I’ve spent some time recently on two special cards. If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, this first card will look familiar. It is a clothesline with cute little paper clothes hanging out to dry. The first time I made a card like this it was for a colleague and his wife, honoring the birth of their son, born on Mother’s Day two years ago.
Well, that two-year-old boy has a little sister. I decided to use the same design for this card, honoring her arrival on the first day of spring.
Her dad is an aquarium aficionado (or should I say a-fish-ionando?) so I decided to give her a “got fish” onesie. Cherry-print paper was perfect for a little bib.
When he was younger he worked at the San Francisco Zoo. I thought little cargo pants looked cute with the zoo t-shirt.
Polka-dot footie pajamas’s and a pink flowered Hawaiian shirt.
I indulged in a flowered skirt, pastel sweater and matching booties.
On the little baby sweater I added a small, self-adhesive jewel. Other buttons are either paper dots or just drawn on with a pen, but I added dimensional glaze to make them stand out a bit. Other details are drawn on with silver or black pen.
I used to have a cloud template that went out when I did my big craft clean-up last year. I made a new one using the lid from a tub of cottage cheese.
Using the top one – the cloud-shaped hole, I sponged white craft ink onto the background. I then used the bottom one, the cloud shape, and sponged blue ink over the white, to create a pretty, sky effect.
The posts for the clothesline are cut from wood-grained paper and the line is bakers twine. The clothes are adhered on pop-up foam dots so they look like they’re hanging from the line. Small folded bits of brown paper serve as clothespins.
I made one more little paper garment for the back of the card: a pair of overalls. I found this piece of blue, patterned paper and it looked like fabric. I used silver ink to make the buttons and buckles and orange ink for the stitching.
Last week I completed a different card, one I struggled with. It was a sympathy card for someone I’m close to who had lost their mother. How could I assemble something out of paper, ink and glue that could speak to their loss?
I tried to think what words would be of comfort and read through cards I had received after my dad died. I experimented with different designs but resorted to a simple tried-and-true scheme.
Of course I realized that connecting was what was important. As I looked through my paper, I thought about my friend and thought about what she might be feeling. I wrote a brief message and signed it.
A sympathy card and a new baby card. One took extra effort for the small embellishments and details, while the other took an emotional output.
As always, I appreciate the visit.
