Sending Happy Thoughts - Healing HeArts Mixed Media Postcards

At Healing HeArts this month (the art therapy program I attend for cancer patients, caregivers and family members), the project was right up my alley: mixed media cards.  Healing HeArts is held at a local arts and music academy where we have access to just about every kind of art supply you can imagine, and for this activity, the program facilitator brought hundreds of his own rubber stamps.  I took my basic supplies kit which included some of my favorite vintage ephemera.  To say I enjoyed myself is an understatement!

I made several mixed media collages on watercolor paper that I could send either as postcards or attached to a card front.  I started by cutting watercolor paper to size (4 x 5.25 inches) and doing a quick watercolor wash as a background.  I adhered random pieces of vintage book pages and postage stamps, then stamped on the butterfly, hash marks, and sometimes a sentiment.  Once I got home, I scraped a thin layer of white acrylic paint over the book pages in order to blend them in better, and added cancellation marks over the postage stamps.

I created this collage with the blue background specifically for a friend who recently learned that she has had a recurrence of breast cancer.  I attached it to a card front and sent it to let her know that I was thinking of her.  I love that Healing HeArts had a double benefit this month:  I enjoyed creating these cards, and my friend enjoyed receiving some cheerful mail during a difficult time.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day.

Happy Mother's Day

I've been making a Mother's Day card for my mom for at least eleven years now, and it's important to me that I not duplicate a design I've used in the past.  That's easy enough to do if one keeps buying new stamps and papers, but I've cut back on my spending and am trying to use what I already have.  So I turned to the internet for inspiration, and found this card that I could put my own spin on.

For the flowers on my card, I die-cut patterned papers and vintage sheet music using some of the first Spellbinders dies I ever bought: standard circles.  The leaves were also cut using Spellbinders dies.  To ground the flowers, I added an embossed layer of cardstock in the same color as the background.  I like the texture that it gives without detracting from the flowers.  The sentiment was heat-embossed in a color called peridot which coordinated well with the color of the leaves.  It's not easy for me to make clean and simple cards  that feel like "me," so I was really happy with how this card turned out

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms!  Thanks for stopping by my blog.