"Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game ~"
Picture post!
As many of you know, my university position dried up almost exactly a month ago - I’m now looking for a job. But more excitingly at the moment, I just sent out a victorious set of handmade cards to many of my best friends and other top people.
Before I commence showing off, I should say: if you are a mail buddy of mine, and if you haven’t received your card yet, check your mail before reading on!
This card went to Vann, along with an autumnal poem about a bird he spent a summer tracking in New Hampshire. It’s probably one of my favorite cards of the batch because it’s simple and clean, but I tried to be imaginative in how it opens. The string loops into place around a metal brat on the back.
Vann’s again on the left. I threaded a red ribbon along the edge of the card I made for Byron, making it altogether too matronly for his tastes, when combined with the buttons. But it couldn’t be helped. I had a vision. For Maria’s (second from the right) I found the fleur-de-lis brat at the craft store, seeing as she’s all about some French culture. The color scheme is relevant to Henry V. Lex’s card is on the far right.
This is the “iris” paper pattern I love to use so much. You cut out the hole pattern (in this case leaves), and then strategically tape colored papers in a spiral pattern on the back. Takes a bit of time, but worth it when you have patterned paper you want to show off. I just mailed Lex’s today - I was holding off because he’s been sick and can’t really enjoy things. But it’s been almost two weeks he’s had this sinus infection, so 1.) I’m impatient and don’t feel like waiting and 2.) maybe mail will brighten his miserable, sickly day. He got one of my favorite HDT quotes, a golden oldie.
This is pretty handily the most impressive-looking card, I think, because of the ribbon and deep red. I bought two yards of this ribbon in the summer of 2009 at my favorite paper store in Boston, and have been saving it in an old plastic box, waiting for a suitable use. Then I found this “map” design paper and an idea just sort of came together for Matt, who loves maps. Here’s a smaller image that shows how it’s meant to look with the ribbon tied:
These aren’t impressive, because the pumpkins and sign are stickers. Eh. These two went to my parents, and to one of my favorite uncles.
For the left card here, I dried a purple leaf that turned even deeper, almost black, and placed a shaded vellum sheet over it to fuzz the image. I just sent it off to Alex in China, so it should get there, oh, around Independence Day. Rachel’s, on the right, in the same idea (and the first one I made) - only I made a paper border for the leaf, and sewed a brown thread into the side to give it a ‘bound’ feel. The vellum here is also patterned, with leaves and berries you can just make out.
The left card features the one color in the batch that isn’t neutral or autumnal. Laura’s always been one of my quirkiest friends, and she’ll wear clothes or make-up that stand out, so she gets a card with a bright blue, in the midst of browns and reds and golds. On the right is a similar card, with more flowers whose petal rings I layered thus. It went to my sophomore/junior year roommate at Carolina, Lauren. She goes to med school in Wisconsin and we don’t talk, but she has my steadfast respect.
On the right is a woven heart I made from two papers. It was harder to make look nice than I expected, and in fact has an annoying imperfection on the right hand side that has bothered me since. Anyways, this card was for Quinn and Adele, with whom I went to high school. Quinn is a particular best friend so under different circumstances I would have tried to do something a little less feminine - but they’re such a good couple that the heart stood its ground.
On the left is the only pressed flower I used this in any card. I actually pressed it in the spring, from a flower I plucked outside my beloved Southpoint apartment. And it was good fortune that it was the color of Halloween. I knew I wanted to send Amy a real plant - she being my botany friend, only makes sense. The problem was that whereas the leaves above were made more elegant by the vellum, rendering them a colored outline, the flower lost most of its botanical interest when I covered it with the opaque paper. So I cut out part of a zip-lock bag to protect and keep visible the petals. Close-up below.
Evan’s is nothing special - brown leaf vellum over a tan card, with a brown sewed binding similar to Rachel’s.
Far left: I wanted William’s card to be simple, like Vann’s, but didn’t want it to be inartistic. So while my original idea was a scene in black and white, I added in a square in inverted white-on-black. I’m not a drawer by any stretch, so I’m pleased that the attempt didn’t ruin things. I used the same leaf punch to make David’s... which was always going to be predominantly black, but which I wanted to feel a little more Halloween-y and orange than some of the more subdued brown-and-reds I’d used on other cards. Next to his is B-Rok’s, which also has a woven-strip interior. His and David’s, by no accident, are pieces sort of complementary to one another.
I’m really happy with Karen’s, and will definitely be venturing into paper-sewing more in the future. She likes to cross-stitch, so it seemed fitting. Also, to show an example of what the inside of some of these looks like:
Here’s most, but not all, of the paper types I used.
And here are the miscellaneous crafty tools. Don’t be fooled by how nice and organized they look when I spread them out like this - they, and many other doohickeys I didn't use this time around, go in a haphazard shoe box that is frankly too small.
Group photo! The whole set took me about a week and a half, and was pretty time-consuming. All that measuring and cutting and writing and outlining. If you got one of these fucking things I think you're the bee's knees. (And I think all my current readers did.) So anyway I probably won’t be making home-made Christmas cards… I’ll most likely just try to dress up cards from a box set like I usually do.
But I think I know why I made this batch, that took so long and included so many recipients. First, obviously, I love my friends and don’t always make it known in my daily interactions with them. Another reason is that I fell out of touch with at least a few people in the past year, two years. This is a friendly getting-in-touch without demanding life updates (although those are most welcome!). Additionally, it felt great doing something with my hands. My piano keyboard's all wrapped up and put away because of space, and grad school was all typing all the time. But paper crafts aren't monotonous-feeling to my muscles, and I can do them most anywhere. Good fun.
