A Tiny Little Division of Me

Many years ago, I began making my own greeting cards. It was fun and I enjoyed seeing my ideas crystallize on the paper. I painted, stamped, collaged, stenciled, screen printed, block printed and used any number of combinations of techniques to make the cards. Perhaps the most satisfying, was when I made my own paper, both sheets and molded pieces and incorporated them into the cards. It was also great the first few times I sold them. Perhaps the highest compliment I was paid, came after I had stopped making the cards and sent my brother-in-law Joe a commercial birthday card. He opened it, flipped it over to look at the back, then turned to my sister and with a note of disappointment said: “She didn’t make my card!”

Well, everything old is new again. The other day I created an 11 x 8.5 digi-scrap layout commemorating a special event for special people. I wanted to mail it to them in the form of a card. I figured I would resize it, print it out, cut it out, adhere it to lightly textured blank greeting card stock and send it off in the mail. Previously, I had e-mailed a couple of layouts to family members, but this one I wanted them to receive through traditional snail mail.

When Chuck saw what I was about he made a radical suggestion: print the layout directly onto the card stock. Nah. That won’t work said I, as I explained all the steps I had planned and my doubts about the clarity of the image on the textured stock. Give it a try said Chuck. I did. It worked beautifully on the very first printing! It feels as if a whole new set of possibilities has opened up to me. And all those skills I learned over all those years haven’t gone to waste. It’s just that, at the moment, our dining table hasn’t been completely taken over. There’s a lot less clutter and glue. And as you walk through the room, you don’t have to duck under strings strung like a cat’s cradle around the ceiling with cards draped over them to dry!

This digi-scrapping thing continues to rock. Here’s hoping they like the card...