Send A little Love in your Mail Box

Hello Blog Friends,

We are at Week #4 of 2017.

I'm keeping track of the weeks of the year in a few ways.  To challenge myself, if life unto itself is not challenge enough, I subscribe to a Doodle Challenge or two, Word Challenges and Self Care Challenges, that are all documented around the weeks.

As my part of the Year of MORE... and the easy way I put a twist on it... I want to be MORE of myself... (not self-centered, and I'm all that) but just turn it up a notch and be, do, share a little bit more of what I have to offer.

I may have stated it here before... but like computers, cell phones and any technology... you can have the basic model... but once the creators find something new to add to 'it' to make it better... they number it so you can update and be current.  Better than before.

So, the original me ... was, Peggy.  Then I became Peggy 1.0..... right now, I'm way above a 10 currently, (old school, like the movie I'm a TEN) like when people say age is just a number .... trust me... I'm Peggy but new and improved with every experience, learning opportunity and challenge... I'm trying my best to be updated... or up to date.... to give, share, do.... SHINE... with MORE!

Here's one thing I bet you didn't know about me, I make whimsical greeting cards!  

****shameless plug**** 

This hobby of mine really is almost all I talk about here on my blog!  Valentine's Day is coming up.... why not send some snail mail to a friend?

BEE Mine

To be totally honest with you, because when it comes from my heart talking about myself.... I don't know how to be otherwise.... this "hobby" of mine really hasn't taken off  how I thought it would.  

I'm not ready to give up on it, however!  

I thought maybe, I would have returning customers, or new customers wanting cards to send to their friends... purchasing every month, or throughout the year. and buying packs of greeting cards to give as gifts.

From what I can tell, you my friends love to receive my cards as a gift... but after that... the world has become too busy and well ... sales are non-existent. (Poor me)

Love Me... Tucker

I'm a little sad about it. But hey,  I am very blessed and fortunate that I don't make cards or art for a living... I'd really be that 'starving artist'.

Hearts of Love

Meantime, while I work on my purpose, and while I explore  MORE of me to be an even 'better' version.... I will continue to work on art from my heart.   

Cards like the one above don't have to be sent out only on Valentine's Day.  

From the small amount of research I've done (and actually, I've created a few surveys and calculated the data), people love finding snail mail in their mailbox. The hand addressed stamped envelope to them does really improve their mood and their outlook of the day.   It's amazing how they will tear open a greeting card to read it, (nicely use a  letter opener) versus tossing in a pile, the humdrum of the bills and marketing advertisements they receive on a daily basis. Snail mail is a card with the hug in its fold!!

With just a few weeks a way from Valentine's Day, I'd love to create some whimsy for you.  Contact me in the comment section, or send me an email at prdesigns1@sbcglobal.net.  My greeting cards will surely
Brighten Someone's Day!

Heart Check

Write it on your heart that everyday is the best day in the year - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Week #38 LIFE'S simple pleasures - hearts

 

Just like the word SHINE and being a part of the House of SHINE - finding things that SHINE...

 

This year of simple pleasures I having been trying to find things that are about the heart.  Hearts in nature, hearts in art, hearts on cards,  I heart ♥'s!!!!

Although I don't think it is sign language, a lot of Instagram and Facebook pictures have people holding their fingers together in the shape of heart.  Do you know how hard it is to take a picture like this by yourself?  Ha ha.... I had my hubby help me.  Neither one of us have ever really formed our fingers like this ... there is something about it though.... holding your fingers and hands together and raising them above your head up to the beautiful sky... that truly means love!

 

Put you heart, mind, intellect and soul even into your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.

 - Swami Sivananda

Wikipedia defines heart : The heart symbol or "heart shape" (♥) is an ideograph used to express the idea of the "heart" in its metaphorical or symbolic sense as the center of emotion, including affection and love, especially (but not exclusively) romantic love

 

I've taken on a personal challenge not only to SHINE, but to look for hearts in nature.  I think it's a sign ...

 

It's a wild and wonderful LIFE (world)... follow your heart and let the adventure unfold!

Beautiful Soul

Love is in the air...

and on some of my greeting cards ♥

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you know that I like art.... I like heart art... I like ♥ ... I like heART.... however you say it... I have great fun and satisfaction creating. And I try to create EVERY day!

