something about a handmade card

When I am in a creative rut, it seems that a friend’s birthday is enough of a prompt to spark creativity. One of my friends was coming into town for her birthday, and as a words of affirmations girlie, I knew I was going to give her a card.

Last minute, I decided I was going to make said card. In a previous post, I showed three cards I’d made, but I wanted to try something new. Then I saw this video on Pinterest, and I thought it was so cute!

Here’s a video of the final product:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/34edb1_25615a24e4b343219c7980cd19c27609/720p/mp4/file.mp4

You’ll need:

• a rectangular sheet of paper (the bulk of the card)

• a scrap piece of paper (for the little character or thing you’ll put inside + the hinge that will go on the back of the door to pull your creation in and out)

• scissors

• glue stick

• any of your favourite art materials

A note when making: The door needs to be relatively high and your character smaller in comparison, with a long enough hinge to stick to the door and the back of your character without it getting stuck to the areas with glue. I messed up, not thinking of this when I started cutting and gluing the actual piece.

About the process

I’ve had this itch to paint, but the barrier to start always seemed so dauntingly high that I just put it off: clearing my desk, getting all the supplies together, deciding what to paint, my desk then being preoccupied (i.e., messy) for a while. But this was a little card, I didn’t have a lot of time anyway, and I already had a starting point from that video.

I saw a flat lay of all these adorable pants for kids and the one with the flowers in the second row inspired the painting for the card.

The repetitive pattern, the flowers, the colour palette. The only thing I didn’t like was that my lines were a little wonky, but it was for fun and the card would be glued together anyway.

Then the little character on the inside. I’ve been reading School Babysitters by Tokeino Hari this year (a very adorable manga, highly recommend if you’re looking for something lighthearted) and been learning more about Little Me this past year and a half. This lil babe doesn’t look exactly like Little Me, but I think she’s a good embodiment of “little me” energy.

The painting process for this card was so fun, and the end product so satisfying to look at, that it inspired the creation of a larger piece.

More on that to come in a future post.