Creating.............................

Right now I'm in an experimental stage...............am experimenting with foam core board, gold leaf, calligraphy, and mizuhiki knots...............trying to find a way to incorporate these together into a card that makes sense.............(grins)............maybe it doesn't have to make sense. I think most of us who call ourselves cardmakers.........are trying to create something new...........whether it's a new technique, "new look", innovative design, or even a different way of tying different elements together. So far I have tried adding 2 or 3 different elements together with no success. I will download a sample of what I come up with when I am somewhat satisfied with the outcome. When I do download a sample on here............I really would appreciate your input..........pro or con.......

now..........back to work............

Birthday Card

Card I made for a birthday card swap. I used a kanji vector graphic for the front, characters mean.............."clouds moving across the sky". On the inside I added a mizuhiki clamshell knot as an embellishment.

Birthday Card1

Here is a card that I made for a birthday card swap. The recipient was a female so I tried to make it as feminine as I could, (considering my use of black cardstock as my base). The cardstock I used is called p-like cardstock. I has a plastic sort of feel to it, and at 122lbs. is very stiff and is excellent for adding embellishiments, and frames/borders, and for rubber stamping. The mistake I made on this card...................you all know.............I forgot to swipe the front of the card with my anti-static pad before embossing. I now have a reminder taped to my desk............to swipe card blank with anti-static pad before stamping/embossing.................

With the card I sent an origami frame ornament.

got to http://www.youtube.com/user/karenelaines#p/a and find the origami frame ornament.

ATC #2

Here is an ATC swap card, featuring the kanji symbol for "prosperity".

I used a kanji character vector graphic and saved it as a jpg, then cut it out on my CE, and backed it with gold momigami paper. I also added some mizuhiki ribbon in the upper left corner.

ATC card swap. Lately I have been experimenting with different kinds of mizuhiki knots. I learned that it takes a lot of patience at first to get he knot started and it gets easier once the initial knot is made. Adding the additional cords became easier. The knot is an Abalone shell knot also known as the Josephine knot or good luck knot. For reference, I used a little booklet published by Yasutomo, writted by Karen Thomas. As I was forming the knot, I became intrigued at how it slowly takes shape. To make this knot I used, 6 black and 2 gold mizuhiki cords.

Card Swap 2

This is another card that I did for a card swap. I had a hard time deciding what kind of card to make since we all had a template that we had to follow. I came up with a Ying/Yang concept.........black/white.......male/female...........once again I tried to stay true to my colors

Card Swap 1

Here is a card that I made for a card swap at the Paper Wishes Message board.

We had a suggested template that we had to follow, so I decided to use a teabag fold with a peace crane. Tried to stay consistent with my colors.