Making Christmas Cards: We3

A gathering of friends, fun, food, and laughter. That described yesterday's We3 art day. Now I have to admit, I'm not a card maker. I make Christmas tip-ins, double sided decorated paged that can be added to an altered book. I've done this for six years and will make the 7th edition this year. So why did I want to make Christmas cards this year? As a challenge and to tout UHU glue, which (in my estimation) sponsored this get-together. They provided me with Twist & Glue, UHU Stic (glue sticks), and Glue Rollers.

Kathy brought a ton of papers, rubber stamps, stickers, you name it. She also brought cards she had been making for weeks to exchange.

As you can see, the tables are filled with supplies, and those don't begin to include everything because the bulk of the "goodies" were stacked on my table in the craft room. Nope, your eyes aren't going bad. I just haven't got the hang of the new camera yet.

Kathy is showing something to Dana, while I prepare to start a technique I've wanted to try ever since I saw it demoed by Tim Holtz. I may not care for a lot of his products, but I sure like his ideas.

Kathy bought a new Martha Stewart punch set and was excited to try it. She never got it to work properly, but got a few decent cards after awhile.

Bluebeard, standing on the ONLY scratching pad he'll use, got tagged by Kathy's punch outs as he sat under her feet. Looks like he got in on the fun, too.

For my project, I started with the Poinsettia stamp I borrowed from Kathy. I used the foam I got on clearance a long time ago at Mrs. O'Leary's. I was tickled when I found it and was just waiting for the right time to use it. Today was the day.
To begin this technique, I turned the stamp so the wood was against the foam,

then scored around the edges.

The next step was to cut the foam to the exact size of the stamp, so I would have the perfect guide for the pad.

Next I stamped the image using a Staz-on pad. Sorry about the lousy photo. Again, I have no idea why some photos come out great and others are so out of focus. The reinkers I used are in the background: Mustard, Flaming Red, Cactus Green, and Black, all by Staz-on.

By following the stamp outline, I simply colored in the correct colors I wanted to use and created a custom stamp pad. Although I didn't take any photos of the final stamped piece, the idea is to position your rubber stamp over the stamp pad and you can make multiple stampings. I made 31 cards before I had to re-ink the stamp pad. I made nearly 50 cards before I stopped. Kathy asked for a sentiment stamped in hers, but Dana wanted hers left blank. I stamped a sentiment in some of mine, others I left blank.


After I finished my stamping, we ate a lunch of stuffed peppers, fish sticks, and a wonderful salad Kathy brought that she had left over from a church luncheon. For dessert, we had peanut butter cookies. Then it was back to making more cards.

The cards I made: the poinsettia cards are at the top, all 15 are the same, and one ribbon tree for each person.

Kathy's contribution: all the cards with envelopes are ones she made previously at her home and brought. There are 7. We each got one of the same design. The eighth one, the green one in the lower right, incorporates her new punches which made the lovely edges and corners that look like tatting.


These are Dana's. This was the first time Dana had ever made cards, too, and I thought she did a great job using Kathy's Santa stamp and her new punch. Again, each person got one. All the above cards are the ones I kept. Kathy and Dana have identical cards.

I was tickled that we got so many cards, had so much fun, laughed, hugged Bleubeard, and renewed our friendship. And the fact that my technique came out even better than I expected was the icing on the cake (or doughnut).

We3 Art preparations

Normally We3 meet in my basement studio, but we will be making Christmas cards this time and I think we will need more room to spread out and use a lot of paper friendly supplies. Since my paper, paint, ribbon, stencils, stamps, etc. are all in my main floor craft space, I decided to set up in my living room.

Now this room is so small it won't even hold a couch, but I measured and decided it would work for one day.

Before I set up the tables in the living room, I made stuffed peppers. All that is needed now is to cook them.
Next I baked some cookies I had prepared earlier and placed in the refrigerator.

The peanut butter cookies are ready for dessert.

Late in the afternoon, I set up the two tables I feel we will need for this project. We may have to refine the seating when the gals get here, but for now, I'm calling it ready.

Each of us gets a UHU glue stick and permanent glue roller. We will share a Twist & Glue and some UHU Tac. I want to thank UHU for providing this for us. Be sure to stop by their blog.

Also on the table are red, green, dark red, and white card stock, a rubber stamp I hope to use, some foam for a technique I hope to create, clear acrylic blocks for unmounted stamps, and a few charms and embellishments.

Although I didn't take any photos, I mowed my yard after I got all this set up. Hopefully I won't be too tired to make cards. All I need to do now is make tea and coffee.

If you have made it this far, We3 are probably now either eating breakfast or busy making Christmas cards. I'll post the results of our efforts tomorrow.

