Calendar Chicks
Perfectly suited to celebrate any summer event, the Calendar Chick stamps from Stampendous featured here are sure to put a sunny smile on anyone’s face. Lively patterned papers and colored markers kick up the volume to create a ton of summer card-making fun!

Beaded Summer Sentiments
Seed-like in appearance, black micro beads are the perfect accent to embellish this summer-themed flower and tag set. Wide green and white check ribbon team up with matching gloss buttons, sending an extra helping of get well wishes.

All Occasion Cards
It certainly is handy to have a few all occasion cards made up in advance for those “oh, my gosh…I almost forgot” moments. The collection of cards featured here presents a number of quick and easy card ideas that you can stockpile and keep at the ready!

Artful Cards
Are you interested in trying something new that is different and fun with unlimited artistic possibilities? Well, look no further! On the following pages, you’ll discover some exciting ideas that are sure to spark the imagination and that promise to be an enjoyable creative adventure.

Summer Rovings

Needle felting with wool roving is a fun technique with unlimited potential for making unique card embellishments, ornaments, and other artistic projects.

Pocket Fold Cards
Running out of birthday card and gift ideas? Look no further! Pocket Folders present a creative alternative for each. Choose one or both of these sparkly designs to create your greeting, then open the card and tuck a celebratory gift card or other small token inside the pocket. Pocket folders are available in a wide variety of colors and several stylish designs, including diagonal, petal, and pointed flaps.

Calling All Sports Fans
Remember your “No. 1” sports fan this Father’s Day with these winning “ball” cards. You can easily create baseball, golf, or soccer cards by substituting appropriately themed papers and sentiments.

Birthstone and Flower Birthday Cards
Early civilizations believed that gems possessed magical properties and were linked to a corresponding ruling planet. Called Zodiac Stones (later known as birthstones), these gems were assigned according to color to the signs in the zodiac, which themselves corresponded with the months of the year. Each month of the year also claims its own flower with its own symbolic meaning. The cards featured here provide similar yet different ideas to create a personalized birthday card of your own choosing. Coordinating envelopes for each card were created by altering store bought envelopes, then machine straight-stitching around the inside edges and adhering complementary stickers onto the envelopes.

Paper and Beaded Jewelry
Saved buttons, scraps of paper, and leftover beads all share one thing in common: They possess the artistic potential for creating unique, one-of-a-kind, wearable art. Here are some delightful (and easy) ideas to help get you started.

Embroidered Cards
Hand embroidered and stitched cards are a joy to make as well as to receive. Creating this special look need not be time consuming, and you don’t have to be an expert with a needle and thread. There are many sewing templates available, including rubber stamps, which make it quick and easy to create special, one-of-a-kind cards of your own design.

Papier-mâché Scrimshaw
Considered to be one of the most important American Folk Arts, Scrimshaw, the art of etching designs on ivory or bone, was first practiced by sailors serving on New England whaling ships. The most commonly carved items were umbrella handles, pie crimpers, ditty boxes, hinges, and latches. More popular (both then and now) were the ivory whale’s teeth that depicted whaling scenes and other pictures of a sailor’s life at sea.

For this issue, we asked designer Charles Johnston to create some unique paper items. Always up for a challenge, Charles responded with the very real looking, but decidedly faux Scrimshaw pieces featured here. Luckily for us, these fabulous look-alikes require none of the painstaking hours spent by artistic carvers both then and now. Imagine our surprise when we received a large box containing a whale’s tooth and stand, a jewelry box, two ornaments, and a stunning pendant.