Chartreuse Shoes

While reading Steve's latest short story, The Mystery of the Chartreuse Shoes, his description of an exchange during a dinner party conjured an image which I've tried to capture in a postcard for this month's postcard exchange (PCX). 

For the PCX, I'm working on a series of cards featuring portraits accompanied by a quote. For this one I used an unmounted rubber stamp image ["The Look" by The Stampsmith] and a sentence fragment from Steve's story: "...Carla replied with a haughty lift of her head and another murmured "bastard," and then smiled..."

I started with a MSWord document with this sentence fragment repeated four times on the page with sufficient spacing to allow creation of four cards (5.25"x4") from a single page.  I printed the fragment on white card stock then stamped "The Look" using dye-based ink. 

I used sticky notes to cover the sentence fragment and the image then stamped a background image along the edges.  I stamped small flowers [Stampin Up] in coordinating colors in random places on the card front. Using a glitter pen, I added more color to the center of the flowers.

The card was edged with a darker color ink pen.  A stiffer piece of recycled cardboard was cut to 4"x6".  The small flowers were stamped along the top and bottom of the larger card.

The Xyron was used to place permanent adhesive completely over the back of the card fronts (I made 12 of them).  Card fronts were placed on the larger cards and I *might* spray them with sealant to prevent smearing or marring during transport by mail. 

Luscious Lilies

My husband and I tend to acknowledge Valentine's day with an exchange of handmade cards instead of buying from florists because some are associated with negative impacts on the environment and unfair labor practices. 

One World Flowers provides an environmentally-friendly, fair trade option for ordering flowers http://www.oneworldflowers.org/news-events/tag/wholesale-fair-trade-flowers/

Last Sunday, I was completely, yet pleasantly, surprised when he presented me with a bouquet of red day lilies. He had creatively turned magazine pages, bamboo skewers and an old compact disc into an exquisite bouquet. 

Technique:  For each flower, use a pen to trace the outline of your hand on a piece of paper. Color the flower and the skewer using markers or acrylic paint. Cut out along the lines.  To get the soft bend in the flowers, roll each "finger" around a pencil or pen.  Wrap the portion representing the bottom of your hand around the top of a skewer. Adhere the flower to the skewer with hot glue or tape.  Arrange several in a glass to create your own truly handmade bouquet.