I've created lots of cards over the years... and I love to LEARN new 'stuff'.  That's part of who I am this year, in creating the YEAR OF mySELF.... seeking, exploring, learning and finding.   And I'm LEARNING collage art.... I'm painting!  I'm taking art classes (on line through Brave Girls) and I'm learning from great bloggers who share their talent.

I got the idea for this card from Stephanie at Homegrown Hospitality

This type of card and tag seem like  a new version of  country crafting that I did over 15 years ago.  Freshing up the heART ♥ a bit.

Come back and visit me again real soon...

I'd like to brighten your day!!!

Home Made Heart

Hmmm, I heart today..... ♥

.... yet I'm very confused....

I'm on overload.... so much is happening, tried to vote early... the place we went to was open, but not ready to take early voters.... the weather is changing, but some are experiencing major darkness.... I'm trying to learn new computer programs, new terminology... cell phones, apps, instructions, printers... argh but it takes me longer to remember... I want to really love this day... but it's 8:30pm and I'm ready to go to bed.... will my mind stop turning??

Bloom & Shine

Real simple card today!  With love!

A few little doodled blossoms and a cute ♥ tag with some floss... and voila` a great creative greeting!!

But I do not hang my head in shame, I got the idea from Pinterest, a place that inspires my imagination and the credit goes to a blog: This & That and everything in between!

Lots of things inspire my imagination.  I have a ton of notebooks, and sketchbooks, and 3" x 5" index cards, computer scanned images, magazines, favorite blogs, creative opportunities ( in other words, big mistakes) all with greeting card ideas!  More ideas than I have time for.  And all that fun stuff surrounds me in my office.

"It is better to take what does not belong to you than to let it lie around neglected." Mark Twain

I'm just trying to follow some advice that really SHINES!

Go ahead,

Brighten Someone's Day!

A BIG 'hello' from Thumbody

I've thought of doing this before....years ago actually.  Sissy was in first grade when I saw my first 'thumb' buddy image...so we are talking about 10 years now!  Cute, super cute images just using my thumb squished in ink and then placed on the card... with doodles making the magic come alive on each creative greeting!!

You can write it numerous ways... Thumbody loves you, thumbody thinks your great, Hello from thumbody, brighten THUMB body's Day!!!!!

While surfing through Pinterest I stumbled upon I believe an Asian web page, where they took the thumb prints a step further and created these adorable animals!

Simple and cute...... and endless if you have time to doodle.

Have you ever had your fingerprints taken?  How many endless cop movies and tv shows have you seen where the criminal is hauled into a precinct and their picture is taken and the next scene some guard is painstakingly taking their finger prints for identification? 

I had my finger prints taken about 5 years ago.  I was at the county jail, but no where near any criminals or jail cells.  To become a paraprofessional in the school system in our city I had to have a background check, finger prints and all.

I was a bit nervous.  For no reason.... they don't even use ink anymore.  It's all digitized... I just rolled my fingers over some computer screen and I was done in less than a minute... no mess... at all.

With these kind of ink prints, I can certainly

brighten 'thumb' bodies day!!!

Trilogy by Design

 Card number 3, in this weeks card trilogy. 

All three cards are connected with the same mono-chromatic color scheme and I used two different 4" x 6" patterned paper sheets to add the major color pieces to all the cards.  Other coordinating paper scraps were added from my stash.

All three cards have a different feel to them as well.  The top 'thank you' card is very simplistic and straight forward.  The punched circles are all 'perfect' in their rows. The ribbon and the punched edge are all very calculated.

The second card, although there is no sentiment, it could be used a number of different ways, from a thinking of you card... anywhere in between, up to a hello note card!  The different size banner shapes and the book fringe make this card somewhat, versatile,  eclectic and spirited.

The hugs and kisses card is most planned.  It follows a layout from Mojo Monday (if interested, scroll down to find that blog over to the right -->).  The shapes are all uniform, there is a mix and match theme to the pattern paper... plaid then paisley, paisley then plaid. I colored the little girls hair and the hearts to the reds and oranges throughout the card palette.  And this last card has the most detail with multiple  layers, framing, added floss, faux stitching holes, the banner sentiment and crystal effects to pop out the hearts!

Today's post was a two fold project, actually.  I wanted to use up all the paper I had pulled to work on the cards, so I found 3 completely different ways to do that.  And, I also learned how to sharpen the color and add a watermark stamp to the cards while working on my skills in Photo Shop! I'm LEARNING (something new, almost every day)

I'm really happy my plan came together.  Now get out there, order some creative greetings from me, your humble starving artist card maker and send some FuN MaiL..... it WILL

brighten someone's day!

