Scrapworthy Lives
Natalie: Almost Never Clever (You are here!)
S: Snaps & Snippets
Zaira: Hacer Scrapbooks (in Spanish, translation tool available)
Lisa: Recklinghausen Musings
Jody: SpiegelMom Scraps!

Make sure to visit all the participants for a great round-up of ideas.

For me, the best way I help the Earth while crafting is simple:  reuse, reuse, reuse.  I keep scraps of paper, paper that’s only been printed on one side, and lots of odds and ends.  I figure the inspiration will come to me and I’ll reuse these things for something.

Turning My Wedding Response Cards into Notecards

I included some of the invitation response cards from our wedding in my wedding scrapbook.

The thing is, I could not get rid of the rest of them.  They were professionally printed on very hefty stock.  I racked my brain to figure out something neat to do.

I was picking up my craft space and saw a bunch of greeting cards, catalogs and other things I was saving.  These aren’t new cards – they are cards I received that I thought were pretty.  Why not reuse them?

The rest is simple!  I glued each response card down to a picture/card, leaving the blank side facing up.  Glue first, cut second.  This way you get a clean edge.

That’s it!  Now I have an interesting set of notecards that I can tuck in envelopes whenever I have to send something.  Or I can send them on their own if I want to send someone a “just because” note.

Thanks for stopping by!  Head over to Snaps & Snippets next!

Mail Art Exchange

A few weeks ago, I participated in Ginger’s Mail Art Exchange!  I designed a piece of mail for Danielle over at EcoScrapbook.  Danielle already posted the finished product, but I wanted to show you the process!

The theme was “Earth.”  This was too perfect because I was designing for Danielle, who is very big on using eco-friendly materials.  I was determined to use only what I had in my stash and better yet – I didn’t use anything that was ever purchased new.

I picked up pieces of magazines I had been saving and picked a page from a leftover book from The Book Project (my massive book wall art project).

I decided it would be even cooler if I sent a postcard.  I used a 5×7″ piece of chipboard that came with a Snapfish photo order.

I tore strips from the magazine and book pages, hoping for a raw sort of look.  I glued everything down to one side of the card.  I used a black pen to add some text that I thought was really neat.

I decided not to Mod Podge or seal the top.  First, Mod Podge doesn’t do well on glossy paper (it beads up).  Second, I actually wanted the card to get distressed going through the mail.

I kept the front really plain and glued a picture of the Earth that I cut out of a museum brochure.

If you’d like to participate in Ginger’s Mail Art Exchange, visit here to learn more about it!