These are some of the handmade thank you cards I referred to in my previous post. It was fun to celebrate my birthday throughout the month. I had another birthday lunch celebration this past week! Due to everyone’s busy work schedules it is sometimes a project to find a day to get together. The nice part besides celebrating with friends and family is that the celebration lingers long past the actual birthdate.
Last time I showed you the kid’s watercolor paints that I used for the backgrounds on my practice papers. These are one of the types of watercolors I use for sumi-e painting. They are fairly lightfast and stay bright on the rice paper. The paper pad is referred to as a sketch pad, though it is not traditional sketch weight paper. It is translucent, very light weight and absorbent.The background on this camellia is painted using the technique shown in my previous post. Using a kid’s watercolor set. I like the airiness of the pink paper mat. It was in a selection of random crafting papers my son gave me. This handmade thank you card is for him and his family.The pansy thank you card has a light green paper mat behind it. The color does not show well in this photo. I left the background white. This style is an example of how I make most of my sumi-e cards. I save the background technique for my practice pieces.I used pink paper to mat this camellia. For both of the cards I attach the mat to the card first. Then I add the focal image.
There are many ways that you can adapt this to your handmade thank you cards. If you do not paint or draw, try using cutouts from magazines. It is also fun to recycle old greeting cards by cutting up the images and giving them new purpose on your cards.
Another idea is to paint various background splotches and writing your greeting on the dried paper. Or you can use a rubber stamp.
What is your favorite technique for handmade thank you cards?
Leave a comment and let me know what techniques you want to see examples of in upcoming posts.
Have fun making cards, I wish you much to be thankful for.