Hot Friday

Edit:  I got a great tip from Andrea, and am trying to photoshop my photos.  Old style on the left, new attempt on the right, I'm learning.  Her blog is Ewan Style to the right-->

I'll finish off the week with some other inspired doodles from my art bin... along with paper piecing and background papers that come from my scrap stash. Add to them some vintage rick rack, multi-colored twine and a little inking and trying to make these cards somewhat flat (for mailing purposes) to Brighten Someone's Day....

Real floss stitches above add to the stuffed feel of the cute & cuddly toy giraffe.  And faux stitches below look like I really used my sewing machine to adhere the banners and circles in place.

Oh my goodness, it has been a hot, hot week.  Love the sunshine, but need a little relief and a lot of rain!!!  It's getting very crispy outside!

Bump in the Road

I have been going through stuff in my stash in my 'art' studio, looking at stuff in my smash (book) and shuffling through stuff in my mind!  Some is a bit of a clutter scene, but I realized it's all the things that make me .... me!    I'm starting to purge things, and for the other 'stuff' trying to find a place for the unknown to be stored... if I really want to keep it for some day!

I noticed a pattern to some of my cardmaking this month.  Hearts, ♥ big, tiny... red ♥... not red... perfect and a bit grungy....but all have some sort of meaning of life and love behind them.

On some cards you have to look a bit harder to find the true heart.  Not that the others are fake... but it might be hard to filter out all the other 'stuff' until you truly find what's been there all the time!

And some hearts are very clear.  You just have to enjoy and accept them as they are.

There is more than 1 path to happiness.  The road to happiness has many on ramps!

A Cup of Mojo

I've mentioned this before...there are so many talented people out there with blogs and on the world wide web... with so many people, means there are so many ideas.  And with so many ideas, there is so little time! 

However, when you are in between jobs and life is just on this holding pattern... ideas are good!  They keep me off the street (ha ha) and if I have all the resources at hand to use... even better for creating (cheaply)!

Here are two totally different cards, yet they have a similar feel, probably because of the patterned papers. 

You know, I would never say I'm CASe-ing one of these cards because they are specifically put on to the MOJO Monday blog for you to be inspired to create and share everything. 

If ever stuck for an idea, this is a great resource to go to and be inspired, for any card occasion.  It's amazing just seeing a layout of circles and rectangles and the placement on a page can get that mojo working.

Motivation is what gets you started,  Habit is what keeps you going! ~ pinterest

Wind Blown

Flags, banners & pennants... anything that can swing off a card is hot!  Especially for summer time!  Here is a cute card I CASed off of  Pinterest.  I think it's missing something... color!  One of the flags should have been a stand out red hot ♥ It can have any sentiment or be used as some FuN MaiL... as a note card!

Getting creative and cleaning out the clutter today!!

A bit Edgy

Feeling a bit grungy... not dirty, but well worn with a touch of understated class!

I tried to find the definition of grunge... (in paper crafting terms) but it's more of the alternative rock bands of the '90s, than a card style.  But Tim Holtz and other paper crafting gurus have coined a style.... creating perfectly nice papers and embellishments and making them a little edgy or worn... around the outside, the middle...everywhere!

This is a fun LOVE ♥ card and two tags that are going to some Missy in my COTM club.  The way I get this effect is with a scraping tool that roughs up the edges and makes them look slightly torn.  And then by dabbing dark brown 'stains' or alcohol inks, I get the feeling that grimy little fingers have been touching and fingering the edges.  And then I also added dabbles of  acrylic paint, that in my mind creates 2nd hand paper that was being re-used... for something else entirely! The sentiment is off the computer and I added circle clips and ribbon from my stash.

See, I don't have to be 'perfect' in card making.  I even like when I make these tags with stuff a little crooked and hanging off the edges... of course in a completely balanced way... but just a bit off the edge!

Went downtown Chicago on Saturday to see Jersey Boys.  And we just stumbled upon their Memorial Day parade, one block away from the theatre.  There were so many sights and sounds on that beautiful day.  Here is one picture that captures my pride in being an American!  Enjoy and remember this day as we honor those who served us!

Bloomin Hearts

Ooh, I'm a bit nervous. 

