The Making of an Art Card - Part 1

I love playing with paper, and it's really all my friend Christy's fault. She is the one that had a paper stash and then showed me what you could do with all of those lovely bits of paper. And I was instantly addicted.

I had already been doing homemade photo Christmas cards, but this was a whole new world. It's kind of like creating a quilt, which my mom happens to be most excellent at doing. I layer techiques and colors and bits and pieces, and eventually the piece tells me it's done. It just looks complete all of a sudden.

Sooo, I am going to try and chronicle my art card escapades for you, as much as photographically possible.  Here is one I am working on right now.

The paper I used here is called Color Me Resist Paper and it is available at www.paperwishes.com.  Now this paper is really fun to work with.  The design is raised and resists all water-based inks. You can ink it and then you gently wipe any excess off the raised white part. You can color it with markers or pencils. And there are a multitude of other products out there I'd like to try, but I don't own them yet!

Here is what the paper looks like close-up as you get started.

And then I thought the front would need something more... And bless her soul, good old Martha Stewart has this fabulous butterfly punch that I have used and loved many times since I bought it. So I punched three butterflies out of heavy white paper and used Martha's glitter glue and glitter to jazz up the butterflies.
And here's the butterfly.

I'm working on the inside of the card now, and I will show you all how it finishes up, very soon. I have a deadline!

I also have more cards to show you, some complete, some still in process. Until then, happy crafting!