One of my friends from PAO (who as it turns out is also a distant cousin) sent out a request for a card shower for her aunt. I love handmade cards and cherish each and every one that I've ever received. I admire the artistry and the talent that goes into their creation. I've always said that I'm not a cardmaker, that my brain isn't wired that way, and used any one of a dozen other excuses to not try it, but recently I've been thinking - Why not? What's the worst that could happen - some paper goes into the trash? It's time to stop limiting myself by what I think I can and can't do and just.... do it.
So last night I did it and I'm sharing my first ever card with you. Please be gentle.
I chose an Art Impressions stamp that I purchased several years ago that has four ...er, ...um, ...mature ladies sitting on a sofa laughing. This stamp is appropriately part of the "Girlfriends" stamp series, which always depicts the four friends having fun and enjoying each other's company.
I purchased several of the "Girlfriends" stamps several years ago to make cards for a precious friend of ours who was undergoing treatment for stomach cancer. The reason why I chose that particular set? There were four of us - me, Bonnie, Linda and our beautiful Wendy, whose birthday was October 31. The "girls" on the stamps represented us - always laughing, even through our tears, and always together. We lost Wendy September 2, three years ago. I never made those cards for her.
So - last night was Wendy's birthday, I wanted to make a card, and guess what I chose? Laughter and good memories.
I used VersaFine ink, which is a pigment ink, quick drying, gives excellent detail and is my choice for stamping images that will be colored. The paper was simply a piece cut from one of my watercolor pads, using the smoothest side for stamping.
I used an old set of Close to My Heart watercolor pencils to color the image, with a few accents added using EK Success colored pencils.
Glued the girls onto a green striped panel and added a sheer green ribbon, but it still needed something. Stamped a cute saying on the front, and called it good.
Needed a little something on the inside, so stamped "Laugh" from a Dyan Reaveley collection, leaving lots of room to write my message.
And so I've finally made my first card!
I think Wendy would have loved it.