 I went to the garden center earlier this week and bought some colorful annuals and then planted them yesterday.  Is it to early in the season here in the mid-west to get my blooms popping in my secret garden? It's a beautiful sunny day, yet cool... will I have to worry about planting a week or two too early?

Punch out flower hearts wont disappoint me!  Lots of red and pink!!   Hard to see it completely, ( but I guess there is a shadow box die cut in the world out there), I just manufactured my own with some paper piecing and using my scor tool to give my box some dimension.  Stamped green stems and added some red & white bakers twin.  This card could have lots of different sentiments, love, get well, mother's day.

Send some FuN MaiL and Brighten Someone's Day!

If you were wondering what your purpose is: your purpose is to CREATE one~ pinterest

You Spin me Round

I love, love, LOVE ♥ the way this card turned out!  (Sorry to the original cardmaker, doodle designer... I'm not giving you credit, my bad) I'm taking credit for perfectly CASe-ing the card.... but idea and layout and colors.... not mine. Of course I CASEd this from a view on Splitcoaststampers.  It is so dag nabbit cute!

Here's the little doodled dude up-close holding the entire world in his hands!!!!  Look even more closely and you can see I 'fussy' cut him out.  The hearts have a argyle embossed pattern to them, and the checkerboard background is actually some stiff material cut into a ribbon and then I even cut it further down.  The bright red and robin egg blue work great together! I wanted the hearts to have a button 'feel' to them without the bulk for mailing.  Added some cute two color baker's twine.

The matching tag is from leftover paper scraps.  Hmmmm, now that I see it... it has a more 'fancy' look to it. I like to match the card and tag, oh by the way, this is a special  COTM sent out to Miss O in the Dallas area.  For some reason she is into love ♥♥♥ But I just had to use my new Martha Stewart doily lace punch that I got for %40 off.   But look, there is commonality, there is another argyle heart!  XXX

The world is such a big place, don't you think?

You must be the change you wish to see in the world ~ Mahatma Gandhi

On the Wings of Love

 Today, in the spot light, a fantabulous card and tags set that was mailed to a special ♥ friend.  Making cards with a theme is a small challenge, yet I'm more than eager to have fun with it!!  I search through my colors of paper, I blurf (blog surf), I play around with scraps of this and that... and then I'm on a creative roll.  I used the computer to create the sentiments here, and actually ran my patterned paper through to be printed, not stamped.  They were actually scraps of pink/red and lime green paper.  I had to tape them down (lightly) to be held in place on the white  (8-1/2" x 11")  paper when it ran through the printer.  It's a trick you learn from some creative genius, who also runs tissue paper through the same way.

Here are the cute matching tags. Same scraps and similar shapes with hearts at the main theme and a little stitching to keep things interesting.   I don't know, other than giving away my creative greetings!! in little cellophane gift bags, all wrapped up rafia and a bow or mini scrap books or a combination of both... I don't buy a lot of presents.  Would it be a nice touch to have a matching card with a beautiful sentiment you write yourself, and then a gift tag that matches too?                       

Just smile for me and let the day begin

You are the sunshine that lights my heat within

I'm sure that you're an angel in disguise

Come take my hand and together we will rise ~ Jeffrey Osborn

Know in your Heart

I love this card!  I think the grey and the pink are a winning combination!!!  It has a softness to it!  This creative greeting can be sent at any time of the year.  Oh, and of course it can be given with a beautiful gift.  And sure, it can be tucked away in some Sweeties carry on luggage when they leave for a few days.  Inside there is plenty of room to right a note or even a poem from the heart.

I actually first saw this card on Pinterest.  Yikes, I guess they are having some issues with copy right laws.  I may be totally wrong (and I am, often) but I thought one of the reasons Pinterest started because people (mostly women) wanted a place to share cool ideas.  We blog surf and then want to share with our friends what we found, a cute outfit, a fun hair style, a tasty looking new recipe, a funny quote, a happy uplifting saying.... it was for showing off and sharing... not stealing and not giving credit for things we didn't do first. It's true, inspiration can happen anywhere, but it was nice to have a little blog to have it all in one spot..... because it was successful, someone saw a loop hole in the law or someone took advantage of someone, somewhere.

Pinterest is primarily for women ...... but gets really funny when they start putting quotes on their own blog about it's for woman planning weddings they'll never have, furnishing homes they'll never own and filling closets with clothes they can't afford.  These people can hoard secretly... just by having hundreds of pictures of things the LIKE!