The beginning of a page in my Hands AB

I'm doing the happy dance. Tomorrow is our We3 art day, and I have just started to get ready, even though I've thought about it for several weeks. I've been working on a long term project and started this page in my Hands AB instead of cleaning house and setting up the tables and such we will need for this project.

For this piece, I began by laying down layers and layers of paint, paper, and tissue.

Next, I added sheet music to which I added my favorite fluid acrylic: azo gold. Not liking that, I added blue to the page, but forgot to photograph it. I'm not sure what happened in the lower corner of the picture, but I took these photos with my new camera and I'm still just learning how to use it. It was either me getting in the way of the lens, or it was the flash (which I never used on the other camera) burning out part of the image. I suspect it was me, though!

As much as I would LOVE to stay awhile, I must begin thinking about our upcoming day.

Silent Sunday: flag and flowers

Using what I have and my new computer didn't last

Several days ago, I cleaned up and placed everything in a tray. Friday I used most of the flotsam in the dish. I can't show that original photo because the computer I had for a day and a half, has also gone to that electronic heaven in the sky. I am now using my neighbor's laptop on a tray table that is too tall and has no mouse. So, for once, I shall be brief,

Here us what is left of the flotsam,

and this is what I made. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo after I trimmed it, but I am just lucky to have anything to share.

A birthday book for a friend

For several days I worked on a birthday book for a special friend whose birthday is this month. I'm actually delighted that I was able to finish it before her birthday, something I haven't been able to say for other gifts I've made recently.

Here is the completed book from the top. Including the two inside and outside covers, there are 18 spreads, each of which I attempted a different technique. The book measures 6" X 6".

The pages were cut from some that my friend Kathy gave me about three weeks ago. When she asked if I wanted them, I was delighted because they were the perfect thickness for the book I had planned. Each spread was created separately, then glued to its opposing page using two UHU permanent glue rollers.

I hope I've teased you enough to want to read further. Without further ado, here are the pages in order.


The outside cover was covered with metal air conditioning repair tape, as were three of the slide mounts. The cover was decorated with Staz-on. The images are from Paper Whimsey and I only have two tiny images left on the sheet. From the top left the slide mounts/tape was decorated with:
alcohol ink, Staz-on
fluid acrylic, shoe polish

The inside of the front cover tells who the book was made for, but I erased her name in the scan because she doesn't have the book yet and I also respect her privacy. This and the following pages were scanned, so clicking on them should take you to a screen where you can see the details.

The background of this page was created using various pigment inks and blended with a cotton ball. The house was made from vintage sheet music, the roof from some hand painted paper. The "H" was cut from a plastic faux credit card using a stencil. The door knob is a small circle of bling I got at Michael's. The tree was made from a die cut oval tag (thanks to Kathy) and a strip of ribbon. "Home" was written with a dymo label maker, and the fortune also came from Kathy.

I swear this apron took longer to make than if I had made the real thing. I struggled and struggled with it and finally got it finished. The easy part was the tiny pocket. The background is bright yellow acrylic paint that I hoped would set off the apron. "Apron" was stencilled onto the page.

Kathy loaned me this stamp to practice on for our card making this month. Instead of making cards, I used watercolor markers and used it for a "P" word. Then I sewed around it twice: once with plain stitching, once with zig-zag.

Plastic poker playing cards. How many more "Ps" did I need for this spread? I originally planned to use three cards, but they hid the red hat, so I opted for two and the really old playing card box. I used an old dictionary for the words and phrases. The P at the top is brass.

This piece was hard to scan because I used so much yarn it didn't want to scan properly. I began with the yellow background made from Twinkling H20s, then added the yarn "material" I created. I began with a piece of cotton and ironed Wonder Under on top. Next I laid down yarns of various thickness, length, and color. Another piece of Wonder Under was ironed on top of the yarn, the backing removed, and more yarn laid on top. I repeated the process three more times, so the piece was really thick and full when I finished.

I needed a space to separate the words, so I used one of my gelatin monoprints, to which I added a feather and a piece of silk flower I colored with the same glaze as the monoprint. I also colored the head of the brad with the glaze and clipped it with a clothes pin until it dried.

Bling began as an experiment in collage. I laid down several disparate papers and an acrylic "skin". I brought them all together with the green Pearl Ex powder I added to Elmers glue. The B is brass, the "bling" is from the same package as the door knob in "Home." The little girl is Paper Whimsey and I have two that size left. That crown just fits the image perfectly!

I was talking to my neighbor and couldn't come up with an "I" word. She suggested Iris and I looked and looked in my cancelled postage stamps and these were all I could find, but none of the real cancelled ones. The background is two colors of acrylic paint I put on in swirls, then added spots of gold. I cut the stickers to look like postage using decorative scissors.

