Styling cards with "The Great Gatsby" in mind!

 

I love this style  card! Dosen't she have"class"! This card was introduced to me as a" steampunk style" however I think with the new fashion, new men's wear and ladies' frocks, ala Daisy, from the movie The Great Gatsby, we card makers have several new challenges for us to try. We can adapt some of the same notions to our graduation card theme and incorporate the dapper look to our "Father's Day cards.

The best site to look for more ideas with vintage theme papers is the Graphic 45 paper site www.graphics45.com . You will love their paper inspiration. The notions are endless!

 There are just a few  websites  but there are many, many themed papers. Some of these elements work in well with the Tim Holtz clear and acrylic stamps. When you add a sentiment stamp with the Graphic 45 papers you really do get a style that  could very well come right out of the Great Gatsby era ( and the late 1920's).
Here is a good example for Father's Day. This one was made for a 4.25" x 5.5" card. Our first mat is olive green reduced by .25" all around less than your card size. The second mat is paper from the Graphic 45 in a harlequin diamond pattern,  reduced another 1/4" ; adhere the second layer on top of the first and adhere this assmblage to the card front. The car stamp is stamped on a cream colored cardstock, layered likewise  with small terre cotta colored rectangle  and the largest being olive green. All graduated in size 1/8" smaller. Just before the car stamp is applied use a lighter shadow stamp for  a writing  and clock motif. The sentiment is cut out, trimmed and applied with the olive green background 1/8" larger than the Father's Day stamped sentiment.
Try your hand at this one. It takes more cutting but the idea is very simple and very neat---dapper!

 

 

Are You Fond of Inchies?

 "Inchies"? An "inchie" is just what you might think it is, a one inch by one inch square design or word, framed in one central color of card stock. The inchies are then placed on your cards in geographic patterns, or in random places on the card face. Look at theses "inchies" from another style of Graphic 45 paper. The inchies in this photo haven't been glues in place yet, but you can see the variety and subjects the artist is going for. The paper blends nicely into words and pictures.

 

Well-Groomed Young Graduate

 This graphic paper tells me the "graduate" is a young man, well-groomed, and on a path of success! What does it say to you? The card map, that is the design pattern one follows is a more difficult level on this card, but never the less, I think our message comes through clearly to the young grad who recievs it. A rare race for success begins with a well-groomed young man. There was something about this era with its wild music, flappers dancing, taboos broken which contrasted with the "time ticking" away. A first impression was measured in a moment.

 

Finally, let's go back to an easier card map again. Using a simple sentiment stamp' cut in a strip the full length of your card (5.5"). We begin to assemble  printed paper which will accent the center focus of the men's shoes from Graphic 45 paper. Start this card with the black background cardstock cut 1/4" smaller than your white card face. Next, add the print stripe then (space), the shoe print paper,( space) another print stripe (space) and finally your sentiment strip. Move the coponent pieces until you have a symetrical arragment.

Father's Day, Graduation, a celebration of a by-gone era for our modern day! What is it about this style ? I just love working with it and creating some special cards  for the people I love. I hope you will try some of these papers and make it a new fad! 

 



Beauty Beneath the Surface

  I came across this picture of my daughter's high school play. These kids had many challenges getting this production off the ground. Yet I know the experience drew them together. Now, if your looking at picture for perfection, it is not particularly a great picture. The composition, lighting, and arrangement of color are all a little off---but its beauty is what it represents. Its a memory, a moment in time for the people in the picture. The beauty is not on the surface, but beneath it.

What the card makers do for Operation Write Home (www.operationwritehome.org) goes way beyond providing their beautiful hand made cards to the organization. Beneath every card mailed to deployed service men and women is someone who cares enough to support them and encourage them to write home. In turn, the soldiers are reaching out and sending a loving thought to someone they care about and love. This circle is completed when a friend or family member open the card and have this tangible moment of being loved. The "Any Hero" cards do the same from the children who make them, to OWH and are placed in the hands of a soldier. The shared love completes the circle.

Other acts of beauty are they unselfish ways our bloggers share some great ideas on  OWH through the blog site link. Terrific designers who have their own blogs to help you get started. Sandy has a TV program on line now and you can up grade your skill-level by just tuning in to the TV show on OWH.  Beneath the surface of this organization doing good, is this selfless effort of love and caring.They are giving themselves, as are many hundreds of card makers all over the states who want to share and encourage our deployed troops.

Directly, beneath the surface is the real, true beauty;
the beauty of sharing time with one another, getting to talk and know others across the country with this same interest and sharing a way to communicate our love for them and our art. Just this week, I was reconnected to one of my own high school friends who knew we were making cards for OWH. We live hundreds of miles apart. Many years had passed between the days we were in high school plays together. As we reconnected I found out she made her own cards, and asked to send them for mailing. What a beautiful gift!  A moment for us to remember those days and make some new days of our own.  Like my daughter's high school play picture, we are friends connected to one another though this experience in our lives and the moment will be remembered!

What thoughts do you have about beauty? or Card making, or friendship? Or looking at our link with OWH? Share them with us.  

Life--Still Learnin'-Thankfully

Life is still a learning curve for me. I am retired and today I just learned how to grab a button.  Thanks due to Julie www.handmadebyjulie, I learned to place this button on the blog. Julie is a blogger I met through Operation Write Home.  She's a wonderful teacher, check out her blog link. She has some great ideas on card making on her site. She's a talented woman. Along with others, the OWH  team, our shippers, Julie helped me (a retiree) gain some confidence about blogging and stamping with Operation Write Home www.operationwritehome.org  (OWH).

My grandchildren have been learning to make cards over Spring Break. It was interesting watching their eyes as they learned about the "Any Hero" cards from the web site. Megan and Ronnie discovered making "AnyHero" Cards are an important part of OWH and supporting our troops.  I listened as they carefully chose the message stamps for the cards they were making. They were aware of the word meanings in this very different context. Soldiers under deployment was a new term for them... so the sentiments stamps and what they wanted to say was important. One of their cards said, "Thank you for our freedom."
I wondered, "what do you think they will remember of their Spring Break? My awful spinach quiche or making cards for heros?"  What do you think?
Once again, I learned something from them, "LIFE" is so very precious!
It's the reason we want to be involved in something emotionally, personally or perhaps financially. We want to matter or as one of the children's cards stated we want to make a difference in this life.
Life is precious all the time, in the happy times, in the busy times, and even in the sad times.  Teaching others about OWH is only one way of expressing our gratitude about life. Today is thankful Thursday. I am thankful for all those, (whether it's family or friends... old friends or new friends), who have shared in the effervescence of life.
               Let me know your thoughts with a comment.