Eco Love Cards

Eco Love Cards!

We can all used love cards not just during Valentines Day but for all year-- birthday's, hellos and just because... we want to send some love to someone in the mail.  Here are a some cards I made for samples for some of my workshops. I used junk mail, file folders, discarded books, maps, card board, wall paper scraps and the list goes on. The tools I used were scissors, punches and my trusty Sizzix Big Shot (www.sizzix.com) and rubber stamps hand made and store bought.

I made this frame display board from an old frame from SCRAP-SF.org. I put wire across the back and used clothes pin to hang the cards. I put a paper backing on it but you could leave it open. I see a Rooster card on the board I made for Chinese New Years this year too. So many of these cards ideas can be used year round.

These cards were made from an old atlas, an airmail envelope and scraps from some old mono prints.

These love cards are made using paint chips (the blue mailbox), wall paper and books The security envelope is turned inside out and I folded old music sheet and maps into envelopes.

Using my heart punches I made a variety of cards. The ice cream cones and the mini paper banner are just cut free hand.
The wool felt heart in the mason jar was cut freehand from an old wool sweater. 

This big heart was a book page that I painted with acrylic paint. I then took my die cutter and cut out the heart.
I also painted grocery bags randomly with pink and red paint and later cut out hearts.

These two hearts were cut from old card board and wall paper. I then wrapped twine and thick thread randomly around the heart and glued down to the card stock.

These last two cards are the front and back of my husband Valentine card I make for him this year. He is a physician so I used an old medical book and cut out the heart for the front of the card and then used the rest of the book page for the background on the page with the big heart. 

Valentine and Birthday celebration

Last Wed a group of my girl friends came and helped me celebrate my birthday by coming to my Valentine Craft class at Ruth's Table. We had a full house of residents of the Bethany House and a lot from the community. It was so much fun. The two hour workshop went by quickly that we dubbed the class-- Speed Crafting! Everyone had a great time. 

Craft workshop sign 

Everyone busy recreating and speed crafting.

Olivia's cards.

Lucinda's card

I made special clothes pins for Ruth's Table to hang

 the sample cards.

I heart SCRAP fundraiser

This past weekend I volunteered  and put on a Valentine event along side Dorothy Yuki at our favorite art supply store in San Francisco- SCRAP. We were happy to help host a room full of Valentine crafts. We had a steady stream of crafters young and older coming through the workshop room re-creating and 

and repurposing. There was music, food and a lot of people supporting the

wonderful SCRAP.

Certificate of Honor from the Mayor's office!

music to craft by.....

Our friends Hannah and Jonathan from FabMo came to support Scrap.
(pictured left to right: Jonathan and Hannah, myself, Shaui Chen the director 
and Dorothy Yuki.

The crowds were steady with crafters for four hours in the workshop space.

We made pins using  scalloped punches, a stapler and pin back.

I set up  the Typewriter Station at this fundraiser and again it was a big hit. A lot of people used the typewriters to peck out messages to include in their Valentines.

                                                                              


                                                                

Third Annual Sunnyside Conservatory Card Party

Last Saturday I helped set up a card party at the  Sunnyside Conservatory in San Francisco. Dorothy Yuki, Stacy Garfinkel and I set up in the beautifully restored conservatory. Over one hundred children and adults  came and made valentines cards and envelopes using found, recycled, and repurposed materials. It was the third annual event and it was a big success.

The Sunnyside Conservatory

The beginning of the crowd of Valentine card making. We made the banner 

out of old maps and dictionary pages.

 We set up a typewriter station with vintage typewriters. The kids loved typing

messages for their valentines. SO many of them had never seen or used a typewriter!

I used an empty frame to display card samples. 

This is where I made use of the clothes pins I posted about below.

One of many fun cards made that afternoon.

A little girl made this card cutting petals out of remnant material.

                                                                                 

                                                                                  

Valentine Zipper Pins

I always have a lot of zippers in my studio for various projects. I went through them and pulled out the red, pink and white ones for a valentine craft. I used a glue gun and shaped them into hearts. All the lengths of the zippers were different so I was able to come up with a lot of different designs. It was a lot of fun. You only need a glue gun, different lengths of red, pink and white zippers and some pin backs. SCRAP, my favorite art supply store is where I got a lot of my zippers. I also keep my eye out for zippers on sale at the thrift stores where you can get some vintage zippers with brass teeth. And of course the fabric stores also have them in a variety of colors. Yard sales are also a place to look for zippers as well.

Here is just part of my stash of zippers ready to be repurposed into Heart pins.

The simple heart pin. Turn, fold and tuck, glue...add pin back and wear it!

Here are more  of the Valentine Heart pins from various size and colors of zippers.

Valentines, Valentines, Valentines.....

This has been a very busy week with four Valentine workshops..

Here is a simple and fun idea for Valentines day or other celebrations. I bought a package of clothes pins from the local $ store and got out the tiny set of alphabets stamps I purchased some time ago at Michael's. They were very inexpensive at $1.50 but up to this point I hadn't used them. Well they were the perfect size for the clothes pins!  I stamped messages with red ink and I think they came out really cute. I also used half of the stamps of some of my bigger rubber stamps and it worked out alright. 

Start out with dollar store clothes pins

Get out your rubber stamps and  stamp pads. I tried the darkest red ink I had.

Here are some of the results using the tiny alphabets stamps and parts of the larger stamps. 
You will see in the next few post how I used the clothes pins to hang up cards.