A mish-mash of stuff!
Two days ago at work, I found that B.L.'s wife fell and broke her arm. Now B.L. is one of my favorites of the people I support, and his wife is an active gardener and interior decorator. I decided that I wanted to send a get-well card to her. But all the cards in the area just weren't right, so I decided to make my own.
The sentiment reads: "Nurture the world inside you / with the same love and care you give the world around you."
And here's how I made it: I bought a pack of Strathmore Creative Cards; they're blanks made of watercolor paper with a deckled edge (these have gold). Then I sketched the cat and the window and cut them out with a pocket knife and a pair of cheap scissors (I was working at my desk at lunchtime). I was carrying a bag of kimono silk with me so I could work on my current projects, so I used the chirimen for curtains (I pulled the threads from the top piece to make a fringe and used a thin strip with the wrong side out for the curtain ties), and some older crepe for the background. I glued the background onto a piece of watercolor paper I bought for the card. To make the vine, I glued pieces of the green crepe and patterened meisen (woven pattern) silk to the bit of card that I'd cut out. When the glue was dry, I just cut out the shapes and glued them onto the card, over a vine I'd drawn on with... Sharpie markers. the sling for the kitty's arm was the biggest challenge. I had a little lining silk, an antique thin habotai, with me, so I cut out a small piece of that and cut two slits in the cat cutout -- one above and one below the arm. I threaded the silk through that, turning the edges so they wouldn't show. Then I gathered the tops and glued then behind the cat's neck so the sling was complete. I twisted a little string out of some of the loose threads from the habotai and used that to make the little bow at the top of the sling. The kitty's face was drawn on with a .005 Micron pen, the necklace and flower centers were drawn on with a gold gel pen, and everything else was done with Sharpie markers. I had to finish this at home because it did run over lunch; all told, the card (my first attempt at this kind of thing) took about 3 hours to complete.
It was worth it! ♥ :) ♥
I realized yesterday that I was late on my giveaway from last year's post. Renda, Brandy, Ice... I have goodies for you. I'll send them out as I get 'em together.
Note to Doctor's receptionist: When you're rescheduling a missed appointment, telling the patient, "He's going to want to go over the results with you" (or any variation thereof) is NOT reassuring. Gah.
(Note to self: Don't be such a pessimist. Different personal communications styles mean that she could have been saying "he wants the HMO money for the visit and he won't get it if you don't come in", for all you know. Eh heh. ^^;;)
The sentiment reads: "Nurture the world inside you / with the same love and care you give the world around you."
And here's how I made it: I bought a pack of Strathmore Creative Cards; they're blanks made of watercolor paper with a deckled edge (these have gold). Then I sketched the cat and the window and cut them out with a pocket knife and a pair of cheap scissors (I was working at my desk at lunchtime). I was carrying a bag of kimono silk with me so I could work on my current projects, so I used the chirimen for curtains (I pulled the threads from the top piece to make a fringe and used a thin strip with the wrong side out for the curtain ties), and some older crepe for the background. I glued the background onto a piece of watercolor paper I bought for the card. To make the vine, I glued pieces of the green crepe and patterened meisen (woven pattern) silk to the bit of card that I'd cut out. When the glue was dry, I just cut out the shapes and glued them onto the card, over a vine I'd drawn on with... Sharpie markers. the sling for the kitty's arm was the biggest challenge. I had a little lining silk, an antique thin habotai, with me, so I cut out a small piece of that and cut two slits in the cat cutout -- one above and one below the arm. I threaded the silk through that, turning the edges so they wouldn't show. Then I gathered the tops and glued then behind the cat's neck so the sling was complete. I twisted a little string out of some of the loose threads from the habotai and used that to make the little bow at the top of the sling. The kitty's face was drawn on with a .005 Micron pen, the necklace and flower centers were drawn on with a gold gel pen, and everything else was done with Sharpie markers. I had to finish this at home because it did run over lunch; all told, the card (my first attempt at this kind of thing) took about 3 hours to complete.
It was worth it! ♥ :) ♥
I realized yesterday that I was late on my giveaway from last year's post. Renda, Brandy, Ice... I have goodies for you. I'll send them out as I get 'em together.
Note to Doctor's receptionist: When you're rescheduling a missed appointment, telling the patient, "He's going to want to go over the results with you" (or any variation thereof) is NOT reassuring. Gah.
(Note to self: Don't be such a pessimist. Different personal communications styles mean that she could have been saying "he wants the HMO money for the visit and he won't get it if you don't come in", for all you know. Eh heh. ^^;;)