Computer Envelopes

Well, I have for some time preferred doing art-type things on the computer, but lately I have been doing envelopes by hand.  Well, for one of the envelopes for our Thanksgiving cards I went back to the computer.  You can see a bit of the card there, and it just didn’t have anything to match easily by hand, so I went with the computer, I decided to try to match the plaid boarder.  I went into Microsoft ® PowerPoint ®. I made rectangles in shapes that were the right color (& made the larger ones transparent to mimic the weave), then just grouped and copied part of it up and down the main stripes.  Then I saved the finished boarder as a picture and put it into Microsoft ® Publisher ®.  I had trouble getting my printer to print on the envelope the right size, until I realized that it was 8 1/2 inches wide, so then I just treated it like a whole sheet of paper on the computer and feed the envelope trough sideways (the longest way parallel to the printer instead of perpendicular) and made sure the embellishment was on the part of the paper that printed first. I think it turned out quite well.

Watercolor envelopes

So, I decided to try something new for these envelopes.  I found this site about decorated envelopes, and I saw the envelopes from Bride design and was inspired to try watercolors. Now, I’m not very good at painting since I’m no where near as gifted as these people are, but I thought I’d try.  I had been going through some of my old craft stuff and came across my watercolors & brushes from childhood, the cards had watercolors on their covers, plus I was sending them to my aunts, and what are aunts for if not to receive one’s attempts at painting?   After a lot of experimenting I decided on doing a leaf & a heart on the envelopes to match the cards.  I didn’t try the acorn and couldn’t get my trees to look the way I liked.  Now, I didn’t really freehand either of these things here’s how I did it and you can too.  One hint, practice on

Decorating envelopes with markers

I like to decorate envelopes, when possible to match the cards.  This Thanksgiving I’m trying different mediums.  This is about the ones I used magic markers on.  

 

Off they go…

Well, we’ve sent our shoeboxes off to Operation Christmas Child again this year.  This is a program of Samaritan’s Purse where people in a number of countries fill shoeboxes with various items like toys, school supplies, candy, hygiene supplies, etc. then they send them to needy children worldwide. I believe it started in the early 90’s in response the Bosnian crisis.  Over the years these shoeboxes have brightened the Christmases of a number of children all around the world who otherwise wouldn’t have had any other presents or celebrations in hospitals, orphanages, refugee camps, and other dreary spots around the world.  Over the years my family’s boxes have gone to eastern Europe and Africa (that we know of either from letters, or through their

Baseball envelopes

If you read my blog, you know that recently I’ve gotten into decorating many of my envelopes I mail out.  Well, some of these designs are quite feminine, so here is a more sporty/masculine alternative: baseball envelopes.  On a recent trip to Ohio I went to a baseball game with family, so that seemed to be a good theme for the cards containing photos of the trip, plus I had some baseball stamps.  Here is a completed envelope:

And the winner is…

As many of my readers know I did a review and giveaway for My Memories digital scrapbooking software this month, and this is the big day.  My thanks to everyone who entered, I wish you could all win, but only one can, so today I drew for the winner of the My Memories giveaway.  Congratulations goes out to:

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Yes, I know Christmas is still over two months away, and personally I like to avoid decorating  or listening to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving (although my entire holiday schedule is off since The Game [Ohio State vs Michigan] is now after Thanksgiving, instead of before, totally changes the whole feel).  But, we are still starting to work on Christmas. 

I’m getting our Christmas card list together and beginning to embellish the envelopes and address them.  This is taking a little more planning than normal since when we bought our cards on clearance last year we picked 3 different kinds, and are picking which one is best for which person/family.  I’m actually a little behind on this, since my goal is to have all my envelopes return addressed by now, but hopefully I’ll be able to

Fall tree craft

Last year I made a “Thanks Tree” Just some sticks, dried leaves, and little pieces of paper with different things I was thankful for like: Family, Faith, Freedom, etc. This year I decided to make a fall tree. Once again I went out and gathered some sticks and dried some leaves. Only, instead of writing what I was thankful for, I used photos that seem to illustrate some of the fun parts of fall to me.

For the base, I used a couple rubber bands to make the sticks into a bunch, then I put them in this pitcher I had on hand which was made by a local craftsman. I then used scrap computer paper to crumple up and stuff around the bundle to hold it upright. I used other leaves I’d dried to cover the paper:

My Memories review & giveaway

I was contacted by My Memories a couple weeks ago about doing a review and giveaway of their digital scrapbook software on my blog. So I thought I’d try it out. I’ve enjoyed making photo books for trips I’d made and having a way to do it the same no matter what printing service I used appealed to me. I’d tried doing a little in PowerPoint, but that just wasn’t the same. Plus, this scrapbook software also works for many other things like additions to decorating, cards, etc. They also have nice add-on kits to get more paper, embellishments, and texts. I really like that you can change your photos into more than 20 different shapes and apply over 15 different effects for photos from the traditional black & white to more creative ones like Impressionist Painting, I think that would be fun to use as a

Fall/Thanksgiving hutch

I enjoy decorating for fall especially with a Thanksgiving slant, but while doing so, I hope all the while, not to be here on Thanksgiving to see them. You see, my family lives hundreds of miles away, and for years, I’ve preferred to go back home to see them. While I don’t know if it will work out this year or not, I certainly hope so, but I’ll enjoy decorating even if it is just leading up to. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Maybe not always the reality of how it works out, but the idea. Fall is my favorite season and since Thanksgiving is the quintessential fall holiday, that may have something to do with. I mean what’s not to love: cool weather, good food, parades, football, family, memories, laughter, games, etc. Anyways, here’s how the hutch in our kitchen worked out for fall/Thanksgiving this year: