I ♥ lady beetles!

Whether you call them ladybirds (British), ladybugs (US) or lady beetles (scientific, as they're not technically bugs, and definitely not birds), they're just so cute! I'm not normally a great fan of beetles--I seem to have some sort of aversion to Christmas beetles and other larger winged beetles but lady beetles are adorable. Have you ever just been standing around and a lady beetle softly lands on you? This happened to me recently whilst I was at the markets. It was a moment of pure joy and then a rather assertive customer wanted my attention, so I had to forget about the lady beetle crawling on my arm.

My sister, very thoughtfully, gave me the handmade, recycled skeleton leaf paper which features on this card. The paper was a little pale and pasty, so I carefully dyed it to a vibrant green (♥ the colour green too, as you might have guessed!). The rest of the design just came together and I still have some more skeleton leaf paper left to make another card!

Materials: Wooden lady beetles, skeleton leaf paper, pattern paper, Stampin' Up! rub-on; This card is hand: cut, dyed, glued, drawn and embellished.

Leafy Branches

This card really epitomises 'Green Gifts'. I must admit that I'm a little obsessed with leaves! Leaves represent growth, life and fresh air. Living in the Blue Mountains, I'm constantly surrounded by trees, leaves and leaf litter. I used to try to maintain my bush block and rake up the leaves but have since given up. Taming nature, to that magnitude, was a losing battle! Reclaimed cardstock was used for the background and to create the leafy branches (the grey piece was the front of an old notebook). It didn't cost much in the way of materials, mainly in time and perseverance.

Materials: Cuttlebug Happy Birthday and Leafy Branch embossing folders, black pen, inks; This card is hand: inked, dry embossed, cut, glued, coloured and drawn.

So Lucky!

My sister has been able to source me some more notecard envelopes in different colours! They're quite hard to come by and can cost as much as, if not more than, the regular-sized white or coloured envelopes used for greeting cards. Now I'll be able to make more notecards like the one below. I love using all my little left-over paper pieces and arranging them into unique collage creations!

"How does your garden grow?"

I really love how this card turned out. I'm always seeking to buy tools, stamps and embellishments with a botanical theme. As I continue to create cards from week-to-week, I feel like my techniques and colour choices are improving. As I live in the Blue Mountains, my aim is to promote nature to the people who visit, so I will be focusing more on creating nature-themed cards as time goes on.

New Notecard

In the future, I will begin preparing to sell my handmade goods online. To start with, I will focus on selling cards including, greeting cards, photographic cards and notecard sets. So, I thought I'd better start honing my skills at taking appealing photographs of various products. It's really all about getting good close-ups in the right light. N.B. The morning light (above) probably didn't provide the best illumination for this notecard.

I love the butterfly on this card. It came from a piece of junkmail! I get a real kick out of upcycling unwanted things into something new and vibrant. The wings have been embellished with clear resin to add texture to the card.

Dimensions: 9.8 x 7cm; Cost: $2.00 with white envelope; Materials: 'Whisper White' cardstock and envelope by Stampin' Up!; 'Little Leaves Sizzlits Die' by Stampin' Up!

Recent Handmade Greeting Cards

Leaves Design: This card is hand drawn, titled, cut and glued.

Embossed Design: This card is hand drawn, cut, coloured, glued and dry embossed.

Beach Design: This card is hand stamped, cut, glued and inked. 'Seaside' stamps by Stampin' Up! (c)

Frangipani Design: This card is hand stamped, drawn, cut, coloured and glued.

Another Little Notecard

Dimensions: 10.5 x 7.5cm;  

Cost: $2.00 with coordinating envelope. Great for attaching to gifts!

I really love working with a small 'canvas'. This notecard is filled with little odds and ends I found whilst cleaning my coffee table. (Plenty more where that came from!) It's fun creating a mini card from bits and pieces I've stamped, coloured, cut and hoarded! That's the beauty of collage--you never know just how it will all come together until it's done.
 

Popular Photographic Cards

Besides handmade, 'crafty' cards, I also sell photographic cards. I find that they appeal to a wide range of people. Some cards are photos adhered to quality cardstock, whilst the majority are printed cards which I have designed online from photographs I have taken. Most photographs are digital, some are from scans of older photographs and some are scans from 35mm negatives. Currently, produced photographic cards cost $3 each. For every $20 you spend on photographic cards at my market stall, you will receive a free photographic card of your choice up to the value of $2.50. - Mel

Comments

Anonymous June 21, 2014 at 12:55 AM Hi, neat post. There's a problem with your web site in my browser. A large percentage of people will pass over your fantastic blog due to this problem. Melanie June 21, 2014 at 1:00 AM Thanks. It depends on your computer/browser combination. There are no updates available for certain browsers on particular computers. I suggest using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, or similar, as these browsers are generally quite stable on both old and new systems.

An example of my cards...

This is an example of the kinds of cards I was making a few years ago. Since that time, I have sold my cards at school open days, to a social group for birthday mail-outs, at a couple of annual fairs/festivals, and at the occasional market. Lately, I have been attending markets in the Blue Mountains more frequently and have been amazed by such positive responses from people purchasing my cards. It has encouraged me to diversify my designs even more, particularly in the area of collaged cards.

And about time too...

For someone who has been mucking around on computers for well over 20 years, this marks my very first blog entry... ever! I had a 'geocities' webpage many moons ago, but it was so difficult to create and alter back then - you had to know html in some depth (which I knew, but the internet speeds were the worst problem!) I love the online community, but have never become an active part of it. I'm quite a private person who finds it difficult to put myself 'out there' and self-promote. Recently, I have been concentrating my energies on expanding 'Green Gifts and Cards' as a business concept. I first registered this business name in 2003 but never prioritised the time to do anything serious with it. I chose it because I love nature and have always been aware of living sustainable lifestyle. This involves promoting nature, as well as protecting it. I originally started out by making recycled paper by hand. Although I haven't yet got back into doing this, I'd love to one day. My creativity is just starting to be unleashed. I have so many ideas for things to design and make, and I've started selling them at local Blue Mountains craft markets. At this point, I'm just a hobbyist but would love for this venture to become a viable business in the oncoming years. Please visit if you're interested in updates and photos of my latest creations...

~ Melanie

Comments

Anonymous June 30, 2010 at 10:57 PM

How did your business name come about?

Melanie July 1, 2010 at 4:01 PM

My business name came about a number of years ago, but I've been too busy with full-time work to do anything serious with it. I chose it because I love nature and have always been aware of living sustainable lifestyle. This involves promoting nature, as well as protecting it. I started out by making recycled paper products. Although I haven't yet got back into doing this, it's on my priority list!