Make Personalized Stationary

I love personalized stationary .
Fine Stationary
Paper Wink

One of my favorite presents was a box of "Sharon Markell" stationary on extra white, heavy cardstock. The treasures in the box included a variety of cards, note pads, gift cards, post cards, note cards etc. Some were printed with my intials, some first name and some my full name. When I got married I put the box away, figuring I would use it up "later".

Almost fifteen years later, I unearthed the box while cleaning out the basement. It brought back memories of how much I enjoyed using the stationary. Personalized stationary makes a great gift.

Making cards for Tasha was a lot of fun. I wouldn't want to make 10 or 20 of each one though. It would take a long time. However in the day of scanners and color printers, making personalized stationary is as easy as buying quality paper, ink and choosing 1-2 favorite designs.

The cards were made by printing the base paper with green ink, stamping with versa mark ink and embossing with shiny green embossing powder. The "Tasha" paper was run through the Xyron before embossing but next time I would wait until after embossing.


Once you scan the designs, you can resize and recolor to make different types of cards. It is important to have a VERY CLEAN design because the scanner will pick up all the flaws.

If you don't want to use your own paper and ink you can order from VISTA PRINT!! Have you discovered them yet?
Vista Print

You upload your design to their website and for a very reasonable price you have your own set of cards. My plan for the weekend is to order 4 sets for gifts. I'll let you know how they turn out!!

Hmmm! This young lady does not look too happy!!!

But look what a few years will do!!!

Valentines with Computer Text as Background

Most of us like to see our name in print. While in San Francisco, I checked out "Sharon" mugs, prison tee shirts, license plates and snow globes on the chacha shelves. Though I didn't buy any of the "beauties", it was fun to see my name in print. However, some names are left out of the souvenir "game".
"Tasha" is one of those names you can not find in souvenir shops. My niece has never seen her name on key chains, or tee shirts, snow globes or mugs. I decided I would find one "Tasha" bib, spoon or prison issue pair of underwear. (Alcatraz)
Unfortunately, I came home empty handed. "Tasha" was no where to be found!! When it came time to make Valentines, I remembered our conversation and decided it was time for Tasha to see her name in print. She has a wonderful husband named Scott and two beautiful girls, Ellie and Delaney. I thought it would be fun to include their names too!!

Step 1- Print name(s) in desired color on card stock or good quality paper. I found out you can not emboss photo paper, the film coating burns.

Step 2- Stamp and/or emboss over of names
Step 3, cut out stampings and put pieces through Xyron if desired



Step 4- Create cards
Step 5 - Get an early start on St. Patrick's Day

If you have a great idea for using text with stamping,
post a comment, picture or link!!

More Valentine Cards

***Tab and Allison are the TAG winners.
Congrats ladies - enjoy your tags.

Valentine Cards
**Valentine give-away coming soon!!!

I am having trouble with my flash.
Sorry that thec olors in the pictures are a bit weird.




The above base cards were made with the homemade stamp below and acrylic paint. The yellow is a piece of styrofoam with 5 sticky foam hearts stuck one on top of the other and then a felt heart attached to the top. It took me a while to figure out how wet the felt needed to be.
The base paper for the embossed pieces was made by cleaning the foam brush I used to reink the felt heart. I made 5 or 6 sheets and did not need to add paint. I purposely left lots of while space and use a variation of swirls and lines. Below is the sheet after some images had been embossed before cutting.

Steps in Heart Card

Here are the steps for making the heart card from the previous post. It is a fun card to make because depending on the colors you choose and your painting, each set of cut outs will look very different.

Be sure to use a very wet embossing ink or the image will not be solid because the watercolor paper is bumpy. It takes lots of pressure on the stamp to get a good image to emboss. I used VersaMark clear and put extra ink on it. I used clear embossing powder but it looks a bit pink because my VersaMark pad is stained.

1. Emboss shapes on water color paper

2. Use water colors or reinkers as paint. Choose 2 or 3 colors that will blend.
3. Cover the entire surface of the papers with water. Let soak for 2-3 minutes. Don't let it dry!
4. Paint random areas of color- let the paint blend in some areas.



5. After painting, wipe off only the embossed areas. You don't want the paint to dry on the embossing.

Embossed areas should "pop" after they are cleaned.

6. Cut out shapes, leave a tiny border or non at all.
7. Finish the card- lots of possibilities!!
I used a cotton applicator to wipe left over paint on the edges of the card and stamped the word "Love".

The red is not part of the card, it is the background I used so the card would show up in the picture.

Making Valentine Cards

It's that time again. Time to make valentines. One Zillion Valentines is my favorite children's book for inspiring kids to make valentines. I found some cute ANIMAL VALENTINE PATTERNS. These were my first two attempts.

Steps for making this watercolor heart valentine are in the next entry.

And one more tag. I found a jar of fabric beads in the clearance bin. It is really beads mixed with glue. It works great on paper too. I wanted an uneven edge, but it would be easy to use a template to create a shape or straight line with the beads. It was fun to "play" with.

I Don't Like to Make Cards!!

Believe it or not- I really don't like to make cards. I LOVE to make all the stuff that goes on cards. But actually putting the cards together- committing to an end product is not fun for me. So the way I go about things is probably very different than most people.
First I decide what color(s) I want to work with. Then I just start and make a bunch of stuff. I keep the little pieces in muffin tins and I end up with baskets and paper plates and bowls full of flowers, shapes, squares, strips and misc.. I experiment with embossing, resist, chalk and whatever else strikes me at the moment. Sometimes I want to work with squares sometimes with circles. I keep everything handy but limit the colors.
Sometimes I run a bunch of 5 inch paper through the Xyron before I start, other times I put the cut outs through the Xyron. This set of cards were "thank yous" for my mom's funeral. I ended up making about 125 different cards. No two were the same. It was my small tribute to her. She was a paper-crafter long before anyone had heard of paper-crafting.
Once I have a bunch of stuff made, I make a deal with myself. I will decide that I have to finish 10 cards before I can "play". For some reason making the "stuff" seems like play and actually putting the cards together seems like work.
The cord on the side was tied around each card. We printed each thank you note in orange/gold, two to a page. Once the notes were cut and folded, we slipped them under the cord and attached the back sheet with a glue dot. My dad and I both appreciated being able to type rather than handwrite the notes.
Some of you practical types are wondering why I would spend time making stuff I wasn't sure I was going to use. The handy thing about working the way I do is nothing ever goes to waste. I keep all the leftovers and paper scraps in double shoeboxes. I have one box for each color.
When I was done working with yellow and orange, I put it all away in the bin. The next time I want to work with those colors I will have a head start.
The other nice thing is I can run downstairs and put a card together very quickly using leftovers. If I have forgotten an event or a celebration a handmade card is never more than a few leftovers away!!
Another time saver is to print the message on photo paper. I printed "Thank You" in several different fonts, colors and backgrounds. I usually put a border around making it easier to cut out. Then I ran the printed sheets through the Xyron before cutting.

Thanks for stopping by!!

COMING SOON!!
Valentines for kids- to make for them or with them!!