The other day I promised I would be blogging like crazy. Well let the crazy begin.
Last November I participated in my first craft show. It was a one day boutique in someone's home and was so easy for me because I didn't have to be there. I made my cards, packaged and priced them, put together an inventory sheet (gotta love Excel) and sent them with a friend of a friend to Madison, WI. The Illinois card makers did better than those selling knit goods or quilts. Between that one day event and a couple of days in my girlfriend's office I made $80. Which I was quite pleased with for my first time out. Half of that money went to
WINGS, Women In Need Growing Stronger . Somethings sold better than others of course, below is a sample of the things that were returned.
If you want to read about the joys and angst of preparation for this event see my personal blog,
What Now? , and search for Madsion.
A best seller
I really like this design. I got the idea from a card I saw on
Etsy. The original was a large monogram on mulberry paper. I used puzzle pieces instead. Stamped with Top Boss and embossed with a combination of gold embossing powder and clear UTEE. The combination of embossing powders gave it a really cool mottled effect. I sent 16 and only 3 came back -- all with yellow(ish) mulberry paper. Point taken.
The lonely, one and only, thank you
I love this combination of colored paper and card stock (CS). The CS has been in my stash for years, I got it at the
Paper Source . I love the deep purple color, there are small flecks of gold and black here and there — really rich looking. The patterned paper is "Pink Flourishes" from Paper Pizazz. (I got a lot of this when my local JoAnn Fabrics closed.) I ran a Stampin' Up chipboard tag through the Xyron and attached the paper. The "brad" is a paper holder from the office supply store. The only stamping is the "thank you" which is from Stampin' Up's "Curvy Verses"
Dream Big!
I love this card I sent a dozen to Madison and a few sold but not great guns like the "perfect together" above. The only stamped bit is the "Portrait Stamp" © Stampington & Co. I set up a template on the computer, the sentiment was typed and 4 grey dots (5% black) were placed in the center where the postage stamps and stamped image were closest.
I used repositionable tape on the front of the postage stamps to group a lot of them together then ran them through the Xyron using permanent adhesive. Easy peasy I now have postage stickers to line up on 3 of those dots. I used a Stamp-a-ma-jig to line up the portait stamp. I used Stazon to get a deeper darker black and also wanted to prevent the ink from bleeding when I went to the next step.
I made a template using Stazon on a clear sheet of over-head projector film for the area between the woman's face and the edge of her stamp boarder. I made the template a bit larger than the card so the spray color would not get on the rest of the card. I ran the template through the Xyron using the repositionable adhesive so it would stay put, be reusable but not ruin the card. Another benefit of using the repositionable adhesive I could put it in my template notebook on a 3-ring punched page and I can use it again and again.
For the shimmery background I used a mixture of Pearlex and cheap hairspray in a misting bottle to get the background. I have one in about every color - one tip though, doesn't work with the ones with fine glitter - clogs the spring and makes spraying impossible. The hairspray works as a fixative and is a lot cheaper and I thought cleaner.
I freehanded a template for the crown and added some bling stickers. The scan isn't perfect because anything with dimension alters the colors. IRL this is a beautiful card.
Note: If you try this technique believe me on the Stazon, and the plastic template. I tried it with a lot of different inks and template materials, this works best.
