Can you believe it's wallpaper?

It's been a while since my last post. I thought life would be quieter since I am no longer working. I think that I have LESS time at home now. Oh, well. At least I had a little bit of time to make a few cards tonight.

A couple of years ago someone gave me several wallpaper sample books. I found out that they could not be used in scrapbooks, since they are not acid free, so I put them away and forgot about them. Now everyone is making cards, and "acid-free" is not a real issue any more.

I was cleaning out my scrap area trying to find some stuff to sell at a "What was I thinking?" sale at Scrapbooks!, and I came across the books again. I decided to sell some of them, but I made the mistake (?) of thumbing through the pages first. I got hooked. You would not believe the texture and awesome color combinations that I found!

These photos do NOT do justice to the cards. Those stripes that you see have almost a courderoy feel to them. The dark blue paper resembles hand-made paper, but with deeper, richer color variations. They are truly beautiful papers.

Wallpaper adds a touch of elegance that you just won't get from ordinary paper. The paper is a little heavier, so you get a very sturdy card when adhered to cardstock.

I did another "variations of a theme" set of cards. All were done using the same 2 sheets of wallpaper (in blues). I can't wait to dig into the pile of pages and do some more.

A little card

I found some Whisper Strokes markers at Crafts2000 in Monroe, MI. They are supposed to be pretty good for blending, which should be interesting, since I have never done anything like that before.

Here is a little card that I made. The blue rose inside was a sad attempt at blending. Maybe I will get better with time. Sigh!

Variations on a Theme

My scrapbooking group has been sending blank cards to a troop in Afghanistan (my husband's cousin is their commanding officer). We try to mail a box of cards that the soldiers can sign and send to family members for holidays. They don't have a local WalMart or Hallmark store to buy cards for special occasions.

The last box contained Valentines, birthday cards, and "Thinking of You" cards. Right now we are working on Mother's Day and Father's Day cards. There are 100 men in the troop, so we need to send LOTS of cards.

Here are 5 cards with the same basic Father's Day layout. The only difference is the stuff on the far left. It's amazing what just one change can do. They are pretty basic cards, but I hope the guys still like them.