These images were from an ad I got in the mail. I saved them for Dana's AB when I thought her theme was "circles." When she changed her theme, I nearly threw the images away. I was sure glad I didn't because they were the perfect thing for the "R." I began by masking the piece with my cardboard circle, then painted the rest of the page using red ink and mica powders. I like to cut close around images, but these were a bit too fussy, so I tried a technique I had seen Dana use where she cut around images in straight lines. I had a hard time with it because I wanted to follow the curves rather than thinking straight lines. I'm not sure I ever got the complete hang of it.

For the journal wording in the center, I started by penciling in a round guide, then gave up when I thought I could do just as well without any lines.

The "T" features a small thermometer on textile. Dictionary words were laid over fabric. I attached the thermometer using Velcro so it can be removed for interaction.

I'm not much of a rubber stamper, but that is all that I did on this page after I used three different colors of Twinkling H20's. It's been a long time since I used them, so it was good to get them out and play with them again.

I have to thank Kathy for this page. Without her, this page would never have happened. She gave me the tags, the scroll, and the background paper. I added a rubber stamped image, the word Declaration, the Scrabble tile I scuffed up with sandpaper and black ink, and the tiny black dots made from texture paint. I used silver glitter pen to write "It's your day" on the tags.

While looking through my cancelled stamps for irises, I came across a book that told about the air mail service and the idea for the other "A" spread was born. I used stamps and images that represented the Air Mail service and Air Mail stamps, along with some very old Air Mail stickers. So that everything would match, I painted a beige glaze over the finished spread.

The final page was actually the first one I created. I showed the background in a previous post. When dry, I added the "Y" and rest of the word using stencils. I found the chair in a book and was happy that its color complimented the page and it had a yellow cushion.

This is the back inside page or "key" to the message. I added a metal key and crown. The key was a gift and the price tag was still on it. I painted the tiny tag using purple fluid acrylic and left it on the key. I'm really drawn to those tiny tags.

The back outside cover uses the same metal tape as the front.

Plastic slide mounts are decorated beginning upper left:

Fluid acrylic, shoe polish

Staz-on, metal tape and alcohol ink

The stamps are all from Mrs. O"Leary's and stamped in lavender pigment ink.

I bound the pages together using plastic clips I got at Home Depot in their paint department by the paint chips. Yes, they were free!! When all the pages were finished, but before I bound the pages, I sealed them using an acrylic sealer.

I was surprised how much fun I had getting out materials I hadn't used for a long time, such as the Pearl Ex, dymo label maker, Twinkling H20s, rubber stamps I've never used before, decorative scissors, yarn, stencils, postage stamps, slide mounts, metal tape, glitter pens, and so on. My studio is so small, though, I had to make one page (or the elements for it), then put everything away afterward. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have made it into the room by the third day.

My only regret? Not being able to see my friend's face when she unwraps it!

My computer finally fritzed

I won't say it died, but my old computer, which I purchased in 1998, was running Win98 second edition, and IE6, would not allow me to load a page on the internet yesterday. I kept getting "Explorer Error." Then it would shut down and the task bar, start menu, etc. would not come back on. After three times of doing this, I got an even more ominous error: "Reinstall Windows." I freaked and called my friend Scott (yep with the kitchen everyone loves to hate) and got the phone number of a mutual friend, Lewis. Lewis is a computer geek, and within a couple of hours, he was at my house with a "new-to-me" computer. He had already installed Firefox on it, along with my beloved Photoshop. The operating system is Windows 2000, Professional Edition, but I'm not complaining. At least I'm on the internet!!

The new computer is SO tiny. Right now, it's sitting on a step stool and I realize the lighting sucks, but there's not much light under my desk. It's only about three or four inches thick and reminds me of a laptop. He showed me how to insert the CD because you don't just place it in the holder like on my old computer. We loaded WordPerfect, the scanner, and my lovely OLD Logitech camera software. When we went to load the software for the camera that Jackie had sent me, we didn't need it. The camera loaded with no trouble.

As some of the software was loading, Lewis and I went outside and stood around the chiminea. You can see the trees I still have to trim in the background.

To show that I actually got my new wonderful camera software to work, I thought it appropriate to take photos of my old camera. Actually, I had taken these weeks ago, right before I tried to load the software the first time.

Yep, this tiny thing with its itsy-bitsy view finder in the upper left, and the battery level viewer in the center, has been my lifeblood ever since I started this blog. It seemed appropriate that I should show these, because Lewis was the one who gave me this old camera years ago. He told me today it made him happy that I used it as much as I do. If he only knew.

Lewis took my old computer, will remove the hard drive, and get my precious data back to me soon. Right now everything is new, but I'm sure I'll have files on it in no time.

To top it all off, I have a new camera, a new computer, a new internet connection, and I'm doing the happy, happy dance. Sorry, no art today. Just a happy dance.