Wearing Of The Green Time

Can you believe that February is almost over. Of course this is the shortest month of the year but still it seems to me that time is flying. With the advent of March comes that neglected holiday St. Patrick's Day. A day which gives the Irish an excuse to celebrate. Not that we really need an excuse. ;-) People send cards for the major holidays but this is one holiday that sadly gets neglected.   I love to send cards out because most people are not expecting them. Besides they are fun to make. :-)

When I saw a 6 x 6 paper pack by Studio G on clearance with all kinds of green pattern paper and then this wonderful shamrock napkin at Dollar Tree yesterday I knew I had to make a few cards to send. Of course it is also fortunate that I found while cleaning some sentiments already printed out for inside. :-)

It is so much fun to use napkins when creating cards or scrapbook layouts. In fact there are all kinds of  wonderful napkins out there which are easy on the budget. 

Years ago Carol Duval introduced me to the use of napkins when on her show she created a set of note cards using only  napkins. The easiest way to adhere the napkin is with plastic wrap and an iron. Lol! It is the only time my iron gets used. Make sure you use the iron on parchment paper  or copy paper and do not move the iron back and forth. I let my iron sit for about 10 seconds and then move it to another spot.  Pay particular attention to the corners. I have never needed it but I always have a fire extinguisher near by.

After the napkin was down tight I went and edged it with laser green tape I bought at Dollar Tree. It comes in a four pack . Alas not all Dollar Tree stores seem to carry it as the one I was at yesterday did not have it. Good thing I stocked up at Christmas time. :-) After I glued the card with the napkin down on my base I took a sepia color piece of chalk and rubbed over the whole card. The pattern paper originally had white in it as well as the white background in the napkin. I wanted something not so stark to go with this period image. I then went and edged the card base with ink.

The image I believe is by Fairy Graphic. Last year I turned her into a cutting file. I decided I wanted her more sepia than she originally was. I love now that in the Studio software I can do special effects with images instead of having to take an image first into another program. This time I went ahead and created an offset as I wanted to pop dot her on a mat. After she was cut out I took my old standby Vintage Photo ink and edged the image. I found that a stencil dauber works great and gets into the corners. For the offset I scribbled two different colors of green chalk on it and then blended the colors with a cotton ball. Then I edged the offset with gold ink. It is an antique gold color which I bought years ago. I'm not even sure the company is still in business. I like to use it because it is not brassy like some gold inks.

There you have it my fairly quick St. Patrick Day card since I had already created the original cutting file. It took me longer to get a decent picture of the card than to make it.

Have you used napkins in your crafting? Do you make and send St. Patrick Day cards?

That's all folks for now. I'm working on another St. Patrick Day card and hope to share it soon. In the meantime wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!