Shoebox: Handmade Cards Carol Duvall Show : Episode CDS-1560 -- More Projects » By Carol Duvall
The cards I showed today, Happy Birthday, Get Well, Merry Christmas, etc., were not really sent to the Shoebox but rather to me personally. They were all handmade, however, and I thought that many of you might enjoy looking at them just because they were lovely to look at and because they might give you some ideas for cards that you make.
Card number one was from viewer Jeanette Drakatos of Staten Island, N.Y., and it was stunning. It was an all-white card about 5 inches square, and the entire front of the card had been embossed. I’m guessing that Jeanette used one of those large metal stencils that have such intricate designs. But that wasn’t all. After embossing the entire front of the card, Jeanette enhanced it further by adding silver bugle beads and tiny pearls in a beautiful design. Every bead was stitched, not glued, into place. It was very lovely.
The next card, from members of the Mile High Polymer Clay Guild in Denver, Co., was equally lovely in its simplicity. The plain white card featured a design in the center of the front cover which consisted of a square of blue paper, topped by a slightly smaller square of silver paper and further enhanced with a silver swirl that was apparently punched out of silver paper. In the center of the smaller square was a perfectly beautiful polymer clay heart in varying shades of purple, mauve and grey, wrapped with silver wire. Difficult to describe but lovely to look at. Had I not known the card was from a polymer clay guild, I would never have guessed it to be polymer clay. It had a most unusual metallic look to it. At the fold of the card was a 1/8-inch-wide length of blue ribbon tied in a bow. It was quite grand.
I’m sure many of you have seen and perhaps used one of those sheer little bags that seem to be so prevalent lately. Some are shaped like little pouches, but the one I had today was made like an envelope purse, complete to covered button closure. Upon opening it inside was a neatly folded piece of multicolored vellum that opened up to reveal a dear little handmade card made with a piece of the same vellum on a darker piece of card stock. Evette Potts, who has been a frequent guest on our show demonstrating her beading talents, was the maker and sender.
I don’t think I ever did mention the maker and sender of the next card, but I’m certain that any regular viewers immediately recognized it as the work of Dee Gruenig. It was colorful, cheery and filled with photos and rubber stamping! The way the card was folded made me think of what a wonderful way it would be to spice up your Christmas letters next year. Dee used an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of card stock, folded it in half horizontally, opened it up then folded it again vertically. After opening it again, she cut along the crease between the two rectangles on the left so the bottom left rectangle could then be folded over the bottom right rectangle, which could then be folded up over the upper right rectangle and everything could then be folded to the left over rectangle #1. Turn it over and there is your card. Now open it! And with all of the colorful stamping and the photos Dee used to fill her pages, it was a great fun card to receive and play with!
From Michele Gerbrandt came a beautiful card of dark blue card stock, enhanced by the addition of gold cording down the side, a gold butterfly on the front, and some sheer navy ribbon. It was very rich looking but difficult to describe.
And the next card that definitely was fun to open was from our paper folding expert, Karen Thomas. It had so many places to open and unfold that I was worried I might do something out of sequence and mess everything. There was even a little folded paper heart in one of the pockets. Nice to see that Karen practices what she preaches!
The last and very pretty card came as a total surprise, because there was only one little hint as to who might have made it. The decoration on the front of the card was a wonderful vase full of flowers of all kinds and colors and all dimensional. Nothing was punched. It was obvious that every flower and stem and leaf had been hand cut by...none other than Jane Beard, our wonderful paper engineer/rubber stamper. The cards, the notes, the kind words all were so much appreciated and enjoyed, and I truly discovered how much a handmade card really means. It’s a present in itself.
| |
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_guest4_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4aa_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4bb_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4g_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4d_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4ee_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4k_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4i_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4l_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4m_e.jpg",350,450))
![PHOTO](javascript:popup("http://img.hgtv.com/HGTV/2004/02/16/cds1560_4n_e.jpg",350,450))
