Photographic Cards - Aussie Images

 
Customers are already starting to ask me about Christmas gifts and cards! (I guess some people like to get organised early--I've always been one of those people who leaves everything to the last minute!) So, I have been designing some photographic cards with an Aussie flavour. I have just received an online order for photographic cards from a customer today. If you are interested in purchasing any, please email me and I can send you attachments of some of my most popular designs (or check out images on this blog). Professionally-printed photographic cards are $3 each. For every $20 you spend, you will receive a free photographic card up to the value of $2.50. Please mention this post.

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!

Love the Bling!

It's been a bit longer than usual between posts because I had quite a few whole-day markets in August. I'm really enjoying it, and try to use the time productively while I'm there, but never seem to get as much done as I'd like! (That's a good sign--it means I'm dealing with customers rather than sitting around!) I still have so many ideas for 'Green Gifts', which I'm gradually actualising but I have to be patient--I'm only one person!

There are actually a lot of retail opportunities for a business of my kind--it's just a matter of choosing what to focus on. Good planning will build a financially-realistic foundation, whilst poor planning will just suck 'Green Gifts' dry!

I've posted a couple of pictures (above) of a wedding card which was lots of fun to make. I love hand drawn designs, but I suspect that most of my customers don't even notice them until they remove the card from its sleeve and take a really close look (click on the card images for a closer look yourself). Talking about customers, I have been getting some great feedback, many commenting that my cards are "different" from the norm. But I'm not really sure what they mean!
By the way, this card sold during August. Cost: $4.00; Materials: pattern paper, self-adhesive rhinestones, Stampin' Up! rub-ons, Kindy Glitz (applied to parts of the pattern paper), various acid-free pens.

My Market Stall

Each market I go to has a different space and layout, and I am constantly trying to make the best of the given space. My stall last weekend was quite small and so many people just walked past without even noticing it because it was adjacent to the entrance of the hall. Encouragingly, one fellow remarked on how beautifully my stall was presented. If given this space again, I will need to make the effort of greeting everyone that walks by! It was not a good day for sales, even though countless people did come to the market. Here are a few photos, taken as the sun was going down...

Glitzy Pink Card!

As a child, I was never one to go gaga over the colour pink. But over the years I've actually become more of a girly girl! I own pink blankets, jackets, tops, perfume bottles and a scarf (acquired this winter--made from hand dyed and spun wool). I think this card turned out more girly than I planned! I've owned the embossing folder to make this card for about a year and have only now had the chance to use it. Can't wait to use it with a whole different colour scheme--like green or blue. This card took quite some time to make, so I will be selling it for $5.00. Do you want to know what goes into making a card like this? Then keep reading...

1. Cut metallic silver cardstock to A5 size. Fold in half.

2. Run front half of card through embossing machine using Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles embossing folder. Adjust folder and run through again to emboss bottom section that was missed.

3. Cut pink cardstock to size. Run through embossing machine using Cuttlebug Friends Forever embossing folder (looks a little like arty dandelions). Attach to silver card.

4. Draw over the embossed (raised) lines with a metallic silver pen. Add self adhesive rhinestones in different sizes to some of the florets of the dandelions.

5. Stamp a sentiment on a coordinating piece of paper (Stampin' Up! stamp used here). Cut to size and mount on silver paper. Mount again using double-sided foam tape to give sentiment a 3-D effect.

6. Hand draw a border around the pink cardstock and sentiment box. Even subtle borders give definition to the different layers of a card.

7. Adhere metal dragonfly. Voila!