Projects… projects…

I thought maybe I would send out a birth announcement for Zed… and maybe I still will. If I do send out a card I probably shouldn’t show it here on the blog until after they are sent. But it has been over a month now and still nothing out in the mail. Just this photograph burning a hole in my project folder.

I made about 16 of the card pictured below to use as thank yous for shower gifts and meals. I then started printing on some old colored note cards that came in a little metal box I picked up at the Goodwill. Some are yellow, some are blue. As I was printing, I kept justifying the time I was spending by thinking they would be his own personal stationary… for an infant?? and a boy?? He probably will never use stationary. I just couldn’t justify printing 100 to send to friends and family as an announcement.

I should make a few more, and actually use the floundering postal system to send out a card and photo of our new little man. But another part of me says “Why bother?” I’ve got the blog, email, and should probably save a tree or two… The cards are made on note cards from the Goodwill. They could even be called vintage note cards.
I think what I’ll do is compromise. I’ll send cards to those I don’t think read my blog. So if you are a stalker, and never comment, you may receive one.

These were printed on a nice, $2.50 per 20×30″ sheet of hot pressed printmaking paper. I think it’s Arches… not Arches 99, which is my favorite. For my books and cards, a smooth paper with just the right amount of texture is perfect. It’s gotta feel good. For a book, the feel is essential.

Whenever I make cards I make them odd sizes. That means I never have an envelope to fit the cards. Typically they will fit in a business envelope but are too short. This is the solution I came up with a few years ago, in Baltimore. First I cut the ends off the envelopes. Next I glue a piece of one of my many handmade papers (from my ever growing collection, thank goodness we live nowhere near a Paper Source) to close off the cut edge. I did this as a solution to a quick, inexpensive 4×6″ print packaging for the prints I had made from the Halloween party I photographed. For those I even pasted on a business card.

This time ’round, I decided that took too long. So rather than cutting the end off, I just stuffed them and folded the excess over and licked them down. No extra paper, no glue; hardly any extra time. It worked like a charm. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier??

On to the next project I never posted. This was made just a day or two after Earth Day. I’m a bit behind on things lately- go fig. In any case, Zed has worn this onesie several times, but it wasn’t until last week that I actually photographed him in it. Just so you know, this is appropriate everyday in our home. Don’t you know? every day is Earth Day.

One more project.
We were getting ready for our neighbor’s birthday party. While searching the aisles of Michaels I found what I had looked for a year ago when I made a memory game. At that time all I could find were flat circles, but I really wanted blocks. Well, they were staring at me and I couldn’t help but buy them and try to figure something out for our neighbor. I figured a memory game might be too young for her.

Talking with my other neighbor (who received the memory game last year) about finding the blocks she asked if I would make it a multi-sided memory game. Hummm. Good idea. That’s when I thought of making a multi-sided puzzle.

I asked India what her friend likes. She said Barbie. Humm, not making something that looks like a Barbie toy. But Barbie is all about fashion. So I found the iconic fashion photograph by Richard Avedon. You know the one. Taken in the late 50’s early 60’s, the model in a white dress with black gloves surrounded by elephants. So elegant.

We also decided that our neighbor really likes Zed and her new dog. The photo of Zed was easy. I had to sneak over to take a photo of her dog. The last image was of a pink flower. India helped make the box beautiful with all my many paper scraps.