I can't believe it's been a couple of weeks since my last post! Life sure does seem to get in the way of the fun stuff :-) For this post, I thought I'd demonstrate the design process for one of my new spring card sets, White Picket Fence and Wildflowers. I have a fence embossing folder that I'd been wanting to try out, and have a wildflowers border embossing folder that I absolutely adore. The two together got me thinking. Somewhere in my collective memory I conjured up an image of an iconic American dream--a white picket fence in front of every house, made more beautiful with flowers. So that's what I made.

First, I embossed an A2 kraft card with the fence folder, 

then colored the fence with a white paint marker. I randomly--more like messily--colored some of each part of the fence with a dark brown colored pencil to make the fence look weather-worn and "rustic." It's hard to see in this photo, but is more visible in the photo of the completed card below.

Coloring the embossed fence with a paint marker pretty much negated any embossing, which was fine with me, since the next step was to emboss the same part of the card with the wildflower embossing folder.

Surprisingly enough, the double embossing did not make holes in the card, perhaps because I used a paint pen, which thickened the area a bit? To color the wildflowers, I just used good ol' markers. 

The white paint underneath does change the tint of the markers slightly, but not enough to discourage me! The card felt a little plain, but I couldn't come up with an apt sentiment, so I stamped on a pretty little purple butterfly and called it a day! 

I took a collection of my card sets to a women's event at church, and the picket fence cards were the first set sold! The lovely lady that bought them is so pleased that they will work for different occasions, including birthdays, get well, and a quick hello. And as with any Prettyfolio product, the set included fully lined, coordinating envelopes.

So there you have it--a double-embossed card set great for many occasions! Please visit my Etsy shop, Prettyfolio, or my new website, www.prettyfoliocards.com, to browse all my products. Enjoy!

I'm often curious why people make certain products or enjoy specific crafts. Then I realized I myself hadn't explained why I love making cards. So here--why I do what I do:

Letter writing and sending cards has been a tradition in my family for as long as I can remember. Our extended family is geographically distant, so visits during childhood were few and far between (and I can't blame my parents--they were raising 6 of us!). There were always birthday cards, holiday cards, and thank you cards to send and receive; I was my mom's designated annual Christmas letter scribe :-). I remember having pen pals, and writing to cousins I had only met once or twice but had a lot in common with. I also remember writing letters to aunts and uncles as I got older and went to college, just to stay in touch and keep them updated on my life, since this was when the world was still getting used to computers, let alone internet and email! Soon enough, snail mail was hitting closer to home when I had siblings and in-laws in the military and I enjoyed sending them letters, cards, even pressed leaves one autumn to remind them of home in the northeast, especially when deployed overseas in Germany, Japan, and Afghanistan, or sailing the seven seas on a frigate or an aircraft carrier.

I still have many of the cards and letters sent to me beginning in my childhood (I blame my mother--she has an extensive collection of cards as well!). Cards from my parents during my college and graduate school years strengthened me in difficult academic and personal struggles. Knowing their prayers, and those of many others, were lifted up for me was, and continues to be, heartwarming.

Then the circle started anew. My own wedding invitations were all sent by mail, then the ensuing thank you cards. Not too long after that, birth announcements for my twins, and then my younger son, were mailed out. Now that my twins are 7, they've started writing their own thank you cards for friends and family, and sending notes to their grandparents, both on the east coast where I grew up, and to my in-laws in Mexico. 

I have made ring-bound books of my cards so I can look at them and feel the love behind each and every one whenever I need a boost. I especially treasure the ones I have saved from my own adult life milestones, including my wedding cards and my first mother's day cards, and also those of my children: the cards received when they were born, those for their baptisms, and for every birthday and holiday thereafter.

Even with email now, it still just feels more personal to send and receive handwritten letters and cards in the mail. Handwritten notes are treasures and little bits of tangible love that receivers can hold on to when time and distance separate loved ones.

