Border Stamp Layering

I had been waiting to use this prayer stamp since October. The new layering stamps finally gave me inspiration!

--LJE

Bird Stamp Layering

What did I want for Christmas? Stamp layering sets!

--LJE

Happy Anniversary to Me AND/OR What have I been doing for two months?

Dearest Readers, 

What have I been doing for two months? Quite a lot, actually! However, you wouldn't know that because I haven't posted anything. Honestly, I don't have a great excuse. My computer hasn't been working that well, and frankly, I've been busy and more content to make art than post pictures of it. However, I know you guys have been missing my posts because the internet told me so:

Thanks, internet! I got two of these, and boy, did that make me feel lazy!

Aside from my lack of posting, tomorrow is also a special day for me. It's the one year anniversary of the day I officially quit drawing my comic and devoted myself to paper art. I finally let go to just go with the flow and see where paper crafting took me. And you know what? It so hasn't gone the direction I imagined it would...

I thought it would be this:

But, it turned out to be more this:

These cards from January are some of my first attempts at stamp layering, and I present them here as this post's new content. I am right now uploading everything else I've been working on and will be posting everything in the next few weeks, so stay tuned! 

As you know, this has been a wonderful and winding journey for me, and I thank you all for being here with me--even when I disappear for two months. The most amazing and fascinating thing to me is that I never ever thought I would fall so utterly in love with card making. I think I was keeping this idea of doing some sort of high brow Matisse homage art, but then I let go again because I ADORE making cards. I'm also, in my opinion, not too terrible at it. I have execution issues all the time, but designing cards just feels natural to me. I think one of the reasons I love it so much is because I like to give gifts so much. I like to make people happy, and this way I can create and brighten someone's day in a small way. It truly fits with my personality. 

Happy Anniversary to me--what will next year look like? I'm sorry there's no tea party this year, but I'm sure my insular guests understand...

--LJE

Commission: Vintage Collage Style

I made these cards with the instructions that the recipient likes vintage, cats, music, and gardens. Some of these got a little off the rails (is that phrase really applicable to cards?), but I think I kind of love these! 

--LJE

Monogrammed Gift

These cards I made as a gift, inspired by this the Frugal Crafter post. 

--LJE

Commissioned Holiday Cards with Bonus Emo

Readers,

As I close out my posts for 2015, I have to level with you. These cards that I made for a friend who commissioned me to make his holiday cards nearly killed me. This was by far the hardest and most challenging paper crafting project I have undertaken to date. With all the complex inking and accuracy demanded on a white background, it really tested my ability and sanity. I ended up ruining a lot of cards in the process--stray ink or a line of poor coloring could ruin a whole card. I fixed some by adding snowflakes in the right spots, and ended up making a few cards with just snowflakes. 

Before I started my salvage operation a few days after the main nine hours of work over Thanksgiving weekend, I had a mini breakdown. I was completely doubting my skills and whether I could ever be really good at this whole paper crafting thing. Sure, I do believe I am pretty good at the whole paper cutting thing and design part, but stamping, inking, and coloring? The parts which are so much closer to drawing? Drawing which I gave up last February? I have been making slow strides back towards any work with a stylus, but this nine hours almost broke me. Had anything really changed? Was I about to fall off this path, too? I felt better after sleeping on it, of course. Then, I sold cards at two events and got lots of compliments on both my cards and on my drawn postcards from 2013. I also received three commissions for cards as a result of those cards, sending my confidence back up a bit. 

I'm telling you this because at the close of this wonderful year of art and self-discovery and learning, I am glad this happened. I am glad I pushed myself so hard that it hurt. I am glad I did something insanely hard and failed at some of the battles, but won the war. I never pushed myself this hard with drawing my comic. I never loved my comic the way I love this. I am happy to have found something that challenges me and to which I accept the challenge. Thanks again for everyone's support. You have helped make this year great. 

Ok, back to the cards. I knew going in that this design my friend requested would involve lots of difficult inking that would demand consistency between cards. I followed the instructions posted by the Frugal Crafter after her friend Jody to make a DIY stamp positioning tool (the "real" one is super expensive). My version which I show below was not perfect, but it really helped me with these cards, I don't think I could have done it without it. 

--LJE

Commissioned to Match

A friend commissioned me to make some companion cards to some of the ones I made to sell earlier in December. This is what I came up with...

--LJE

Abstract Inlay Commissions and Gifts

Howdy!

You've surely seen this design a lot at this point, so I thought I'd fill ONE post with the rest of the 2015 projects made with my favorite die. All holiday gifts or commissions! 

--LJE