Junk Mail

I am taking a class on Sustainability this quarter.  So far it has been both fascinating and frustrating.  Fascinating because of the innovation that has come from the Sustainability Movement, and frustrating because the prevalent view of several of my classmates seems to be that sustainability has everything to do with the environment and nothing to do with the economy or the quality of life. Nothing could be further from the truth. (For more information see: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/104)

Now, you are probably asking, "What is sustainability and what does it have to do with crafts?"

To put it in a very, very simple form, sustainability is insuring that we, as well as future generations can continue to exist while preserving the environment, our economy and our quality of life. The mantra, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!" is a just tiny piece of it, and that's where my craft for today fits in.

For at least the first few sessions of this class, we have decided to put our names on name cards so we can get to know each other.  I thought it would be fun to make mine from junk mail.  Here is the result:

 

The background is made from an envelope.  The border and letters are made from the inside of a security envelope.  I used my Coluzzle Swing Alphabet template to cut out the letters of my name. 

The flowers and leaves are punched from the glossy paper used for advertising flyers. To give the leaves and flowers dimension, I shaped them using an embossing tool.

 

Glossy ad paper is perfect for punch flowers because it holds its shape well, and the vibrant colors really pop.

String Art

String art, also known as Spirelli, is really easy to do.  All you need are some scalloped shapes and embroidery floss.  Wrap the embroidery floss around the shapes you have a beautiful design that looks like it took hours instead of minutes to make.

Here is a card I made recently for my Sister-in-law:

It was made using three different punches, the Marvy Uchida Giga, Mega and Jumbo scalloped circles. I wrapped two layers of floss around the two inner circles.

I created my own shapes in Paint Shop Pro Pro to make this card:

Don't be intimidated by the cutting.  It only took about five minutes each to cut the shapes out.  If you want to try it, you can download a page of shapes here: http://www.handcraftedgreetings.com/pdf/StringArt1.pdf

You can also purchase Spirelli punches online from various craft retailers. This is not something I've done, so I do not have any recommendations.

My New "Home" on the Web

After several weeks of frustration and days of sending e-mails back and forth to tech support, I finally gave up on the blog that came with my web hosting service and moved my blog here to blogger.  I don't know why I didn't do it sooner!  Things are so much easier here.  I was even able to move all of my old posts (thankfully, I had been saving them to my hard drive).

Hopefully things will return to normal soon, although I'm not entirely sure what "normal" is anymore!  With school and work, I am finding less and less time to make cards.  Oh, and then there's the "T" word.  I haven't taken care of that yet either.  I think tomorrow will be a homework and taxes day. Oh joy.