It is my mission to create cards and stationery for others so that they too may carry on the tradition of mailing their love. And no card or note carries more love than one that is handmade.

--Abby

So...it's Wednesday, and I haven't designed any new cards. I've been spending a lot of time researching SEO "stuff" and how to get more publicity on the internet for Prettyfolio. When I started Prettyfolio, I expected the most difficult task to be continually creating new designs, but I've discovered, as msot Etsy sellers do, that the most challenging (daunting, time-consuming, frustrating, mind-numbing...insert adjective of choice!) aspect is actually the marketing: trying to find just the right keywords to fit the character counts and tags to fit the allowed number; doing fake searches on Google and Etsy to determine the most common relevant search terms and incorporating them into each listing; and analyzing data from my store stats to see what people are actually looking at, and then trying to figure out why so many people look at the same 2 or 3 products, but not one single person actually bites the bullet and buys it?

Here is where my many years of schooling are beneficial! I'm a trained problem-solver! I thrive on running into a brick wall and researching my way around, under, and/or through it!

Thanks, Albert! So forgive me if I don't post a lot of new cards in the next week or so, as I'll be trying to optimize my listings for better visibility. That, and the kids are on spring break next week, which should be interesting because they have all discovered how to annoy each other :-)

I've been visualizing some new products in my head, though! That counts, right? My little Henry and I had picked some flowers near one of his favorite playgrounds a couple of weeks ago, and I just today took them out of my flower-pressing contraption. When I say flower-pressing contraption, I really just mean layers of cardboard and brown paper bags squished between biology, biochemistry, cell biology, and immunology textbooks. And to think that I almost got rid of the textbooks because I didn't need them anymore! Anyway, I don't know what kind of flowers I pressed, but they're beautiful little purple ones that dried amazingly! I can't wait to work with them! I also have about 30 buttercups pressed last summer, some pansies, and lots of tiny wild violas. On a different tangent, I'm thinking downloadable, printable designs, and DIY card kits for kids. I'm so excited about my ideas, and darn if there aren't enough hours in a day!

Until next time, here's to creativity, intelligence, and banging one's head against a brick wall!

Hello, blogging world! And more specifically, hello craft blogging world! I have started this blog to introduce you to my products in my shop Prettyfolio through Etsy.com. I started out almost a year ago with handmade greeting cards, and am now expanding to include wedding invitations, fine stationery sets for adults, and stationery sets for kids and teens, so check back often to see what's new! I've been ruminating on bookmarks for a while, too, so you just never know what might show up in my shop!

My products are unique because I enjoy using different mediums than are usually found on greeting cards. For example, this past Christmas season, my line included cards with the image of a Christmas tree. Not so unusual, right? Except I made the image by dipping a pine branch in paint and used it like a stamp on the card. My newer trends this Spring are jewelry charms as accents, dried flowers, and artificial petals. My current condundrum is how to use palms from Palm Sunday in my art! I personally have not seen other products like mine in the many hours I spend browsing Pinterest :-)

I do not use diecutting machines or stamp kits, only embossing folders and individual stamps. Everything I do is handcut and hand-assembled, even the envelopes for specialty items (wedding invitations, stationery sets). I also line every envelope, handmade or not, to coordinate with each product. Many items can be personalized, and some, especially the wedding invitations and stationery sets, are customizable for color scheme, patterns, and wording.

Here are a few samples of my most recent additions to my store:

1) Cheery yellow layered wedding invitations accented with stamped flowers

2) Modern/classic floral motif wedding invitations

3) The resurrection cross with the iconic Easter lily, only this lily is made with sheets of Easter hymns

4) An embossed word art cross, which is pretty in itself, but I took it one step further and hand-penciled all the colors on the embossing

5) An example of my lined envelopes; I do not yet have a listing just for lined envelopes without cards, but I will soon!

Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy browsing--and buying--my products as much as I enjoy creating them! 

--Abby