Later days!
As many of you know, my university position dried up almost exactly a month ago - I’m now looking for a job. But more excitingly at the moment, I just sent out a victorious set of handmade cards to many of my best friends and other top people.
Before I commence showing off, I should say: if you are a mail buddy of mine, and if you haven’t received your card yet, check your mail before reading on!
This card went to Vann, along with an autumnal poem about a bird he spent a summer tracking in New Hampshire. It’s probably one of my favorite cards of the batch because it’s simple and clean, but I tried to be imaginative in how it opens. The string loops into place around a metal brat on the back.
Vann’s again on the left. I threaded a red ribbon along the edge of the card I made for Byron, making it altogether too matronly for his tastes, when combined with the buttons. But it couldn’t be helped. I had a vision. For Maria’s (second from the right) I found the fleur-de-lis brat at the craft store, seeing as she’s all about some French culture. The color scheme is relevant to Henry V. Lex’s card is on the far right.
This is the “iris” paper pattern I love to use so much. You cut out the hole pattern (in this case leaves), and then strategically tape colored papers in a spiral pattern on the back. Takes a bit of time, but worth it when you have patterned paper you want to show off. I just mailed Lex’s today - I was holding off because he’s been sick and can’t really enjoy things. But it’s been almost two weeks he’s had this sinus infection, so 1.) I’m impatient and don’t feel like waiting and 2.) maybe mail will brighten his miserable, sickly day. He got one of my favorite HDT quotes, a golden oldie.
This is pretty handily the most impressive-looking card, I think, because of the ribbon and deep red. I bought two yards of this ribbon in the summer of 2009 at my favorite paper store in Boston, and have been saving it in an old plastic box, waiting for a suitable use. Then I found this “map” design paper and an idea just sort of came together for Matt, who loves maps. Here’s a smaller image that shows how it’s meant to look with the ribbon tied:
These aren’t impressive, because the pumpkins and sign are stickers. Eh. These two went to my parents, and to one of my favorite uncles.
For the left card here, I dried a purple leaf that turned even deeper, almost black, and placed a shaded vellum sheet over it to fuzz the image. I just sent it off to Alex in China, so it should get there, oh, around Independence Day. Rachel’s, on the right, in the same idea (and the first one I made) - only I made a paper border for the leaf, and sewed a brown thread into the side to give it a ‘bound’ feel. The vellum here is also patterned, with leaves and berries you can just make out.
The left card features the one color in the batch that isn’t neutral or autumnal. Laura’s always been one of my quirkiest friends, and she’ll wear clothes or make-up that stand out, so she gets a card with a bright blue, in the midst of browns and reds and golds. On the right is a similar card, with more flowers whose petal rings I layered thus. It went to my sophomore/junior year roommate at Carolina, Lauren. She goes to med school in Wisconsin and we don’t talk, but she has my steadfast respect.
On the right is a woven heart I made from two papers. It was harder to make look nice than I expected, and in fact has an annoying imperfection on the right hand side that has bothered me since. Anyways, this card was for Quinn and Adele, with whom I went to high school. Quinn is a particular best friend so under different circumstances I would have tried to do something a little less feminine - but they’re such a good couple that the heart stood its ground.
On the left is the only pressed flower I used this in any card. I actually pressed it in the spring, from a flower I plucked outside my beloved Southpoint apartment. And it was good fortune that it was the color of Halloween. I knew I wanted to send Amy a real plant - she being my botany friend, only makes sense. The problem was that whereas the leaves above were made more elegant by the vellum, rendering them a colored outline, the flower lost most of its botanical interest when I covered it with the opaque paper. So I cut out part of a zip-lock bag to protect and keep visible the petals. Close-up below.
Evan’s is nothing special - brown leaf vellum over a tan card, with a brown sewed binding similar to Rachel’s.
Far left: I wanted William’s card to be simple, like Vann’s, but didn’t want it to be inartistic. So while my original idea was a scene in black and white, I added in a square in inverted white-on-black. I’m not a drawer by any stretch, so I’m pleased that the attempt didn’t ruin things. I used the same leaf punch to make David’s... which was always going to be predominantly black, but which I wanted to feel a little more Halloween-y and orange than some of the more subdued brown-and-reds I’d used on other cards. Next to his is B-Rok’s, which also has a woven-strip interior. His and David’s, by no accident, are pieces sort of complementary to one another.
I’m really happy with Karen’s, and will definitely be venturing into paper-sewing more in the future. She likes to cross-stitch, so it seemed fitting. Also, to show an example of what the inside of some of these looks like:
Here’s most, but not all, of the paper types I used.
And here are the miscellaneous crafty tools. Don’t be fooled by how nice and organized they look when I spread them out like this - they, and many other doohickeys I didn't use this time around, go in a haphazard shoe box that is frankly too small.
Group photo! The whole set took me about a week and a half, and was pretty time-consuming. All that measuring and cutting and writing and outlining. If you got one of these fucking things I think you're the bee's knees. (And I think all my current readers did.) So anyway I probably won’t be making home-made Christmas cards… I’ll most likely just try to dress up cards from a box set like I usually do.
But I think I know why I made this batch, that took so long and included so many recipients. First, obviously, I love my friends and don’t always make it known in my daily interactions with them. Another reason is that I fell out of touch with at least a few people in the past year, two years. This is a friendly getting-in-touch without demanding life updates (although those are most welcome!). Additionally, it felt great doing something with my hands. My piano keyboard's all wrapped up and put away because of space, and grad school was all typing all the time. But paper crafts aren't monotonous-feeling to my muscles, and I can do them most anywhere. Good fun.
Later days!